Newsletter v6n2

“And many have made a trade in deceits and feigned miracles, cozening the foolish herd, and if no one showed himself cognizant of their deceits they would impose them upon all.” (Leonardo da Vinci)

The DOCTOR YOURSELF NEWSLETTER (Vol. 6, No. 2, January, 2006)

"Free of charge, free of advertising, and free of the A.M.A."

Copyright 2005 by Andrew W. Saul of http://www.doctoryourself.com , which now welcomes nearly two million visitors annually. Commercial use of the website or the contents of this Newsletter is strictly prohibited.

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. FIRE YOUR DOCTOR! Makes News

2. Review: MEDICAL MAVERICKS

3. Review: DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CANCER

4. Feature Article: THE ANTIOXIDANT PARADOX

5. PHOTOS OF VITAMIN C

6. FAVORITE HEALTH SITES

7. SKIN INFECTION

8. FLUORIDATION DEBUNKED

9. Readers’ Letters: ACID REFLUX; BREATHING PROBLEMS; COLON CANCER

10. DUBIOUS MEDIA ARTICLES

11. UNSTRESS YOUR LIFE: Part 6

SAUL’S NEW BOOK URGES, FIRE YOUR DOCTOR!

by Tom Rivers (Batavia Daily News, Wednesday, November 30, 2005. Reprinted with permission.)

Andrew Saul said the secret to longevity isn't tied to a good doctor and prescription drugs. Instead, patients can ward off most disease and infection with vitamins and good nutrition. Saul, 50, of Hamlin is a former Holley resident and former Genesee Community College professor. He has written another book urging people to take control of their health and health care with good diets and high doses of vitamins.  Saul's new book, Fire Your Doctor! ( http://www.doctoryourself.com/fyd.html ), gives an introduction to the basics of vitamin therapy, and offers guidelines for using vitamins to treat specific diseases. The book doesn't read like a medical textbook. Saul uses a sharp wit in advocating for vitamins and attack the medical and pharmaceutical professions, which he said benefit when people are sick.

"There's very little money for prevention," Saul said during an interview last week. "There's money in disease."

Saul runs a Web site, http://www.doctoryourself.com , that offers hundreds of articles and thousands of references about using vitamins and other natural-healing treatments to address a range of illnesses and conditions. In the site's early days about five years ago a few dozen visitors regularly visited the site. Now, Saul said it receives 30,000 to 35,000 hits daily.  The 208-page book is a sequel to his 252-page, Doctor Yourself: Natural Healing That Works, ( http://www.doctoryourself.com/saulbooks.html ) published in 2003. That book and Fire Your Doctor! are published by Basic Health Publications of North Bergen, N.J. ( http://www.physicalmag.com/BasicHealth/doctorYourself.html ) Local bookstores can order the books by customer request, Saul said.  Saul is trying to spread the word that doctors often make mistakes in prescribing medication and with invasive surgeries. He believes vitamins and other natural healing methods should be considered by the public.  "No one has ever been killed by vitamins," Saul said. He maintains that American's nutrient-deficient bodies are vulnerable to disease and illness. Pharmaceutical drugs and surgery are not a good substitute for poor eating and lifestyle choices, he said.  He is hopeful that improved nutrition and vitamins can help Americans live longer and better. "This gives people practical information," Saul said. "It shows what they can do, with vitamins and proper diet, to fight diseases."

Saul, a former premedical student with a nontraditional doctorate, embraces a holistic approach to healthcare. He also wrote A Guide to Wellness Self-Reliance in 1981 and The Paperback Clinic in 1994. He wants his books and Web site to help vitamins gain a greater acceptance from the conventional medical community and also spur Americans "to take charge of their healthcare."

"If you want something done right you have to do it yourself," he said. "The fire-your-doctor approach is not about not needing doctors, it's about not needing to go. The doctor becomes a consultant."  To order your own AUTOGRAPHED copy of FIRE YOUR DOCTOR!, please go to : http://www.doctoryourself.com/order.html

Also in the news:

DOCTOR YOURSELF: Natural Healing that Works has now gone into its THIRD PRINTING!

To order an AUTOGRAPHED copy of DOCTOR YOURSELF: http://www.doctoryourself.com/order.html

BOOK REVIEWS

MEDICAL MAVERICKS, Volume III

by Hugh Desaix Riordan, M.D. (Paperback, 237 pages plus bibliography. Wichita, KS: Bio-Communications Press, 2005. ISBN 0942333136)

Reviewed by Andrew W. Saul

Like soldiers in battle, orthomolecular pioneers stand as warriors for their patients' health. The trailblazers of nutrition therapy, including Hugh Riordan, M.D., were warriors who stood up against medical dogma. Their stand continues today. For a warrior, it is not about living to enjoy the victory, but the mark you make in your time. Hugh Desaix Riordan has left an indelible impression, both in the journals and in the layperson's understanding and appreciation of orthomolecular medicine. One way he did so was through his three Medical Mavericks books, each a collection of article-length biographies of history's most important, and often most unorthodox, medical innovators.

Although people often fail to learn from history, Dr. Riordan is one doctor that clearly has. Hugh Riordan's joy in his subject permeates his writing, along with a generous selection of superb quotations and plentiful anecdotes. Mavericks III is so well written that you forget it is a history book. That is no small achievement for an author. Years of careful preparation make Medical Mavericks III a considerably larger work than either Medical Mavericks I or II. Although lacking an index, it is admirably presented including small but handsome grayscale photos of each of its individual subjects.

Mavericks III is also more confrontational than its two predecessors. Every physician or researcher profiled in Mavericks III is an uncompromising, outspoken orthomolecular nutrition advocate. That takes courage. Conventionally trained scientists who have embraced vitamin therapy know that they have forever crossed the Rubicon. As Hugh said, "'Orthomolecular' is not the answer to any questions posed in medical school." "Hugh relished a good fight," writes Dr. Abram Hoffer in the book's introduction. "He was challenged legally when he wanted to treat his patients with high-dose vitamins in the hospital. He won. Hugh was one of the medical mavericks who fought hard and consistently on behalf of orthomolecular concepts. In doing so, he became a member of an elite group."

While such a group is the topic of all the Mavericks books, in volume three, attention is specifically focused on the 20th century pioneers of nutritional medicine. Those profiled include Robert Cathcart III, Emanuel Cheraskin, Carl Ebnother, Ruth Harrell, Abram Hoffer, Masatoshi Kaneko, Linus Pauling, Carl Pfeiffer, Bernard Rimland, and Roger Williams. The book also includes a chapter on Dr. Riordan.

Perhaps the most personal tribute is offered to Dr. Fowler Border Poling, the brilliant but largely unknown practitioner who first introduced Hugh to nutritional medicine and became Hugh's mentor. Dr. Poling died in 1963 at age 48 as the result of a car accident. Hugh's affection for his great teacher fairly rushes from the pages:

"Dr. Fowler Poling was not afraid to defend his beliefs. He was also a man of supreme compassion and understanding. To this day, his daughter's last memory of her father was when the two of them stood in front of the picture window of their house one night, when the window acted as a reflecting mirror, and he practiced his daughter's cheerleading jumps with her. This was their last experience together before he died." Dr. Riordan adds: "One additional factor is helpful for the Truth to prevail: physical survival."

This statement is all the more touching considering Hugh's own untimely death at 72. I'd had a conversation with Hugh the very morning of the day he would die. He called to tell me he was just completing Mavericks III. Later that day, he had literally put his pen down when he collapsed, his last written words being these:

"What we learn from these superb observers and orthomolecular doers can literally change our lives for the better. That is why Medical Mavericks III has been written."

General George Patton said that the only proper way for a warrior to die is by the last bullet in the last battle. The last battle has already been fought, has already been won, for all those who know the healing power of nature and fully utilize the tools of nutritional medicine. For every physician who has verified this, for every patient who has experienced it, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann's words come to mind: "And when you get better, remember."

To order a copy of Medical Mavericks: http://orthomolecular.org/mavericks3.shtml

(Reprinted with the permission of the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, 2005, Vol 20, No 3, p 214-215.)

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DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CANCER by W. John Diamond, M.D. and W. Lee Cowden, M.D., with Burton Goldberg (Tiburon: Future Medicine Publishing, 1997. Hardcover, 1051 pages with references, ISBN: 1887299017)

Reviewed by Michael Jolliffe, Doctor Yourself volunteer By the end of 2006 somebody in America will have been diagnosed with cancer every two and a half minutes, based on American Cancer Society projections. When President Harding said in 1921 that the country’s ‘present need is not heroics, but healing; not surgery, but serenity’, he could aptly have been responding to that statistic. An equally worthwhile response would be to buy a copy of Burton Goldberg’s Definitive Guide to Cancer.

It would be nearly impossible for any book to justify the title of ‘definitive guide’ to such an infinitely documented subject, but the three collaborators who have brought us this particular guide have not shied from trying. The book has been edited by two extremely successful doctors and researchers. It contains 1452 scientific references, mostly from peer-reviewed literature, and more than a thousand pages of protocols and positive case histories. Perhaps most importantly though it contains well nigh every possible treatment, therapy or lifestyle strategy for cancer that you could ever come across. From Gerson to green tea, from Issels to iscador, from Linus Pauling to pau d’arco, no option goes without examination. The authors should be highly commended for successfully completing such a massive undertaking.

The first half of the book takes us through a wonderful meet-and-greet session with some of the top physicians in the field of non-conventional cancer treatment, along with a unique chance to examine their individual protocols and the philosophies behind them. There are some star names presented such as Emanuel Revici, Abram Hoffer and the recently late Douglas Brodie. A total of twenty-three medical and naturopathic doctors are afforded the opportunity to guide us through the reasoning behind the treatments they employ. For example, W. John Diamond, one of the book’s two principle editors, favors the use of high doses of vitamins A and C and selenium, complemented by homeopathy and Chinese herbal medicine. Lawrence H. Taylor, however, employs essential fatty acids, milk thistle, laetrile and shark cartilage, while emphasizing daily physical exercise and ‘mental detoxification’ strategies. Each protocol differs because, dare it be said, there is not only one successful non-conventional method of treating cancer but several, tens even, and this book is proof positive of that.

Crucially, despite containing over a thousand pages, the book is never an overwhelming read. Cancer patients and their families should not be dissuaded by its size because each topic is broken down into very manageable, well-written chunks, which are efficiently indexed. Topical information is easy to find and the subsequent sections, ‘What Causes Cancer,’ ‘How Cancer Politics Have Kept You in the Dark,’ and the ‘Complete Guide to Innovative Approaches to Cancer Treatment’ are simple and effective. Of course, for the book to be used to its fullest potential its reading should be an interactive learning process for, and between, patient and practitioner and its skilful, easy style makes this possible.

Inevitably for a book first published nearly a decade ago in such a rapidly changing field there are some areas that need updating. Nevertheless, Definitive Guide to Cancer is still an extremely valuable book, an attempt to bring a much-needed degree of synergy to the masses of disparate information that make up non-toxic cancer treatment. It is also a much-needed reminder that cancer is a beacon of biological disorder that can be better understood, and often undone. An encyclopedia of important cancer knowledge like this one should be dropped onto the collective foot of the orthodox medical profession each time the claim is made that so-called alternative treatments have not been properly researched, referenced or documented. There is an urgent need for a new cancer paradigm, and it is with the publication of books like this one that our sense of confidence in that new paradigm will grow.

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FEATURE ARTICLE:

CANCER AND VITAMIN C: OXIDANT OR ANTIOXIDANT?

(Editor’s note: Many DY Newsletter readers have been sending me their questions about apparently conflicting reports on vitamin C and cancer. Does vitamin C always help? Does it ever harm? I asked vitamin C expert Dr. Steven Hickey to please provide a better response than I possibly could, and he has most certainly done so.)

THE ANTIOXIDANT PARADOX

by Steve Hickey, PhD Department of Biological Sciences, Metropolitan University of Manchester

Dr. David Horrobin was an excellent pharmacologist. He identified that the action of antioxidants can be paradoxical, in that they can both promote and inhibit cancer growth. However, the mechanism he described (1) is probably incorrect. In almost all circumstances, except a fast-growing malignancy, antioxidants will be helpful. In the case of malignancy, some antioxidants will be very beneficial, although a level of sophistication is required in their selection.

One – Healthy and precancerous cells

The processes and signals that increase cellular proliferation make cells more oxidising. Antioxidants inhibit this proliferation; hence, damaged cells take longer to develop into a cancerous state when antioxidants are present.

Two – Rapidly growing cancer

Antioxidants may have a paradoxical effect on fast-growing cancer cells. Malignant cells can increase their internal oxidative state to a high level, which promotes growth. However, a proportion of such cells will be driven towards even higher levels of oxidation. At these extreme levels, cells usually commit suicide (apoptosis), rather than becoming cancerous. The process of cell suicide relies on oxidative stress and redox signalling. As the oxidation level becomes sufficiently high, the cell takes this increase as a signal to kill itself.

Antioxidants can reduce the oxidative stress and relieve the apoptotic pressure on such cancers. Thus, while antioxidants may lower the rate of cell division in healthy cells, they can promote growth of malignant cancer cells, by stopping these abnormal cells from dying.

(DY Editor’s comment: Interestingly, the Gerson Therapy, which is extremely high in antioxidants from huge quantities of raw vegetable juices, is particularly effective against one of the fastest-rowing of all cancers, malignant melanoma, skin cancer.)

Three - Kill cancer cells and help normal cells

At very high levels, some antioxidants, such as vitamin C or lipoic acid, will kill cancer cells. Paradoxically, this is because they act as oxidants, or free radical generators, in the highly oxidised environment of cancer cells. In healthy cells, vitamin C and lipoic acid continue to act as antioxidants. The possibility that vitamin C produces free radical damage has been suggested as a possible side effect of high doses. As we learn more about the process, it becomes clear that the free radicals are only produced in cancer cells. Healthy cells get an antioxidant boost, whereas cancer cells are damaged by this “side-effect”. Four - Don’t feed the cancer

Cancer cells are sick and require specific nutrients, in particular, glucose. Cancer cells use less oxygen than healthy cells, and their metabolism tends towards being anaerobic. This form of metabolism relies heavily on the availability of sugar. The “wrong” nutrients, eg. sugars and starches, feed the cancer and promote its growth.

Cancer cells absorb glucose using biochemical pumps. These same pumps also absorb vitamin C, as dehydroascorbate, the reduced form of vitamin C, which is chemically similar to glucose. If more glucose is present, then less vitamin C is absorbed by the cells. However, cancer cells that are deprived of glucose absorb higher levels of vitamin C, which produces oxidising free radicals, pushing the cancer cells towards death. For some time, Dr John Ely has reported that the beneficial effects of vitamin C can be increased by reducing sugar intake. (2,3)

Five – A targeted approach

Prevention of cancer requires a broad spread of antioxidants. A normal diet can provide some antioxidant protection. However, many dietary antioxidants that are effective against cancer have been isolated, and are available in supplement form. To avoid cancer and slow its development, a high intake of antioxidants is necessary, consistent with the orthomolecular approach to nutrition, pioneered by Linus Pauling and others.

Some people will be unfortunate and find they have a rapidly growing and malignant cancer. With such a malignancy, there are two possible approaches – lots of dietary antioxidants to prevent growth, or specific antioxidants to kill the cells. High levels of selected antioxidants, such as vitamin C and alpha-lipoic acid, will kill malignant cancer cells or inhibit their growth (by oxidation). People taking this nutritional form of cytotoxic chemotherapy should not take other additional antioxidants, as these might work in the opposite direction, preventing the free radical damage, which is needed to destroy the cancer cells.

A new description of cancer

In our forthcoming book, Cancer: Nutrition and Survival, (4) we explain the biology of cancer. This new approach describes free radical reactions as core mechanisms in the development of the disease. It also shows that anticancer agents are not rare and do not need to be poisonous to the patient. Non-toxic antioxidants, found at low levels in the diet, can kill cancer cells and prevent proliferation. To a biologist, this finding is expected and is based on solid science. It seems, once again, that Linus Pauling was correct in his assertions that orthomolecular medicine would provide the most productive approach to cancer research. Beta-carotene

Horrobin’s paper attempts to explain the problem with beta-carotene in smokers. It appeared that the “antioxidant” beta-carotene could, paradoxically, increase the risk of cancer. This finding is consistent with the model described above.

Beta-carotene is unlikely to act as an antioxidant in the lungs of smokers. Carotenoids’ antioxidant properties depend upon an ample supply of high-energy electrons. For example, vitamin C can supply such electrons to reduce oxidised carotenoids, returning them to their free radical quenching function. In the absence of high levels of vitamin C, as in the oxidising environment of a smoker’s lung, carotene radicals can propagate free radical chain reactions (5) Thus, we would predict that beta-carotene would act as an OXIDANT in the lungs of smokers (unless, perhaps, the smokers were taking several grams of vitamin C every day)! By acting as an oxidant, the beta-carotene is predicted to increase the risk of cancer.

1. Horrobin D.F. (2001) The paradox of antioxidants and cancer. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 74, No. 4, 555.

2. Marks P.A. Bishop J.S. (1957) Glucose metabolism in subjects with neoplastic disease response to insulin and glucose tolerance followup studies. Proc Am Assoc Canc Res, 2, 228-229.

3. Ely J.T. (1996) Glycemic modulation of tumor tolerance. J Ortho Med, 11(1), 23-34.

4. Hickey S. Roberts H. (2005) Cancer: nutrition and survival. (In press).

5. Halliwell B. Gutteridge J.M. (1998) Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine, 223-225.

EVER WONDERED WHAT VITAMIN C LOOKS LIKE? Crystalline photos for free viewing are posted at:

http://www.microscopyu.com/featuredmicroscopist/deerinck/deerinckimage12.html http://www.microscopyu.com/galleries/dxm1200/vitamincsmall.html http://www.microscopyu.com/moviegallery/chemicalcrystals/vitaminc/index.html http://www.microscopyu.com/smallworld/gallery/contests/1978/15thsmall1978.html http://www.microscopyu.com/smallworld/gallery/contests/1978/17thsmall1978.html

FAVORITE HEALTH SITES

by Robert Sarver, Doctor Yourself volunteer

Some of the sites below are commercial. It is prudent to carefully consider whether a supplement or proprietary product sold at a commercial site is really superior to other products. I usually decide what supplements I want and then do an Internet search to find the best price. I often save up to 50 percent on the purchase price by doing this.

http://familydoctor.org/x2589.xml is a site that includes a “symptoms checker” that provides flowcharts that help the reader diagnose medical problems. Simply click on the symptom on the left side of the page and a flowchart is presented with simple questions and answers to help give a name to a medical condition. It’s easy to use. After I have a name for a condition, it’s easy to search DoctorYourself or other Internet sites to find more information about the condition and treatment options.

http://www.lef.org is the home page for the Life Extension Organization. The Life Extension Organization does some original medical research. Most of the information on this site is orthomolecular (nutritional) but the site at times also recommends prescription drugs in a combined treatment protocol. All of the Life Extension Magazine issues and their articles are accessible at no cost. This site has a good search engine. It’s a commercial site.

http://www.vitamincfoundation.org is the Vitamin C Foundation with excellent orthomolecular articles about the use of vitamin C (and vitamin E) for the prevention and treatment of many health problems. Don’t be put off by the site’s dramatic tone. There are links to other orthomolecular sites as well as some free online orthomolecular books. This is a commercial site.

http://www.mercola.com is Dr. Mercola’s site with a search engine that links the user to a huge number of mostly orthomolecular articles. Dr. Mercola says he concentrates primarily on eating right but he does promote supplements and other products sold on his site. It is a commercial site.

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu is the Linus Pauling Institute’s home page. This organization concentrates primarily on food nutrition and disease prevention but does have some interesting information about micronutrients.

http://www.cforyourself.com/Conditions/conditions.html is the conditions search page of C For Yourself that focuses primarily on vitamin C.

http://www-hsl.mcmaster.ca/tomflem/altmed.html#herb is the Health Care Information Resources site with many links for herbal information and other alternative medicine resources. I have no experience with many of the alternate therapies such as aromatherapy, massage therapy and therapeutic touch and therefore I cannot comment on their effectiveness.

(Editor’s note: For more guidance on surfing the ‘net for health information, you might want to consult http://www.doctoryourself.com/healthquestions.html )

DOCTOR YOURSELF CASE REPORT:

SKIN INFECTION AND TOPICAL VITAMIN C

A person I know had a longstanding skin infection, with chronic inflammation in and around the navel. In succession, he had tried topical antiseptics such as iodine and rubbing alcohol; antifungal cream; and antiobiotic cream. Each in turn resulted in slight to moderate improvement, but the infection came right back within days. With nothing more then temporary relief, this problem persisted for many months. The inflammation eventually became so prominent that there was some uncomfortable, deep skin cracks on either side of the navel.

Low on options, he then tried once-daily applications of topical vitamin C, as calcium ascorbate. His procedure was to first wet the navel area with a very small amount of water, and then sprinkle on the powder, which partly dissolved and adhered to the skin. The inflammation was thereby reduced overnight, and the cracks healed in the next few days. The area of redness and soreness decreased with every day of use. He continued to do this procedure two days out of three, the third day being used to apply vitamin E to soothe the affected skin. Over a period of several weeks, the area healed completely.

FLUORIDES AND FLUORIDATION: Evidence Based Science? Don't bet your life on it! by Darlene Sherrell

http://www.rvi.net/~fluoride/index.htm contains proof that the Institute of Medicine has misrepresented their own scientific references for the "adequate" and "tolerable" daily dose of fluoride. NAS/NRC/IOM is the ultimate authority relied on by the CDC, ADA, WHO, PAHO, and virtually all pro-fluoridation individuals and groups. Images of the original source material show the fraudulent basis for an increase in the recommended adequate intake from 1.5 mg/day to 4 mg/day for adults, as well as an increase in the tolerable upper limit from 4 mg/day to 10 mg/day for everyone age 9 years and over.  . If these fraudulent dosage figures were corrected, there would be no justification for a maximum contaminant level higher than 0.5 ppm. Water and salt fluoridation would be a thing of the past.  In short, there is no evidence-based science to support the fluoridation of water or salt - even assuming a lack of adverse effects other than mottled enamel. NAS/NRC/IOM cooked the books to protect fluoridation! The proof is available at the URL shown above. 

READERS SAY:

SAY NUTS TO ACID REFLUX

L. M. writes:

“I was reading your article on acid reflux and wanted to tell you what everyone in my family uses for heartburn: almonds. It doesn't matter if they are roasted or raw: they work! Next time you have  heartburn, chew 5-6 almonds. My sister, who had used antacids for years, including Prilosec, has not used them for over a year since she discovered the almonds. I tried it myself, and was amazed at how well they worked. Just as well as anything on the market, cost effective, and good for you also. I guess my grandmother was right all these years when she always told me nature provides for all our ailments.”

(Thanks for the tip! – DY Ed.)

THE DIFFERENCE IS DOSAGE

L. V. writes:

“Even as a kid I had arrhythmia, but at that time it was not considered serious. As I grew up, I occasionally found a little discomfort in the chest area. At the same time, as a kid I had hints of asthma and or allergies, breathing issues, etc. It all came home at age 44. I was working a high stress job and eating only takeout. Got a small sore throat--it just got worse and worse, rapidly. I went to an M.D., and he just thought it was allergies. After six weeks, I couldn't speak, and was coughing and suddenly throwing up on myself. I was having asthma-like attacks to the point of repeatedly collapsing--totally unable to recover my breath, even coughing up blood. Three different MD's later: no help. Two of them didn't even explain to me what they thought I had. They just gave me drugs. The cough persisted with some attacks severe enough to literally put me on the floor. I had even tried “very large” doses of vitamin C, like one thousand mg/day. Then I found YOUR website. I tried two, three four thousand mg. By the end of ONE day I had no cough. When it would start to recur, I would take more C. I had also had angina symptoms, and my heart had been palpitating wildly as well. So I got vitamin E, and gradually worked up to over 2000 IU's per day. The problems were 90 percent better. I next added magnesium aspartate, and problem solved....for months now! The amazing thing is that I had read about vitamins, and believed in vitamins, but you specifically emphasize that if the dose is not large enough, it won't have therapeutic effect; it will have nutritional benefit, but a certain dose is required if one has a disease condition. I eventually saw it as if I took just one mg of Tylenol, when a standard dose is hundreds of mg. One mg will do nothing. The same is true for the vitamins. Thanks!”

(Good for you. Your letter made my day. – DY Ed.)

COLON CANCER

S. R. writes: “My friend Mike now has severe back pain and constipation, related to his colon cancer. He is scheduled for more chemo next month. One of his friends mentioned that vitamin c intravenously can be very helpful. Mike said he was skeptical, because he thought that double blind control group studies were lacking. Anyway, if you know of some, maybe that would help him?” DY News Response: I can only wonder if Mike can afford to wait for more studies. His life is not a placebo-controlled, double blind study; he gets only one. Still, I think he should pay very close attention to the following: Riordan HD, Riordan NH, Jackson JA, Casciari, J.J., Hunninghake, R, Gonzalez MJ, Mora, E.M., Miranda-Massari, J.R., Rosario, N., Rivera, A.: Intravenous Vitamin C as a Chemotherapy Agent: a Report on Clinical Cases. Puerto Rico Health Sciences J, June 2004, 23(2): 115-118. Padayatty, S.J., Sun, H., Wang, Y., Riordan HD, Hewitt, S.M., Katz, A., Wesley, R.A., Levine, M. Vitamin C Pharmacokinetics: Implications for Oral and Intravenous Use. Annals of Internal Medicine, April 6, 2004, 140(7): 533-537. Gonzalez MJ, Mora, E.M., Miranda-Massari, J.R., Matta, J., Riordan HD, Riordan NH: Inhibition of Human Breast Carcinoma Cell Proliferation by Ascorbate and Copper. Puerto Rico Health Sciences J, March 2002, 21:1. Gonzalez MJ, Miranda-Massari, J.R., Mora, E.M., Jimenez, I.Z., Matos, M.I., Riordan HD, Casciari, J.J., Riordan NH, Rodriguez, M., Guzman, A.: Orthomolecular Oncology: a Mechanistic View of Intravenous Ascorbate's Chemotherapeutic Activity. Puerto Rico Health Sciences J, March, 2002, 21:1. Riordan HD, et al. High-Dose Intravenous Vitamin C in the Treatment of a Patient with Renal Cell Carcinoma of the Kidney. J. Orthomolecular Med, 1998, 13:2. Jackson JA, Riordan HD, Hunninghake, R.E., Riordan NH: High Dose Intravenous Vitamin C and Long Term Survival of a Patient with Cancer of Head of the Pancreas. J. Orthomolecular Medicine, 1995; 10(2). Riordan NH, Riordan HD, Meng, X., Li, Y., Jackson JA: Intravenous Ascorbate as a Tumor Cytotoxic Chemotherapeutic Agent. Medical Hypotheses, 1995 (44). Riordan HD, et al. Coronary Artery Occlusion, Chelation and Cholesterol in a 49 Year-Old Pilot. J. Orthomolecular Med, 1996, 11:1. Riordan NH, Jackson JA, Riordan HD. Intravenous Vitamin C in a Terminal Cancer Patient. J. Orthomolecular Med, 1996, 11:2. and especially this newest one: Chen Q, Espey MG, Krishna MC, Mitchell JB, Corpe CP, Buettner GR, Shacter E, Levine M. Pharmacologic ascorbic acid concentrations selectively kill cancer cells: action as a pro-drug to deliver hydrogen peroxide to tissues. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Sep 20;102(38):13604-9. Epub 2005 Sep 12.

HEALTH CLAIMS AND DUBIOUS MEDIA ARTICLES by Paul Anthony Taylor

United Kingdom  ”Do not let either the medical authorities or the politicians mislead you. Find out what the facts are, and make your own decisions about how to live a happy life and how to work for a better world.” (Linus Pauling).  Living in the European Union, as I do, I have been aware for some time now that there is a concerted attempt underway to convince us that there are no such things as good or bad foods, only good or bad diets, and that in a long-term varied diet, all foods can be included. In recent years, even press releases issued by the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, have begun to subscribe to this most disingenuous, and even dangerous, of ideologies. http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/health_consumer/newsletter/200307/1.htm  Disturbingly therefore, the European media now appears to be becoming increasingly complicit in the spreading of this type of propaganda, and is replete with examples of dubious scientific-sounding claims, masquerading as articles, being used as a means of influencing our food purchases. One recent report, for example, even went so far as to claim that “cheeseburgers are good for the gut,” arguing that rather than clog up the arteries high fat foods “can actually soothe inflammation.”  http://www.nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?n=63108&m=1NIEo11&c=lmqbgluszkwtiej   Another recent report trumpeted the claim that walnuts are a source of melatonin. http://www.nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?id=62492 This one really made me sit up and take notice, as over-the-counter sales of melatonin were banned some years ago in the UK, where I live, on the dubious grounds that they weren’t safe. Upon reading down the article, however, one discovers that the amount of melatonin in walnuts was found to be between 2.5 and 4.5 nanograms per gram.  Now, a nanogram is 1 millionth of a milligram http://www.ilpi.com/msds/ref/massunits.html which means that the amount of melatonin in walnuts is very, very small indeed. Bearing in mind therefore that the average walnut weighs around 5 grams http://www.naturalhub.com/grow_nut_cultivars_walnut.htm and that even the very lowest dose melatonin capsule generally contains at least 1 milligram of melatonin, this suggests one would have to consume well over forty-four thousand walnuts (each containing an average 4.5 nanograms of melatonin per gram) to achieve an intake of just 1 milligram. And guess what? The research was supported by a grant from the California Walnut Industry. Hmmm.   Meanwhile, the European Union is in the final stages of preparing a very restrictive Regulation on Nutrition and Health Claims. Expected to be passed in mid-2006, it will give the European authorities full control over any and all claims made about food products sold in Europe. Essentially, no claims of any sort will be allowed unless they are specifically accepted and approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).   Notably however, information provided in media articles of the type described above will be exempt from the Regulation. As such, whilst most health claims for dietary supplements will, in all likelihood, be either rejected or at best extremely difficult to gain approval for, European consumers will continue to be subjected to an increasing barrage of dubious articles of the type that exhort them to eat cheeseburgers, and then buy walnuts for their melatonin content.   Before anybody gets the wrong idea, I have nothing against either Nutraingredients or its website. I subscribe to the Nutraingredients daily newsletter, for example, and generally consider it to be a useful source of information about the supplement and health food industries. And just for the record I also like walnuts too, and eat them regularly for their many health-promoting promoting properties.   My concern, however, is that Europe is currently heading at breakneck speed towards an Orwellian world where truly life-extending and health-enhancing information, of the type that consumers both want and have a moral right to avail themselves of, will be banned, but where the fast and processed food industries (and of course, the pharmaceutical industry) will thrive as a result of their financial power, political connections and easy access to the media.    Moreover, having just returned from a Codex meeting in Bonn, Germany, and witnessed discussions regarding a proposed global standard, the Draft Recommendations on the Scientific Basis of Health Claims, that could potentially do just as much damage to natural healthcare and health freedom as the Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements eventually might, I know only too well the extent to which we are now being hoodwinked on this issue by our politicians, regulators and media.   As the old saying goes - unless we change direction soon we're likely to end up where we're going. Well, we’d better change direction pretty soon then, as from what I have seen recently our current destination is looking increasingly worrying.  UNSTRESS YOUR LIFE: Part 6 by John I. Mosher, PhD State University of New York, Emeritus

GET AWAY FROM IT ALL

Go to a peaceful place as often as you can. A relatively easy way to do this is to practice the techniques that have been outlined in this series. (Editor’s note: All previous installments of Unstress Your Life are posted in the Newsletter Back Issues section at the Doctor Yourself.com website. Search for “Unstress Your Life.”) All these techniques can, in a real sense, provide you with a portable sanctuary: a sanctuary where you can go within and be with your Being, that still point within, almost any place or any time of your choosing. Having said that, I encourage you to create a special sacred place to use for just Being with yourself. Joseph Campbell writes: “This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you might find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen … your sacred space is where you find yourself again and again.”

I also like to make sacred physical spaces out of doors. I created such a space in the rather secluded southwest corner of our lawn. I also have a space in a friend’s nearby woods. I completely agree with Henry David Thoreau when he wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach and not when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Being in nature and enjoying beautiful, quiet landscape is healing. A lot of our illness, both physical and mental, comes from our disconnection from the natural world. I knew a young man years ago who was afraid to be alone in the woods. His fear in general was so profound that he felt physically debilitated in certain ways when in a strange natural setting. To my way of thinking, this situation signaled the depth of his disconnection from not only nature, but his true natural self. The mind and mind-created ego were so powerful, through his mental conditioning from home, education and society in general, that he seemed out of touch with his true being. I was more fortunate. As a boy growing up on a farm, I loved to ramble the fields, hedgerows, woods and streams. I enjoyed seeing what was going on out of doors. There always seemed to be some activity be it bird, insect, deer, woodchuck, field mouse, or snake. All were just being and following their natural patterns of life. Just being away from people and with the wild plants and animals was a balancing and comforting experience for me. Over the years, without consciously realizing it, I used the time in the out-of-doors as a stress management program. Fortunately my studies, research and teaching in the biological sciences required quite a lot of time spent out of doors. I think one of my major experiences in finding my self occurred when I was studying Big Horn Sheep in an unmapped wilderness area in south western Colorado. I was camped near the snow which covered the mountain top. It was July, and I was at about 12,000 feet above sea level. I could see forever, so it seemed, and my only contact with the populated world was the glint of sun from a metal roof on a ranch about 20 or more miles away. I was alone and the only sounds were those of nature. Absolutely no human signs: just animal tracks and pathways.

In my early adult years, with the pressures of career and family, the woods were my salvation. I had the feeling that there were ways of gaining that benefit of nature when it was not possible to be out in the woods. Deep within me I knew there must be a way to live that was not so stressful. I remember thinking that there must be more to life than the everyday pressures, and the treadmill of ego gratifying accomplishments in the name of career and science. My reflective quiet time in the woods felt settling and gratifying, unlike my career accomplishments. It seemed that regardless of what one might achieve at the job or in the field of research, the satisfaction from the accomplishment soon faded. It was somewhat like being addicted to a substance: there is the short term high but no long term liberation from the peaks and valleys of the cycle. What I wanted was a stable, permanent happiness. At this point I realized that pleasure is a short term, transitory experience, whereas happiness is a basic underlying positive attitude toward life. This involves cultivating the positive values of life such as compassion, selflessness, tolerance, forgiveness and kindness, along with having gratitude and appreciation for one’s own life as well as that of others. I found that adopting and practicing these values takes self discipline and the need to remain mindful and conscious of one’s life situation. For example, if someone is unpleasant to you, your initial reaction may be one of anger. But by remaining conscious, you can acknowledge your feeling and then make a conscious choice not to act on the feeling. You can use this life situation to realize that happy people do not act unpleasantly. The unpleasant person surely is in pain. There is an old saying that the amount of pain one inflicts on another is directly proportional to the amount of pain they feel inside.

Realizing the possibility that the other is unpleasant because they are in pain allows you to practice compassion. Then, instead of yelling or punching the person, you can say, “I’m sorry you feel that way.” By doing this you have remained conscious and perhaps even helped the other person to examine their own motivations. At the very least, you have helped your self and in the most you have been compassionate and understanding to another person, giving them the opportunity to grow in their own realization.

Spending time in your sanctuary, be it a room, a park, a woods or mountain top gives you the opportunity and the peace to put things in perspective. Just being in nature and allowing the noise and chatter of the mind to be somewhat neutralized by the silence of the trees is beneficial. If you have the privacy of a woods available, you might try letting yourself be drawn to a certain tree. Go to that tree and lean against it with your forehead and hands touching the tree. As you spend a minute or two or more doing this, you will note a peaceful feeling coming over you. You may even feel that you are experiencing your surroundings differently than you usually do. It has been said that trees function as a great antenna bringing in the coherent energy of the cosmos. Perhaps the tree tunes up your nervous system; who can say? Regardless of theory, the fact is that many others as well as myself have experienced healing and feelings of well-being from such contact.

We are stressed and restless, always looking for something outside of ourselves to make us happy. The techniques, the sanctuary, the practice of cultivating positive states of mind all facilitate our discovering ourselves again and again until we are enjoying living. (Counselor and professor of biology John I. Mosher, PhD, is the author of several articles at the DoctorYourself.com website, all easily searchable.)

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