LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Healthy Living in a Toxic World

USE OF THIAZOLIDINEDIONES AND FRACTURE RISK – (11-24-08)

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Use of Thiazolidinediones and Fracture Risk

Continuing on the rant against medication usage in diabetes management, the TZD class of drugs has been shown to increase weight and actually increase the risk of cardiovascular events (70% of diabetics die of CVD-related causes) in patients using them. To top off this wonderful list of side effects, now we’re seeing an over double the risk of fractures in patients who have used these drugs over 12 months. Again and again, we see that lifestyle changes really, truly are the ONLY answer.

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MULTIVITAMIN USE AND TELOMERE LENGTH IN WOMEN – (03-08-10)

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Multivitamin use and telomere length in women

Remember that telomeres are like the fuse on the end of a cell’s DNA–the longer the telomere, the longer that cell can continue to divide and be healthy. And remember that mainstream medicine has been telling us that we don’t need to take multivitamins because we would just be urinating out most of it. Well–I’d rather urinate out unneeded nutrients and have longer telomeres.

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ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL EXPOSURE AND HEALTH PROBLEMS – (09-01-09)

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Association of Organochlorine Pesticides with Peripheral Neuropathy in Patients with Diabetes or Impaired Fasting Glucose

Great. Another study linking environmental chemical exposure and health problems. The reason I flagged this one was because of the strength of the association. In those with the highest exposures, there was a massive 7.3 times the risk of getting peripheral neuropathy–even IF they did not have diabetes yet. Can anyone say “organic?”

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SIGNIFICANT HEALTH BENEFITS WITH MICROWAVING – (05-25-09)

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Polyamine Metabolism and Transforming Growth Factor-beta Signaling Are Affected in Caco-2 Cells by Differentially Cooked Broccoli Extracts

Ok…don’t let the title put you to sleep…you need to follow along here because there are some very important concepts to be learned. First, there is always concern that microwaving will destroy much of the water soluble healthy compounds in foods.

This study was interesting in that it microwaved broccoli for 0, 1 and 4 minutes and looked at how many genes were activated in a colon cancer cell model. The 1 min sample was almost 3 times more effective than the un-microwaved sample. Next, it was determined that the 4 min sample had all the sulfurophane destroyed, and yet was able to induce positive changes in the toxin metabolism of the cells it was exposed to. I’m not saying that we should all feel free to nuke our broccoli until it’s ash in the tray of the microwave, but in today’s environment where convenience is king, maybe even microwaving a healthy entree (i.e. Kashi, Amy’s) can have significant health benefits.

Read entire article here

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PARACETAMOL USE IN INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD – (05-25-09)

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Association between paracetamol use in infancy and childhood, and risk of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, and eczema in children aged 6-7 years

In today’s society, we have become so conditioned to accept chemical use as safe and only beneficial. The commercials would have us believe that only caring and loving parents with the utmost of concern for their child’s health would use these compounds. And yet we have seen studies of paracetamol (Tylenol) use in pregnancy, adults and children contribute greatly to the asthma burden in society. So were is the outrage and the public outcry over the fact that these compounds are making our children sick?

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ESTIMATED CONVERSION OF A-LINOLENIC ACID – (05-18-09)

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Estimated conversion of a-linolenic acid to long chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids is greater than expected in non fish-eating vegetarians and non fish-eating meat-eaters than in fish-eaters

There has also been discussion about just how much ALA from plant sources gets converted to DHA/EPA. The concerns have been that ALA intake is not enough to keep elevated levels of DHA/EPA without additional supplementation.

Two comments here…first, the conversion seems to be greater than originally thought in several studies, including this one. Second, ALA has it’s own benefits in clinical studies on cancer risk and CVD. The bottom line is that I feel we should get a strong balance of plant based and fish based EFAs. Of course, we could then point out that the ultimate origin of fish based EFAs is algae.

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CUTTING MORTALITY AND HOSPITALIZATIONS IN HEART FAILURE – (05-18-09)

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Omega-3 Fatty Acids, but Not Statin Therapy, Cuts Mortality and Hospitalizations in Heart Failure.

I think the title really states it all. Looking into the data, while not jaw dropping at preventing deaths, the data completely blows away the data on statins. Understand this…this study was done on DEATH, not heart attacks. Statins have not been shown to strongly affect death rates. To prevent even a single heart attack (NOT death) we have to treat in excess of 150 patients for 3 years.

In this study, treating 44 patients was needed for 3.9 years to prevent one DEATH. Then we consider that EFAs are beneficial for a large array of other conditions, are much safer and much cheaper. Again, I reiterate that I do not believe that the statin class of drugs should even exist, let alone generate over $20 billion / year in sales for one single drug company alone.

Read entire article here (note: link to this article may require access).

COMPARISON OF LYCOPENE AND FLUVASTATIN EFFECTS ON ATHEROSCLEROSIS – (05-18-09)

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Comparison of lycopene and fluvastatin effects on atherosclerosis induced by a high-fat diet in rabbits.

One of these days, I’ll get my deepest wish and this class of drugs will die the death it deserves. For starters, the statin class of drugs is really ineffective at lowering primary cases of heart attacks. The research is incredibly weak, so much so that fatty acids, exercise and now lycopene trump the end point of cardiovascular disease and death. Of course, lifestyle changes are also going to have positive effects that extend far beyond CVD to pretty much every chronic disease.

Read entire article here