***Nut, Corn, and Popcorn Consumption and the Incidence of Diverticular Disease***
I've always been suspicious about recommending avoidance of these food items for patients with diverticulosis, primarily because these items are known to be very good for us. However, this study finds that these food items not only did not cause problems, but nuts and popcorn actually prevented episodes of diverticulitis!! Now I guess the remaining problem is how long it will take for clinical practice to catch up with the research.
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***Human Papillomavirus Vaccination - Reasons for Caution***
This topic has been of controversy almost since day one. The list of reasons to be concerned is great, the first of which is how this has been marketed--as a cancer vaccine. It is NOT and has not been proven to stop cancer...only to stop the precursor lesions for cancer. This is not the same thing, and to jump on this massive bandwagon before all the details are ironed out is downright scary. This particular article notes something that we see of great concern in vaccination--the suppression of one strain of a bacteria or virus leading to the increase in other strains causing problems. Geezz...ultimately, this is a scary path was are going down, and mandating it almost literally right out of the gate is ultimately higher likely to produce a bad, bad outcome in the coming years.
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***Comparison of lycopene and fluvastatin effects on atherosclerosis induced by a high-fat diet in rabbits ***
One of these days, I'll get my deepest wish and this class of drugs will die the death it deserves. For starters, the statin class of drugs is really ineffective at lowering primary cases of heart attacks. The research is incredibly weak, so much so that fatty acids, exercise and now lycopene trump the end point of cardiovascular disease and death. Of course, lifestyle changes are also going to have positive effects that extend far beyond CVD to pretty much every chronic disease.
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***Cancer and Statins***
I'm really not making this stuff up. Seemingly the entire medical profession has been duped into believing this class of drugs has a profound impact on CVD, upwards of 50% reduction in events (this IS true, lowering the rates from 2% to 1% after 3 yrs of use...). I even had one memorable patient with a healthy lifestyle and good lipids whose PCP put him on Lipitor for "prevention." In my book, "prevention" does not carry the potential for increased rates of cancer, muscle pain or death. The link with cancer is that statins inhibit an enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase, lowering the production of a compound called mevonalate, but ONLY in the liver. This liver supression leads to an increased production in non-hepatic tissues, conferring an elevated risk of cancer. Prevention?
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***Omega-3 Fatty Acids, but Not Statin Therapy, Cuts Mortality and Hospitalizations in Heart Failure***
I think the title really states it all. Looking into the data, while not jaw dropping at preventing deaths, the data completely blows away the data on statins. Understand this...this study was done on DEATH, not heart attacks. Statins have not been shown to strongly affect death rates. To prevent even a single heart attack (NOT death) we have to treat in excess of 150 patients for 3 years. In this study, treating 44 patients was needed for 3.9 years to prevent one DEATH. Then we consider that EFAs are beneficial for a large array of other conditions, are much safer and much cheaper. Again, I reiterate that I do not believe that the statin class of drugs should even exist, let alone generate over $20 billion / year in sales for one single drug company alone. (note: link to this article may require access)
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***Attack Frequency and Disease Duration as Indicators for Brain Damage in Migraine***
Regular readers of Updates know that I have a serious issue with the way we treat migraines and seizures in today's medical environment. We don't look at the whole person, we just try to suppress the outward manifestation of the disease state, and yet time and time again we see that this approach is NOT affecting the real problem. These authors call migraines a progressive brain disease. What a novel but appropriate viewpoint. The overall idea is that patients with migraines need to take a serious look at their lifestyle and understand that, if changes are not made, not only their brain is at risk but also the cardiovascular system.
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***Estimated conversion of a-linolenic acid to long chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids is greater than expected in non fish-eating vegetarians and non fish-eating meat-eaters than in fish-eaters***
There has also been discussion about just how much ALA from plant sources gets converted to DHA/EPA. The concerns have been that ALA intake is not enough to keep elevated levels of DHA/EPA without additional supplementation. Two comments here...first, the conversion seems to be greater than originally thought in several studies, including this one. Second, ALA has it's own benefits in clinical studies on cancer risk and CVD. The bottom line is that I feel we should get a strong balance of plant based and fish based EFAs. Of course, we could then point out that the ultimate origin of fish based EFAs is algae...
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***Flaxseed oil and fish-oil capsule consumption alters human red blood cell n-3 fatty acid composition***
This study provides further evidence of a functional incorporation of DHA into the membranes of RBCs following supplementation of flaxseed at levels easily obtained by dietary means.
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***Impact of maternal atopy and probiotic supplementation during pregnancy on infant sensitization***
A few comments here, beginning with my decade long frustration about medicine's refusal to accept normal, protective flora as being important. We destroy it wantonly in infancy with antibiotics, with never a thought as to the physiological ramifications of this approach. In this study, the authors used probiotics in mothers who were allergy-prone (which meant that their infant, as well, would be allergy prone) and nursing to lower the risk in the infants for developing allergies. This likely occurs through 2 mechanisms--one with the modulation of the mom's own immune status, and two, but direct translocation of the bacteria from the gut into breast milk. Couple this with findings of greatly reduced allergies and asthma in infants whose mothers took in higher levels of EFAs and we would see a drastic reduction in the prevalence of this chronic condition.
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***Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 activity is associated with coronary artery disease and markers of oxidative stress***
The Plax test is slowly gaining ground as a strong marker for CVD risk. This article further affirms this relationship and goes further, linking oxidative stress biomarkers, Plax and CVD, with almost 2.5 times the risk for CVD when both were present in the highest levels.
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James Bogash, DC and Amy Strock, DC
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(Alma School Road, just south of the Superstition Freeway/Highway 60)
Chiropractic Health Care Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert & Tempe, Arizona
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