Dear Reader,

Eat fat to lose fat?

It just might be crazy enough to work.

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Coconut in the mix
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This is huge. And if you’ve bought into the media-manufactured fear of saturated fats, it may be hard to believe. But a new study shows that you might trim abdominal fat with daily consumption of coconut oil – a saturated fat.

I’ve told you about the dangers of excess abdominal fat. Studies have linked an expanding waistline to higher risk of several dangerous conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and dementia.

In a new study from Brazil’s Federal University of Alagoas, researchers recruited 40 women with abdominal obesity – waistlines that exceeded 34.5 inches.

STUDY PROFILE:
For 12 weeks, half the group took a daily supplement of coconut oil (30ml), and half took a supplement of soybean oil (30 ml)
All subjects followed a balanced, low-calorie diet that increased protein and fiber intake, and reduced carbohydrate intake
All subjects exercised with a 50-minute walk each day
At the end of the intervention period, women in the soy oil group had higher LDL cholesterol and lower HDL compared to levels measured before intervention
Women in the coconut oil group, however, increased HDL and lowered LDL
Body mass index was reduced in both groups, but only the coconut oil subjects lost circumference at the waistline
This is a remarkable result because abdominal fat is notoriously hard to get rid of.

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Fear of fats
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Still skeptical about saturated fat benefits?

Why wouldn’t you be? For years we’ve heard this “wisdom” offered as irrefutable: Lower your fat intake – especially saturated fats – and you’ll lose weight and be healthier. But there’s surprising evidence to the contrary.

Allan Spreen, M.D., pointed out that in the years since the “low-fat” fad became the accepted heart-health diet, obesity has increased dramatically. Dr. Spreen also repeated an important quote from William Castelli, M.D., who was the director of the Framingham Study – one of the longest and largest heart disease studies in history.

Here’s Dr. Castelli’s quote as it appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine, July 1992: “At Framingham, we found that the people who ate the most saturated fat, the most cholesterol and the most calories weighed the least, were more physically active and had the lowest serum cholesterol levels.”

More recently, William Campbell Douglass II, M.D., had this to say in his 8/12/09 Daily Dose e-letter “Don’t let anyone tell you that animal fats are bad for you. They boost your energy and your immunity. They help your body build stronger and more resilient cells. They contain chemicals that help your brain stay focused, and even contain concentrated levels of ‘good’ HDL cholesterol.”

The mainstream may never come around, but that doesn’t mean WE have to follow the well-trod sheep path.

Keep in mind that each individual has unique health concerns, so it’s important to discuss major dietary changes or additions to your supplement regimen with a doctor or dietician.

Write me at herblist2002@yahoo.com

Dear Reader,

Anemia wears a body down. And as you age, the risk grows.

For most of us, the likely key to the anemia problem is poor absorption of nutrients. Deficiencies of folate, vitamin B12 and iron contribute to the drop in red blood cell count that characterizes anemia. These cells deliver oxygen from the lungs to tissues throughout the body. When that delivery system breaks down, the result is weakness, fatigue, and even hair loss.

New research shows that anemia may also put certain heart patients at serious risk.

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One for the heart
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Many chronic heart failure (CHF) patients also suffer from anemia. So researchers from Australia and China mounted a study to evaluate the effect of anemia on these patients.

The team conducted a meta-analysis, using 21 studies that included more than 97,000 subjects with CHF. Results showed that anemia significantly increased risk of CHF hospitalization and death. Not surprisingly, the more severe the anemia, the greater the risk.

The authors of the study hope that doctors will take note and watch more carefully for anemia symptoms in their CHF patients.

And if those doctors are savvy about nutrition, they might also suggest more selenium for their patients.

Earlier this year I told you about a study in which researchers examined blood samples and data collected from more than 2,000 subjects who participated in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Nearly 15 percent of the subjects were found to be anemic. On average, blood levels of selenium were lowest in these anemic subjects, while higher selenium levels were noted in subjects with no anemia.

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Getting the iron right
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Anemia is often referred to as “iron poor blood.” But care should be taken when treating anemia with iron supplements.

 
Dietary sources of heme iron come exclusively from red meat, fish, pork, and poultry, with beef liver and chicken liver having the highest amounts of iron. An additional intake of vitamin C can also help the body absorb iron.

Supplements of folic acid and vitamin B-12 may also help address anemia. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for folate is 400 micrograms, but Dr. Spreen recommends folic acid supplementation of 1,600 mcg per day, noting, “folate isn’t effective in low doses except in a limited percentage of cases.”

Along with folate, Dr. Spreen recommends 1,000 mcg of B-12 per day in sublingual form (dissolved under the tongue), and 100 mg per day of B-6, as well as 400-500 mg of magnesium per day to make the B-6 more effective.

Talk with your doctor or a health care professional before changing your daily supplement regimen.

Write me at herblist2002@yahoo.com

Dear Reader,

No doubt, by now you’ve heard all about Daniel Hauser, the 13-year-old Minnesota boy who was recently treated like a criminal when he and his family chose to pursue alternative therapies to treat his Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Daniel Hauser

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After he and his mother spent several days evading authorities, Daniel returned home and agreed to continue chemotherapy. A court also “allowed” him to use alternative treatments.

We saw a very similar scenario played out in 2006 with Abraham Cherrix, a Virginia teen with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. And the year before that it was Katie Wernecke in Texas – same disease, same absurd overreaction by medical and government authorities, same eventual outcome.

Enough lunacy! Enough heartache and misery for these children and their families! It’s time for child welfare authorities everywhere to recognize every patient’s right to make his own health care decisions.

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Fleeing into the night
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Let’s start with a story that I will never get tired of hearing. In the July 2008 HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., shared a remarkable experience with a young cancer patient. Here’s how Dr. Spreen recently recalled the story…

“A father came in with his 12 year-old son who had osteosarcoma of the knee. He had been told it was child abuse to refuse chemotherapy for his son even AFTER being told that the treatment was admittedly experimental!

“His entire family had to leave in the middle of the night to Canada before agents got there the next day to take the child away. They snuck him up there for Essiac herbal treatment. They had also been told that the treatment probably wouldn’t work, and that they should prepare for above-the-knee amputation (the worst type). At the time, the boy had a large asymmetry of one knee, with a large, firm lump.

“Two or three years later, a lanky teenager I failed to recognize walked into my office (on both legs, no limp and no lump) looking totally healthy. His father walked in after him. They stopped by just to show me what the outcome had been with his now-normal son. They couldn’t stay long though because they were still under an arrest warrant and had snuck into the state for some business.”

Needless to say, every cancer patient is unique, so there’s no guarantee that Daniel Hauser might have the same success as Dr. Spreen’s young patient. Nevertheless, families shouldn’t have to flee into the night to avoid arrest because they refuse conventional medical treatments.

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Something you see in horror movies
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Three years ago, Abraham Cherrix decided to forgo chemotherapy after his first injection left him so weak he could barely walk. The authorities threatened to arrest Abraham’s parents and force the boy to receive the medication.

Here’s how Abraham recently described his ordeal to WVEC News in Norfolk, VA: “You’re getting within a person’s personal space and saying we want to do with your body what we want to do with it, and if you do not agree, we will strap you down and force you to have it.

“That is something you see in horror movies, where the mad scientist puts you down and sticks the needle, and injects the chemicals. This is not something that America should be doing.”

Eventually a judge devised a solution that allowed Abraham to be treated by a doctor who combined radiation and vitamin C therapy in addition to other medications and supplements. I’m impressed the judge actually allowed Abraham to proceed with alternative treatments. But his case (and Katie’s and Daniel’s) should NEVER have gone to court in the first place.

When patients tell conventional doctors they want to pursue alternative therapies, their wishes should be respected. Period. And the legal system and the child welfare bureaucracy should never come into play – no matter how old the patient is and no matter how unconventional the therapy may seem.

Today Abraham is cancer-free. Daniel Hauser can probably achieve the same result – no thanks to Minnesota authorities who will probably never recognize their role in delaying his much-needed treatments.

Brain Power

Video games, however, just might be wasted on the young. But not the elderly.

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Game grinder
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According to a new study from the School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, a high level of video game playing could almost qualify as substance abuse.

Past studies have shown that video games sharpen hand-eye coordination, which can improve driving skills. That’s a positive. And in a previous article I told you how playing tennis or bowling on Nintendo Wii may burn as much as 125 calories in 15 minutes.

But when the Brigham Young team surveyed more than 800 U.S. college students, the results linked these effects to extended game play:
Poor relationship quality with parents and friends
Poor academic performance
Greater risk of alcohol and drug use
Lower self-worth
Lower perceived social acceptance
As you might expect, violent games increased the risks of these effects.

But take away the graphic violence, and add 40 or 50 years to the players, and the results are quite a bit different.

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Brain gaming
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Can a complex video game provide the mental workout needed to improve cognitive skills?

That’s the question posed by University of Illinois psychology researchers in a recent trial. The UI team recruited 40 subjects between the ages of 60 and 79. Half the group received nearly 24 hours of training on a “real- time strategy” game called “Rise of Nations.”

According to the game’s website, Rise of Nations “enables players to explore 6,000 years of history as they amass powerful armies, build prosperous economies and perform acts of diplomacy.” In other words, this is a long way from computer solitaire.

Both groups received cognitive assessments before, during, and after the training period.

In a recent issue of Psychology and Aging, the researchers wrote that subjects who received training “improved significantly more than the control participants in executive control functions, such as task switching, working memory, visual short-term memory, and reasoning.”
In an interview with Ivanhoe Newswire, the lead author of the study noted that building imaginary armies to take over the world and other games of similar complexity may help seniors stay mentally fit, but healthy cognitive function also depends on socializing, participation in non-game activities, and exercising.
College gamers? Did you get that message?
Write me at herblist2002@yahoo.com

If anyone in your family has experienced dementia at a young age (before 65), you and other family members may be at increased risk of developing frontal lobe dementia (FTD) – also known as Pick’s disease.

A new blood test may reveal your specific risk.

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Blood detectives
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In 1892, Czechoslovakian neurologist Arnold Pick first documented a type of dementia in which degeneration of cells occurs in the cerebral cortex (the outer layer of the brain) where cognitive and behavioral functions are controlled. Unlike Alzheimer’s, Pick’s disease is very often diagnosed in patients who are not yet 65.

Blood tests help with early detection

Researchers at the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology in Belgium devised a blood test that measures blood levels of PGRN. They gave this test a trial in more than 55 subjects – some with gene mutations, some without, some with Pick’s disease, some without, and 22 healthy subjects picked at random.

Results were much too complex for you and me (unless you have a deep background in genetics), so I’ll let the authors cut straight to their conclusion that appeared in the most recent issue of the Annals of Neurology: “Our results indicate that the serum PGRN level is a reliable biomarker for diagnosing and early detection of frontotemporal lobar degeneration caused by PGRN null mutations.”

For those with a family history of Pick’s disease, the results of this study will hopefully (and quickly) be confirmed by further research so that a Pick’s blood test can be made available to the public.

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List of Beers
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Beyond this new blood test, I’m afraid there’s no good news for Pick’s patients. So far there is no cure for the disease, and the survival time from diagnosis averages only about ten years.

But when the symptoms of dementia are first recognized, a conscientious doctor will hold off on moving forward until drug interactions are ruled out.

Last year, in an issue of Dr. Jonathan V. Wright’s Health Tips news-letter, “Nutrition & Healing” editor Amanda Ross exposed a secret that most doctors would probably rather not admit to: Many adverse conditions prompted by drug interactions mirror symptoms of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia such as Pick’s disease.

Amanda: “Dr. Jerry Gurwitz, the chief of geriatric medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, says that one of the most valuable lessons he learned from his mentor in medical school was that ‘any new symptom in an older person should be considered a drug side effect until proven otherwise.’”

Amanda notes that overmedication and misdiagnosis of drug interactions in the elderly might actually be a bigger epidemic than Alzheimer’s.

In 2003, the Archives of Internal Medicine published “The Beers list of Potentially Inappropriate Medications in the Elderly.”

This is an exhaustive list with dozens of drugs listed. But Amanda notes that with new drugs constantly arriving on the marketplace, the list should be considered at least slightly outdated. You can find the list on the website for the Duke Clinical Research Institute (dcri.duke.edu). Use the search engine on the home page to search for “Beers.”

Write me at herblist2002@yahoo.com