LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Hormone

EFFECTS OF CONJUGATED ESTROGEN ON HEALTH – (11-07-05)

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Effects of Conjugated Equine Estrogen on Health-Related Quality of Life in Postmenopausal Women With Hysterectomy

With a little hope, this may truly be the end of the era of HRT for women. It began in the 60s as a published case study series of one clinician, and, with no evidence to support it, bloomed into one of the largest money makers the drug companies have ever known.

The safety studies were never done until the WHI studies several years ago. Never done. Just remember this when you think that the FDA and the drug companies are operating in the best interest of the patient.

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VITAMIN D PLAYS A STRONG ROLE IN DEFENSE AGAINST PATHOGENS – (05-15-06)

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Toll-Like Receptor Triggering of a Vitamin D-Mediated Human Antimicrobial Response

While this article is a little technical, the take home message is that vitamin D may play a strong role in defense against pathogens. The problem? Because of the induced fear of the sun (which our ancestors did not share) the levels of vitamin D deficiency in the population are nearing 75%. That’s a staggering level of deficiency for a hormone (called a vitamin, but it actually acts like a hormone) that has very important roles for our health: bone health, mental health, helping insulin do it’s job, cancer prevention, and now immune support.

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MELATONIN IS A STRONG ANTIOXIDANT IN THE BRAIN – (10-31-05)

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Melatonin improves abdominal pain in irritable bowel syndrome patients who have sleep disturbances

I know that when I hear melatonin, I used to only think of a natural hormone that can help with sleep. Now, years later, we’ve found so many other physiologic roles for melatonin. It’s a very strong antioxidant in the brain; it’s found in certain vegetables; and now, helps to regulate GI motility.

As such, in this study, 3 mg at bedtime lowered abdominal pain in patients with IBS. Interestingly, there were no beneficial effects on sleep quality. While this may not have had a bearing, I have recently moved to starting patients on a lower (.5 mg) dose to start with and this seems to result in less side effects.

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PRENATAL ANXIETY CREATES HEALTH DIFFERENCES – (09-06-05)

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Prenatal Anxiety Predicts Differences in Cortisol in Pre-Adolescent Children

The implications for this are staggering.  Consider a few scenarios:  pregnant mother told antidepressants are okay in the 3rd trimester, a pregnant mother under abnormal levels of stress, or an insulin resistant mother with abnormally high levels of cortisol.  All of these scenarios lead to differing levels of neurotransmitters in the bloodstream.  The developing fetus is bathed in these hormones.

So, take the antidepressants–the developing fetus becomes used to abnormally high effectiveness of serotonin.  Baby gets born, no more drugs and their brain now detects a serotonin deficiency, even though their is no true physiological deficit.  Run the same scenario for a stressed out mom with high cortisol levels.  Not a good situation for the child, and this is one of the reasons I am a little pessimistic about our future generations’ risk of chronic diseases.  I think we have yet to have scratched the surface of chronic diseases and shortened lifespans.

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PREMENOPAUSAL HORMONE THERAPY EFFECTS USE OF HEALTH SERVICES – (10-23-06)

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Postmenopausal hormone therapy increases use of health services

This started as more of a rhetorical question, but continues to gain some urgency…”Why the heck is this class of drugs still on the market?” We see no benefit with the exception of short term hot flash management, and here we see the use of HRT associated with (as Ross Perot would put it…) a “huge sucking sound” on healthcare dollars. And this class of drugs is STILL covered by insurance!! Talk about reimbursing for medical “un” necessity!! But they won’t reimburse for massage therapy because there’s not enough evidence.

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ONE MUST TAKE WELL BALANCED BREAKFAST – (04-10-06)

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Effect of a high-protein breakfast on the postprandial ghrelin response

Ghrelin is a hormone that stimulates appetite. This study found that a high protein breakfast resulted in lower ghrelin levels, thus leading to higher satiety. I usually try to steer patients towards a higher protein breakfast (such as real peanut butter, high omega 3 eggs…) because these seem to keep them full longer. Unfortunately, look at what most breakfasts consist of–high glycemic index carbs that lead to earlier hunger and increased overall caloric intake through the day.

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INSULIN SENSITIVITY WORSENS IN POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN – (03-27-06)

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Predictors of worsening insulin sensitivity in postmenopausal women

Geez. If there wasn’t the nail in the coffin of hormone replacement therapy already, this would certainly blow past that last nail and move right to cremation. Worsening insulin resistance with HRT. It’s no wonder now that we saw increased cardiovascular disease and more cognitive decline. I guess the real question is how did an intervention that was so incredibly prescribed for decades, never get a full evaluation of the potential harms before it was released? For those who think the FDA is there to protect us, this should prove this is definately not the case.

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LEPTIN REGULATES OUR BODY WEIGHT – (08-28-06)

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Induction of leptin resistance through direct interaction of C-reactive protein with leptin

Wow. We’ve been trying to figure out how leptin–a hormone that’s supposed to keep our weight regulated by increasing metabolism w/ decreasing hunger when weight increases and doing the opposite when weight reduces–becomes less and less effective with obesity. Well, this may be a key.

When inflammation goes up, as determined by CRP levels, the CRP keeps leptin from working on a cell. Then abdominal obesity goes up and more inflammation is produced. What a nasty viscous circle.

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