Does eating high cholesterol foods increase heart disease risk?

Back in 1913 a Russian scientist, Dr Anitschkov, thought he had found the answer to heart disease: he found that it was induced by feeding cholesterol to rabbits. What he failed to realise was that rabbits, being vegetarians, have no means for dealing with this animal fat. Since the fatty deposits in the arteries of people with heart disease have also been found to be high in cholesterol, it was soon thought that these deposits were the result of an excess of cholesterol.

Such a simple theory had its attractions and many doctors still advocate a low fat, low cholesterol diet as the answer to heart disease – despite a consistent lack of positive results. In truth, this prevailing myth has been fuelled by the existence of highly profitable statin drugs, sold for their cholesterol lowering ability, which are more easily marketed by making cholesterol the villain.

Is decreased bone mineral density associated with development of scoliosis?A bipedal osteopenic rat model

An association between adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and osteopenia has been proposed to exist. It is still not clear whether there is such an association and if so, whether osteopenia is a causative factor or a consequence.

Our previous pilot studies have suggested the presence of osteopenia in scoliotic animals. The aim of this study was to investigate the development of scoliosis in an unpinealectomized bipedal osteopenic rat model, implementing osteoporosis as a causative factor. 

Methods: Fifty Sprague-Dawley rats were rendered bipedal at the 3rd postnatal week and separated into control (25 rats) and heparin (25 rats receiving 1 IU/gr body weight/day) groups.

DEXA scans after 4 weeks of heparin administration showed low bone mass in the heparin group. Anteroposterior and lateral x-rays of the surviving 42 animals (19 in heparin and 23 in control groups) were taken under anesthesia at the 40th week to evaluate for spinal deformity.

Additional histomorphometric analysis was done on spine specimens to confirm the low bone mass in heparin receiving animals. Results of the DEXA scans, histomorphometric analysis and radiological data were compared between the groups. 

Results: Bone mineral densities of rats in the heparin group were significantly lower than the control group as evidenced by both the DEXA scans and histomorphometric analyses.

Spinal implant causes cancer, medical company tries to cover it up

Medtronics is a medical tech behemoth worth $15 billion. Among other cutting edge medical tech and R&D SciFi prototypes, the company is responsible for manufacturing a wide range of pacemakers, anti-seizure gadgets along with a number of surgery machinery. One of their most successful products in the last decade is a spinal implant that alleviates people suffering of serious back pain, at a hefty cost it seems – cancer.

The tiny device is implanted via surgery between vertebrates to correct irregularities in the spine including scoliosis, kyphosis, disc herniation or vertebral fracture. The implant held much promise, since before it came into practice a similar procedure required an extra surgery to get replacement bone from the patient’s hip or rely on a donor bone for it to be effective. Instead, the products Infuse (in production since 2002) and Amplify (unapproved), get the same results or better by use of a bone growth stimulating biological agent known as bone morphogenetic protein-2, or BMP-2.

In 2009, Medtronics paid millions of dollars for an investigation by surgeons whose purpose was to assess whether the product was safe or not. No safety hazards were found as a result of this extensive medical trial. An independent research however, sparked by various frightening stories in journals, showed that after two or three years from the implant with the genetically engineered protein, the number of patients diagnosed with cancer dramatically increased. The original 2009 paper authors, which were funded with millions by Medtronics, defended themselves by stating that at the time they published the report there were no signs that would allow them to correlate the implants with cancer.

New study finds high prevalence of osteopenia in infants

October 26, 2011 -- Dr John Cannell

When we talk about T scores, osteopenia and osteoporosis, we assume we are talking about older people, especially post-menopausal women. However, a group of obstetricians and pediatricians from the University of Sienna, led by Dr. Franco Bagnoli, reported that 42% of infants have osteopenia.

Bagnoli F, Casucci M, Rossetti A, Nappini S, Cecchi S, Toti S, Franci MB. Vitamin D as a drug. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2011 Oct;24 Suppl 1:7-11

What I like was that the authors said, “To be safe, vitamin D administration should be increased to 2,000 IU/day for neonates, 5,000 IU/day for children and 10,000 IU/day for all adults.” Obstetricians are generally regarded as the one group of physicians that seldom change their mind. My hat is off to these seven obstetricians.

So many infants have craniotabes, or softening of the fontanels, it is considered normal although such infants show signs of vitamin D deficiency. That is, about a third of our infants show evidence of having low vitamin D during their development in the womb.

Scoliosis Surgery - The Untold Truth

My goal in the upcoming posts is to express and reveal several unspoken facts of scoliosis surgery. This information is delivered to you for educational purposes, knowledge building and choosing an informed scoliosis treatment.

Many scoliosis surgical decisions are made under high pressure from the treating physician, usually because of the rapidly increasing scoliosis curves. Scoliosis surgery procedures should be thoroughly researched, all possible complications understood, with possible alternative treatments reviewed.

This decision may, and can take up to two weeks, barring any traumatic emergencies. Scoliosis curve condition will not change greatly in two weeks. (Remember the wait and see time prior to the magical curve number for scoliosis surgery). An improperly chosen path of scoliosis treatment can become very painful once a person moves beyond their 21st birthday.

Scoliosis corrective surgeries, especially in repeat surgery cases, may damage the body’s sympathetic nervous system. This could produce subsequent loss of function, such as adjusting of one’s heart rate, blood flow, and body temperature regulating during activities.

A percentage scoliosis corrective surgeries may cause intolerable pain and functional difficulties in patients as early as their mid- 20s or 30s. The most severe scoliosis cases require theses patients to be placed on Social Security Disability.

Many times the pain level escalates very quickly after the growth hormone is reduced as a scoliosis person’s moves into their young adult years. This leads into anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxants, anti-depressants, and pain killers.

Bowel and bladder failure may occur if the spinal nerves near the lower lumbar area are damaged during scoliosis correction surgery.

A little known fact that is not discussed at length prior to one’s scoliosis surgery …

Once a scoliosis patient that has undergone scoliosis corrective surgery or spinal fusion, one can never “Go Back” and reverse the process to regain a functional spine.

Think on this…

In 99% of the scoliosis surgeries the joints of the vertebral bodies are surgically removed. They are known as the “Facets”.

Boney architecture removed in scoliosis surgery from the vertebral body is called the “Spinous Process”. This small area of vertebral body is where several muscle groups attach to create body/spinal movement.

You may be wondering, "How do I move this part of my body?"

Surgical Device Company Failed to Report Its Spinal Implant Causes Cancer

Surgical device company Medtronic paid surgeons millions of dollars to investigate the safety of their spinal implant products. Turns out they cause cancer, but no one reported it.

So the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel did! They tell the disturbing story in an exhaustive investigative article. The devices in question, called Infuse and Amplify, are used in spinal fusion surgery. Surgeons wedge the devices between vertebrae to correct back irregularities including scoliosis, kyphosis, disc herniation, vertebral fracture and many others. Before the Medtronic devices, patients had to undergo an extra surgery to get replacement bone from their hip or they received donor bone. Infuse and Amplify eliminate that requirement with bone-growth-stimulating proteins. Revenue from Infuse has been about $700 million annually since coming on the market in 2002 (The FDA has declined approval of Amplify, and Medtronic is contesting the decision).

The author of the Journal-Sentinel article, John Fauber, recruited a physician researcher and sifted through 1,000 pages of FDA documents for his investigation to find that the bone-growth protein, called bone morphogenetic protein-2, is not as safe as Medtronic led folks to believe. Even though the surgeons claimed in a 2009 paper there was no significant link between the product and cancer, there totally was.

Improvement in HDL cholesterol in postmenopausal women supplemented with pumpkin seed oil: pilot study.

Pumpkin seed oil is rich in phytoestrogens and animal studies suggest that there is some benefit to supplementation in low estrogen conditions. This study is the first to evaluate the benefit of pumpkin seed oil in postmenopausal women.

METHODS: This pilot study was randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled. Study participants included 35 women who had undergone natural menopause or had iatrogenically entered the climacteric due to surgery for benign pathology. Wheat germ oil (placebo; n = 14) and pumpkin seed oil (n = 21) were administered to eligible participants over a 12-week period at a dose of 2 g per day. Serum lipids, fasting plasma glucose and blood pressure were measured and an 18-point questionnaire regarding menopausal symptoms was administered; the atherogenic index was also calculated. Differences between groups, as well as before and after the period of supplementation, were evaluated with Student's t-test, Wilcoxon matched-pair signed-ranked test and Mann-Whitney test, as appropriate (Stata version 10.1).

Women receiving pumpkin seed oil showed a significant increase in high density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations (0.92 ± 0.23 mmol/l vs. 1.07 ± 0.27 mmol/l; p = 0.029) and decrease in diastolic blood pressure (81.1 ± 7.94 mmHg vs. 75.67 ± 11.93 mmHg; p < 0.046). There was also a significant improvement in the menopausal symptom scores (18.1 ± 9.0 vs. 13.2 ± 6.7; p < 0.030), with a decrease in severity of hot flushes, less headaches and less joint pains being the main contributors. Women in the group receiving wheat germ oil reported being more depressed and having more unloved feeling.

CONCLUSION: This pilot study showed pumpkin seed oil had some benefits for postmenopausal women and provided strong evidence to support further studies.

Vitamin D in diet and depression

Think of a study of more than 81,000 women. How much time do you think such a study would take; how much effort from the scientists? Then say it was prospective, that is, it looked into the future from the past. Dr. Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, from the University of Massachusetts, senior author JoAnn Manson, from Harvard, and 12 colleagues from the Women’s Health Initiative did just that in a paper published in October of 2011. They looked at vitamin D intake from foods and supplements and current and later symptoms of depression.

Bertone-Johnson ER, Powers SI, Spangler L, Brunner RL, Michael YL, Larson JC, Millen AE, Bueche MN, Salmoirago-Blotcher E, Liu S, Wassertheil-Smoller S, Ockene JK, Ockene I, Manson JE. Vitamin D intake from foods and supplements and depressive symptoms in a diverse population of older women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 Oct;94(4):1104-12

The authors begin,

“Vitamin D may affect the function of dopamine and norepinephrine, which are monoamine neurotransmitters that are likely involved in depression. Furthermore, vitamin D may modulate the relation between depression and inflammation.”

They assessed 81,000 women at baseline (1993 -1998) and 3 years later for depression, using a simple depression rating scale, and for total vitamin D intake from foods and supplements. Their finding:

“In cross-sectional analysis that used baseline data, women with the highest intake of vitamin D and vitamin D from food sources had a significantly lower prevalence of depressive symptoms. . . In women without depressive symptoms at baseline, a higher vitamin D intake from food as associated with a lower risk of depression at year 3.”

However, they added,

“We did not find supplemental vitamin D intakes to be consistently related to measures of depressive symptoms.”
Explaining that in their group of women, for surprising and unknown reasons, vitamin D levels were higher in women who did not use vitamin D supplements. Remember in 1998, vitamin D supplements were either cod liver oil or multivitamins, both of which contained little vitamin D and toxic amounts of preformed retinol in the 1990s.

They went on to quote studies indicating that not 90%, but only 30% of vitamin D currently comes from sunlight. “Recent evidence suggested that only ~30% of circulating 25(OH)D is the product of sunlight exposure.” The studies indicating 90% comes from sunlight expose were from the early 1980s, when 90% did come from sunlight. This change from 90% to 30% reflects just how much we have become sunless creatures. Nature must have been totally surprised, when one day in the late 1980s, we suddenly decided that the Nature’s gift of sunlight was evil.

The authors conclude,

“Our results support an inverse association of vitamin D intake from foods and the occurrence of depressive symptoms in older women.”

Study finds good diet overcomes bad genes

Tuesday, October 18, 2011. In an article published online on October 11, 2011 in the journal PLoS Medicine, Dr Jamie Engert at McGill University in Montreal and his associates report that the risk conferred by a gene variant known to be a strong marker for cardiovascular disease is minimized by consuming a diet rich in fruit and vegetables. "We know that 9p21 genetic variants increase the risk of heart disease for those that carry it," explained Dr Engert, of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. "But it was a surprise to find that a healthy diet could significantly weaken its effect."

The researchers genotyped four variants in the 9p21 chromosome region of 8,114 participants in the INTERHEART study, a case-control study of men and women of varying ethnic backgrounds that compared those who had had an acute non-fatal heart attack to similar subjects without heart disease. Additionally, 9p21 variants were analyzed in 19,129 participants in the FINRISK study, of whom 1,014 had cardiovascular disease. Dietary questionnaires ascertained the frequency of intake of vegetables, fruits and other foods.

Federal agents arrest prominent 'quackbuster' skeptic; anti-health crowd exposed as fraud

Certain websites whose primary purpose is to vilify nutritional medicine and alternative health practices are apparently owned and operated by a cabal of deranged, and just plain evil "pseudo-skeptics," suggests consumer advocate Tim Bolen in his recentBolen Report. And "Jose Luis Alvarez" (authorities do not know his real name), a man who has allegedly been living with skeptic ringleader James Randi, was recently arrested by federal agents on charges of identity theft.

First of all, it is important to stress that the overall impact of this anti-health crowd has diminished greatly over the years, as many of the so-called "quackbusters" running it have silently disappeared or (ironically) died of diseases that could have been prevented by the same treatments for which they lived to destroy. And thanks to the massive swell of truthful information about health that has swept the world via the internet and other methods, the "debunkers" have become increasingly obscure and irrelevant in such misinformation campaigns.

But some of the key players, of course, are still alive and very active in their efforts to malign any and all health protocols that deviate from the accepted scam of conventional drugs and surgery. And two individuals, Randi and his housemate Alvarez, have allegedly also been involved in identity theft, pedophilia, and a slew of other deviant activities and behaviors, according to Bolen.