Loading
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC

CO Q 10 AND YOU

It’s time to focus once again on a supplement. When I first heard about CO Q 10 I thought it was a scam. After all, what happened to CO Q 1 through 9? However , as I did more reviews of the basic physiology of the cell, the cell membrane , and the electron transport chain responsible for creating energy in our cells , there it was ! CO Q 10 is a powerful fat soluble antioxidant that also has anti-inflammatory properties and plays a critical role in energy production . It’s found throughout your body in cell membranes but it’s most abundant in the heart, liver, lungs, kidney, spleen, pancreas and adrenal glands. Apparently production of CO Q 10 peaks around the age of 25 then begins to decline so that by the age of 65 your body makes only about half the amount. CO Q 10 exists in two forms ubiquinone and ubiquinol the latter is the reduced form that’s more easily absorbed but both forms are used by the body so don’t sweat that small stuff.

According to a review in the Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Science C0 Q10 is essential for the health of virtually all human tissue and organs. In some lists it is the third most consumed dietary supplement. Vitamin D usually tops these lists and for good reason but that’s another column. C0 Q10 protects the cellular membranes from oxidative stress induced by free radicals. Supplementation with 60 mg to 500 mg for 8 to 12 weeks can significantly reduce Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha, Interleukin 6 and C Reactive Protein, all important markers of inflammation.. CO Q 10 is involved with cholesterol metabolism, regeneration of vitamin C and E, maintaining liposomal pH , sulfur metabolism, gene expression and amino acid metabolism.

Cardiac muscle cells have about 5,000 mitochondria per cell. Mitochondria are where C0 Q 10 concentrates. For further comparison, mitochondria make up 35% of the volume of cardiac tissue and only 3% to 8% of the volume of skeletal muscle tissue. In one study, 102 patients with atrial fibrillation were divided into two groups; one was given CO Q10 supplementation while the other group was given a placebo, after a year 12 people in the placebo group had a fib compared with only 3 people in the COQ10 group. Furthermore, a systematic review and meta-analysis of cardiovascular risk factors spanning 884 randomized control trials with 883,627 participants showed decreased all cause mortality in those taking the supplement.

CO Q10 acts directly on the endothelium lining our blood vessels and can directly lower your blood pressure. CO Q10 also decreases aldosterone ,a hormone that makes you retain salt and water research thereby also lowering blood pressure so there is a direct and indirect effect on blood pressure. Studies suggest CO Q10 can reduce ischemic lesions and improve outcomes after stroke. Interestingly, if you suffer from migraine headaches, CO Q10 may play a preventable role in that condition. A meta-analysis of five studies found CO Q10 was more effective than placebo for migraines.

Now, a major problem with CO Q10 is that it is blocked by statins. These are cholesterol lowering drugs like lipitor , crestor, pravachol, etc which doctors give out like candy because a number on a sheet of paper is higher than they like. So you lower your cholesterol number ( which I assert has little or nothing to do with heart disease but that’s another column) but you also block the beneficial effects of CO Q 10. Statins lower CO Q10 because they block the HMG coenzyme reductase enzyme involved in cholesterol production. The problem with blocking this enzyme is that it also blocks production of other important compounds including CO Q10. So , patients taking statins, and that’s most of you, should be supplementing with C0 Q10. Of course , check with your doctor or cardiologist but be prepared for a blank look because they dont bring this up in med school.

The body makes its own CO Q10 but it goes down dramatically as you age. You can get some CO Q10 from food as well, especially wild caught salmon, mackerel, sardine, eggs and organ meat. Good luck with that …I will take a capsule thank you. Now if you’re going to take CO Q10 as a supplement you have to avoid any CO Q10 that has vegetable oil in it. The unsaturated fat will damage the CO Q10 and it will not work properly.

You can take your health for granted or you can work actively to maintain this incredibly complex bio-electrochemical system we call the body. If you are curious, why not try the supplement and see if it gives you more energy or more vitality. There seems to be no real toxicity at the recommended levels. Of course, check with your health care provider yada yada yada.

Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC

Until next month…get well and stay well……
JT BARRY MD

February 2024 Table Hopping

Well, it’s February so love should be in the air. Valentine’s day is coming up so what medical advice do I have for you on this occasion? First, if you are waiting around for one day a year to express your affection to someone you are missing the proverbial love boat. Increasingly , modern medicine is recognizing the critical role that stress and social isolation have on your mental and physical health. All those little pills in your cabinet may not actually do you as much good as a long walk with friends. Dr Malcom Kendrick in his book The Clot Thickens points out a study wherein they used advanced computing methods to really investigate the factors leading to heart disease. Of the top ten causes, six were related to social isolation and stress !

We in the medical profession put way too much emphasis on the pills because it’s easy for everyone. Easy for us and easy for you but wrong. Ask your doctor who put you on the statin drug for your cholesterol, instead of working on your diet, how much longer you will live if you take the statin. According to a study published in the prestigious British Medical Journal “ The median postponement of death for primary and secondary prevention trials were 3.2 and 4.1 days, respectively.” PMID: 26408281. That’s right , published studies show you will live 4 days longer taking a statin. Dr Micheal Gregor from NutritionFacts.org has a great video that shows that medication really only makes a 5% difference in health outcomes…95 % comes from lifestyle .

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/The-Actual-Benefit-of-Diet-vs-Drugs/ and here’s a great video by him specifically regarding statins.

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/are-doctors-misleading-patients-about-statin-risks-and-benefits/ Ok, to move away from the heart and back to love..don’t expect any love making tips from me but I can give you a few suggestions as to how to improve your sex life. First off, regular exercise makes sexual performance better. Second, there are safe supplements to help with your testosterone levels including DHEA, DIM , and fenugreek. Yes, women have testosterone as well so I am not just speaking to the male readers.

If your testosterone levels are low , make sure you get checked out for sleep apnea as it’s a well known cause of low testosterone, along with alcohol, obesity, diabetes and narcotic use. Third, if you need to use viagra or cialis you should understand that erectile dysfunction is your penis’s way of saying you are not living right. As an aside…using goodrx coupons which are free on the internet at their site will drastically reduce the cost of these pills.

Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC

My son recently got engaged and I was wondering if he was looking for any advice on marriage. So far he hasn’t asked but if he does I will relate the lyrics from the old Charlie Pride song…”Kiss an angel good morning and love her like the devil when you get back home.” Don’t be blase about the most important person in your life.

Maybe you don’t have a special person in your life. All the more reason to stay connected to others via some organization or club/ group. There’s the Optimists, the Kiwanis Club, the Rotary, and church groups galore. Be a part of something bigger than yourself.

Until next month..get well and stay well

JT BARRY MD

January 2024 Table Hopping

It’s the beginning of the year and there must be untold columns, blogs, and podcasts preaching some type of resolution. Not me. Not this column. Resolutions put too much pressure on you. Some people change by taking baby steps and some people change by taking giant leaps…which one are you? As someone more eloquent than I said … .change comes from desperation or inspiration which won will persuade you? Unfortunately it’s desperation for most people, a new cancer or heart disease diagnosis CAN be very motivating but even then most people don’t really change their underlying habits.

We doctors suck at motivating people. Even though focusing on diet and exercise, sleep and stress should be the fundamental issues you deal with when you go to the doctor, we usually focus not on the underlying problem but on a medication to treat your symptoms. Watch the great video by Dr Michael Gregor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0y-lO2YpuQ It’s entitled “the actual benefit of diet versus drugs”. It will be an eye opener for you. I shared this video at a Monday meeting we have at the office to review issues with the staff and I hope it will persuade some of my providers to look at your health differently. Sure, it’s very easy for doctors and very easy for patients to just take a pill to cover up the symptoms but the pills usually have very little impact on your health and underlying condition whereas changing your lifestyle can have a very very dramatic effect not only on symptoms but on the underlying disease process. You can take a pill to treat your indigestion or you can embark on the often frustrating mission of figuring out what’s causing the indigestion. Same thing for blood pressure, diabetes, headaches, etc.

Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC

So, trying to get you to change via inspiration rather than desperation seems like the better choice. As I said, doctors are not trained to motivate people so you are on your own in this regard but you are not without resources. My most successful patients ( and by success I mean in terms of health improvement) motivate themselves DAILY with something they read, or watch. Maybe it’s something inspirational, something informative or something challenging. All these options are available one click away on that device of yours. Of course, you know me, I think the cellphone has been transformative in the way we live and learn and its capacity to help you improve your health is only equaled by the damage it’s doing to us culturally.

Dr Robert Lustig addresses this beautifully in his book The Hacking of the American Mind which he summarizes in this lecture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4sRsb0a30Y. For something more local try Tim Smith of smiletherapy.com based right here in Camillus He will send you daily emails that inspire, amuse and get you thinking. It makes a great gift for that certain someone in your life….you never know what to get your grandkids anyway …why not try this?

Personally, I like watching short motivational videos like Arthur’s Inspirational Transformation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448. If that doesn’t get you thinking and moving maybe nothing will.

I hope this year you will find some way to improve your health and I hope it doesn’t stem from desperation. Focus on improving your health day by day now or focus on your illness and disabilities down the road.

Until next month…get well and stay well……JT BARRY MD

DECEMBER 2023 TABLEHOPPING

Well, it’s that time of the year to dispense with strict medical advice and lean into the holiday. SInce I’m an old heterosexual white male I am sure I am completely out of touch. I am happy to have new holiday experiences but I am drawn to my traditional favorites. My wife and I watch the same holiday movies, listen to the same holiday music etc. We have done the Lights on the Lake a bunch of times and often take in the Syracuse Stage show that’s holiday themed. One year we saw a play at Syracuse Stage one week and listened to a lecture by the original author of the same play a week later. We never miss the Solstice Celebration whenever someone produces that. We are down for seeing live Xmas shows of all kinds and we also never miss the DeSantis Christmas Show. Previously at the Palace but now ensconced for the second year at the Landmark Theater. The show is Sunday Night December 11th. It’s live holiday music from one of the last big bands in the area with great vocalists who really bring the holidays home. . What’s not to like? Don’t get your Mom another sweater, get her the gift of a night out together. Doesn’t have to be this show…there’s lots of shows now and throughout the year. As I have mentioned on the radio show I read a study recently that looked at what really made people happy and it wasn’t money it was time together with others in conversation especially over meals. Give someone a gift certificate to a restaurant you want to support or you know they like. Better yet, go out to dinner with them. Avoid the french fries of course.

Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC

Holidays are stressful and you better believe stress kills. So why not try to reduce your stress by expanding your social network. Some of you may be spread too thin already but most of my patients as they get older have a smaller and smaller social network and that’s not a good thing. Use the holidays as an excuse to get together and go from there. Is there a Christmas gift better than seeing a smile on someone’s face?

Speaking of happiness …Do you know there is a real difference , a biochemical difference between pleasure and happiness? Pleasure involves the dopaminergic parts of the brain and happiness involves the serotonergic parts of the brain. There is a great video by Dr Robert Lustig entitled “The Hacking of the American Mind” which you can find on Youtube.

Get outside, enjoy the cold while we have it because it will warm up in 7-9 months. Go for a walk ,safely , with someone and get some time outside. It’s very good for your immune system, your hormonal system, the cardiovascular system etc. Check out the sleigh rides at Highland Forest for that unique experience or try the ice at the rink downtown. If you want to be a force for good in the Universe, leave a note in someone’s mailbox if you like their Christmas decorations.

Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC

Sorry , none of my suggestions involve an app or swiping left or right…You don’t need the internet for any of the events I suggested. .I did tell you I was a traditionalist. Merry CHristmas and don’t forget the reason for the season. Until next month…get well and stay well……

JT BARRY MD

OCTOBER 2023 TABLE HOPPING

IVERMECTIN WINS AGAIN

Covid is still with us because it’s a corona virus and these viruses have been around longer than we have . Just look at the label of the Lysol can. They are bringing back the mask mandates without any metrics at all . The Governor is recommending vaccinations even when the Cleveland Clinic has shown that the more vaccinations you get against Covid the MORE likely you are to get the infection. What’s next ? Recently the FDA was forced to admit that it was not inappropriate for physicians to prescribe Ivermectin to prevent or treat covid. Of course they have spent the last few years vilifying doctors who were using it off label and convinced ( with financial incentives ! ) the major medical organizations like the AMA to condemn its use. Now that yet another publication has shown the dramatic benefits of ivermectin it should be clear that THESE GOVERNMENT AND ORGANIZATION POLICIES RESULTED IN MORE DEATHS than if prescribing Ivermectin had been allowed. If we had just trusted the doctors on the front lines of fighting this outbreak we would have saved more lives than all the other therapeutics combined. That’s a national tragedy.

The latest study is a report from Peru from October of 2020 showed a 74% reduction in excess deaths in the 10 Peruvian states where Ivermectin was used most extensively .Adidttionally there was a 14-fold reduction in nationwide excess deaths when Ivermectin was readily available and the 13- fold increase in excess deaths in the two months after Ivermectin use was restricted..

Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC

And it wasn’t just Peru, the largest state in India, Uttar Pradesh ,with a population of 229 million showed the cumulative total of covid-19 deaths per million in population from July 7th 2021 to April 1st 2023 was 4.3 in Utah Pradesh as compared to 70 in all of India and 1,596 in the United States. Those are astonishingly different numbers.

A similar series of events occurred in the Brazilian city of Itajai which has 220,000 people. Dr Peter Kory and 8 co-authors published a paper on the results of using Ivermectin prophylactically . 113,000 residents elected to take Ivermectin. Those who used Ivermectin had a 44% reduction in covid infection , a 68% reduction in mortality and a 56% reduction in hospitalization compared to those who did not. Meanwhile, a study from Japan demonstrated that just 12 Days After doctors were allowed to legally prescribe Ivermectin to their patients, cases dropped traumatically.

Let’s remember this drug is on the World Health Organization’s “essential medication” list ,in fact, according to the literature , since 1987 3.7 billion doses of ivermectin have been used among humans worldwide

So, it’s been proven to be helpful in India, Brazil, Peru , and Japan amongst others and what did we do in America? We vilified doctors who tried to prescribe It off label. The USDA tweeted “ You’re not a horse you’re not a cow seriously you’all .. stop it”. On August 16th 2023 the FDA was forced to tweet “Healthcare professionals generally may choose to prescribe any approved human drug for an unapproved use when they determine that unapproved use is medically appropriate for an individual patient. “ That’s a win for the doctors.

Of course ,you can trust the American Society of Health System Pharmacists, the American Pharmacist Association and the American Medical Association as well as almost every other Medical Society warned that these drugs should not be used. What would the difference in death and hospitalization be in America had physicians who had the interest and courage to do so been allowed to routinely prescribe Ivermectin off label. It’s been estimated that 40% of all drugs dispensed in America are used off label. Off label doesn’t mean wrong.

Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC

Fundamentally , Ivermectin works by binding to the SARS Co V-2 Spike protein, limiting the virus’s mobility and infectivity. It’s best known for its antiparasitic effects but it’s also demonstrated antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties and an in vitro study demonstrated that a single treatment with Ivermectin effectively reduced viral load 5,000 times in 48 hours in cell culture. Also, a meta-analysis in the American Journal of Therapeutics showed the drug reduced infection by an average of 86% when used preventively

Disturbing it is that Merck ,who is a major manufacturer of ivermectin , was downplaying its effectiveness at the same time that it was developing its own patented ( and much more lucrative) covid-19 therapeutics.

As always , even in medicine , follow the money. Had there been any evidence that these repurposed drugs worked there would be no way to authorize the experimental treatments including the vaccines . Will we ever get the people in power to admit they were wrong and their decisions cost American lives. I’m not holding my breath but I am holding my prescription pad and look forward to the next pharmacist calling with a problem with my prescribing off label.

Any and all of the references below will show you the evidence.

Chamie J J, Hibberd J A, Scheim D E (August 08, 2023) COVID-19 Excess Deaths in Peru’s 25 States in 2020: Nationwide Trends, Confounding Factors, and Correlations With the Extent of Ivermectin Treatment by State. Cureus 15(8): e43168. doi:10.7759/cureus.43168

https://c19ivm.org/meta.html

https://swprs.org/who-preliminary-review-confirms-Ivermectin-effectiveness/

Do your own research. Its your body and it should be your choice. Until next month…get well and stay well

JT BARRY MD

SEPTEMBER 2023 TABLE HOPPING

IGF1

I’m an advocate of trying to use blood work to find out as much as possible about a person . You cannot judge a book by its cover. You can look healthy but be metabolically inflexible. Most healthcare providers are still using blood tests that are 30 years old i.e. total cholesterol and hemoglobin A1c. Measuring insulin and insulin resistance, measuring the ratio of the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in your system, routinely measuring markers of inflammation like CRP and Homocysteine ,I think, are a more modern approach to assessing your health. Both Dr Gundry and Dr Furhman use this test on a regular basis.

One new metric is insulin like growth factor number one…aka IGF1. As the name States it’s like insulin but its level in your body doesn’t just reflect the carbohydrates in your diet like insulin does . Instead it reflects a variety of measures including carbs but is thought to be affected by protein intake. So insulin measures carbs and IGF1 measures your protein intake. There is debate in the medical /nutrition world between those who think we need more protein to prevent the sarcopenia of aging and those who feel proteins are inflammatory and need to be restricted. It turns out that not all proteins are equal in their effects on the body. Animal protein i.e. meat and dairy appear to raise the IGF1 level more than plant derived protein. There is a metabolic pathway called mTor that is activated by animal protein and adults do not want this pathway stimulated. The low protein group says you don’t need more than about 30 grams of protein a day and the high protein group says you should have 1 mg per pound ie a 170 pound person should take in 70 grams of protein.

Insulin-like growth factor is produced in the liver and is triggered as a result of growth hormone stimulation. You want to actively grow when you’re younger but when you achieve adulthood further growth becomes undesirable. Imagine if we all just kept getting taller and taller and bigger and bigger as we got older it would make for interesting nursing homes. So, growth hormone is a youth hormone. In the sense that it’s highest when you’re young like testosterone. Unlike testosterone, supplementing growth hormone can be a dangerous undertaking because it may stimulate the growth of cancer. Likewise, higher LGF1 levels have been linked to increased risk of certain cancers.

In the past , measuring IGF1 levels were used primarily in pediatrics to assess the growth rate of children but a growing number of people looking at inflammatory processes in the body are using it as a marker for adult health as well. Lower is generally better but there is a U shaped curve ….very low and very high numbers are both bad for different reasons. Too low and you’re not making enough protein and building enough to be healthy. Too high and you’re promoting cancer. Overall, it’s better to have as low a level as possible until you et over the age of 70. After that you want it to be a little higher so you don’t have muscle wasting. The medical literature is full of references to insulin-like growth factors promoting multiple different types of cancer. it may be in fact the link between high sugar diets and accelerating cancer growth. We know that cancer cells need sugar to make energy and grow. At the same time the high sugar levels may elevate IGF1 which acts directly on the tumors. Here’s the appropriate reference ..PMID: 16087968 Here’s another reference to the link between milk intake and prostate cancer…the link is ..IGF1 .PMID: 28361446 In the Nurses’ Health Study, premenopausal women with IGF-1 levels higher than 207 had a substantially higher risk of breast cancer. Likewise, In the Physicians’ Health Study, there was an increase in prostate cancer risk once IGF-1 increased above 185 ng/ml.

Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC

A high IGF level is linked to accelerated aging , premature aging and to an increased risk of multiple cancer. .Obviously , IGF1 levels are affected by your age as well as your carbohydrate intake , protein intake ,BMI, liver disease ,and diabetes .Protein intake is well known to be a stimulant for IGF1 but the type of protein matters. Meat and dairy have more concentrated and complex proteins than plants do and it appears that IGF1 is higher in people who have more meat and dairy in their diet. So, if you want to keep your IGF1 low you may want to vary/shift your protein intake.

Luckily, just like with Vitamin D., you can easily and fairly cheaply have your levels of IGF1 measured. The sweet spot is about 150 but is age normalized and you can use the lab value as a reference point and change your diet and see if this marker changes as well. Maybe animal proteins and dairy inflame you in some way and raise your IGF1 levels , maybe they dont….This is another metric you can reference as you change your diet and see your numbers change. Your health care provider is not familiar with this test and will discourage you from ordering it. It’s your health and your health care dollar….just tell the doctor you are trying to measure your health with different metrics like Insulin levels , Omega 3/6 levels and IGF1 levels and to humor you. Tell him to use Metabolic Syndrome or Insulin Resistance as a diagnosis since 80-85% of Americans have these conditions and it’s likely you do as well. Even if you have to pay directly for the test , my lab people tell me it’s a cheap test and I intend to use this test repeatedly on my patients along with the Omega 3/6 test and fasting Insulin to assess their diet and their health. You can too !

Until next month….get well and stay well. JT BARRY MD

AUGUST 2023 TABLE HOPPING

PURITY OF ESSENCE MANDRAKE !

Perhaps you’ve become aware of the plot by certain elected officials to purchase from China a toxic chemical which is a toxic waste byproduct of manufacturing and directly injected into our water supply. Conspiracy theory? Well, if you consider fluoride a toxic chemical as I do, then this isn’t a conspiracy it’s a fact! I checked on the web and OCWA puts fluoride in our water supply. The American Dental Association says fluoride is essential to the healthy teeth of the children of our nation. it’s so critical that it has to be put in our drinking water. Unfortunately, after really looking at the evidence, not just the guidelines ,the science just doesn’t support their statements and as you read below the people who oppose fluoridation have great credentials and nothing to gain by stating their views. Personally , before requiring everyone to drink this additive or to take a vaccine for that matter you better have grade one proof that this is safe and effective. I don’t believe those criteria have been met for fluoridation and I’m not alone in this belief.

I have a good friend who’s responsible for bringing fluoridation of the water to his local community.. I present to him the counter-manding evidence that suggests fluoridation actually produces a small degree of mental retardation in children and this has been shown over and over again. Here’s a link to an article in the Journal of Environmental Health just published in 2019 that reviews this issue and substantiates the fact that negative neurological effects are occurring at routine fluoridation levels. That’s right, fluoridation causes a degree of mental retardation. PMC6923889. My doctor friend was confronted with this just tunes me out. He won’t believe it. He can’t believe it. He trusts the ADA. Well ,if such a prestigious organization, steeped in science, says it’s okay it must be all right. Of course , he never did any independent investigation, just trusted the government and the ADA .

First off ,man didn’t start getting cavities until the Neolithic era. The ancient skulls of our long distant forefathers rarely had cavities until we started eating grain products around 10-15,000 years ago. We started eating grain products and our bones got weaker ,our stature shrank, and we got cavities. Yes, Paleolithic and Mesolithic skulls showed signs of cavities but not anywhere near to the extent and the degree as from the last 10,000 years. Ancient man did not fluoridate. So, it’s the diet that increases cavities, not the absence or presence of fluoride in the water. Giving fluoride to children in the form of toothpaste is one thing, fluoridating the water for the consumption of all is another thing.

Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC

The ADA website will tell you that Fluoride is safe and is a natural substance. What they’re putting in the water is not elemental Fluoride, they’re putting in a fluoride compound that is actually ,as mentioned previously, the toxic waste from certain manufacturing processes.The most pervasive type of fluoride being added to municipal water is hydrofluorosilicic acid. This is a neurotoxic industrial waste byproduct of aluminum ,steel ,cement ,and phosphate fertilizer Industries. This chemical damages the immune system, digestive system,respiratory system, kidney, liver, and thyroid. This is what we’re buying from the Chinese and injecting into our water supply.

Here’s a direct quote from the CDC regarding the strength of evidence for fluoridation of community water “Despite the strengths of early studies of the efficacy of naturally occurring fluoride in community drinking water, the limitations of these studies make summarizing the quality of evidence on community water fluoridation as Grade I inappropriate (Table 1). The quality of evidence from studies on the effectiveness of adjusting fluoride concentration in community water to optimal levels is Grade II-1. So, from the CDC itself we have the above paragraph that clearly states that fluoridation of community water does not have a grade one indication (that’s the highest grade you can get) and it’s the grade you should have in order to add something to the drinking water. I’m not saying that fluoride doesn’t reduce cavities .I’m saying that fluoride should be in the form of toothpaste and topical applications, not something put in the water for everyone. There is a well known side effect of excessive fluoride called fluorosis. This is discoloration of the teeth. Fluoride has to be administered in a very tiny dose and if you trust our officials to oversee this I would like to sell you some water from Detroit or Flint Michigan.

Okay let’s look at some of the people that opposed this addition to our water supply. Let’s start with Dr Robert Carlton, he’s the former scientist for the EPA . “It is my best judgment, reached with a high degree of scientific certainty, that fluoridation presents unacceptable risks to public health, and that the government cannot prove its claims of safety.” He goes on to say that fluoridation “is the greatest case of scientific fraud of this century if not of all time” and this is coming from a guy who worked in the government in this industry.

How about Nobel Prize winner Avrid Carlsson ? “Fluoridation is against all principles of modern pharmacology. It’s really obsolete.” and “Those Nations that are still using it should feel ashamed of themselves, it’s not.. It’s against Science actually”

Then there’s Dean Burk. He worked at the National Cancer Institute as a senior chemist. He was head of the cytochemistry laboratory when he retired in 1974. He also taught biochemistry at the Cornell University Medical School from 1939 to 1941.He was a research master at George Washington University. Burk was a close friend and co-author with Otto Heinrich Warburg. He was a co-developer of the prototype of the Magnetic Resonance Scanner. Burk published more than 250 scientific articles in his lifetime. .Burk considered fluoridation as “mass murder on a grand scale.” Here’s a beautiful short YouTube video where he gives his opinion.

On April 12th 2010 Time Magazine listed Florida as one of the top 10 common household toxins and described fluoride as both neurotoxic and potentially tumorigenic if swallowed.

Well, how well does Fluoride work at preventing caries? In the mid-1980s the World Health Organization, using data from 39,000 school children and 84 areas around the country , showed no statistically significant difference in rates of tooth decay between fluoridated and non-fluoridated cities.

Ty Bollinger in his book Monumental Myths of the Modern Medical Mafia and Mainstream Media has a great chapter about fluoride. In his book chapter 31 it goes through the history of the introduction of fluoride into the drinking water which unsurprisingly was heavily sponsored by industry.

Another great resource for this topic is the Fluoride Action Network website. fluoridealert.org . Here are a few paragraphs describing how most of the countries of Europe don’t fluoridate and yet their cavity rate is very similar to ours and has decreased in a similar manner despite not using fluoride… “Although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control hails water fluoridation as one of the “top ten public health achievements of the twentieth century,” most of the western world, including the vast majority of western Europe, does not fluoridate its water supply.

At present, 97% of the western European population drinks non-fluoridated water. This includes: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, and approximately 90% of both the United Kingdom and Spain. Wikipedia confirms that these countries don’t fluoridate: Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, and Latvia. Although some of these countries fluoridate their salt, the majority do not. (The only western European countries that allow salt fluoridation are Austria, France, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland.)

Despite foregoing “one of the top ten public health achievements of the twentieth century,” tooth decay rates have declined in Europe as precipitously over the past 50 years as they have in the United States. This raises serious questions about the CDC’s assertion that the decline of tooth decay in the United States since the 1950s is largely attributable to the advent of water fluoridation.”

Fluoridation is not an issue for me because I live on well water and drink water that has been through a reverse osmosis filter and then I add minerals. I also have my well tested for impurities on a regular basis. If I was served by the Onondaga County Water Authority I would have questions about what they’re putting in my water. I think we should take Fluoride out of our water supply. I wish I could trust what I am told by major corporations and foundations and organizations like the ADA and the AMA but I’ve learned ,unfortunately, that I can’t . I have to do my own research and you have to as well.

Until next month get well and stay well

July 2023 Tablehopping

SPINACH SMOOTHIES SURPRISE

I have written before on the dangers of seed oils. These machined, ultra processed inflammatory oils like corn oil, canola oil, grape seed oil etc are probably still in your cabinet. Today I write about a danger in your fridge. High oxalate foods. Veggies you thought were super healthy can in fact be supertoxic and may be accounting for all those odd symptoms you have. Oxalates are natural compounds like lectins and nightshade that act to protect plants. Once ingested they form tiny and not so tiny crystals all over the body . Crystals might be nice on a necklace but they are not so nice in your kidneys and oxalates are a major component of many kidney stones. The bad effects from these substances have been known in the medical literature for over 150 years . The signs and symptoms of hyperoxalosis are protean but include irritable bowel syndrome, reflux, hypothyroidism, diabetes, allergies,mast cell activation, raynaud’s syndrome, headaches, arthritis,gout,tinnitus, genital pain, and kidney stones just to name a few. Different people absorb the oxalates at different rates and the manifestation of hyper oxalate states can obviously be very different in each person.

Especially at risk for overload are people with a diet low in calcium and other minerals including dairy-free and vegan diets. Frequent use of gut irritating foods including beans, bran, whole grains and quinoa. Also, a history of repeated use of antibiotic or antifungal medications and long-term use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications ,obesity, diabetes, irritable bowel, bariatric surgery and poor kidney health all predispose to oxalate overdose.

Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC

As mentioned in her new book, Toxic Superfoods Sally K Norton, most of the alternate milks are high in oxalates including almond milk , soy milk etc . Also, to my dismay ,I found out from reading the book that using high doses of supplemental Vitamin C is a potential significant source of oxalate and high oxalate foods like spinach, rhubarb buckwheat, tea,beet juice sweet potatoes and beet greens are a major instigator of chronic inflammation. I may have to rethink my advice about vitamin C supplementation at least in people who don’t feel well.

Many of you who really don’t know much about oxalates will perhaps remember the cleaner Zud cleanser …it was a scrubbing powder used to clean pots and pans. This is oxalic acid and prolonged skin contact can cause serious damage.

Unfortunately, there is no clear set of symptoms that proves a person has oxalate excess and there is no particularly reliable urine or blood test. There is a 24-hour urine collection you can do but it is only reliable if the results are high. Many people with clearcut hyperoxylate syndrome have short high spikes that produce the damage but the 24 hr collection is within the normal range. Therefore, since there is no reliable blood test or urine test it’s up to the physician to make the diagnosis or to suggest the diagnosis based on the clinical complaints of the patient. Classic signs of oxalate overload include cloudy urine ,crystals in the urine , recurrent yeast infections, episodic irritable bladder, recurrent kidney stones, periodic joint pain or weakness ,unexplained digestive distress or abdominal pain ,unexplained brain fog or mood problems, signs of vasospasm including Raynauds, unexplained pain such as burning mouth and tooth pain or burning in the genitalia . Also, slower and incomplete recovery from injury or surgery, low bone density or unexplained skin problems may be manifestations of oxalate excess.

Oxalates are generated in the body in small amounts by the usual metabolic processes but during times of metabolic stress oxalate production increases. Sally K Norton describes three key features that increase this stress… #1 is the use of the seed oils .. canola corn,corn oil, cottonseed oil to name a few. #2 is excessive sugar and starch in the diet and #3 is excessive calories overall. Oxalates are produced by biochemical reactions in the body so you generate about 12 mg a day of oxalates and then dietary oxalate sources make up the rest and if that total goes above 25 mg kidney damage is done.

Sally K Norton’s solution is based first of all on switching to low oxalate foods and navigating the flairs that happen as you mobilize the crystals. She then recommends a Five Point plan that includes #1 rest and Vitamin D, #2 mineral supplementation including calcium, potassium, magnesium, sulfur , and trace minerals #3 citrates, #4 B complex vitamins and not too much of the vitamin C and finally #5 avoid too many probiotics, motrin type meds and antibiotics.

So, if you feel great ignore me as always but if you don’t have the health you want why not go on a low oxalate diet for a month or two and see how you feel. It’s not a deprivation diet, it’s a substitution diet. You can reference Ms Norton’s book or contact her on the internet for a consultation. If you go low oxalate you may at some point have your symptoms actually worsen…that’s actually a good sign that you are mobilizing the oxalates and the symptoms will resolve over time.

So, one more thing to worry about in your diet OR a possible answer to all your undiagnosed issues. The book Toxic Superfoods is an excellent reference for you. Until next month…get well and stay well.

June 2023 TABLE HOPPING

A REAL PAIN IN THE NECK

I ask patients about their hospital experiences all the time and usually the stories are not very encouraging. Recently I was in a hospital in New York City having some surgery. My take on spine surgery is that it may help initially but down the road the parts of the spine that were not worked on wear down sooner than if you hadn’t had surgery. This isn’t a universal finding but between the occasional lack of relief of symptoms, significant infection or new complication , surgery should be reserved until you have tried lots of different modalities. Surgery should be a last resort and yet here I was.

It all started about 5 years ago when I noticed the grip on my dominant right hand wasn’t as tight as I wanted and it affected my racquetball game. After that, I noticed weakness when I was trying to carry heavy objects and pain in my neck and shoulder. The pain and numbness would vary depending on recent activities…sometimes the dojo helped..sometimes it did not…it would bother me intermittently during the day but bother me more consistently at night. It prevented me from ever getting a pain free night. I tried grounding. I tried the PEMF machine. I tried physical therapy and a variety of traction devices. Of course I tried the chiropractor but he said I was “too old” for an adjustment. That was disappointing. I never tried pain pills because I take care of people who have had problems with this class of drugs and dont need more problems in my life.

Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC

It all came to a head when a very thoughtful patient gave me a Christmas present. It was a device that allows you to quickly measure hand grip strength. Grip strength reflects overall strength ;which reflects your ability to stay out of the nursing home. In the past I just asked pts to squeeze my fingers but this tester is far more accurate. Imagine my dismay when I tested myself and got a respectable 90 lbs on my left side but 35 lbs on my right side. That’s a very big difference. That convinced me to put myself through the standard workup including an MRI and Nerve COnduction Studies. The therapist technician was so alarmed at my readings he immediately suggested traction and a particular surgeon in NYC that “all the other doctors go to.” The MRI showed lots of arthritis, bulging or dry discs, bony changes where the particular nerves leave the spinal canal etc. Nothing that an injection from the pain specialist would give a long term fix to. I arranged a teleconference with Dr Daniell Riew in New York City. We reviewed my symptoms, my scans and nerve studies and likely outcomes depending on how much surgery I wanted. I could just fix the worse stuff and wait for the rest to give me trouble down the road or fix it all now and hopefully never need surgery again. THe main difference seemed to be in how much pain you could tolerate. The more aggressive the surgery the more pain postoperatively and apparently we are talking some real intense pain here. I reviewed with the surgeon and his team that I had both rotator cuff surgeries done over the years and was back to work in less than a week. I didn’t mean to challenge him.

It all came to a climax last Monday when I had surgery on my neck. Plenty of people had neck surgery from the back side of the cervical spine. . Lots of surgery is done today from the front side of the neck. I had surgery on BOTH sides of my neck AND extra work done on the sides. The authorization from the insurance company ran to 3 pages which I had never seen before. The paperwork mentioned 8 hours of anesthesia which also had me worried because I know that prolonged anesthesia time is not a good thing as you get older. Furthermore, a plastic surgeon would be involved in the last hour to splice some of my m;uscles across my neck to get better surgical outcomes. There will be two drains in me when I leave the hospital. The usual hospital stay is 4 days but many people who have the less extensive surgery gohome the next day. The paperwork they give you mentions that the post op pain can be “excruciating” but not to worry because it goes away in 3-4 weeks. Yikes !

Excruciating pain and prolonged anesthesia time were worrisome but in the week leading up to the surgery I watched a video of a guy doing jujitsu who was rolled wrong and suffered a broken neck with paralysis. Two days later I am doing some optional continuing medical education via the internet and they prominently featured a case of neck surgery going wrong with resultant paralysis. So, as surgery got closer my anxiety grew and I am guilty of having second thoughts. These second thoughts were banished from my mind by having an MRI of my neck done before surgery. Just the act of lying there flat for the scan was causing increasing neck pain and reminded me of how this chronic nerve impingement was affecting me on a daily and nightly basis and I decided then and there to go ahead and let them try to heal with steel. To cut to cure. I could have had surgery in Syracuse but I had a recommendation from someone in the know and, when I checked it out , Dr Riew only does cervical spines and is recommended by other spine surgerons.Lets commence with the cutting.

I had one question for the surgeon during our pre surgery visit: Doctor …are you excited to be doing this operation? He looked at me quizzically with that ” where are we going with this line of questioning” look. He finally replied that although he liked doing this extensive surgery it wasn’t exciting. That’s the answer I was looking for. If he admitted he was excited it would have meant he still found it very challenging and I want my surgeon to be very comfortable with the procedure but not yet bored by it .

Post op I woke up next to a paralyzed guy. He wasnt paralyzed by the surgery …He was just a paralyzed guy having surgery but I thought it put any complaints I might have after surgery in perspective. The pain wasn’t that bad, I was moving everything , the drains were working, etc. They have a very aggressive pain management program which starts preop and continues post op and includes the pain-med-on- demand I.V. My blood pressure was running high and they actually took one of my suggestions regarding what meds to use and I thought that was unusual and welcome. The meds really screwed up my sense of time and my wife reports that I texted her at 1130 at night that I was ready for discharge. I thought it was 1130 the next morning.

When the surgical teams rounded the next day I confirmed that if some other people can be discharged the next day then unless there is some problem I would like to get out under the same timeframe. Usual length of stay is 4 days. My length of stay is 1.5 days. I wanted to show everyone that I had a high pain tolerance, that I was in good shape, clean living, clean liver etc etc. When I awoke from surgery I could feel that the chronic numbness and intermittent spikes of pain were gone completely. I could lie on my back without the increasing pain down my shoulder and back and neck. I didn’t press the pain med button more than a couple of times early in recovery. Sure I felt stiff and swollen but wasn’t feeling any real pain. Good to go.

WRONG ! Big Mistake ! I knew that the next day the pain would be worse but with so little pain after the operation what could that look like? My wife drove us back from the city and I dove into bed but when I got up the next morning the pain was indeed excruciating. Breathtaking at times despite an array of meds to help me. I should have stayed in the hospital and would have used that pain buzzer until it buzzed like I was a jeopardy champion. . They had great care in the Hospital …nice room, semi healthy menu , great nursing care…I was treated like a king. Most of the people taking care of me didn’t seem aware that I was a doctor so that did not affect my care. I rushed out of the hospital thinking that would mean getting back to work quicker but that did not work out at all. I needed a full two weeks to get back on my feet and wasn’t pain free for a month. Ice has made a big difference as it did with my shoulder surgeries. Besides the pain , because I had such extensive surgery there was a lot of swelling in my neck and throat and I felt on the verge of being choked for weeks. I could not swallow any solids for over two weeks and even liquids challenged me on a regular basis but that’s also mostly in the rear view mirror.

Being on the patient’s side of the doctor patient experience was interesting. It’s good to get different perspectives. I hope I don’t get the opportunity to get any more new perspectives in the near future. Next month back to the science of wellness.

Get Well…Stay Well

JT BARRY

MAY 2023 TABLE HOPPING

THE CASE FOR THE KINASES

My patients say that their cardiologists say there is no way to effectively reverse heart disease…just take your meds which may slow things down a bit and have your heart attack and if you survive the first event ( 70% do and 30% don’t) they will be there to bypass you. Every cardiologist receives training that proper diet and exercise are the foundations of good heart health but how much time do they spend with you on those issues? According to the experts …less than two minutes and it’s off to the prescription closet. I think it’s likely that they just don’t think people are capable of change so why not just get right to what they can offer which is prescriptions and procedures.

I , however , have seen that people can change…they can lose weight, they can quit drinking and smoking, etc if they have the motivation and the tools. In my experience , and I have done hundreds and hundreds of stress tests, the stress test will only alert the cardiologist if your blockages are bad enough that you need immediate intervention with a stent or bypass operation. You can easily have 60% or 70 % blockage of two or three arteries and still “pass” a stress test. That’s why I do the CT scan called the Cardiac Calcium Scan. Check out the video on youtube “Widowmaker” for details. This test allows me to measure the calcium buildup in your arteries. The more buildup the higher the likelihood of having a cardiac event. This test allows us to find blockages much earlier ..when changing diet and adding supplements can make a difference in changing your score and changing your destiny.

So , I scan my patients and if they don’t have a good score we make a plan to change their diet and add supplements to see if we can’t stabilize or improve your score. Which supplements work best at this is still being determined but Magnesium, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2 and Vitamin C have all been used in various combinations along with other substances like chanka piendra and the kinases.

Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC
Preventive Medicine Associates, PLLC

A Kinase is an enzyme that causes ATP to transfer a phosphate group to another molecule. They act on the body as natural anticoagulants, breaking up clots in your system. If you have a heart attack doctors will sometimes use a similar agent called TPA to break up the clot causing the blockage. So this idea is not crazy and there is commercially available forms of these agents that act to thin the blood so to speak.

There are three commonly recognized kinases: nattokinase, lumbrokinase and serrapeptase. Only the first two are recognized clinically. Nattokinase comes from natto which is a cheese-like food made of soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis, Lumbrokinase is thought to be 30 times more powerful at reducing clots and it comes , interestingly enough , from earthworms.

As Dr Mercola pointed out in a recent article “ Fibrinolytic enzymes are antihypertensive, anti-atherosclerotic, lipid-lowering and anti-platelet agents, which also have neuroprotective effects. Much research into fibrinolytic enzymes has focused on nattokinase (NK), an active ingredient in natto, or fermented soybeans. It’s likely due to its high nattokinase content that natto consumption is linked to a decreased risk of heart disease mortality and increased longevity in the Japanese population.”

Dr Sherry Rogers and others have long promoted lumbrokinase as a natural anticoagulant and its getting increased attention in the era of covid infections. Clearly covid infection is associated with a dramatically increased risk of clotting. I believe the covid vaccine presents the same increased risk for clotting but that science is still being elaborated.

Finally , if you prefer a more conventional source here are some articles from Pubmed “ Effective Management of Atherosclerosis Progress and Hyperlipidemia with Nattokinase a Clinical Study with 1,062 Participants” .This is from Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine August 2022 PMID number 36072877. They studied the carotid artery because it’s easier to study than the coronary arteries but they found dramatic improvements in carotid intimal thickness and in the degree of plaque burden. Not a little Improvement dramatic Improvement on the order of 66 to 90%. Statins cannot do this. No other medicine we have has demonstrated this type of improvement.

Also from PubMed from the Journal of Biomarkers Insights comes an article entitled “ Nattokinase: a Promising Alternative and Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases.”This was published in July of 2018 . PMID number 30013308.

The expanding research in both human and animal models shows that the lumbrokinase and nattokinase besides having a fibrinolytic effect, that means to break up clots and clots are what kills you, also are antihypertensive and may improve all of the cholesterol parameters including triglycerides. So these agents work on blood clots effectively thinning the blood like aspirin and have likely antihypertensive and beneficial effects on cholesterol so they look to be a triple winner.

Part of the reason for writing this article is to show you that people like Dr Mercola and Dr Rogers are not quacks. They’re on the frontier of medicine. What they have been promoting for years is now being published about in conventional medical research circles. Interestingly enough one of the commercial supplements I recommend for people trying to stabilize their coronary calcium score comes from New Zealand and it’s called CX-8. and one of their 8 ingredients is nattokinase. This supplement also contains Vitamin D3 Vitamin K2 Tocotrienols and other natural ingredients that may stabilize coronary calcification. And of course never forget magnesium which is the natural antidote to calcium.

Don’t go out and just buy some nattokinase because I’ve written an article about it. Like everything else you should work in concert with your health care provider to evaluate all your supplements as well as your prescriptions on a regular basis. Go ahead and look up whatever you want on Google but don’t be your own doctor.

Until next month….get well…stay well

JT BARRY MD