May 3, 2001 Research Update

James Bogash, D.C. Mesa, AZ
info@lifecarechiropractic.com
www.lifecarechiropractic.com

Lyon Diet Heart Study

This is a wonderful article outlining very nicely what a Mediterranean diet consist of. I am a big, big fan of the Mediaterranean diet and feel that, for most patients, it is probably one of the healthiest on the planet. In previous studies it has been compared to the ADA and AHA diets and pretty much puts them to shame; and yet these organizations continue to recommend their outdated, ineffective programs. Circulation -- Kris-Etherton et al. 103 (13): 1823 http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/103/13/1823

Severe nutritional Deficiencies in Toddlers Resulting From Health Food Milk Alternatives

I left the title exactly as is to illustrate a point. In reading this title (which is ALL many practitioners will do) many would gather that milk alternatives can lead to life-threatening conditions. Better to just stick with dairy. Right? Wrong. In reading the article, we find two case studies. The first is a case of kwashiorkor's disease in a patient who happened to be using rice milk. Read the report. The diet taken in by the infant was very poor and imbalanced and THIS is what resulted in the condition, NOT the milk alternative. The second case study involves ricketts in an infant using a milk alternative that was not fortified with Vit D. This was a poor choice by the parent, but hardly a reason to demonized the milk substitute. Many dairy products are not fortified with Vit D either. As an aside, read the responses to this article. Pediatrics -- Abstracts: Carvalho et al. 107 (4): e46 http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/abstract/107/4/e46

-Tocopherol decreases CD36 expression in macrophages

I know this title seems confusing, but in general it supports previous research on Vit E preventing the damage caused by high cholesterol levels. Remember--high cholesterol can not damage the body until it itself is damaged. Antioxidant therapy should be an instrumental aspect of any therapy aimed at lowering cholesterol. A little note here---the tocopherols (in which Vit E belongs) is actually a group of numerous types. The highest quality supplements will contain mixed tocopherols to best mimic nature. J. Lipid Res. -- Abstracts: Devaraj et al. 42 (4): 521 http://www.jlr.org/cgi/content/abstract/42/4/521

Should people stretch before exercise?

Cast some more dogma out the window!! This is a very interesting review article that looked at whether or not stretching prior to exercise will help to prevent injuries. The bottom line? No. Read the article to understand the author's review process. wjm -- Shrier 174 (4): 282 http://www.ewjm.com/cgi/content/full/174/4/282

Younger Women on HRT May Be at Risk for Colon Polyp Recurrence

If there are so many potential negative effects of synthetic HRT, why is it still on the tip of most physician's tongues when a woman approaches menopause? Every woman who is perimenopausal needs to evaluate why she would consider HRT and see if there are any natural, safer alternatives.

(article) Although estrogen has been shown to protect against colon polyp formation, National Cancer Institute (NCI) researchers said here on Tuesday that younger women on hormone replacement therapy may be at risk for developing new polyps after they have already had some removed. For unknown reasons, women under the age of 62 had an increased risk of recurrence, NCI scientist Dr. Karen Woodson said in presenting data from the institute's Polyp Prevention Trial here at the 92nd annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer research.

Insulin Therapy A Predictor of Mortality in Coronary Artery Disease

I've touched on this many times before--insulin is really not a friendly hormone to the body. It is designed to be short acting and then cleared from the system, but with today's lifestyle this just does not happen and levels run high. Study after study have demonstrated damaging effects from hyperinsulinemia. Based on this, the results of this study are not surprising.

50th scientific session of the American College of Cardiology Insulin therapy is associated with a very high risk of death for diabetics with cardiovascular disease. Farangis Lavasani and colleagues at Latter Day Saints Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, analyzed mortality data in 1428 patients with diabetes and documented coronary artery disease who had been admitted to their institution for angiography. Nearly all patients had at least 70% stenosis in at least one coronary artery, she noted. The investigators did not differentiate between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. After 2.5 years of followup, Lavasani reported, patients on insulin had a mortality rate of 28%, those on sulfonylureas a mortality rate of 16%, those on a glitazone a mortality rate of 14% and those on metformin a mortality rate of 8%. "Metformin improves survival" in patients with both diabetes and cardiovascular disease, Lavasani said. She told Reuters Health that it appears that adding a sulfonylurea to metformin appears to diminish the efficacy of the insulin-sensitizing therapy.

Subclinical Glucose Intolerance Increases Risk of Death

Do I need to say any more? Insulin resistance, Syndrome X, metabolic syndrome...whatever you care to call it....is a major risk factor for so many chronic diseases. The sad part is that society is not moving away from refined carbs--a known contributor to insulin resistance. Combine this with the fact that cortisol, the body's stress hormone, also contributes to insulin resistance, and the increasing incidences of many chronic diseases is no longer a surprise.

Diabetes Care 2001;24:447-453 Subclinical glucose intolerance is associated with an increased risk of death in adults. Dr. Frederick L. Brancati from the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland and colleagues used data from the Second National Health and nutrition Examination Survey Mortality Study to compare mortality among adults with known type 2 diabetes, undiagnosed diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance with adults with normal glucose tolerance. Follow-up lasted 12 to 16 years. Impaired glucose tolerance and undiagnosed diabetes emerged as independent predictors of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality. "There was a gradient of mortality associated with abnormal glucose tolerance ranging from a 40% greater risk in adults with impaired glucose tolerance to a 110% greater risk in adults with clinically evident diabetes," the investigators report. "These associations were independent of established cardiovascular risk factors." Early detection and treatment of undiagnosed diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance should help reduce mortality in the US, Dr. Brancati and colleagues conclude.

Estrogen Replacement Therapy Does Not Reduce Alzheimer's Risk

Strike off yet another excuse for HRT. Want to lower your risk of Alzheimers? Identify and avoid food allergens, lower your overall inflammatory burden, maintain high intakes of fruits, vegetables and whole grains high in zinc and avoid as many sources of aluminum as you can.

Arch Neurol 2001;58:435-440 The use of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) by postmenopausal women does not reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). Dr. David A. Drachman, of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, used the General Practice research Database in the UK, which includes prescription data, to identify 112,481 postmenopausal women who used ERT and an age-matched cohort of 108,925 women who had not used ERT. From these groups they conducted a nested case-control analysis of 59 women with newly diagnosed AD and 221 matched controls. "Among the 59 newly diagnosed cases of AD, 15 (25%) were current estrogen users, while among the controls, 53 (24%) were current users," the investigators report. After adjustment for body mass index and smoking, the odds ratio for AD in women who had used estrogen for at least 1 year was 1.18 compared with nonusers. When the authors combined past ERT users with current users, the odds ratio compared with nonusers 1.19. For those who used estrogen for at least 5 years, the odds ratio was 1.05. "Odds ratios were similar for estrogen recipients who received estrogens alone and recipients who received combined estrogen-progestin treatment," Dr. Drachman and colleagues note.

Is the Chiropractic Subluxation Theory a Threat to Public Health?

It still amazes me that articles like this show up in medical journals. We have pharmaceutical drugs responsible as the 4th to the 6th leading cause of death (depending upon whom you talk to..) and we still get articles like this. Go figure. Every day I hear stories from patients of things that have been done to them or given to them that stumps me. Just two days ago a patient's 1 1/2 year old son was put in the hospital for rotativrus and given ANTIBIOTICS!! How about probiotics instead? Let's destroy this poor child's developing immune structure and possibly set him up for atopy and asthma; and yet DC's are the threat? Makes me wonder how an article like this makes it through the peer review process for publication.

Scientific Review of Alt Med 5(1):45-53, 2001 Many chiropractors treat patients with spinal adjustments based on the theory that correction of vertebral subluxations will restore and maintain health. This paper explores the controversy surrounding the practice of chiropractic and discusses some of the dangers associated with inappropriate use of spinal manipulation. Treatment of infants and children by subluxation-based chiropractors who do not endorse such medically accepted procedures as immunization or use of antibiotics is especially a cause for alarm. Explaining the scientifically rejected chiropractic subluxation therapy and describing some of the questionable treatment methods based on this theory, a veteran chiropractic reformer concludes that if the chiropractic profession fails to abandon the false premise upon which it is based, it will remain controversial and some aspects of chiropractic treatment will continue to be a threat to public health.