LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Miscellaneous

MATERNAL NUTRITION CAN DECIDE THE UNBORN CHILD’S HEALTH – (12-03-07)

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Maternal Nutrition, Low Nephron Number, and Hypertension in Later Life: Pathways of Nutritional Programming

This is yet another pathway by which forcing women into pregnancy artificially, whose bodies are not ready for pregnancy because of physiological imbalances, is upsetting the balance of our health. The evidence is piling up that the decisions made in pregnancy can haunt that unborn child’s health for decades into the future.

In this article, the idea is put forth that, when mom is not eating properly, the fetus will develop a lower number of filtration units (nephrons) in the developing kidneys. Later in life, as that child becomes overweight (because they will be at increased in risk for obesity because of the unhealthy mom), this will place excess burden on the kidneys, resulting in kidney failure. Add to this mix a society that doesn’t realize the dangers of NSAIDs on the kidneys and you’ve got a nasty increase in dialysis centers.

Read entire article here

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO DYSPEPSIA – VIT C, STRESS – (10-29-07)

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Initial Poor Quality of Life and New Onset Dyspepsia

Given that digestive problems are strongly related to lifestyle, the results of this study are not surprising. We know that probiotics help with H. pylori infection and it is likely that destruction of normal flora sets up the H. pylori infection in the first place. Lower levels of Vit C contribute. Stress greatly contributes. All these factors that can contribute to dyspepsia would also contribute to other health related problems.

That doesn’t even take into account what happens when we suppress gastric acid production with drugs. The bottom line is that dyspepsia needs to be addressed w/ lifestyle changes for the best results.

Read entire article here

A PARADIGM OF GENOME STABILITY – (09-17-07)

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Circadian tempo: A paradigm for genome stability?

Wow!! What a concept. Our body’s ability to repair damaged DNA does not occur evenly throughout the day, but seems to be at its peak at the time of day when the DNA is most likely to be exposed to higher levels of DNA damage.

So, if this holds true, then what about patients that have problems sleeping, work night shifts or are stressed? Might this be another mechanism by which these conditions lead to cancer?

Read entire article here

LONG TERM IMPACT OF BARIATRIC SURGERY – (04-30-07)

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Long Term Impact of Bariatric Surgery on Body Weight, Comorbidities and Nutritional Status

I’ve recently had a patient go to one of those “info” meetings for those considering bariatric surgery. The information presented was sugar coated and painted a picture of these overweight patients as victims of their genetics, with no real responsibility for their condition. While this alone may be bad enough, there was no mention of the most important information. Once someone has bariatric surgery, their lives will be forever changed. Not even counting failed surgeries and repeat surgeries for adhesions and complication. Not counting the fact that many of these patients end up with the same risk of heart disease and diabetes.

The real issue is that an absolutely essential process of life–digestion and absorption of nutrients–is forever altered. The rest of their life will need to be different, avoiding foods w/ poor nutrient density and only taking in high nutrient density foods. Given the number of bariatric surgeries performed each year, you can bet we will see ever increasing numbers of very sick, post-bariatric surgery, patients.

Read entire article here

STRESS HAS MAJOR NEGATIVE PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS – (02-11-07)

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Phenotypic changes in colonocytes following acute stress or activation of mast cells in mice: implications for delayed epithelial barrier dysfunction

While this is a mouse study, the implications confirm what we already know–stress has major negative physiological effects.  This study found that there was an increase in the permeability of the GI tract under stress.  This would create a condition called “leaky gut” where molecules and proteins are getting absorbed into the body that were never supposed to make it in. Since blood flows directly from the GI tract to the liver, this then overburdens the liver and sets up a whole other set of issues.  Bottom line?  Stress kills.  Just in more ways then we used to think…  And it’s not a pretty death.

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WHY IS A PLANT BASED DIET HEALTHY FOR ALL OF US? – (01-15-07)

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Acid-Base Status Affects Renal Magnesium Losses in Healthy, Elderly Persons

Magnesium is definately on the list of the top few very important nutrients that we are chronically deficient in.  Poor quality diets contribute to this, but more of an animal based diet leads to increased acidity which needs to be bufferred in the kidneys.  The result is a loss of magnesium to protect us from the increased acidity.

Really a catch-22…increased acidity is not tolerated well by our cells and lead to a variety of chronic diseases (cancer comes to mind), but to take care of the acidity we lose magnesium which has it’s own list of chronic diseases that result from deficiency.  The bottom line is that a plant based diet is healthier for us all around.  But, you will lose weight on the Atkins’ diet.

Read  entire article here

DO YOU KNOW THAT INFLAMMATION PRODUCES FATIGUE? – (02-04-08)

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TNF-alpha suppresses the expression of clock genes by interfering with E-box mediated transciption

In case you’re confused by this title, don’t worry–so am I. But the take home message from this mouse study is that TNF-alpha, a cytokine that produces inflammation in the body, interferes with the body’s sleep wake cycle, produces fatigue.

Fatigue is a very common complaint for patients presenting to their PCP. Unfortunately, the evaluation of fatigue in the typical doctors’ office does not extend beyond looking for anemia and checking the thyroid. Yet, these two problems don’t scrape the surface of what creates fatigue. Adrenal issues need to be looked at, and, as we see in this study, inflammation is a major player as well.

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NF-KAPPA-B IS THE HOLY GRAIL OF INFLAMMATION – (02-04-08)

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Anthocyanins Inhibit Nuclear Factor-kappaB Activation in Monocytes and Reduce Plasma Concentrations of Pro-Inflammatory Mediators in Healthy Adults

Don’t let the long title scare you off. NF-kappa-B is the holy grail of inflammation. It is the molecule that turns on DNA to produce inflammatory chemicals like TNF-alpha and IL-8 and start the cascade of inflammation. Lower activity of NF-kappa-B and you can greatly stem inflammation. The REAL answer is to address all the factors that kick off NFKB in the first place (lower EFAs, stress, food allergies, poor nutrient intake, insulin resistance…), but Mother Nature provides many compounds that assist in the process.

This particular study looks at protective compounds from bilberry and black currant and finds that they have a pretty strong ability to lower NFKB activation.

Read entire article here