Eighteen, Part 2

OK, OK, I said I would finish my tale, started w-a-a-a-y too long ago, in a few days, but time has slipped by and here I am, feeling a bit guilty.

In my last post I talked at length about why I chose not to have the usual cancer treatments, opting instead for no surgery, low dose chemotherapy given in a special way to go more directly to the tumor, and no radiation. But I’ve known all along that chemo is only a stopgap measure when it comes to treating cancer. On the whole it has a track record of helping about three percent of people live five years. So I saw it as buying time while I continued looking for a better alternative.

Photo credit: free-news.org

Oleander looked like the alternative I needed, but side effects kept me from being able to get up to a therapeutic dose. So the search continued. One source for good information is a website called www.beating-cancer-gently.com. The kind and gentle soul behind this website is Bill Henderson, who watched his wife go through four years of misery-by-cancer-treatment before finally succumbing.

Bill began researching alternative cancer treatments long before there was an internet, and he hasn’t stopped. He developed a protocol that has helped many people, and he wrote a book called Cancer Free, which he sells on his website. It is jam-packed with good information about both alternative and complimentary cancer treatments. A couple of months ago his free monthly newsletter included a review of a book he said he had learned a lot from. I know he reads everything on the subject of cancer alternatives, so if there was something new to be learned, I figured I needed to read it, too. I’m glad I did!

Bill Henderson was referring to a newly published book, Cancer’s Cause, Cancer’s Cure by Morton Walker.  Through the marvels of electronics, I immediately purchased the book and was reading it on my Nook within minutes.

The story of Mirko Beljanski makes up the greatest part of the book, and it is a fascinating tale of a research genius who made amazing discoveries about the very earliest steps of misbehaving DNA, leading to the growth of a cancer. He then went on to develop a test for carcinogens that is accurate, inexpensive, and easy to use. Using this test, he was able to then examine hundreds of herbal extracts until he found several crucial ones:

• ·         that would return the errant DNA to working properly
• ·         that killed cancer cells without harming healthy cells
• ·         that helped prevent the devastating toxic effects of radiation and chemotherapy
• ·         and he developed a product not made from herbs, but from fragmented RNA, which even more strongly prevents toxic effects of cancer treatments, stopping the destruction of the patient’s immune system

The book also describes how Dr Beljanski, a respected scientist at the Pasteur Institute, was persecuted by the French equivalent of our Food and Drug Administration, which appears to be even more entangled with Big Pharma than our FDA, if that is possible. Beljanski was a researcher working with rats and test tubes, not a medical doctor. But word got out that his herbal supplements healed cancer. People began hearing about them and begging their doctors for them. As a result, some French doctors began using these products with great success, even healing patients who had been given up and told they would not live much longer. Even severely ill AIDS patients were healed using these unique herbal extracts as early as the late 1980s. Word spread, and some doctors have now been using them in Europe for over 30 years. But they are still little known in this country.

Eventually Beljanski’s daughter moved to New York and, and, using the well-researched herbs and methods of her father, she has made these products easily available in this country.

Right away, I ordered all four and began taking them. Within three or four days the newly forming blood vessels on my breast began to fade and became less prominent. Only two weeks later I had a PET/CT scan. This scan shows wherever in the body cancer is active. My scan came back showing no cancer activity and a just slight bit of inflammation in one lymph node. Wow!

At one time I told my doctor that in some ways it is much easier for cancer patients to not know much about the disease. If they think cancer is just a tumor, they can relax after the tumor is removed, at least for a time, until it comes back or begins growing somewhere else. But I‘ve known for years that cancer is systemic and a tumor is just a symptom. Removing a tumor doesn’t end the disease, unless the cancer is very small and hasn’t yet gotten into the lymph system or begun circulating cells through the bloodstream. 

What I realized was that, after that PET scan showed no cancer activity, though the tumor had clearly been active quite recently, I was able to finally relax and see myself as well. I stopped waiting for the other shoe to drop. What a burden lifted! Thank you, Mirko Beljanski. I’ll take your miraculous supplements for the rest of my life!

Below are brief descriptions of what these miracle-working herbs consist of and what they do. I have to tell you, they have unusual names, and you aren't likely to find them in a health food store. As a nutritional therapist I have a professional account with the maker and distributor, Natural-Source.com. I’m happy to supply cancer patients and those who want to prevent cancer, passing along my discount. Please contact me for details, since I’m not set up to take credit cards.

• ·         Rovol V starts with the bark and roots of the rain forest shrub, Rauwolfia vomitoria. In testing, Beljanski discovered that one fraction of this root is toxic and part actually stimulated cancer growth, so those are removed and only the purest fraction of the original, effective extract goes into making the cancer-fighting supplement. 
  When all is well in your body, the little rungs on the DNA ladder open and close during replication. But the scene is set for the beginnings of cancer and when the rungs of the ladder don’t go back together, and instead, replication continues rampantly. This is the earliest beginning of cancer, even before any mutations have occurred.  These herbals help normalize the DNA so endless reproduction of cells stops.

• ·         Pao V, derived from a South American tree, Pao pereira, aids the body’s immune system, helping to restore order to disordered DNA. It works similarly to Rovol V in some ways. It has one advantage, however, in that it crosses the blood-brain barrier and therefore aids the fight against brain tumors. Pao V contributes greatly to the body’s ability to detoxify cancer-causing chemicals that are so prevalent today.

• ·         Ginkgo V, made from the golden leaves of ginkgo trees, which came to Beljanski’s attention after the atomic bombings in Japan. Ginkgo trees were not affected by the radiation, pollution, viruses or fungi. Beljanski set out to see if they had a protective factor that would help prevent damage from radiation therapy. He found this factor in the golden, mature leaves. Unlike other ginkgo products, which are made from the green leaves, this ginkgo supports the body through tests like X-rays, PET scans, and, most importantly, through radiation therapy and beyond. It prevents fibrosis, or scar tissue, something that usually develops up to a year following the end of a course of radiation. It allows patients to have radiation therapy without the damaging side effects so often encountered.
  X-rays and other diagnostic medical tests are both a blessing and a curse, because the damage they do causes many cancers, and that damage accumulates over a lifetime. We should all use Golden Leaf Ginkgo for such exams, even for dental X-rays.

• ·         Finally, Beljanski discovered another way to prevent damage from radiation when he developed ReaLBuild. Unlike the other products, which are herbal, ReaLBuild is made from the RNA of a bacterial extract. It enables the body to maintain white blood cells and platelets during chemotherapy. This is unique and amazing. Doctors have drugs to help rebuild white cells, though they cause many side effects. But pharmacy has nothing to build and maintain platelets. Yet patients taking RealBuild never have to stop a course of chemotherapy because their counts are too low. They get through the ordeal without the damage normally inflicted by the toxic treatments.

For any of you who wish to explore the origins of Beljanski’s work, you’ll find 99 of his papers have been translated into English and are on www.Pubmed.com, the US Government website of scientific publications. Many, many of these papers mention cancer in their titles.

So, thanks to Dr Mirko Beljanski and his years of dedicated work, despite terribly trying circumstances; thanks to his wife’s and daughter’s persistence in making that work available to everyone who wishes to prevent cancer, and to those who are dealing with cancer and other serious diseases, whether using alternative therapies or conventional therapies, or both. I am so appreciative of them all. I owe them my current good health, my peace of mind, and I give them my highest praise.

Eighteen: Part 1

Faithful readers of my blog know it started when I traveled to Arizona for an alternative cancer treatment, Insulin Potentiation Chemotherapy (IPT). That was two years ago. I always planned to write about why I chose to avoid surgery and use an alternative treatment, but I never really did. 

It was simply because the potential for healing an aggressive cancer with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation offered me only a 3% chance of living five years. Looking at the statistics, and thinking about how those treatments would affect my quality of life, I decided the odds weren't in favor of the things oncologists were offering. And if I were to die tomorrow, looking back would bring no regrets as to the choice I made at that time, because I've been healthy and strong every day. I didn't put my body through the trauma of surgery, or the cancer-causing assault of other harsh treatments. Instead, I opted for quality of life over the slim possibility of a longer life.

Since having a personal involvement with cancer, I've met many other cancer sufferers. Several women come to mind - women who also had aggressive cancers, and who opted for surgery, chemo and radiation, or in a couple of cases, surgery and IPT. All have had cancer return. Some have done further treatments and were doing well the last time we talked. But several, most younger than me, didn't live long after the second round of treatment. 

Research shows that some cancers - and I'm not aware of a test to learn which ones, but I tend to think it is the more aggressive ones - put out metastases right away, yet they also circulate a chemical which keeps these metastases from growing. As soon as the tumor is removed, this chemical no longer circulates and the metastases grow rampantly. 

I had been reading about alternative cancer therapies and cures for at least 15 years, since my cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer, and later my mother, so I knew that there were sometimes amazing successes, and that the therapies were never as harsh and hard on the body as those proposed by most doctors.

It is true that we all know women who have had typical treatments and are still well years later. But, did they live because of the treatments, or despite them? So much of what I've learned over the years leads me to believe they are still alive, not because of what the doctors did to them, but simply because their bodies were able to survive the treatments and eventually bring them back to health. 

Studies show that more than half of small breast cancers would never progress, and would be healed by the body's immune system, but instead women are treated, often over-treated, for something the body was designed to deal with effectively. 

You have seen stories in newspapers, magazines and on television about how the war on cancer is progressing, how early detection is helping heal more cancers. But is this really true? No, it isn't. Using breast cancer as an example, what is happening is this: women get regular mammograms, powerful X-Rays that can actually cause cancer when the body's tolerance for more and more radiation has been surpassed. A tiny lesion is found, resulting in surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, reconstruction. Then more surgery follows, so the second breast can be rebuilt to more closely resemble the one that had the cancer. All this involves tremendous amounts of pain, discomfort, and suffering. Yet, more than half of these little cancers would have been healed by the body's own immune system!

But, you say, isn't it still better to find cancer early? I guess that depends on the type of cancer and how it is followed. Cancer is a panic word for just about everybody. It is so easy to be sucked into the machinery of today's medicine. And, because the drug industry is so very powerful in this country, your doctor could actually lose the licence she needs to continue practicing simply by NOT dictating the terms of the war you're about to be drafted into, which has been spelled out mostly by the drug cartel referred to as Big Pharma. And Big Pharma has its eye on profits over healing every day of the week. Almost no doctor will even acknowledge the possibility that any alternatives exist, much less tell you about them and know that many of them are more successful than the Big 3 therapies they offer. 

And yet, we aren't winning this cancer battle, much less the so-called war. As many women die of advanced breast cancer as did back in the 1940s and 1950s. It just looks like this isn't true because those with tiny cancers that could and would heal themselves are being treated. This skews the statistics. Then, ten years down the road, another cancer crops up - one that is much more difficult to treat - and, sadly, it was caused by the very treatments used on the original cancer. 

Even though IPT worked well for me, I always saw it as only part of the picture. Chemotherapy in any form has a very poor track record for most cancers. There are a few notable exceptions to this, such as for lymphoma and a few rare cancers, but for most cancer patients, chemo really only contributes longer life to a tiny percentage of people. 

When you think about the mechanism of chemotherapy, it becomes obvious why it doesn't really work well for the vast majority of people. Chemo works by killing rapidly growing cells. While cancer cells are the main target, other rapidly growing cells are hair follicles, white blood cells and platelets, and the cells lining the mouth and throat. There are exceptions to these, but for the most part, this is how it works. 

So your hair falls out, you develop sores in your mouth and throat, and your immune system, in the form of your white cells and platelets, goes down the tubes. But we all know your hair is going to grow back, your mouth sores will heal, and even your immune system will make a comeback. And so will the cancer! It's pretty simple. If these vital body cells grow back, no wonder cancer cells grow back as well. Only there is a significant difference. The tumor cells that survive to reproduce are the ones that were resistant to chemo in the first place. So now new drugs must be tried, new poisons introduced into your poor body, to try and do what the first round of chemo didn't. And the merry-go-round of treatment continues until the poor patient can no longer take the assault of all these toxins and her body shuts down entirely.

Here is another oddity of cancer treatment. Cancer is the only disease which is considered cured if the patient lives five years following diagnosis. So, get this: you manage to drag along on toxic treatments for five years. You're healed! Whoopee! But you're actually quite sick and the next week you succumb to this battle raging inside you. Guess what? You're now considered both healed and dead of the same disease! So, what does this do to cancer statistics? I'll leave that to your imagination.

So, because of all this, while I'm grateful for this past two years of good health, I've never stopped looking for other alternatives, and learning what more I could do to prevent the return of cancer. I wrote a few months ago about using oleander. It does have a much better track record than the usual treatments, and I tried it for several months. But you must build the dose up slowly, as it causes diarrhea, and you cannot take a higher dose until that stops. As it turned out, I could never get my dosage up to an effective level because of continual diarrhea with each attempt at a higher dose. 

This was frustrating, because I could see changes in my breast that indicated new tumor growth. I could both see and feel differences. I could even see new blood vessels forming just under the skin, blood vessels that I knew were there to feed the tumor, which was awakening. 

Yet, something stopped this growth, and the newly forming blood vessels. I recently had a clear PET/CT scan, showing no cancer activity. At the same time, a blood test for circulating tumor cells came back negative. So, what happened? What alternative did I find that actually stopped the visible growth and changes I saw in my breast? I'm excited about the answers to those questions, and I really hope everybody will get the significance of what I want to tell you about. But this post has gotten too long already, so I'm going to make that Part Two. I'll leave you with all this background, and I'll get back to what I've been leading up to as soon as possible - maybe even tonight or tomorrow. If I don't make it by then, we'll be taking a little trip to celebrate Dave's 75th birthday (July3), so I may not get back to finishing my story until late next week. So don't hold your breath, but I definitely will get back to finish this happy tale...

To be continued

Seventeen

This poster is so great! I want to share it with all of you who have read my blog in the past. And guess what HHFM is? That is Hirsch Holistic Family Medicine. Evan Hirsch, MD, is my doctor. I think the poster was developed by his wife. Wouldn't it be great if all doctors understood the words in this poster, and how important real food is to healing? If you would like to hang this poster in your kitchen, you can order it below. Hmmm...maybe it's time to redecorate my kitchen in new, more sophisticated colors of the poster. What do you think?

Rebecca

New at HHFM: What is Real Food?

Hot off the press and in partnership with Two the Root our new "What is Real Food?" poster. Each poster is 16x20 on 80# 100% recycled card stock and printed locally with soy-based inks. Posters sell for $20.00. Stop by the office to get your copy or pick one up the next time you have an appointment. They will also be available for purchase online in mid-June at TwotheRoot.com.

Get one for your kitchen, office or for a friend.

For every poster sold, we will also donate $1 to GRuB, a non-profit gardening and education resource serving Thurston and Mason Counties in Washington State, for their GRuB in the Schools project. This program helps students who are struggling to engage and find success in the traditional school system earn core credits while learning about and contributing to local community food solutions. It is a wonderful project that deserves national attention. Find out more at GRuB in the Schools.

Sixteen: Oleander Soup!

I’ve never explained to my loyal readers why I chose an alternative cancer therapy. Many of you know. I doubt anyone in this country is unacquainted with the damaging effects of chemo and radiation. Dr. Lodi at An Oasis of Healing told me that surgery – even a biopsy -- causes cancer to spread. When I looked at statistics for the type of cancer I had, and my age, I discovered that doing full-dose chemo would give me only a three percent chance of living more than five years! Three percent! And for that slight possibility of living a few months, or maybe a couple of years, longer, I would destroy my immune system, likely be sick for months, and possibly cause permanent damage to my heart and brain, and also the nerves in my hands and feet, causing neuropathy that might not go away!

Instead, I opted for no surgery (I did have a biopsy), Insulin Potentiation Chemotherapy (IPT) in very low doses, and no radiation. I consciously chose a higher quality of life, even if it were to be shorter. Yet I know that cancer often returns, so I have continued many of the protocols, supplements, and dietary changes I began last year, and I’ve kept on studying and learning about alternative solutions. So far I’ve remained cancer free.

Today I came across something I’d somehow missed. I have no idea why it never came across my radar, especially in the last few years of reading extensively about cancer alternatives. What I learned was so stunning that I got excited and read about it for most of the day.

While many natural cancer treatments help substantially, they often fall short of a total cure, just as do surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. What I learned today is that there is a natural substance that has been curing cancer for years. Actually, it has been used medicinally for several thousand years. A Turkish doctor learned about it in the early 1960s and began experimenting with it. He began curing cancers, and the more he learned and worked with this natural remedy, the higher his success rate became, until he was curing about 90%! This figure far exceeds typical cancer treatments today.

Eventually he developed this into a medicine which he patented, and later sold to another company. The product is being made now in South Africa, and it is a total stunner. Why? Because, not only is it alleviating and even curing many cancers, very quickly shrinking tumors and helping patients feel much better, it has been used in controlled medical experiments and found to totally alleviate (dare we say cure?) AIDS! Hepatitis C also responds, with patients totally normalizing their liver function. There have been a few people who have reported good results with various autoimmune diseases as well.

I won’t go into detail, because the story is well told at http://www.tbyil.com. To get the whole story, be sure to read all the articles on the right side of the Home page about oleander. You’ll come away shaking your head and wondering how this amazing secret has been so well kept while out in the wide open spaces of the internet.

And for more good news: not only is this supplement available through the internet, the website tells you how to make your own at home for pennies! This can be a problem for many, because it is made from the oleander shrub, which grows everywhere in California and across the south, but loves hot summers and can’t tolerate temperatures lower than about 15 degrees, so it’s not a likely candidate for our Northwest gardens. 

We can be thankful we can buy it and save ourselves the trouble of boiling up a pot of oleander soup.

Those of you who have lived where oleander grows may know it is a toxic plant. But, when you follow the instructions carefully, the resultant soup, or extraction, is not toxic, and its’ only side effect seems to be diarrhea if too large a dose is taken too quickly. To overcome this problem, you simply filter the watery broth four times and start with tiny doses, working up to a full tablespoon three times a day over a couple of weeks.

Can you tell I’m excited? This herbal supplement has even helped people who had already gone through chemo and radiation, something many natural remedies don’t do too well. Some of the people using it continued with chemo, while others opted to use the natural remedy alone. There are lots of testimonials on the site.

I invite you to print this and keep it for future reference, since every one of us knows people who could use this information. Not everyone will choose this, but I think everybody facing a serious diagnosis like cancer, AIDS or HIV should at least have the option of learning about what is available, the track record for any treatments offered (something most oncologists hedge about), and should be given the option of deciding what they think will best serve them. Unfortunately, vested interests are running the medical world, and they have managed to make it illegal for oncologists to tell people about anything other than the usual cut, poison and burn. So do your friends and relatives who find themselves diagnosed with cancer or another serious disease a huge favor, and let them know they do have other options - and those options may be far better than the things their doctors are able to offer.

Christmas 2011 -- Birth of a New Tradition

As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high
gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods
-- merchandise that has been produced at the expense of American labor.
This year will be different. This year Americans will give the gift of genuine
concern for other Americans. There is no longer an excuse that, at gift
giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by American hands.
Yes there is!

It's time to think outside the box, people. Who says a gift needs to fit in
a shirt box, wrapped in Chinese produced wrapping paper?

Everyone -- yes EVERYONE gets their hair cut. How about gift certificates
from your local American hair salon or barber?

Gym membership? It's appropriate for all ages who are thinking about some
health improvement.

Who wouldn't appreciate getting their car detailed? Small, American owned
detail shops and car washes would love to sell you a gift certificate or a
book of gift certificates.

Are you one of those extravagant givers who think nothing of plonking down
the bucks on a Chinese made flat-screen? Perhaps that grateful gift
receiver would like the driveway sealed, or lawn mowed for the summer, or
driveway plowed all winter, or games at the local golf course.

There are a bazillion owner-run restaurants -- all offering gift
certificates. And, if your intended isn't the fancy eatery sort, what about
a half dozen breakfasts at the local breakfast joint. Remember, folks this
isn't about big national chains -- this is about supporting your home town
Americans with their financial lives on the line, to help keep their doors open.

How many people couldn't use an oil change for their car, truck or
motorcycle, done at a shop run by American workers?

Thinking about a heartfelt gift for mom? Mom would LOVE the services of a
local cleaning lady for a day.

My computer could use a tune-up, and I KNOW I can find some young person who is
struggling to get a repair business up and running.

OK, you were looking for something more personal. Local crafts people spin
their own wool and knit them into scarves. They make jewelry, and pottery
and beautiful wooden boxes.

Plan your holiday outings at local, owner operated restaurants and leave
your server a nice tip. And, how about going out to see a play or ballet at
your hometown theater?

Musicians need love too, so find a venue showcasing local bands.

Honestly, people, do you REALLY need to buy another ten thousand Chinese
lights for the house? When you buy a five dollar string of light, about
fifty cents stays in your community. If you have those kinds of bucks to
burn, leave your barber or hairdresser, trash hauler or babysitter a nice BIG tip.

You see, Christmas is no longer about draining American pockets so that
China can build another glittering city. Christmas is now about caring about
US, encouraging American small businesses to keep plugging away to follow
their dreams. And, when we care about other Americans, we care about our
communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn't imagine.

THIS is the new American Christmas tradition.

Forward this to everyone on your mailing list -- post it to discussion
groups -- throw up a post on Craigslist in the Rants and Raves section in
your city -- send it to the editor of your local paper and radio stations,
and TV news departments. This is a revolution of caring about each other,
and isn't that what Christmas is about?

Folate of Folic Acid: What's in a Name?

Folic acid: A yellowish-orange compound, a member of the vitamin-B complex, occurring in green plants, fresh fruit, liver and yeast and used medicinally to treat pernicious anemias.

Folate:  Folic acid.

Another name is vitamin B9. There are several other names of various forms of this important vitamin. None but folate is the natural form. My dictionary doesn’t discriminate between the two.

As a nutritional therapist I know the importance of this vitamin. We need it, along with B6, B12 and a few minerals, for the crucial methylation process, something our bodies do thousands of times every second. We must have it to synthesize and repair DNA. Rapid cell division and growth require folate, especially during pregnancy. Without it we cannot manufacture red blood cells.

Indeed, the government has even mandated the addition of folic acid to breads and cereals, in an effort to prevent neural tube defects in babies. You’ll find it in almost all prenatal and other multivitamins.

So, you may ask, what’s the big deal? We’re all used to calling it folic acid. Why even use the term folate? Indeed, even my computer’s grammar checker knows the term folic acid, but frowns, with a squiggly red underline at the term folate.  Is there a difference? If so, does it really matter?

Yes, it matters. Folate and folic acid are not the same thing. The body uses them differently. Indeed, a number of studies show that the manufactured form, folic acid, causes havoc in the body, while natural folate is protective.

Folic Acid vs. Folate and Cancer

In an article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers discovered that women who took multivitamins containing folic acid for ten years were more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than those who didn’t.

Another study shows that people taking folic acid for more than three years increased their risk of having a colorectal adenoma, a cancer precursor, by 35%.

A six-year Norwegian study found that people who took folic acid along with other vitamins were 43% more likely to die from cancer than those who did not supplement with this artificial form of the vitamin. In short, research shows that the manufactured folic acid feeds cancer.

On the other hand, people not taking folic acid, but getting folate from food, have less cancer, dependent on the level of folate they consume.

Folic Acid and the Immune System

In light of mandated folic acid supplementation of flour and cereals, a frightening fact has emerged: Manufactured folic acid supplementation increases the risk of childhood asthma by 26%. With asthmatic children on the rise, this is important to be aware of.

On the other hand, a study done at Johns Hopkins included 8,000 people and found that those with the highest levels of natural folate had fewer allergies and less asthma, as shown by lower IgE antibodies. Those with the lowest levels of folate had a 40% greater risk of wheezing than those with the highest levels.

Folate Shortage and Heart Disease

When folate is deficient, people often accumulate homocystiene, contributing to heart disease. Adding lots of leafy vegetables, yeast, liver and fruits to the diet can help replenish body supplies. Supplements should contain folate in its natural form rather than manufactured folic acid. When folic acid is supplemented instead, it can lead to cancer.

Folate and Pregnancy

Obviously, sufficient folate is crucial to a successful pregnancy and a healthy infant. Since most prenatal vitamins include manufactured folic acid, most people, unaware of the research, feel their needs for this crucial vitamin are covered. It’s important to encourage pregnant women to get lots of natural folate from veggies, beans and other food sources. Not only will this help protect their embryo from neural tube defects and future asthma, it will help protect women from future cancers. These natural foods also carry lots of other nutrients, all of which contribute to healthy infants and mothers. Childhood cancers are on the upswing, and many of them could also be avoided with better prenatal nutrition.

What’s going on?

We really don’t know. One big unknown is what happens to excess folic acid when it reaches the bloodstream. There are limits to how much folic acid the intestines can change into the useable form of folate. Any excess goes into the circulation in a form that is alien to the body. Scientists haven’t figured this one out yet.

One thing we do know is that the body stores up to four months’ worth of folate, so a dietary shortage won’t manifest immediately when it isn’t consumed regularly. That assumes, of course, that the body stores are sufficient. However, when these body stores have been used up, the results can be devastating, including neural tube defects in developing embryos, resulting in spina bifida. Symptoms can include various anemias, including pernicious and macrocytic; diarrhea; weakness and shortness of breath; mental confusion and memory difficulties; peripheral neuropathy, with numbness and pain, especially in the feet and hands; depression; mouth or peptic ulcers; or swollen tongue; headaches; behavioral problems, and heart palpitations.

Elderly people who exhibit confusion and other signs suggesting dementia should be tested for folate and B12 deficiencies, since the two vitamins work together. Often they are missing intrinsic factor, which is normally produced by the stomach, and may need injections of B12 in order to absorb folate. Supplementing with methylated forms of both B12 and folate may be another solution.

Now that you know the difference in folate and folic acid, you understand the risks and benefits of eating the right foods and supplementing only with natural folate. Please spread the word by passing this blog link along to anybody you think may be interested or may benefit from what you've just learned.

This article was recently published in the Nutritional Therapist, the publication of the Nutritional Therapy Association. For more information, check Wikipedia.com and DrFuhrman.com.

Is Wheat Belly making you...er...a little heavier than you'd like?

I've never reviewed a book on this blog before, but this one is important, so here goes...

You eat fairly well, by the standards of most Americans. But, no matter how much weight you lose, or how carefully you follow a good dietary plan, or how much you exercise, you cannot get rid of that pesky bulge out front:  the one that makes people wonder if perhaps you are six or so months pregnant.  Most likely, you are a victim of Wheat Belly!

In his book, published this year by Rodale Press, Dr. William Davis coined the term Wheat Belly to describe the all-too-familiar sight of the bulge that frequently goes by another name, but is usually not caused by beer at all.

Davis describes the much hybridized wheat of today as scarcely related to the wheat people began eating 10,000 years ago. That wild grass, called Einkorn, changed just a little through natural hybridization, over thousands of years. But in the last 50 years it has been hybridized and changed so dramatically that its’ genome is scarcely recognizable from that of its’ ancient ancestor. What began as a four foot tall grass with 14 genes now has been dwarfed, its’ stalks made sturdier, and its’ production beefed up to the point where it has over 40 genes, many of them never before encountered by humans. Today’s wheat has far more gluten than its ancestors, giving rise to almost ubiquitous gluten intolerance and celiac disease. It even has proteins not found in any of its’ parents, including gluten structures unlike any ever seen in food before.

According to Dr Davis, this new wheat, which was never tested for safety or dietary compatibility, is at the root of most diabetes, arthritis, and the ubiquitous fattening of Western, especially American, populations. He goes on to say, “Small changes in wheat protein structure can spell the difference between a devastating immune response to wheat protein versus no immune response at all.” Translated, that means a lot more people are allergic or sensitive to today's wheat.

Today, approximately half of all calories consumed by most Americans come from carbohydrates, and 20% of those calories come from wheat. Ten thousand years ago nobody ate the kinds of wheat found today, and little of what they ate came from any form of wild grass, or Einkorn wheat. Our bodies’ requirements haven’t changed, so this is a most unnatural situation, causing a cascade of unfortunate biochemical events. These events adversely affect every organ in the body, causing breakdown, aging and degradation.

Davis has taken hundreds of patients off wheat and many have lost huge amounts of weight without any other dietary changes. Research shows that the newer wheat varieties cause cravings through peptides, called exorphins, that travel to the same brain receptors as morphine. These exorphins are seriously addicting, stimulating people to eat more wheat every couple of hours, even when they don’t feel hungry. In fact, they keep them from knowing when they are satisfied, so they consume more food overall. Research shows that people who stop eating wheat subsequently cut out close to 400 calories daily, simply because they no longer feel the urge to feed the wheat addiction.

Many people have gluten intolerance in one form or another, but few ever find out the cause of their problems. Even those who don’t test positive for gluten intolerance or wheat allergies often find symptoms improve when they stop eating wheat in any form.

People with gut symptoms should always be tested for gliaden antibodies. Even without testing, it is a good idea to emphasize the importance of getting off all wheat. But test before removing the offender from the diet, so the test will be accurate. Often relief from the pain of small intestinal villi being ravaged by gluten will come quickly with wheat elimination. Yet, interestingly, people suffering from celiac disease often crave the very wheat that is destroying their gut. Other tell-tale symptoms are blood sugars in the diabetic range and wide mood swings following wheat consumption. Not all gluten intolerants have gut symptoms, but every organ is being affected as long as they continue eating gluten.

Wheat promotes cancers, especially those of the intestinal tract. A 30-year Swedish study of 12,000 celiac patients found 30% more gastrointestinal cancers, including small intestine, liver, bile duct, pancreas, throat, and esophagus, with up to double the cancer mortality of those without celiac disease.

Yet, more often than not, celiac remains undiagnosed. Often it doesn’t carry gut symptoms at all. Yet those with undiagnosed celiac who remain on wheat and other gluten-containing grains, have a 77-fold increase in lymphoma and a 22-fold increase in cancers of the mouth, throat and esophagus.

The first thing to do if you have acid reflux is to stop eating wheat. This is often all that is needed to solve the problem. I had that experience, and help came within just a day or two of removing wheat from my diet.

Dr. Davis strongly advocates taking all diabetics and pre-diabetics off wheat, because two slices of bread spike blood sugar faster than any other food tested, including straight sugar. This is true for organic whole wheat as well as for refined white bread. After the dramatic blood sugar rise, of course, blood sugar plummets, stimulating the craving for more wheat. Once off wheat, all markers improve and normalize, including not only blood sugar, but high blood pressure, inflammation, glycation, dangerous small LDL, and triglycerides.

Diabetics age faster in every organ, developing poor circulation, atherosclerosis, vision loss, peripheral neuropathy, cataracts, and dementia earlier than the non-diabetic population. This is because they produce Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs). These AGEs are cellular debris that muck up the works, and they are directly caused by high blood sugar. Diabetics are two to five times as likely to suffer heart disease and attacks, and up to 25% of diabetics will develop kidney failure or malfunction 11 years after diagnosis. Diabetics have up to 60% more AGEs than non-diabetics. Since high blood sugar often comes from wheat consumption, you can safely say that wheat causes aging!

The formula for developing osteoarthritis, and possibly even rhumatoid arthritis includes eating lots of wheat. This causes leptin levels in the blood to soar, and this mirrors leptin levels in fluids that lubricate joints. Increased leptin levels cause inflammation, which then causes wearing of joint cartilage. All this leptin comes from the wheat bellies you see all around you. A fat belly is a leptin factory!

Americans are notoriously acidic and wheat is one of the greatest acidifiers in their diets. A study at the University of Toronto showed that increased gluten intake causes a 63% increase in urinary calcium loss, a result of blood trying to maintain its crucial pH by pulling calcium from the bones. Because most Americans and Canadians are chronically acidic, 25-year-olds now are frequently found to have bone loss. This acidity also contributes to the initiation and growth of cancer.

The brain isn’t any safer from the ravages of wheat than any other organ. A fancy name for the problem is gluten encephalopathy, and it expresses as migraine headaches and stroke-like symptoms such as loss of control of an arm or leg, visual difficulties or even difficulty speaking. 

Gluten sensitivity can cause seizures, which often occur in teenagers. This type of seizure, which occurs in the temporal lobe, just beneath the ears, causes such strange phenomena as hallucinations of smell and taste, or feelings of overwhelming fear without reason.

If all this isn’t enough to put you off wheat, listen to how it contributes to heart disease, our number one killer. Briefly, heart disease and stroke are caused by oxidation, glycation, inflammation, and high triglycerides, along with dangerous small LDL particles. These are all a result of a diet too high in carbohydrates, especially those from wheat.

In a nutshell – or more appropriately, a wheat berry – you now know a bit about the dangers of today’s forms of wheat. To understand the full picture, Wheat Belly is a well-researched good read, and Dr. William Davis is thorough, experienced, and even quite funny at times.