Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine that treats patients with drug or herbal preparations that are so diluted that the final solution may not contain detectable amounts of the drugs or herbs.  In fact, homeopathic remedies may be so diluted that they are just water.  Clearly, any benefit obtained from such medicines would likely be due to the placebo effect, which is the belief by the patient that he or she will get better.  This belief sometimes has a therapeutic effect.  Homeopathic remedies may be just water, but they can cause harm by preventing a sick person from seeking competent medical advice and being cured by verified conventional treatments.

Homeopathic remedies are a big business.  The market for homeopathic medicines is estimated to be 300 million euros in France, 200 million euros in Germany, over 26 billion Rupees in India, and $200 million Dollars in the United States.

Homeopathic products do not need to be tested for safety or effectiveness, but they must be labeled with a list of ingredients and the conditions for which they are used.  A 1938 law allows drugs listed in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States to be sold without the validation that governs standard medications.  In essence, homeopathic products are manufactured and distributed without FDA approval.

Some homeopathic products may actually contain harmful substances.  In June 16, 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned consumers to stop using and discard three zinc-containing Zicam intranasal products because the products may cause a permanent loss of sense of smell.[1]  The manufacturer of Zicam, Matrixx Initiatives, agreed to pay $12 million dollars in 2006 to settle 340 law suits by consumers who claimed that Zicam had ruined or destroyed their sense of smell.  FDA Inspectors are also investigating other homeopathic products that have caused allergic reactions from impurities introduced during manufacturing.

Just because a product is popular or heavily marketed, it does not mean that it is safe and effective.  Claims for herbal medicines are a big gray area.  There are many herbal medicines whose ingredients have been proven effective.  The antibacterial properties of garlic and the pain relief from chewing leaves of willow, which contain aspirin, have been known for thousands of years.  However, the claims made for many herbal medicines are not likely to be confirmed through research by pharmaceutical companies because there are no profits to be made from natural products that cannot be patented.  A successful economic model for new drugs requires identifying the active compounds in a natural product and then creating synthetic analogues that can be patented.

[1] FDA Warnings on Three Zicam Intranasal Zinc Products [link]

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 106.7 million Americans age 20 and older have total blood cholesterol levels of 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) and higher. That is 35% of the population of the United States! The epidemic of high cholesterol is mainly due to the fats used in packaged and commercial foods. Cholesterol can be lowered by avoiding hydrogenated fats and eating polyunsaturated fats found in fish, walnuts, and sunflower seeds. Unfortunately, essential fatty acids turn rancid rapidly, and manufacturers avoid them to prevent packaged foods from spoiling while they sit in supermarket shelves.

The worst fats for your health are hydrogenated fats because they increase Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), the “bad” cholesterol, and they decrease the High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), the “good” cholesterol. Saturated fats like those found in coconut oil and palm kernel oil increase cholesterol levels powerfully, but these are the fats that are used by manufacturers because they do not get stale.

The chart above shows the effects of individual dietary fatty acids on Total Serum Cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol when 1% of the energy from carbohydrates in the diet is replaced by 1% of energy of the specific fatty acids. The chart shows cholesterol increases from lauric acid (C12:0), myristic acid (C14:0), and palmitic acid (C16:0) which are found in coconut oil, palm oil, and butter. Elaidic acid (trans-C18:1), which is present in hydrogenated fats, is the worst because it increases LDL and decreases HDL. The saturated fatty acid stearic acid (C18:0), the monounsaturated oleic acid (C18:1), and the polyunsaturated linoleic acid (C18:2) decrease LDL and increase HDL to various degrees.[1] Here are some steps to lower cholesterol:

• Avoid all hydrogenated fats (they are very common in commercial fried foods and baked goods)
• Reduce sources of saturated fats (butter, coconut oil, palm oil, fat from meats, chicken skin)
• Increase consumption of polyunsaturated fats (fish oil, walnut oil, flax seed oil, grape seed oil)
• Add soluble fiber to your diet (oatmeal, legumes)

Unfortunately, many of the oils available commercially are highly processed. The best thing is not to eat them. Meet your essential fatty acid requirements by eating foods that have the oils, e.g., fish, walnuts, sunflower seeds, etc. Olive oil does not lower cholesterol; it is basically neutral. The reason why olive oil receives a lot of positive promotion is because it is used in the Mediterranean diet, and the Mediterranean diet is associated with lower incidence of cardiovascular diseases, although this is not necessarily because of the oil.

The hardest part in normalizing your cholesterol will be avoiding the vast number of commercial foods that have hydrogenated fats and saturated fats. They include shortening, margarine, butter flavor popcorn, hash browns, french fries, biscuits, baked apple pies, chocolate chip cookies, taco shells, and the list goes on and on. Pay close attention to the food labels.

Learn how to lower your cholesterol

[1] Martijti B Katan, Peter L Zock, and Ronald P Mensink, Effects of fats and fatty acids on blood lipids in humans: an overview, Am J Cli. Nutr., 1994;60(suppl):1017S-1022S.

 
Mechanism of apoptosis and a toe with gout

When body fluids, such as urine, become very acid, solids dissolved in the fluids crystallize within the body and can cause gout and create tophi in the cooler parts of the body. The pain of uric acid deposits from gout can be excruciating.  The conventional treatment for gout consists of avoiding alcohol, foods high in purines, and some medications like niacin.  Many of the prescription medicines used to treat gout have undesirable side effects.

As if the suffering from gout were not bad enough, a study published in 2009 linked the occurrence of gout to increased incidence of cancer and concluded that “hyperuricemia may be an early manifestation of the carcinogenic process”.[1]  The study found that gout patients had increased incidence of all types of cancer, including cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, colon, liver and biliary tract, pancreas, lung, skin (melanoma and nonmelanoma), endometrium and kidney, as well as of malignant melanoma.

Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is frequently used as a home remedy for gout. Sodium bicarbonate works by alkalizing body fluids to increase the solubility of uric acid and permit its elimination through the urine.  It is possible that this alternative medicine treatment for gout could also reduce the risk of cancer.

In 2007, researchers identified cellular signaling pathways that become active under alkaline conditions by removing amide functional groups from key cellular proteins (Bcl-xL) thus promoting the death of cancerous cells through apoptosis.[2]  German biochemist Otto Warburg initially proposed in 1966 that abnormal energy metabolism caused cancer. He showed that tumors have an acidic extracellular environment, and suggested that a switch from oxidative respiration to glycolysis, which produces lactic acid, starts the cell transformation toward cancer. Warburg’s work stimulated interest in the possibility that there was some kind of link between pH and cancer.  The latest findings raise hope that inducing alkalinization may prove an effective strategy to treat a range of cancers.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if cancer could be prevented simply by regularly drinking some baking soda dissolved in water to keep body fluids from becoming too acidic?

[1] Boffetta P, Nordenvall C, Nyrén O, Ye W., A prospective study of gout and cancer.
Eur J Cancer Prev. 2009 Apr;18(2):127-32, PMID: 19337060

[2] Gross L (2007) Manipulating Cellular pH Suggests Novel Anticancer Therapy. PLoS Biol 5(1): e10

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database from 2001 to 2004 showed that the average intake of added sugars for all Americans was 22.2 teaspoons or about 355 calories per day.  “Added sugars” are sugars and syrups that are added during processing or preparation of foods as well as sugars and syrups that are added at the table, they do not include the sugars that are naturally present in fruits and whole grains.

In August 2009, The American Heart Association (AHA) issued a recommendation to cut the intake of added sugars.[1]  The publication gives consumers detailed guidance of the upper limit of added sugars in the diet.  The AHA recommendations emphasize a healthy lifestyle and a diet that is rich in fruit, vegetables, low-fat dairy products, high-fiber whole grains, lean meat, poultry and fish. In addition to consuming an overall healthy diet, the guidelines emphasize the importance of a healthy body weight to avoid metabolic abnormalities and adverse health conditions such diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The problem with added sugars is that they are refined carbohydrates without any vitamin or mineral content.  Sugars are just “empty calories” without any nutritive value.  If you don’t exercise enough to burn them off, the body converts them to fat.

Most American women should consume no more than 100 calories of added sugars per day; most men, no more than 150 calories. That corresponds to about 6 teaspoons of added sugars a day for women and 9 for men.  Soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the greatest source of added sugars in the American diet. A 12-ounce can of regular soda contains about 130 calories from 8 teaspoons of sugar or high fructose corn syrup.  This means that even one can of soda per day is too much for the average woman, and this does not count all the other sources of added sugars such as salad dressing, spaghetti sauce, candy, and baked goods.

Learn about weight control and healthy diet

[1] Dietary Sugars Intake and Cardiovascular Health. A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association, Circulation, 2009 Aug 24, PMID: 19704096 [link]

Last July, Larry Haubner from Fredericksburg, Virginia celebrated his 107th birthday.  He credits his longevity to good nutrition and exercise.  Haubner exercises daily using some old equipment that he keeps in his room and he takes no medications.  The doctor who treats him for free says that he is in good health and that he will probably live a lot longer.

The only problem is that Haubner is broke.  The assisted living center where he lives costs $3,500 per month.  Two years ago, supporters raised $56,000 to help Haubner stay at the center, but the money has run out, and he is still alive.  Haubner never married and has no surviving family or friends who can help him financially.  He receives $1,200 in monthly pension and Social Security payments, but that is not enough to cover his expenses at the assisted living facility.  Without more help, he will have to apply for Medicaid and move to a nursing home.

Calorie Restriction with Optimum Nutrition (CRON) has been shown to extend longevity in many species.  There are many people practicing caloric restriction with the objective of living longer lives in good health, but Social Security is also running out of money.  In recognition of the fact that people are living longer, the age for receiving Social Security has been progressively extended.  Retirement age used to be 65, but it is now 66 for persons born between 1943 and and 1954.  The retirement age will be 67 for those born after 1959.

As Americans get older, the number of people paying into Social Security is decreasing, and the Social Security trust fund will begin to spend more money than it takes in through tax revenue in 2016.  The trust fund from which Social Security payments are made will be unable to pay retirees full benefits by 2037, and the program that subsidizes disabled Americans will run out of money in 2020.

If you are planning to live a long life, you better save a lot of money to finance your old age.

Learn how to budget your income

You probably received an e-mail asking for your help to transfer several million dollars on behalf of the daughter of an important Nigerian head of state.  This is a social engineering scam that takes advantage of your gullibility and greed.

Another message in your mail box probably says that your on-line bank account has been canceled and that you need to verify the account data to restore access.  This type of scam is called “phishing” and it is generally linked to a fake or “spoof” web site designed to steal your account information.  If you fall for the scam, you will become a victim of identity theft and your compromised bank account will be drained.

The majority of spam e-mail in your inbox is most likely about how to get drugs without prescription.  The drugs can be sedatives, diet pills, or medications like Viagra for improved sexual performance.  Here is a small sample of typical junk mail.  Many of the spam e-mails are purposely misspelled to try to avoid spam filters and guarantee that they land in your mailbox.

Woodrow Hanson, Need any of the 3?..ViagraXanax vicodin valium?, 4:01 AM 3KB
Elba Sheridan, Ambien, Soma, Phentermin, and more without a prescription!, 3:58 AM 2KB
Mildred Thorpe, tips that are good for bed, 3:50 AM 2KB
Leroy Rutherford, We have great anti anxiety medications!!, 3:42 AM 3KB
Maria Cunningham, Much bigger, than you used to have it!, 3:35 AM 2KB
Adela Britton, Get all the medications you want online!, 3:15 AM 3KB
Dee Amos, prosolution pill, 3:13 AM 2KB
Joan Carson, good news for the bed, Tue, 7/21/09 3KB
Raymond Rollins, Get Vicodin Online - NoPRESCRIPTION Needed!, Tue, 7/21/09 3KB
Young Spears, Buy Hydrocodone Online from a US Pharmacy, Tue, 7/21/09 3KB
Leigh Trent, Acai Diet, lose weight without impossible diets, Tue, 7/21/09 4KB
Harriett Park, ORder ALL YOUR favorite meds online NO_PRES needed!, Tue, 7/21/09 2KB
Rich A. Robison, great web offer, Tue, 7/21/09 3KB

What is likely to happen if you respond to one of these messages?  One possibility is that you will get bilked.  You send your money to buy some drugs and you never see the drugs or your money.  To whom are you going to complain?  Will you complain to the police or some government agency that you did not get your illegal drugs?  Not very likely.  Another possibility is that your e-mail address is harvested by mass marketers to send you some more spam e-mail.   A third possibility is that the drugs that you get are fake and not what you expected.  The best thing to do is just to delete the junk mail.

The United States is the largest market for illegal drugs in the world.  America’s great hunger for drugs is what keeps the Mexican and Columbian drug cartels in business.  Many of the contacts for the distribution of illegal drugs start through the Internet using spam e-mail.

Learn about Drug Addiction

I recently mentioned the interesting digital human modeling work being done at the University of Washington.

From a published video, I was able to get images corresponding to several important BMI points for a male model, but the video did not have a full range of proportions for a female going from a very thin body to a very fat body.  I contacted Professor Brian Curless at the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at UW and he kindly provided female images for BMI points corresponding to the start of anorexia, minimum normal BMI, middle normal BMI, highest normal BMI, obesity, and morbid obesity.

Although every individual is different, the pictures provide representative images of how a person with a specific BMI might look.  When you compute your BMI, you can refer to the pictures and ask yourself: “Do I really look like that?”  The answer is usually “Yes.”

Try the Body Mass Index (BMI) Calculator

Politicians are now fighting about health care reform.  Many of them are defending the status quo and propose that there should be no changes, even though a report by the World Health Organization in 2000 ranked the United States in 37th place in health care after countries like Belgium, Chile, and Morocco.  Many Americans do not have health insurance because they cannot afford it.  Many middle-income families choose to be without health insurance even when coverage is offered by their employers because of the cost.  In 2005, approximately 47 million Americans, or 16 percent of the population, did not have health insurance.

The medical establishment and the pharmaceutical industry benefit from the current system and consistently pressure congress to avoid changes.  People who work for employers that offer medical Flexible Spending Arrangements (FSA) also benefit by cheating the system.

A medical Flexible Spending Arrangement allows you to set aside part of your yearly salary for health expenses.  The limit is usually from two to five thousand dollars.  This money is not taxed, but if you don’t spend the money within the tax year that you allocated it, you lose it.  People who have large medical expenses generally use all that they allocate.  People with normal health expenses who use the money for prescriptions, medical deductibles, and over-the-counter drugs may risk to lose a lot of money unless they cheat.  But cheating is easy.  Toward the end of the year, when people know that they are not going to need the FSA money, they go to one or more drugstores to buy items that can be returned unopened.  They buy crutches, blood pressure monitors, glucose meters, and any other items that qualify under the FSA plan.  They then send copies of the receipts to the FSA administrator to get a check for their “medical expenses”.  Once they have the FSA check, the original receipts and the unopened items are brought back to the stores to get complete refunds.  In essence, these people receive tax-free income corresponding to the cost of the fake medical expenses.

Medicare Health Insurance is also subject to a lot of fraud.  It is not unusual for people with impaired cognitive abilities or a poor knowledge of English to sign multiple blank forms for goods and services which a dishonest provider will use to obtain money from the government.  Medicare patients may notice unusual charges made on their behalf, but they usually do not complain because they get what they need from the provider at no cost.  Let us say that a patient needs some specialized walker or equipment for mobility, but Medicare will only cover a portion of the cost.  The shrewd (and dishonest) provider will tell the Medicare patient to sign two forms to get the item free.  One of the forms will be used by the provider to cover part of the cost.  The other form will be filled out with some fictitious claim that will cover the rest of the cost, plus a nice bonus for the provider.  It is a win-win situation.  Right?

Learn about Medicare Health Insurance

Wild blueberries can be found around lakes in acid soil.  The good thing about wild blueberries is that they are free, but you are competing with animals like birds, bears and deer.  Don’t go into the woods alone.  Go with someone else so that you can watch out for each other.  Picking berries in a farm is a lot easier.  In a couple of hours, you can collect many pounds of blueberries.  The cost of picking your own berries is usually less than half of what you would pay at a store.

Wear appropriate clothing because you may get some blueberry stains.  Wear comfortable shoes, and before you go out on the field, spray your pant legs, socks and shoes with insect repellent.  This simple precaution will keep ticks from crawling up your legs.  A hat with a large brim will protect you from the sun.  And don’t forget to take a basket or a bucket with a handle to hold the berries that you collect.  You will probably step on some blueberries in the field.  Clean your shoes when you get back home before stepping on any light-colored rugs.

The best blueberries are plump with a light gray-blue color.  Berries that look red are not completely ripe, but they have a nice tart taste.  Do not pick green blueberries; leave them on the bush so that they can ripen later.  Blueberries tend to grow in clumps.  There are two ways of harvesting them.  You can hold the bucket under the bunch with one hand, while you release the ripe ones into the bucket with the other hand.  But if your bucket is already too heavy to do this, you can leave the bucket on the ground, cup both hands under the bunch of blueberries, and with the tips of your fingers release the ripe ones into your hands.

Blueberries can be frozen without washing, and then they can be rinsed and drained before they are served.  It is also possible to wash the blueberries before freezing them, as long as they are drained well so that the berries freeze individually and do not stick to each other.

Blueberries are low in calories and very nutritious.  One cup of blueberries has 84 calories.  Most of these calories come from about 20 grams of carbohydrates.  One cup of blueberries has about 5% of the daily nutritional requirements of Vitamins B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), and B6 (pyridoxine).  In addition, one cup of blueberries has 16% of the RDA for Vitamin C, 6% of Vitamin E, and 24% of Vitamin K.  The blue color in blueberries is due to anthocyanins, and other antioxidant pigments and phytochemicals that may play a role in reducing the risks of some diseases.

There are hundreds of recipes that use blueberries, but the simplest are always the best:

• Add blueberries to your cereal or oatmeal.
• Decorate a fruit salad with blueberries.
• Yogurt and blueberries – Yum!

This is my recipe for a blueberry milkshake with 344 calories:

1-1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup blueberries
2 tablespoons whey protein
1 teaspoon flax seed oil

Learn how to lose weight

Kale is a leafy green vegetable belonging to the Brassica family, a group of vegetables that includes cabbage, collard greens, and Brussels sprouts.  Half a cup of chopped, boiled kale has only 18 calories, 30% of the daily requirement (RDA) of Vitamin C, and enough Vitamin A and Vitamin K for the whole day.  Vitamin A is required for the formation of rhodopsin, a photoreceptor pigment in the retina.  Vitamin K controls the formation of coagulation factors in the liver.

The sulfur-containing phytonutrients in cabbage, broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables have been shown to reduce the occurrence of a wide variety of cancers.  It is thought that the sulfurous compounds activate detoxifing enzymes in the liver that help neutralize substances that are potentially carcinogenic.

A study found that people who ate the most cruciferous vegetables had a 29% lower risk of bladder cancer than those eating the least of this family of vegetables.[1]  Another study found reduced intestinal polyps when the diet contained sulforaphane.[2]  Sulforaphane is an isothiocyanate that is present abundantly in broccoli and cauliflower.

Kale, broccoli, and cabbage should be in your menu if you are trying to lose weight while maintaining good nutrition.

Learn more about vitamins

[1] Zhao H, Lin J, Grossman HB, Hernandez LM, Dinney CP, Wu X. Dietary isothiocyanates, GSTM1, GSTT1, NAT2 polymorphisms and bladder cancer risk. Int J Cancer. 2007 May 15;120(10):2208-13. 2007. PMID:17290402.

[2] Hu R, Khor TO, Shen G, Jeong WS, Hebbar V, Chen C, Xu C, Reddy B, Chada K, Kong AN. Cancer chemoprevention of intestinal polyposis in ApcMin/+ mice by sulforaphane, a natural product derived from cruciferous vegetable. Carcinogenesis. 2006 May 4; 2006. PMID:16675473.