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NOVEMBER 2019 TABLE HOPPING
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE HOAX BY DR SHERRY ROGERS
Ok, so you have been diagnosed with hypertension, high blood pressure, the pressure ..it goes by several names but it’s deadly serious by any name. Hypertension is more common as you get older…at least here in America. It affects about half of all adults in the USA. Hypertension is a significant risk factor for strokes, heart attack, heart failure, and kidney failure and loss of vision. It’s serious and should be taken seriously. I just finished reading The High Blood Pressure Hoax by Dr Sherry Rogers so I can offer you a new perspective on this critical health topic.
People can rightly argue about taking statins for cholesterol. (statins are just not that effective and have significant side effects). People can go back and forth about how tightly we should be controlling your sugar (it’s the insulin level that’s important not your blood sugar) but no-body argues that hypertension should be treated. Dr Rogers thinks anything over 120/80 is hypertensive which is a pretty strict definition. I usually use 140/80 in most adults and 160/80 in frail elderly since HYPOTENSION this group is especially dangerous due to inc risk of falls and underperfusion of the brain leading to an INCREASED risk of dementia.
Don’t let your doctor diagnose you with hypertension on the basis of a few office blood pressure measurements. This is serious enough that you should get multiple readings either at the drugstore or, better yet, buy your own BP machine and take your own readings. Best of all is getting your doctor to check a 24 hr bp monitor. That’s considerably more accurate as a cardiovascular risk evaluator that the readings your doctor gets in the office. This was just evaluated in several months ago in the JAMA.
Ok, so we agree that you should get multiple blood pressure readings before getting labeled as hypertensive. So what about treatment? Well, first we have to talk about the cause of hypertension. Is your doctor telling you it’s just caused by aging? Then why is hypertension so very uncommon in the third world? Same reason that cancer and heart disease are low…their diets are healthy, ours are not . We are killing ourselves with our diet, plain and simple. . We health care providers repeated the mantra that came down from on high….high fat diet is bad and you should get most of your calories from carbohydrates. How embarrassing to admit that we had that completely wrong ?! So why would you put any trust in what I am going to recommend here? Because the things I am going to recommend are cheap, readily available , nontoxic, natural , gluten free, blood diamond free , gender indiscriminant, and hopefully you get my point. I am not endorsing any product or getting any benefit from these recommendations. As we say in the business I have nothing to disclose.
Your doctor will say that your getting older and your pipes are getting stiffer and you exercise less, and we all take in too much salt so it’s only natural that you get hypertension as you age. Well , how do you explain those that age but don’t get hypertension…My short answer is they lived healthier…less processed foods , less processed oils and much less carbs ! In the 1950’s only 5% of dietary intake was carbohydrate based. By the 1990’s 60% of the standard american diet were carbohydrates. Thats a ginormous shift. The government experts said saturated fats were bad and carbohydrates were not only harmless but better for you. That advice , so readily taken up by nutritionists and doctors alike, continues to be ruinous to America both as a country and one citizen at a time.
No ..as Dr Rogers points out in her book and as also attributed to Linus Pauling…all disease is a result of some deficiency or the presence of some toxin. Translation… hypertension is caused by the combination of wrong lifestyle and environment with the ratio changing from person to person but it’s mostly lifestyle people. Unless your diet is righteous you could have a nutritional deficiency that, once corrected,could resolve the high blood pressure which is just your bodies way of showing stress on the system. Why not try some simple supplements before taking some prescription medicine ? Well, taking a pill is easy for you and it’s easy for your doctor. But, think of it this way, you don’t have a beta blocker deficiency, you don’t have a calcium blocker deficiency, you do not have a diuretic deficiency. You weren’t born with these deficiencies and you didn’t develop these deficiencies. You could ,however , easily have a magnesium deficiency or a potassium deficiency or both and when you correct the deficiency the blood pressure may return to normal. Unfortunately the usual magnesium and potassium that your doctor does is not accurate in reflecting total body magnesium needs. Sodium you can measure from simple blood test because most of it is extracellular. Magnesium and potassium are primarily intracellular so you have to measure the RBC magnesium and potassium. The big local lab LACNY can do this test for you and your doctor and it’s usually covered by your insurance.
Of course you must eat less processed foods eliminate corn oil, high fructose corn syrup, soda and canola oil. These all inflame your system and raise your blood pressure. This is the way to improve your heart disease, your diabetes, your pressure, etc. Unless your blood pressure is sky high why not try different things for a month before resorting to BP meds. Blood pressure takes years and decades to exert its effects. Ample time to deal with the underlying problem rather than turn immediately to some pharmacologic There are other supplements to consider including L Arginine; an amino acid.
Your doctor will tell you that hypertension is just you getting older and your artery stiffening up but really it’s endothelial dysfunction which is the inner lining of the blood vessels and we know that nitric oxide relaxes the muscles surrounding the endothelium, lowering the blood pressure. It also keeps platelets from sticking to the blood vessel forming plaques. It regulates many other enzymes. .Nitric oxide is made from L-Arginine which is a simple amino acid that you can supplement. Why not try that first before taking a pill.? In her book Dr. Rogers referenced several articles published in major medical journals that criticized the use of diuretics. Dr. Rogers claimed that people taking diuretics had WORSE cardiovascular outcomes.. Because it’s important I get this right I actually found those references and reviewed them and they were both published in major medical journals and do substantiate her claim that diuretic therapy, especially for diabetics, was associated with increased mortality not decreased. Unfortunately when you bring this up to your doctor he or she is going to say “That’s crazy, I don’t know anything about it “. That’s when you hand him copies of the article. Here are the references for those who are interested. Just type the following in the web browser PMID: 1823530 and And N Engl J Med 1994; 330:1852-1857
Besides L-Arginine another amino acid has been shown to cause vessel dilatation and promote diuresis and stop abnormal platelet aggregation is taurine , another simple amino acid. Why not give taurine a try before subjecting yourself to prescription medicines . Of course you have to get rid of the corn oil and canola oil and all the processed oils in order to stabilize your membranes and although this will take awhile it will slowly help you return your natural ratio of Omega-3 to omega-6 back to 1 to 1 instead of the 1 to 20 it is now in the developed world. This drastic change in the ratio from the norm cannot be a good thing for your health. I have not yet found a commercial salad dressing sold in Wegmans or Walmart that is free of these processed oils , except Braggs which I dont think tastes that great at least not compared to my wife’s home made dressing. Olive oil on the other hand is not a processed oil. How about trying some celery which has also been shown to lower blood pressure. There is no such thing as too much Brassica vegetables: cabbage, broccoli ,cauliflower, Brussels sprouts ,kale, collard greens, turnips, radishes, horseradish and watercress. They are natural and aggressive detoxifiers and the toxins you build up in your body certainly contribute to hypertension. Bottom line is that if you are interested there are multiple natural ways to try to treat your blood pressure before resorting to prescriptions. Dr Rogers lays all this out for you in her book which is readily available on the internet. There is a ton of referenced literature in all her books They are not too technical and I recommend them to all my patients who want to try natural products before resorting to big pharma. I used to think Dr Rogers was on the fringes of medicine but now I know she was at the forefront and I have learned much from her books and you can too ! Until next month …Get well, stay well.
JT BARRY MD
Checklist For The Last Chapter
It’s been a while since I’ve covered it but I have to deal with it practically every day so let’s make sure we get through it as painlessly as possible. What I am talking about is your dying … the last chapter of your life and what control you have over it. I have been known to say to people ”I like you. -I hope you drop dead.” People are taken aback until they actually think about it, then they get it. You can drop dead in your sleep after years of good or you can succumb to one of your many illnesses probably during some nursing home stay. You know what a great place they are. They must be great because they are full all the time. Yet everyone I know says ”You’ll never get ME in one of those places!” This column is for you to plan ahead so you actually have some say in what happens to you when you are no longer independent. Don’t leave it up to your kids, most don’t have what it takes to do the right thing and honor your wishes, it gives many of them a guilt trip making life or death decisions that were not thought out ahead of time. You know me – I think you should have it all planned out, the burial business, even what you want in your obit and the music you want played. But we are not talking about what happens after you die, we are talking about filling out a few forms that will guide your care at possible end of life situations.
Either you are going to go out easy or hard —that’s your call— either surrounded by friends and family in your own home or die in some sterile Intensive Care Unit being tortured by emotionally repressed staff that are treating your body, doing whatever they can to eke out a few more hours or days of your badly dwindled self. I don’t know about you but that’s an easy choice for me. So that means I am a DNR. -Do Not Resuscitate. No CPR for me. I am well read on the success statistics of CPR and except for defibrillator use, there is only a tiny chance of meaningful recovery.
So the first decision you have to make is who will be your health care proxy. You should list an alternate because people die, etc. This person should have a good idea of your end of life wishes. My wife is my proxy and she knows my wishes well. There are free forms on the internet so you have no excuse.
Then you decide on DNR for yourself or not. If you really want everything done, (which I translate to mean that you have no idea what’s in store for you), but if you do indeed want every possible means taken to keep you alive all you need is the Health Care Proxy.
If you want to be DNR which, to me, translates to mean dignified death then you have to get an out of hospital DNR form from your doctor. They have blank ones on file. This only works if people see the paper so keep it in that folder on the fridge next to your med list.
Now it’s New York State so you know there is some terrible paperwork yet to be faced. A completely unnecessarily complex form that tortures patients families and doctors alike. It’s called the MOLST form. This form addresses reasonable questions about your care but in a needlessly complicated way. The form proceeds to ask about full code versus DNR, then whether you just want respiratory support, then to ask about IV fluids, antibiotics, at what point to hospitalize you etc. -Good questions … bad form.
I know a lady who had two children who were both doctors. -The daughter came to her mother one day and said, “You know, mom, your son is your health care proxy. Did you know that if you were in a nursing home and had pneumonia he would withhold antibiotics and let you die?!” The mother responded ”That’s exactly why HE is my proxy and you are not. If I ever end up in a nursing home that means I’m in a bad way. Don’t keep me around.”
It’s hard to pull the plug … it’s hard to see your loved one slowly endure the dwindles. Each one of us has to decide for themselves the right thing to do but it sure helps the family a lot if your wishes are obvious and oft repeated. My guiding principles are to try and treat everyone at this time like they were my own father and also to go along with whatever they want to do for as long as we can (even if its not in their best health interests) because that’s what I would want done for me. I hope I drop dead … just not today.
Now let’s get serious. Your loved one is in the adult home or nursing home. They wouldn’t be there if they could avoid it. They wouldn’t be there if they were healthy. They are indeed writing the last chapter of their lives. Why are you still insisting on giving them so many pills. Of course they are depressed. -Do you really think a little white pill is going to make it all better? You are deluding yourself and subjecting your loved one to unnecessary meds. Dr. Richard Kennedy published in the Journal of the American Medical Association November 2018 that the most commonly used drugs Aricept and Namenda actually worsened dementia and cause patients to be worse off than without the medicine. I know people that have started their mother or father etc., on one of these pills and they did well and I’m not discounting that but the published literature in a very prestigious medical journal says not only do they not work but they make people worse. Also, I see many people in the nursing home setting still taking cholesterol drugs. Dying quickly of a heart attack or stroke would be a blessing in these patients. The evidence that statin drugs work well in this population is very very limited and I don’t think justifies their use. For that matter I wouldn’t treat blood pressure because I think the side effects of many of the blood pressure pills outweigh the possible benefits. No, may I suggest to you that when you are putting your loved ones in the nursing home it’s time to stop almost every single medicine and focus on what’s important … their comfort. If they want ice cream and whiskey for breakfast and dinner great. If they want to eat M & M ‘s instead of peas, what color do they prefer? Multiple studies have shown that when you stop the polypharmacy some patients actually improve off the medications!
Some people look at me when we have these discussions like I am trying to finish off their relatives. On the contrary, I am devoted to doing everything I can to improve the quality of their life. Unfortunately patients and doctors alike put way too much faith in the pills which is not justified by the published medical literature but the urge to do something is very strong. It’s taken me over 30 years as a physician to realize that sometimes, often really, less is more.
Until next month … get well … stay well.
(ed. Readers can listen to Dr. Joe Barry’s radio show “Your Health Matters” airing Sunday afternoons at 12:00pm on WSYR 570)
To Bleed Or Not To Bleed
It’s no wonder that you’re confused and your health suffers accordingly. You keep getting conflicting advice from health professionals. Being one of them, a health care provider, it’s a little embarrassing. Coffee bad … coffee good. Milk bad … dairy great. Eggs bad … eggs redeemed like the Christ child. Your government and professional guidelines recommended that you get 60% of your calories from carbohydrates. My people believe that insulin controls the burning of fat in you body and we tell you to limit dramatically your carbs to keep your insulin low. Who do you believe? How do you decide?
Sometimes the advice or guidelines change based on improvements in science and, of course, that is appropriate. But, too often the guidelines are either not based on the highest levels of science or the industries involved had some less-than-appropriate involvement in guiding the guidelines. There is plenty of literature on this. So I try to rely on the evidence, the science and not the guidelines. A case in point is the aspirin controversy.
On one hand we have the United States Preventive Services Task Force that currently recommends that adults 50 to 59 years of age start taking a daily low-dose aspirin if they have a 10% or greater 10-year cardiovascular risk, do not have bleeding risks and are willing to do so for 10 years. In patients older than 59 the risks outweigh the benefits and there’s insufficient evidence to assess the benefits of people younger than 50. This recommendation, which was issued in 2016, was based on 11 randomized control trials between 1988 and 2014.
On the other hand, we have the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2014 that cited that there is insufficient evidence for using low-dose aspirin therapy for primary prevention of heart attack or stroke and three recent studies support this position. In the “aspirin to reduce the risk of initial vascular events” or the ARRIVE trial, 12,000 European and U.S. adults 55 years of age or older without diabetes were given a hundred milligrams of aspirin daily for 5 years. They were at moderate risk of cardiovascular disease … meaning heart attack or stroke. No difference occurred between composite outcomes of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, unstable angina, stroke, or TIA. However, 1% of the aspirin group had bleeding versus only 0.5% of the placebo group.
Another trial, the Study of Cardiovascular Events and Diabetes Trial, enrolled 15,000 adults 40 years of age or older in the United Kingdom. After a follow-up of 7.4 years the aspirin group had a lower percentage of people having a serious vascular event than the placebo group but this benefit was offset by an increased risk of major bleeding. The numbers needed to treat would be 91 and 112 respectively from which they concluded that aspirin had no net benefit.
Finally, the Aspirin And Reducing Events In The Elderly Trial, examined the effects of 5 years of daily low-dose aspirin on community-dwelling adults 70 years or older in the U.S. and Australia. There were no differences in the primary endpoint of disability free survival, dementia, cardiovascular deaths, or hospitalization. However, the aspirin group had a higher rate of major hemorrhage and higher all-cause mortality.
So there are three recent good sized trials that question the use of aspirin in primary prevention. If you have already had a heart attack or stroke that’s a different story … stay on your aspirin. But the rest of you —schooled to take your aspirin and your multivitamin every day like trained seals, believing, somehow, that this would protect you despite your many and manifold dietary indiscretions— may want to think twice about the daily aspirin ritual. Your doctor should be having this conversation with you on a regular basis. -What are your risks and how can you best modify them? Lifestyle changes have always trumped medications but how much time does your doctor spend talking about this and making a plan to improve your health. For that matter, has your doctor assessed your 10 year Cardiovascular risk using the American Heart Association / American College of Cardiology risk calculator? How else are you deciding whether or not to take aspirin or take a statin? Personally, I think the calculator grossly overestimates your risks and therefore favors statin use in most people —and practically everyone over the age of 70 regardless of other risk factors— but at least it’s a place to start your cholesterol and aspirin conversation. Did I emphasize that dietary and exercise changes are far more effective than any medication in changing your risks of dying from the most common causes of death? It’s easy to recommend some medication, it’s harder, takes longer, and is more involved, to talk to patients about changing their behavior but that’s where the real benefits are. Stop depending on your doctor to manage your illness and enlist them in your efforts to improve your wellness. Your office visits should be a review of your diet and exercise, a conversation about improving your lifestyle, serial evaluations of your efforts long before you and your doctor turn to pills.
Getting back to the question of aspirin … When I am asked about aspirin I suggest people take it religiously … one tablet of any dose once a week on Sunday.
Until next month … get well and stay well.
Sugar Substitute Skulduggery
There is an additive that was recently approved by the FDA that you should know about. Its industrial name is E951. The plan is to include it in over 6,000 products. It will be consumed by millions of people daily. It will likely be added to soft drinks, chewing gum, candy, desserts, yogurt as well as pharmaceuticals, in particular, syrups and antibiotics for children.
I first became interested in this additive because it has known adverse effects on the biome and you know how seriously I have been researching the importance of the bugs in your gut. Unfortunately E951 directly kills many of the bugs in your gut and adversely affects the ratio of Bacteroides and Firmicutes. You want more Bacteroides and less Firmicutes and E951 does just the opposite and that’s not good for you and your health. This is well-documented in the scientific literature.
When this additive was approved in Europe, there were immediate reports to their version of the FDA, which included: migraines, change in vision, nausea and vomiting, trouble sleeping, change in heart rate, abdominal pain, joint pain, depression, memory loss, seizures and brain tumors. That’s right brain tumors. Adverse reactions to E951 accounted for more than 75% of that agencies complaints involving a food additive!
E951 is made up of two main ingredients combined with a methyl ester. This methyl ester breaks down to methanol in the body. Methanol is grain alcohol. That’s the stuff that makes you go blind if you drink too much of it. This methanol, in turn, is converted to formaldehyde in the body. That’s right … formaldehyde. According to the American Cancer Society various agencies including National Toxicology Project, The International Agency for Research on Cancer, The EPA and The National Cancer Institute all list formaldehyde as a known or likely carcinogen. Furthermore one of the main ingredients is well-known to be neurotoxic. So, there are plenty of reported side effects: breakdown products that are known to cause cancer, ingredients known to be neurotoxic, adverse effects on the gut biome, etc. Who needs this product in the USA?
The pharmaceutical company reported 60 studies to evaluate the safety of E951. All 60 studies found no problem with the drug whatsoever. However, 93 independent studies were done and a problem was found 80% of the time. The drug company tried for years to get E951 approved. The science was so sloppy that the FDA took the rare step of asking the US attorney in Chicago to investigate the pharmaceutical company for its potentially illegal actions. The long list of very shoddy and very suspicious activity of the drug company can be found on the arizonaadvancedmedicine.com website.
Senator Edward Kennedy at the April 8, 1976 hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Labor and Public Welfare stated: “The extensive nature of the almost unbelievable range of abuses discovered by the FDA on several major products is profoundly disturbing.”
So how does a drug whose research contained an unbelievable range of abuses get approval? Well, the FDA unanimously rejected the application for approval of E951 but when the President was elected, he appointed a new FDA commissioner who overruled the objections of his scientists. The head of the drug company went to work for the president on his transition team. How’s that for political skulduggery? Furthermore, this same commissioner went to work for the same drug company at the end of his tenure at the FDA.
So a drug, E951, with very poor scientific background, with reported toxicity, with known carcinogens as a by product of its breakdown in the body is unleashed on an unsuspecting and trusting public and will be incorporated into thousands of products used by almost every American.
Now for the reveal … E951 was actually approved in 1981! The President was Ronald Reagan. The head of the drug company was Donald Rumsfeld and the drug company was G.D.Searle. The FDA commissioner was Arthur H. Hayes who joined Searle’s public relations agency (Burson-Marsteller) as a senior medical advisor immediately after leaving the FDA (in 1983). You know E951 by its commercial name: Aspartame or Nutrasweet. Now you know the rest of the story.
If you really check out the details of the science you will never touch diet soda or a product containing Nutrasweet / Aspartame again. It does break down to methanol which turns into formaldehyde. It does trash your microbiome. It has indeed been the most reported food additive to the FDA. Research does suggest it causes brain damage and brain tumors. AVOID IT IN ALL ITS FORMS. Soda is the low hanging fruit of improving your health. Whether it’s the truly awful high fructose corn syrup found in regular soda or Nutrasweet in diet soda … you don’t need either one. Both are clearly bad for you and have nothing nutritionally redeeming about them. Just say no to soda and diet soda.
Until next month … get well … stay well.
(ed. Readers can listen to Dr. Joe Barry’s radio show “Your Health Matters” airing Sunday afternoons at 12:00pm on WSYR 570)
The Cardio ION Nutritional Test
Finally something new and exciting to talk about. Well it’s not actually new but its new to New York State. There is a company in Georgia that has been in business for over 20 years doing nutritional analysis and finally they have gotten clearance to do business in New York and that’s big news because this analysis could be fundamental to figuring out what’s wrong with you.
I do a lot of blood work … its one of the most important ways to access what’s wrong with you. We doctors check your thyroid, your Vitamin D, your liver and kidney function, your cholesterol etc. … but we have never before had the option to check your health at the cellular level. Never before could we check your amino acid levels, your toxins like aluminum, cadmium, mercury, lead, your omega 3’s, omega 6’s, oxidative stress, cell membrane components etc. all in one test.
Think of it this way. Your cells, the cells that make up your body —wherein all the chemical processes that keep you alive take place— are swimming in a pool of nutrients and chemicals. The question is … are your cells swimming in Skaneateles lake or are they swimming in Onondaga lake? Now for the first time we can actually measure these chemicals.
Your doctor knows about essential amino acids. Your doctor certainly knows about vitamins. Your doctor knows about chemical processes like the Krebs cycle. We all studied these pathways and processes. What we have not done is actually measure these nutrients in your body. We can now. We know the chemical components of these pathways. We know the composition of the cell walls and the mitochondria … but we have never before been able to see if your components are the right ones and the right amount. We can now. We can compare your own unique “recipe” with the gold standard “recipe” and the great thing is that we can adjust your recipe with changes of diet and use of selected supplements tailored to your specific deficiencies to approach the gold standard and when your recipe approaches the gold standard your health improves.
It’s really like a chemistry class. There are millions of chemical reactions taking place in your body continuously. Every chemist knows it is critical to have the right amount of the right ingredients to get a good product. Just ask Mr. White in Breaking Bad. Finally your doctor can order a test that tells us if you have the right amount of the right substrates for building health in your body.
How many people with chronic fatigue, malaise, or other chronic illness have been to doctor after doctor and found nothing actionable. “It’s your genes” or “it’s depression” or “its all in your head” are common rationale for not finding the cause of your illness. What if the real cause for your illness is some deficiency? Why not measure the measurable things and find out?
There are two issues with this testing which is called Cardio-Ion test and its offered by Genova Diagnostics in California. The first issue is that it’s not a cheap test. -But neither is an MRI or a Cat Scan. The cost varies depending on your insurance and deductible etc. With no insurance the cost is around $500 dollars. As of 3/19/2019 there were only 5 doctors ordering this test in New York. As I said it’s been around for over 20 years but only available in NYS since 2018. As one of the five current doctors ordering the test in New York I am still trying to get a firm price for my patients but you don’t have to come to me or one of the other doctors. Your own doctor can sign up to order the test. There is no charge to open an account or onerous paperwork to do so it’s not that hard for your health care provider to get set up to do this test.
The second issue is that the test is so specific, so detailed, that it will take your doctor some real effort to learn how to interpret it. The 11 page report measures the standard items like total cholesterol triglycerides etc. but also measures ferritin fibrinogen, C-reactive protein, insulin, testosterone, magnesium, homocysteine coenzyme Q10, 2 different measures of your vitamin E, limiting amino acids, branched-chain amino acids, essential amino acids, neurotransmitters and precursors, urea cycle and ammonia detoxification, aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, zinc, copper, selenium, lipid peroxidase, DNA oxidative stress markers, polyunsaturated omega-3, omega-6, monounsaturated fats, saturated fats, and nutrient markers. It also measures cell-regulation markers, toxicants and detoxification and compounds related to bacterial or yeast/fungal origin. How’s that for a list!!?! So your doctor understands all these components but has never had to review them in this way so be patient with them. I was introduced to this test by Dr. Sheri Rogers and I actually pay her to help me interpret the results. Once I have done enough tests I will be qualified on my own but I have been impressed with how much information you can extract from this test. Dr. Rogers —like Dr. Gundry— believes that food, the right food, is critical to your health and they both believe that supplements are necessary to achieve the right “recipe” -(in part because we live in such a processed, inorganic world). These two experts from vastly different experiences and very different geographical locations both believe that only through lab tests can we really know the correctness of your “recipe” so to speak.
Do your own research. It’s your health and wellness after all. I think this testing will become standard practice as more and more doctors become familiar with it. The more exact science we can bring to bear on your health the better.
Until next month … get well and stay well.
The Problem With Pot
Everybody and their brother is talking about the benefits of marijuana. According to cbdatwork.com recreational marijuana will be legalized in 2019 in New York State. Canada to the North of us and Massachusetts to the East have both fully legalized marijuana so it appears just a matter of time before its legal and available in New York State. Here’s an interesting bit of trivia … What was the first country in the world to legalize marijuana? The answer is a country in South America called Uruguay.
Let’s start with the very popular CBD oil. CBD oil is a legal derivative of the hemp plant that has some of the benefits of marijuana without the high. You can get CBD oil from well established outlets like Charlotte’s Web in Colorado … they even have dosing for your pets. Or you can get CBD oil from the local gas station and many places in between. The people selling CBD oil claim that it can help or cure many ailments … from insomnia, chronic pain, dyspepsia, arthritis, and chronic fatigue to name a few. I think CBD oil can help some people some of the time so I am all for trying it instead of more toxic drugs that your doctor or healthcare provider might prescribe. Benefits may be exaggerated but the likelihood of serious adverse reaction is low so the risk benefit ratio favors giving it a try.
Now medical marijuana has been legal for over a year now in New York State and it looks like recreational marijuana is on the horizon. I believe that marijuana is much safer than cigarette smoking and I believe marijuana is far safer than alcohol but that doesn’t mean is completely safe. All of the above, cigarettes, marijuana and alcohol and much more should be restricted from children. Most adults won’t be seriously harmed by pot. They might have issues with lack of motivation and concentration but there doesn’t appear to be a significant risk of lung disease, cancer, etc. with recreational use. Marijuana is touted as a treatment for chronic pain and insomnia, and the supposition is that people taking marijuana can and will take less sleeping pills and narcotics. Unfortunately, the literature and my personal experience as a Medical Marijuana Prescriber have not found that to be the case. Hey, even if it doesn’t cut down other med use, if it improves the quality of your life it’s a reasonable option to try. It’s no panacea but it’s also not opening up Pandora’s box.
However, one type of patient should probably avoid marijuana —medical or otherwise— those with a pre-existing mental illness … like depression, paranoia and schizophrenia. Research done by Alex Berenson has looked into the use of marijuana by people that are mentally ill. As you may be aware the THC content of marijuana has jumped from the historical norm of 2-3 % to over 20% from the modern cultivars. This increased potency can take a toll on patients with underlying serious mental illnesses. A January 2018 paper in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that people using cannabis in 2001 were almost 3 times as likely to use opioids 3 years later even after adjusting for other potential risks. Furthermore, studies have shown that people with schizophrenia are more likely to be violent under the influence of marijuana. Quoting Alex Berenson directly “Teenagers who smoke marijuana regularly are about three times as likely to develop schizophrenia, the most devastating psychotic disorder.” And, after an exhaustive review, the National Academy of Medicine found in 2017 that “cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychoses; the higher the use, the greater the risk.” There’s a lot more info about the connection between pot and mental illness elaborated in Berenson’s new book Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence.
Now I am not into fear mongering but I am also not into the overhyping that accompanies any new drug or treatment. I guess that makes me a goldilocks guy … the middle road seems safest to me. Again, I don’t think marijuana is a cure all but it’s also not the work of the antichrist. -Caution should be used in patients with psychiatric issues.
Until next month … get well and stay well.
Protein shakes and Paleo Diets
Protein shakes and paleo diets are all the rage right now but I’ve got to ring a cautionary note (if I may) regarding the excess protein in most Americans diets. My argument against excessive protein will be made both epidemiologically and scientifically. Don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with protein but when it’s mostly animal-based protein vs. plant-based protein it’s more inflammatory and when I say more inflammatory I’m referring primarily but not exclusively to Insulin-like growth factor-1. IGF-1, like insulin itself, is designed to inflame you and induce growth. Unfortunately for most of us the growth is in belly fat and cancer and diabetes and this is not the right direction for your health.
You need protein. Protein is an essential building block of nutrition. Unfortunately when you eat more protein than your body needs it gets converted into sugar and then into fat. There is no significant way to store protein as energy. Your body stores energy as glycogen … a quick storage form and fat … the long term storage form of energy. This is simple biochemistry. You need fat in your diet. -Your brain is 60% composed of fat. How can cholesterol be evil and the cause of death dismemberment and destruction if we make cholesterol every day and people with a genetic deficiency where they can’t make cholesterol don’t live long. So you need protein and you need fat in your diet but too much of either is not a good thing.
Many people are starting to understand that the high carb diet recommended by the American Heart Association is dead wrong and in their effort to decrease the carbs they turn to protein (i.e. the paleo diet) which is low carb and high protein. You can lose weight on this diet, no problem, because you have eliminated sugar and thereby lowered Insulin which is the key to weight loss. So you can lose weight on a high protein diet but it may not be healthy for you in the long run. Too much protein can lead to weight gain, diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
Science wise, we have discovered mTOR … which is mammalian target of Rapamycin. This protein kinase is the ultimate controller of growth and destruction at the cellular level. High mTOR is important when you are a child and promotes growth but when mTOR is high in adults it promotes cancer etc. Excessive protein in the diet can stimulate mTOR. This excess protein is typically animal based which is high in methionine, an amino acid which directly stimulates mTOR. There is speculation that caloric restriction which has been shown to prolong longevity probably does so because of the restriction in methionine.
Let’s look at an epidemiologic study on protein in the diet. In 2016, researchers reviewed protein intakes of more than 131,000 women and men from the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. After tracking their diets for up to 32 years, the authors found that a higher intake of red meat, especially processed versions (sausage, bacon, hot dogs, salami), was linked to a modestly higher risk of death, while a higher protein intake from plant foods carried a lower risk. This is a large study done for a long time in a population we are familiar with so it has to be taken seriously.
Broadly there are multiple reasons that more than a little red meat is bad for you.
#1 There is an increased cancer risk … primarily of colon and rectal cancer but also in premenopausal breast cancer. I am not a vegetarian but that group has a 40% reduction in cancer compared with us omnivores. Processing or cooking meat produces compounds known to be carcinogenic including heterocyclic amines (HCA) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).
#2 Meat consumption increases risk of heart disease and diabetes. As third world countries adopt a western diet … meaning more processed food and more meat… their risk of heart disease and diabetes increases.
#3 Eating meat increases risk of obesity. Cultures around the world with the greatest meat intake also have higher rates of obesity and this gets back to the fact that excess protein is turned into sugar and then into fat in the body.
#4 Meat represents the highest risk for foodborne illness. Sure romaine lettuce has taken a beating recently but it pales in risk compared to salmonella etc.
#5 Meat eaters have more atherosclerosis and this has an effect on their sexual performance and vegetarians have been shown to have better sperm quantity and quality. Maybe the hormones in the meat affect your sex life as well.
#6 It is estimated that 60 percent of all antibiotics sold in America make it into our livestock and this poses risks to all of us in terms of antibiotic resistant organisms etc.
We probably need half the protein we have been told we need. The old rule is 1 gram of protein for every kilogram of ideal body weight. So a 170 pound man weighs 77 kilogram and that means 70 grams of protein in the diet. The new understanding of protein metabolism says we need only one half that amount. If you are going to eat meat your daily portion should be smaller than a deck of cards.
Whey protein is made from dairy source and still as IGF-1 in it and is therefore not the best protein source. Pea proteins are better but still may be inflammatory for lectin reasons. Horses, the Great Apes and Elephants never touch animal protein and look how well muscled they are. I recommend if you really want to have a protein shake that you try hemp seed, flaxseed and spirulina as good sources of non inflammatory protein.
Until next month … get well … stay well.
Holiday Gift Suggestions
Instead of harping on your usual holiday behavior of stuffing your face with whatever you want and using the excuse … ”its the holidays!,” I have decided to give you some gift suggestions that will improve the health of anyone you get the gifts for.
Let’s start with some reading material for those few of you and your friends that still read books. Of course there are YouTube versions of all these authors for those of you who have given up on reading. For me there is nothing like the print version that I can dog ear, markup and review again but I know the idea of a buying a physical book is fading like the memory of most 90 year olds.
First is a magnificent book on vaccines by Dr. Suzanne Humphries entitled Dissolving Illusions. I too thought that vaccines had saved more lives than any medication but after reading this book, and others, I now have a different view and so will you! Dr. Humphries was a practicing nephrologist (kidney specialist) when she started to investigate why her very sick patients were being given flu shots routinely when hospitalized and that changed her life forever. The book is not about her … the book is about the science and history of vaccination.
Second is another book by a nephrologist but this one focuses on diet. Dr. Jason Fung wrote Intermittent Fasting after watching one too many diabetic patients end up on dialysis after pill after pill did nothing to affect their disease progression. Other longevity specialists call it time limited eating but the basic idea is there is nothing easier or more straightforward than fasting to improve your health. Gluten issues? Try fasting. Money issues? Try fasting. Food allergies? Try fasting. Limited food choices? Try fasting. Fasting has been used for thousands of years to lose weight and improve your health. Dr. Fung lays out the when, where and whys in a very straightforward and simple manner. This book is not just for diabetics either. Anyone who has an interest in improving their health, their immune system, their mitochondria, etc. will benefit from this book.
Two other books I highly recommend are Dr. Thomas Levy’s Death by Calcium where he lays out the real cause of osteoporosis and details how dangerous calcium supplementation (other than through diet) may actually be. This book is not about his opinions … it is a scientific exploration of the actual effects of calcium in your body. If calcium supplements are as good for you as your health professional urges … why are drugs that block their effect so beneficial in dealing with hypertension and heart disease? The final book I recommend is by the great Dr. Robert Lustig who wrote The Hacking of the American Mind which lays out exactly why so many of us are addicted and depressed. It’s a fabulous read which will leave you very worried about the current health situation and future generations as well. We are doomed if we keep going down our current path but he lays out simple easy steps to reverse course.
For those of you less erudite let me recommend that instead of another sweater you consider a gift certificate this year … not to Dicks or Destiny … not that there’s anything wrong with that but what about a gift certificate for a massage for someone who works out all the time. A certificate for an hypnosis or acupuncture session for the person you love that still smokes or is in chronic pain. -That may be the gift that keeps on giving!
Finally, give the gift of time and yourself … spend some time volunteering … spend some time in the nursing home … spend some time with your wife … your kids … your aunt Em. Take someone you care about but don’t see that often to a show. Check out the great Desantis at the Palace show Sunday December 9th. Fabulous orchestra, great venue, local singing talent, holiday tunes and fresh popcorn. -How can you go wrong with that?!
Until next month … get well … stay well. Merry Christmas and God bless us every one!
Butter Is Back Baby
I am not controversial by nature or training but I can’t run from a fight either. It pains me greatly when I read that the American Heart Association still, to this day, in spite of all the published and well researched information is still telling people to avoid saturated fats. Despite a mountain of evidence their recommendations about diet have not changed and they still recommend corn oil and canola oil. Forget “I cant believe its not butter.” I cant believe an organization entrusted with your health would continue to give out terrible advice … advice not based on science or research.
If I am going to take on the AHA I have to come correct as we say in the hood. First I would tell you to check out YouTube videos by Nina Teicholz who has written extensively about this and her book The Big Fat Surprise is quite the read. I am not going to talk about my 30 years experience as a primary care doctor. I am not going to give my my opinion, I am not going to bring you my personal research. -I am going to share with you the obvious research that your own doctor should know … research that has been widely published and widely reported but ignored because it departs from the party line. Fat bad … clogs the arteries … carbs good … get most of your calories from that source. -Saturated fats very bad avoid at all cost. All of this is wrong. Let’s start with the basic fact that saturated fat is found aplenty in breast milk and we know how toxic that substance is!
The largest and latest study to look at high carb versus high fat diet called the PURE study demonstrated that high carb diets were bad for your health and high fat diets were good for your health. Another study PREVIMED also showed that high fat diets like the Mediterranean diet were much healthier than the standard high carb American diet. But those two individual studies are not enough to convince you so lets tally a little more evidence with 5 separate studies.
Let’s start with Hooper L, et al. Reduction in saturated fat intake for cardiovascular disease – Cochrane Database Systematic Review, 2015. The Cochrane Database is considered one of the finest independent panels to review medical issues. This study involved 15 randomized controlled trials with over 59,000 participants. The conclusion was that “People who reduced their saturated fat intake were just as likely to die, or get heart attacks or strokes, compared to those who ate more saturated fat”.
Next up is a study by De Souza RJ, et al. entitled Intake of saturated and trans unsaturated fatty acids and risk of all cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies – BMJ, 2015. The British Medical Journal is not some obscure publication. The data included 73 studies, with 90,500–339,000 participants for each endpoint. Their conclusion: People who consumed more saturated fat were not more likely to experience heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes or death from any cause, compared to those who ate less saturated fat.
Next up is a study by Siri-Tarino PW, et al. Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease – American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2010. The studies included a total of 347,747 participants, who were followed for 5–23 years. Conclusion: This study did not find any association between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular disease.
Then we have the much published Dr Chowdhury R, et al. Association of dietary, circulating, and supplement fatty acids with coronary risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis – Annals of Internal Medicine Journal, 2014. The Annals is also another mainstream medical publication. The study included 49 observational studies with more than 550,000 participants, as well as 27 randomized controlled trials with more than 100,000 participants. Conclusion: People with higher saturated fat intake were not at an increased risk of heart disease or sudden death.
Finally, we have Schwab U, et al. Effect of the amount and type of dietary fat on risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, and risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer: a systematic review – Food and Nutrition Research, 2014. Participants included both people who were healthy and those with risk factors. This review included 607 studies; randomized controlled trials, prospective cohort studies and nested case-control studies. Results: Consuming saturated fat was not linked with an increased risk of heart disease or an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
What does this all mean to you? The very simple take away message is that butter and olive oil, avocado and coconut oil are very good for you and corn oil, canola oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil and all the other processed oils etc. are bad for you. Since they are not saturated they are MORE liable to be oxidized than the saturated fats … and oxidation is bad for you. It’s not about your cholesterol level it’s about how oxidized your cholesterol is and that is controlled by your diet. The second take home message is that any oil in any frier in any restaurant is bad for you because the chemicals that are created when you heat these oils are super bad for you but that’s another article right there. Google it in the meantime.
It’s time again to challenge your health care provider … what are their recommendations about saturated fats? … are they following the party line? That’s easy but it’s wrong. What evidence do they have besides the unsupportable recommendations of the AHA? Look into who funds the AHA if you want to see why they haven’t updated their recommendations. Do your own research. … Its your health after all and what’s more important than your health? Sure there is some crazy stuff on the internet but its a powerful tool and available to everyone. It’s way past time to just trust your doctor. Partner with your health care provider to focus on your wellness. … Look past your illness and regain your wellness … more on this topic next month.
Until then … get well … stay well.
SEPTEMBER 2018 TABLEHOPPING ARTICLE
Failure…biggest loser… double failure if you want to be technically accurate. I don’t think I brag about my successes ( maybe I just haven’t had that many ) but I am not afraid to share my failures. If you are looking for some hard core medical advice …skip this column..this is an article about my recent experiences. I share them for one reason , if you get to know me better you may actually start to trust my advice . I take some alternative views to dairy, vaccines, statins, and in general our medication oriented practice of medicine. . Of course I don’t really want you to trust me…I want to serve as an instigation into your own research. Its your health, it’s your life…don’t you want to make informed choices? Well here’s two recent examples of my personal failure . Know me better and perhaps believe me more when I write about something medical I have researched.
Failure #1.
I practice brazilian jiu jitsu and of course recommend it as great exercise, great mental discipline and fun. I work out at Inner circle BJJ in solvay with a great group. I did karate for years but when this style became available there was nothing else for me. I have taken classes for years but being a beginner in this sport is really not easy and it takes a while to really start to get good at it…at least for me. Once the dojo moved closer to me my attendance and therefore my understanding improved. BJJ has been described as wrestling and chess mixed together. I have no illusions , I am a 60 year old blue belt ….most other people would have long ago quit or have gotten better and received their black belt. Well, I was buoyed by a recent win at a tournament in New Jersey and signed up for the Worlds Masters BJJ tournament in Las Vegas . A weekend in Vegas is never a bad deal but i was way too nervous to enjoy anything at all until after my competition. The long and short of it is I lost in my first bout. Specifically I started a standing guillotine choke ..we transitioned to the ground with my opponent in a better position. It took me a while to slowly reverse and come out on top but I got caught in a triangle choke. I had to tap out. Now you could say, I spent a lot of time and money and energy doing this sport for years and years and we come all the way out to Vegas for me to lose so quickly. Thats not me. Sure I was pissed about losing especially in front of my wife but how long can you pick at that sore before moving on. I went back to the dojo where Professor Walt had already seen my video and we started working on my deficiencies..and there remain plenty but I am just starting now as a blue belt to conceptualize the positions and then of course to use the right move and the right timing . I guess I didn’t take that loss too personally because I get beat all the time by my teammates …It’s just that most of them are half my age and I hoped going up against some other 60 year old guy would be easier.
Not so , it turns out. My sweet Debbie tried to console me…..”Look honey, how many men are there out there that are doing this kind of stuff…and how many are doing it at your age..you should be proud.” I couldn’t hear her because I was muttering loser city, loserooni, loser , failure, loser. But after all it’s Vegas and we were soon distracted.
That’s failure number one. Much time and effort went into this endeavor only to result in failure. Doesn’t faze me. I will learn from my failure.
Failure #2 is another insight into where I am coming from. Again, if you know me a little you might be that much more motivated to instead of just reading my recommendations.. to actually take action…. look into the sources I reference repeatedly. Drs Gundry, Attia, McDougal, Patrick, Mercola, Sinatra etc. Will my sharing my failures translate into you taking me more seriously or less?
Well, failure #2 involves a recent climbing trip in the North Cascade range in the state of Washington. It was climbing with the Haswell boys again. Another long weekend…another peak attempt. We have a great history of what were for me in many senses of the words breathtaking escapades…You have to be in very good shape to take on a Haswell hike and you can be guaranteed to be brought to your physical limit and don’t get me going about facing my fear of heights. We attempted Prophets peak…not a 14,000 or 13,000 foot peak like we have focused on in the past…so the lower elevation should have made the climb easier but the complication was the greater than 5000 foot elevation gain to do in one day. This is one day after the 10 mile hike up 1600 foot elevation with full packs on to base camp. This area isn’t like your local parks with well marked trails …the guidebook says …go uphill after the stream…there is no path just find your own path of least resistance. Ok ..sounds kind of zen like but in actuality it’s going straight up a 30 degree slope covered in huge fallen trees and scrubby brush….3000 feet of this to get to a class 4 pitch ( my translation..no technical equipment needed but if you miss a foot or hand hold you could get badly hurt or die. ) After this , a talus field of stone for a thousand more feet..again…straight up. I made it 4000 feet up this 5000 footer and just couldn’t keep going. . ..I gassed. I bonked. I could go no further . Five hours of continuous climbing in the Haswell manner (non-stop) and I was done. I had been soaked in sweat for hours and had probably done more elevation than on any other trip but I was still over 1000 feet from the summit. The Haswell boys pressed on to the greater glory and summiteed a peak reportedly rarely done . I waited on the mountain side below and we retraced our steps back to camp. We started at 730 am and got back to camp at 730 pm…They summited. I did not. They succeeded I failed. Failure again. For the second time in a month. I thought my conditioning was pretty good but it obviously wasn’t Haswell quality. If I cant talk myself out of another grueling trip next year I am going to really work on my conditioning. I am not usually the limiting factor in our climbs but I sure was this time.
As I sat there in the meadow , waiting for them to climb down to me after peaking I was cursing Pete for leaving me the smoked cheese instead of the cheddar..who does that ! As I waited shivering a little from dehydration, I looked out across the valley at a vista of peak after peak with glaciers …old growth forests and clouds just above..wildflowers and wild little blueberry bushes with berries all around me Yes, this is failure but look where I am.! Agian how many other people are even doing this. I guess the sporting slogan is “you’re still in the game” .
So you know I preach about you addressing your diet and exercise,sleep and stress in my medical pulpit in my office, on the radio show and in these articles. Hopefully this article gave you a glimpse that I practice what I preach. Its your health, it’s your healthcare dont sit back and be passive. Take control of your health by focusing on diet and exercise, sleep and stress…make a plan with your doctor / life coach /trainer and meet frequently enough to monitor your progress and achieve your goals. You have to be proactive. Your doctor is adept at managing illness ..that’s how we were trained…you must manage your wellness….and this you know begins with your diet. Your health is tremendously affected by your diet. You all know that but you ignore it until the illness sets in and you focus on that. Focus on more salad and less processed food and turn your health around. Don’t look for improved health from any pill…look to your dinner plate.
Until next month…. get well stay well