Summer is here

Although we welcome the return of longer days and more plentiful sunshine, some of us must brace ourselves to battle an ever-rising pollen count. To make matters worse, our sped-up, stress-filled world constantly challenges us to rise to the occasion…and to look beautiful as we do it. It can be a daunting task. Of course, the multitude of available inhalers and antihistamines offer some temporary symptomatic relief. But for true relief with no nasty side effects, I favor launching a holistic assault from every possible angle.

How does one prepare for the battle? My battle plan is grounded in the perspective of functional medicine, so I begin with a survey of the areas of the body that may or may not be functioning. For example, defense against allergy attack requires a healthy, functioning immune system with the ability to detoxify the incoming assailants. The body has a wondrous capacity to deal with toxins, but it does have its limits. Take the liver: it’s great at mopping up our internal messes, but think of it as a sponge that eventually, inevitably, needs wringing out. If your liver enters the allergy wars already taxed to near or at its defensive capacity, how can it resist the coming allergenic insurgency? We often overlook the fact that our detoxification system is busy year-round mitigating the damage from antagonistic foods, animal dander, dust mites, and a thousand other belligerents that go bump in the night.

So, let’s set our defenses. I like to start by “opening the drains,” with a ten-day liver detox program. This at least helps level the playing field. Some of my patients experience an improvement just with this. Then, we look at foods and other everyday assailants, and either remove them or desensitize the body to their effects. Add some properly designed supplementation, to shore up weakened systems and reinforce the drainage troops, and “Voila!” — Kleenex count drastically reduced.

What a surprise! — Improving the overall function of the body is the key to resolving many health issues, including allergies. Given half a chance, your body will compete admirably. So, what’s getting in your way? Let’s find out together.

Antioxidants Demystified

Recently, a collaboration among Norwegian and US scientists released a ranking of foods and their antioxidant content. Now, I want more of these rankings…don’t you? But, do we know WHY we want more? Just what are antioxidants anyway? And, why do we hope to maximize our ingestion of these little organic dynamos.

As a group, antioxidants include several organic compounds, like Vitamins C and A, selenium, and the carotenoids. Let’s take carotenoids. They’re behind the intense colors we see in fruits, vegetables, and other foods. Their somewhat mysterious job is to seek out and deactivate free radicals.

Free radicals? Free radicals sometimes are by-products of normal cell processes — they’re formed from oxidized oxygen molecules. But, they’re also created by environmental toxicities, tobacco smoke, radiation, some foods, and, no doubt, many of the yet-to-be-identified ills our society is persistently creating. More importantly, free radicals are carcinogens. Free radicals damage cell walls.

And that’s where those friendly antioxidants come in. A number of studies have correlated a decrease in certain types of cancer with an increase in antioxidant intake. Other studies show that antioxidants prevent the development of arterial blockages by preventing the oxidation of cholesterol.

Okay, so give me the antioxidant list, already.

Well, spices top the list, with cloves leading the pack, followed by oregano leaf, ginger, cinnamon, and turmeric. Moving on to foods, Oregon residents will be thrilled to find blackberries topping the list, followed by walnuts, strawberries, coffee, raspberries, pecans, and blueberries. Grape juice, followed closely by cranberry, led the juices. Bran flakes led the breakfast cereals, while canned chili (Sorry, I’m just reporting!) led the processed foods.

How do we get more of these wonder-foods into our mouths? I sip on cranberry water and walnut tea throughout the day. (Walnuts, by the way, have the highest level of natural serotonin of any food.) Berries, I eat fresh in summer and freeze for the winter. In fact, all fruits and vegetables have antioxidants. Coffee…well, it’s the number one antioxidant consumed in America. Say no more.

But do keep in mind: these are just the top ten on the antioxidant-rich list. If you aren’t eating them consider one of our supplement drinks that include ten servings of fruits and vegetables in one tasty cup. They give a whole new meaning to “big gulp.”

So, steer your kids toward grape juice, nuts, and berries. Consume them yourself. And, OK, yes, if you can bear to, serve up the canned chili.

...and a Side of Suffering

Today, I’m thinking about how bad we sometimes feel as a result of misguided efforts to get “healthier.” I regularly see patients who come in with “laundry lists” of drugs they’ve been prescribed, and who are suffering from the known and published side effects and interactions of these medications. And, when we take a closer look, I often find myself angry.

Take statins, for example. These cholesterol-lowering drugs — while certainly beneficial for some — can be devastating for many. I’ve seen lots of patients suffering from system-wide trauma (i.e. “It hurts everywhere!”), from peripheral neuropathy, and from “unexplainable” muscular problems. Frequently, these symptoms arise soon after the patient begins taking statins, but sometimes the effects are delayed. It depends in part on how fast and furious is the drug’s depletion of the body’s natural stores of coenzyme Q, and on the overall health of the individual patient.

Muscular problems, for instance, are listed as a “rare” side effect by statin drug manufacturers. But Beatrice Golumb, M.D., has been researching the effects of statin drugs, and she finds this particular “rare” side effect to be quite common. Golumb’s work is very interesting, and an online interview with her is available here.

To me, the most distressing cases are those with borderline cholesterol numbers, which would have improved with simple nutritional and lifestyle changes. If you’re on statins, ask yourself whether you absolutely need them, or whether dropping twenty pounds and walking a half hour each day might achieve the same result. (And don’t forget — this drug-free regimen has an even longer list of known “side effects,” ALL of them beneficial!)

So, satisfy yourself that any prescription drugs you take are necessary and are doing more good than harm. And don’t dismiss the potential of any drugs you’re taking to produce unwelcome side effects.

Drop-dead Clean?

Are we too clean? Are we covering our bodies and filling the air around us with “scents” that are harming us? A recent study, published October 24, 2006 in Environmental Science and Technology, found triclosan — a chemical commonly used in toothpastes and antibacterial soaps — hastens the transformation of tadpoles into adult frogs.

Okay, why am I so concerned about frog development? Well, I don’t just think frog. I think endocrine disruption. (Triclosan reacts with the free chlorine in tap water to produce compounds that convert into dioxins upon exposure to sunlight; dioxins are extremely toxic, and are very potent endocrine disruptors.) So, I think young girls (dare we call them tadpoles?) getting their periods at increasingly younger ages. Yes, and I think cancer. (Triclosan can combine with chlorine in tap water to form chloroform gas, a probable human carcinogen.)

Our world has become increasingly phobic about deodorizing and sanitizing our bodies and our environments. We plug-in chemicals to “freshen” our air. We lather and slather ourselves, our clothes, and our homes with antibacterial soaps and deodorants and shampoos, washes and scrubs, pastes and creams, detergents and cleansers, and…well, you name it. The result is that we simply prod the bacteria into growing stronger and more resistant, so that we have to use more and stronger and…again, you get the picture.

In our rush to “protect” ourselves we compromise the very systems, inside our amazing bodies, that we depend on for real protection. And all to fill the coffers of mega-companies that focus only on the next profitable drug or plug they can sell a gullible, fearful public.

Please join me, and “Just say no!” to unnecessary and unnatural drugs, plugs, and antibacterial chemicals. Let’s give our livers a break, and let’s live closer and kinder to the earth and to ourselves.

Atkins Absolved, Again

A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has concluded that eating a low-carb, high-fat diet does not raise the risk of heart disease. Too bad Dr. Atkins didn’t live to see his work vindicated.

But guess what else the study found? Women who got their carbohydrates from refined sugar nearly doubled their risk. Unfortunately, the response to the sugar issue from the immediate past president of the American Heart Association was disappointing, to say the least. While noting that the study “certainly raises questions: about the role of refined sugar, he concluded that medical guidelines will not be changed.

Hmmm, let’s see…childhood obesity, diabetes, heart disease, all on the rise. Yet all he can say is that it certainly raises questions. Excuse me Mr. Past-AHA-President, but don’t you think you might consider some slightly stronger reaction? Perhaps, a warning to your public? The study certainly does raise some questions, and not just about sugar. For example, the study also found that eating fat from vegetables sources rather than animal sources lowered the risk by 30%.

Of course, no study can answer all our questions, but we can learn something useful if we see each bit of information as just another piece of the Total Wellness puzzle. As always, increase your consumption of fruits and veggies. And realize that eating meat — especially if it’s hormone-free and grass-fed, and is eaten in moderation — won’t increase your risk of heart disease. And, Mr. Past-President, I am willing to go out on the proverbial limb and say “No!” to refined sugar.

Here a Bug, There a Bug

My, there seem to be a lot of pesky bacteria these days wreaking havoc on the immune systems of unsuspecting humans. Take the recent furor over e.coli-contaminated spinach. It was troubling, but it offers some productive (and non-toxic) food for thought.

Why, for example, did some people exposed to the e.coli bacterium not succumb to its effects? Similarly, when a class of third graders is exposed together to a strep throat infection, why do only some of them get sick?

Let’s begin by acknowledging that “germ theory” is not a fiction. And, yes, bacteria are at the root of many evils. But, we are constantly bombarded with bacteria, with viruses (and with fear about potential bacteria and viruses). We move from e. coli to Ebola to West Nile virus to Avian flu. Not to mention the seasonal “flu from somewhere.” Yet, as the above examples illustrate, the germ theory doesn’t explain everything.

So, why do some people get sick and others skate? Well, to begin with, resistance to disease is, to a certain extent, a product of our genetic inheritance. But there is much we can do on a practical level to be proactive and not simply reactive.

One thing that’s in our control is eating healthily. Think organic. Think fruits and vegetables. Think clean, grass-fed proteins. There are some basic supplements that are a good idea for most of us. Probiotics, for example. Let’s keep those friendly gut bacteria plentiful. A good multivitamin, especially if you’re not doing too well, or too consistently, on the “good foods” track.

And all of us would benefit from a regular “green drink.” We like veggie-based GreensFirst and its berry-based cousin, Red Alert. Both supply much--needed antioxidants. It’s also a good idea to determine to your individual areas of compromise or vulnerability, and to take supplements targeted for those conditions.

Adverse drug reactions in the news, Part 2

When we look at the drug reaction data more closely, we find that the incidence of adverse reactions is 33% higher in people aged 50-59 than in people aged 40-49. Of course, one reason for that is that, the older we get, the more drugs we tend to “need.” But there’s more to it than that. Let’s take a look at why we young fifty-year-olds may experience more problems with drug interactions than our slightly younger forty-year-old counterparts.

One factor is our tired, overworked livers. Our poor livers just keep trying respond to our demands to do more than they have done and more than they can reasonably do. They never get a vacation. And of course, they get precious little help from us; in fact, they often get active interference. (Hmmm, sounds kind of like being a parent, no?) All of this decreases our bodies’ ability to process alien substances, like…well, drugs.

And let’s not overlook those other vital detoxifying organs, our kidneys. By age 65 our kidneys, on average, have lost nearly 30% of their detoxifying capacity. (You, of course, could be primed to beat the average, if you’re following our Total Wellness philosophy.) To thicken the plot, aging brings less ability to retain and use water. Of course, lots of people of all ages don’t drink enough water. But how can we hope to detoxify all these drugs — not to mention the plethora of other toxins vying for their attention — if we don’t supply our bodily filters the water they need to flush effectively.

Also, as we age, our body composition changes. Yes, you guessed it: more of those worrisome — not to say embarrassing — fat cells. And drugs just love to hang out in our fat cells.

OK, I know, aging is unavoidable. But let’s face it — we could all age a lot more gracefully, by becoming more savvy consumers across the board.
• Question your doctor, do a little research, and say “no” to unnecessary drugs.
• Say “yes” to knowing the potential dangers of drugs you’re offered and the alternatives to any drugs you do take.
• Question the value of drugs that seem to cause more problems than they relieve.
• More importantly, say “yes” to taking better care of yourself, so you’ll have less need for drugs.

It’s your body, it’s your life. Take control of them.