|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
Dr. Jeffrey Tucker | (310) 473-2911 | 11600 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 412 | Los Angeles | CA | 90025
|
Over 20 million people in the U.S. alone use precription strength proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) to relieve heartburn and acid reflux (Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid). Precription strength proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) may deplete your magnesium levels. Low magnesium contributes to a variety of severe health problems. Hypomagnesemia is a deficiency of magnesium. Magnesiium deficiency can occur in as lillte as one year of starting the drug, but some people can become deficient within just three months. In approximately one-quarter of the cases reviewed, magnesium supplementation alone did not improve low serum magnesium levels and the PPI had to be discontinued says the FDA. That’s how severe the magnesium deficiency can become. Low magnesium levels can result in serious adverse events including muscle spasm (tetany), irregular heartbeat (arrhythmias), and convulsions (seizures). When your magnesium level is sufficient it helps reduce risk of cognitive decline and plays a key role in DNA production. Magnesium is also essential for keeping your blood sugar in check. Think Type 2 Diabetes here. Healthy bones rely on magnesium too.
Last year, University of Glasgow researchers examined the results of 13 large statin trials that included more than 91,000 subjects. Results showed that for every 255 patients treated with statins for four years, one would develop type 2 diabetes, apparently as a consequence of statin use.
About 20 million people take statins in the U.S. So, one case of type 2 diabetes for every 255 patients comes to well over 78,000 people who will develop or already have developed diabetes as a statin side effect. (And you can forget about the “four years” business because statin users are users-for-life.)
For high cholesterol, I advocate therapeutic lifestyle changes – diet, nutrition & exercise. This is my first line of therapy for clients with high cholesterol and/or Type 2 Diabetes. First, lets see if we can control it with medical foods such as UltraMeal by Metagenics along with diet and exercise. I see statins being prescribed with resultant cases of muscle damage, kidney damage, liver damage, and cognition damage. We should put a stop to statin overuse, and prescribe the drug when appropriate and for the right reasons.
Thinking of events as a catastrophe, fear, and being depressed appear to be major predictors of whether acute pain from surgery or injury will morph into chronic pain, researchers reported at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. For patients with low back pain, ”castastrophizing has been found to be seven times more powerful than any other predictor in predicting the transition from acute to chronic pain,” said Sean Mackey, MD, PhD, chief of the pain management division at Stanford University.
Fear also appears to play a role, Mackey commented. “Those who had more fear during an acute low back pain episode were much more likely to ultimately over-predict the amount of pain they had, which ultimately led to significant increase in fear-avoidance behaviors, with subsequent worsening of symptoms, increase in duration of pain, and increase in disability,” he said.
Depression and anxiety also had similar effects. “About 30% to 65% of patients who have chronic pain also have comorbid depression,” Mackey added.
Being optimistic was linked to better recovery and higher quality of life (Annals of Surgery 2007; 245: 487-494).
As part of my chronic pain management strategy, I use therapeutic lifestyle changes including diet, nutrition, attitudinal discussions and gentle exercise. The laser modality is still very, very new to most clients and definitely needs to be tried by chronic pain patients.
Low vitamin D levels could increase the likelihood of children developing allergies, researchers from the Department of Medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago concluded after studying the blood tests of 6,500 people. Lead researcher Michal Melamed, MD, MHS, assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology and population health said: “It is one link in the puzzle, or a first step. It is not the definitive study to show this link but one of the first large studies that shows that this association exists. There are many other reasons to make sure that children and adolescents receive the daily recommended intake of vitamin D—including, importantly, bone health.” Melamed and her team examined serum vitamin D levels in blood collected from a nationally representative sample of more than 3,100 children and adolescents and 3,400 adults in 2005-2006. The study defined children and adolescents as participants aged one to 21. The samples were derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children across the U.S. One of the blood tests assessed was sensitivity to 17 different allergens by measuring levels of Immunoglobulin E (IgE), a protein made when the immune system responds to allergens. No link was found between vitamin D levels and allergies in adults. But, for children and adolescents, low vitamin D levels could be linked to sensitivity to 11 of the 17 allergens tested. Those included both environmental allergens, such as ragweed, oak, dog, and cockroach, and food allergens such as peanuts. Children who had vitamin D deficiency—defined as fewer than 15 nanograms of vitamin D per milliliter of blood—were 2.4 times as likely to have a peanut allergy than were children with sufficient levels of vitamin D—defined as more than 30 nanograms of vitamin D per milliliter of blood.
I recommend children take 1000-2000 IU of vitamin D daily.
Order D3 from Metagenics @ www.DrJeffreyTucker.meta-ehealth.com
Cardiovascular benefits of cocoa.
Activity of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)—a target for blood pressure medication—was significantly inhibited by dark chocolate containing 72% cocoa, with the degree of inhibition dependent upon the genotype of the human subjects, according to new findings published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology. ACE inhibitors work by inhibiting the conversion of angiotensin I to the potent vasoconstrictor, angiotensin II, thereby improving blood flow and blood pressure.
The new study, led by scientists from the Faculty of Health Sciences at Linkoping University in Sweden, found that cocoa’s effect upon ACE activity was also related to ACE genotype, with ACE inhibition reduced by 21% in ACE I/I and 28% in ACE D/D three hours after consumption. The study deepens our understanding of the potential cardiovascular benefits of cocoa and the compounds it contains.
In terms of blood pressure, a meta-analysis by researchers from the University Hospital of Cologne found that consumption of cocoa had significant positive effects on hypertension. Writing in the Archives of Internal Medicine (2007, Vol. 167, pp. 626-634), the Cologne-based scientists stated: “The magnitude of the hypotensive effects of cocoa is clinically noteworthy; it is in the range that is usually achieved with monotherapy of beta-blockers or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.” The majority of science into the potential benefits of cocoa have revolved around cardiovascular benefits of the flavanols (also known as flavan-3-ols or catechins) and particularly the monomeric flavanol (-) epicatechin.
For the new study, Ingrid Persson and her co-workers recruited 16 volunteers aged between 20 and 45, and asked them to eat 75 grams of dark chocolate with 72% cocoa content every day for two weeks. Results showed a significant inhibition of ACE activity, with a reduction of about 18% observed between before and after the cocoa intake. Such a reduction is equivalent to those observed with antihypertensive medications, said the researchers. “Our results indicate that lifestyle changes, with the help of foods that contain high catechin and procyanidin content, prevent cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Persson. Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology 57(1):44-50, 2011
Any one of these foods by themself or in combination make some of the best foods to snack on:
avocados + tomatoes + garlic
broccoli + garlic
spinach + garlic
cauliflower + broccoli
asparagus
squash
walnuts
Conventional medical treatment for polymyalgia rheumatica is steroids (prendisone). It is considered an autoimmune dysfunction. Many of you know I feel autoimmune dysfunction is very frequently the result of dietary factors.
I believe that a more productive approach to this condition might be a
10 day or 28 day elimination diet, this doesn’t mean fasting. I use anti-inflammatory foods and medical food shakes.
Some people after the elimination diet chose to follw it up by adding one low glycemic vegetable each morning, on an empty stomach, to see if there is any reaction. If pain returns, I would suggest a period of at least three days without adding any new foods – longer if pain persists.
I have recommended the paleo diet to some clients with PR.
There are some Doctors that feel every autoimmune condition has turned out to have some version of a leaky gut/molecular mimicry connection.
For any autoimmune condition:
Gluten-free alone is not enough.
Lowish carbs, which may increase TSH, but that doesn’t mean it’s
pathological.
Carbs should be mostly glucose, not much fructose, so mostly roots, tubers,
vegetables, bulbs, but limit fruits.
Peel your vegetables whenever possible because most plant-protective
anti-nutrients are found in the peel.
Forbidden for life:
All cereal grains: Wheat (spelt, einkorn, durum, emmer, kamut), barley,
rye, triticale, oats, rice, corn, maize, wild rice, sorghum, millet, teff,
amaranth, buckwheat, fonio, breadnut, cockscomb, cattail, chia, wattleseed
(acacia), Goosefoots (quinoa, pitseed, kañiwa)
Dairy of any kind.
Nuts and seeds of any kind.
NSAIDs of any kind.
Nightshades (tomato, pepper, eggplant, potato).
Alcohol.
Antacids that contain aluminum hydroxide.
Oral contraceptives.
Iodine (if you have Hashimoto’s).
Legumes
I agree with all these items but I am not sure about eggs. Eggs are a paleo food but I know eggs are considered a highly allergic food. The problem with eggs is what the birds are fed. If they are fed corn and soy (which almost all are) that could cause all sorts of reactions in people. Most chickens, even if labeled “free range” are fed corn and soy.
Make sure the thyroid levels checked. Symptoms of all sorts of myalgias are frequently untreated or undertreated hypothyroidism. Don’t fall prey to tyranny of TSH only test - “normal” range is far too wide. Symptomatic people with TSH of over 1.5 likely have a problem. Free T3 and Free T4 levels as well as all antibodies should be checed as well. A short trial course of natural thyroid such as Armour or Naturthroid etc (not Synthroid or other T4 only synthetics) to see if symptoms improve is far safer (and cheaper) than longterm prednisone. Not convinced? Read
Broda Barnes’ MD’s classic book on this topic as well as Mark Starr MD’s
newer classic. Barnes also advocated a low-carb (albeit not necessarily
paleo) diet for hypothyroid conditions.
I can think of one patient who had PR. She started on the 10 day elimination diet and used the Opticleanse GHI shakes by Xymogen. After that she only ate grass fed beef and lamb. She ate no pork, poultry or fish. She also only ate sweet potatoes, yams and squash. She ate NO fruit or ANYTHING else. She also sunned herself daily for 1/2 hour. In 2-3 months all the
symptoms went away. It was a very restrictive diet, however, it worked.
Your choice, try prednisone or diet with XYMOGEN Opticleanse GHI!
High dose EPA-DHA in fish oils. I recomend EPA-DHA 720 by Metagenics.
The photo of the women doing ab sit-ups is NOT my favorite ab exercise. I prefer the plank over situps which may harm the lumbar spine.
(What is RSS?)