Vitamin D call for Asian children

Any discussion on bone health would not be complete without mentioning vitamin D. Here is an article from the BBC which highlights the greater chance of Asian children developing deficiency (probably due to sun phobic women who dont want dark skin). Until more research is available and testing becomes available in singapore I emphasis sensible sun exposure for optimal health and maintaining a healthy spine.
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All Asian children under the age of two should get vitamin D supplements, according to scientists.

A small snapshot study of vitamin D deficiency at the Burnley Health Care Trust revealed Asian children were particularly at risk.

The team said it was more cost effective to provide supplements than to treat problems caused by the deficiency, such as rickets.

The research was published in the Archives of Diseases in Childhood.

The main source of vitamin D is through ultra-violet radiation in sunlight, although it can also be found in certain foods.

It is crucial for the absorption of calcium, which is key in the formation of healthy bones. Deficiencies can lead to rickets, poor tooth formation, stunted growth and general ill health.

People with darker skin are at greater risk of vitamin D deficiencies because increased pigmentation reduces the capacity of the skin to manufacture the vitamin from sunlight.

More cost effective

Scientists from Burnley General Hospital analysed the medical records of children suffering from vitamin D deficiency between 1994 and 2005 at the Burnley Health Care Trust in north-west England.

Between 1994 and 2005 they found 14 cases, thirteen of which were in Asian children.

According to Dr Christos Zipitis, lead author of the study and a paediatrician, the rate of deficiency in Asian children was one in 117 compared with one in 923 children overall.

He said as well as having increased skin pigmentation, Asian children often had diets low in vitamin D.

The team then analysed the cost of treatment for these 14 patients, covering the cost of medication, hospital care and follow up appointments. It averaged up to £2,505 per patient.

They then looked at the cost of vitamin D supplementation needed to prevent one case of deficiency in the whole population of children, based on their figures.

They did so based on guidelines by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy (COMA), which recommend varying levels of vitamin D over the first two years of a child's life. They found it be £47,534 per child.

But when they looked at the cost of preventing one case of deficiency in an Asian child, it came to £2,410.

Supplement use

Dr Zipitis said: "If you just treat the high risk population, which in our trust is the Asian population, it is cheaper to supplement everybody than to treat the consequences."

He said that in other trusts, children of Afro-Caribbean or African origin would be at high risk of vitamin D deficiency.

Dr Mary Hannon-Fletcher, from the School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, said: "The use of supplements must always be backed up by rigorous research and evidence that this will not result in toxicity.

"There are always problems with inter-individual differences in uptake, bioavailability and dietary and lifestyle factors that need to be taken into account, especially in this young population."

Statins increase risk of diabetes

There is a huge push to get all diabetics on a statin for cholesterol control, whether its needed or not.

Please remember that adequate magnesium will help and acts as a natural statin in our bodies and without these negative effects found with manufactured statin drugs. Magnesium is known to lower blood sugars, and prevent insulin resistance. It can prevent and delay type 2 diabetes...we just saw some of the benefits that Betty experienced using magnesium oil in baths, gradually lowering her elevated blood sugars over a few days time.

Here's a new study on Lipitor, showing it to increase blood sugars. Statins such as Lipitor are widely prescribed by MDs, for non diabetics as well, and it doesn't seem a huge leap to expect that their blood sugars may also elevate.

Some believe statins should be used by everyone, even when cholesterol levels are within normal limits. There's even been talk of putting it in the water supply, and including it in superpills (a combination drug).

Many people have suffered neuropathies believed to be related to statins....and there is even a petition requesting this be looked into. http://www.petitiononline.com/Statins/petition.html

Below is the new information in the news this week:

Statins Can Deteriorate Glycemic Control in Type 2 Diabetes
on Tuesday, August 22 @ 15:51:12 CDT

The use of atorvastatin (Lipitor) showed a deterioration of glycemic control in type 2’s.
Atheroscler Thromb. 2006 Apr;13(2):95-100.

http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4054

Calcium: Important Update

As most would be aware, I have been highly recommending Magesium for all scoliosis patients with an elimination or drastic reduction of all calcium supplements. This advise will correct the imbalance that is usually associated from a society that drinks too much milk and puts too much emphasis on Calcium. Excess calcium causes calcific deposits, wrinkle, arthritis, most degereative and age related changes.

Below is the updated advice on Calcium by Dr Andrew Weil.

New: My Latest Calcium Recommendations

Due to growing evidence that high doses of calcium do not prevent bone fractures and may even encourage the growth of prostate cancer cells, I recently reduced my supplemental calcium recommendation. I now advise that women take no more than 700 mg of supplemental calcium a day to get a total of 1,000 to 1,200 mg of calcium from food and supplements, and I now recommend that men do not take any supplemental calcium.

I’ve based my new recommendations mainly on research conducted by Walter Willett, MD, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, and Diane Feskanich, ScD, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. These scientists and their colleagues looked extensively at clinical trials and analyzed data from two large observational studies: the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) of more than 70,000 women, and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) of 55,000 men.

They concluded that calcium promoted bone health in the clinical trials, which lasted only two to three years, but not in the long-term observational studies. “This may be because the small part of the bone, called the remodeling space, sponges up calcium in the initial year following a boost in intake, but then fills up and additional calcium no longer adds much benefit,” says Dr. Willett. In several clinical trials, most of the reduction in bone loss with calcium supplementation took place only during the first year or two; after this, no lasting benefits were seen in bone mineral density.

This short-term effect may help explain the observational studies. When researchers looked at the relationship between postmenopausal women’s hip fracture risk, calcium and vitamin D intake, and milk consumption in the NHS, they observed a significantly lower risk of hip fracture among women with higher vitamin D intakes, but calcium and milk intake didn’t appear to be associated with hip fracture risk (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, February 2003).

Allergies and the ‘Hygiene Hypothesis’

In our need for cleanliness we have inavertantly created greater chronic health problems through an undeveloped immune system. This is another reason why I recommend everyone drinks kefir everyday to help restore bacterial to our bodies and strengthen our immune system. As this article highlights... even the bad bugs can help us.

Sometime in the 1990s, researchers developed the “hygiene hypothesis” as a way of explaining the steady increase in chronic respiratory illnesses over the preceding 15 years. According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology in Milwaukee, Wis., the number of Americans with asthma increased by 75 percent during that period and the number of those with some kind of allergy doubled. The hygiene theory points to the American obsession with cleanliness as the correlating factor.

Advocates of the hypothesis note that when a baby’s developing immune system doesn’t encounter enough or the right kind of bacteria, viruses, or parasites, the body’s lymphocytes get out of whack and start treating harmless things like dust or pollen as major invaders. Critics of the idea quickly point out exceptions—like the high incidence of asthma in inner city children—but two new studies enhance the hypothesis’ viability. The first, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology, found that sewer rats actually have stronger immune responses and higher levels of disease-fighting antibodies than rats raised in the dirt- and disease-free environment of the research lab.

The second involves whipworms. A Michigan State University team found that swallowing the eggs of this threadlike parasite helps relieve the intestinal ulcers and severe bouts of diarrhea that characterize inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Since IBD occurs more frequently in industrialized nations, these new findings also fit the hygiene hypothesis, which says that occasional infections actually bolster the immune system, and that parasites have historically played an important part in our immune development.

Magnesium: Acid Base balance

This research highlights the need for keeping proper acid base balance in the body, and helps to explain one of the reasons why magnesium is more deficient in diabetics (and others) who suffer from acidosis more often when blood sugars are high.
Avoiding acidosis:
1) Eating according to your metabolic type... Vegetables can be acidic or alkaline depending on the persons metabolic type.
2) Avoid all simple sugars.

2006 American Society for Nutrition J. Nutr. 136:2374-2377, September 2006
Nutritional Epidemiology
Acid-Base Status Affects Renal Magnesium Losses in Healthy, Elderly
Persons1 Ragnar Rylander2,*, Thomas Remer3, Shoma Berkemeyer3 and Jürgen Vormann4

Magnesium and calcium deficiency in humans is related to a number of pathological phenomena such as arrhythmia, osteoporosis, migraine, and fatal myocardial infarction. Clinically established metabolic acidosis induces renal losses of calcium. In normal subjects, even moderate increases in net endogenous acid production (NEAP) impair
renal calcium reabsorption but no information is available whether this also influences renal magnesium handling. The aim of the study was to examine the relation between NEAP and renal magnesium excretion in healthy, free-living, elderly subjects. The subjects (age 64 ± 4.7 y, n = 85) were randomly selected from the population register in Gothenburg (Sweden). Magnesium, calcium, and potassium were measured in 24-h urine samples and NEAP was quantified as renal net acid excretion (NAE). NAE was positively correlated with excretions of magnesium (R2 = 0.27, P < 0.0001) and calcium (R2 =
0.30, P < 0.0001) but not potassium. When 24-h urinary magnesium excretion was adjusted for 24-h urinary potassium excretion, a biomarker for dietary potassium intake, the association between magnesium excretion and NAE remained significant (R2 = 0.21, P < 0.0001). The significant association between potassium-adjusted magnesiuria and NAE suggests that the acid-base status affects renal magnesium losses, irrespectively of magnesium intake. Magnesium deficiency could thus, apart from an insufficient intake, partly be caused by the acid load in the body.

Dr Andrew Weil on Kefir

Today's Question
Crazy about Kefir?

I have been drinking kefir occasionally for a few years, but now I am interested in making my own so I can drink it regularly. Is kefir as healthy as they say? What are you thoughts on using it everyday?

-- Brian Thomas

Today's Answer (Published 08/18/2006)
Kefir, an ancient drink from the Caucasus Mountains that resembles liquid yogurt, is made by adding a live culture - called kefir "grains" - from a previous batch of kefir to room-temperature milk (usually from a cow, goat or sheep, though soymilk can be used). The cultures are a combination of bacteria and yeasts, usually lactobacillus acidophilus and Saccharomyces kefir.

Traditional kefir is tart - even sour - and contains a bit of carbonation and some alcohol from the fermentation. However, much of the kefir sold commercially in the United States is neither carbonated nor alcoholic.

I think kefir is great. It is a probiotic, which means it contains "friendly" bacteria that can stabilize the digestive tract, and when it is well made, it is delicious. Kefir also provides you with calcium and protein, and may have some additional benefits for the immune system. You can certainly use it every day. A small study published in the May, 2003, Journal of the American Dietetic Association showed that drinking kefir eliminated - or, at least, dramatically reduced - symptoms of lactose intolerance in 15 adult participants. Researchers at Ohio State
University tested plain kefir, raspberry-flavored kefir, plain yogurt, raspberry-flavored yogurt and two-percent milk in this group after a 12-hour fast. The participants recorded any symptoms of lactose intolerance after consuming each food. They reported few or no symptoms after ingesting both types of kefir and both types of yogurt.

The researcher who conducted the study, Steven Hertzler, an assistant professor of medical dietetics at Ohio State University, said that kefir might be a better option than yogurt for some lactose-intolerant people because it contains a wider array of microorganisms believed to break down lactose in the digestive tract. In addition, Hertzler suggested that kefir microorganisms may be able to colonize the intestines and protect against disease-causing bacteria.

The one caution I would give you is that commercial kefir often is overly sweetened and full of additives. Read labels carefully. I would buy plain varieties and add your own sweetener and flavoring if you like. And making your own kefir isn't difficult, with starter kits widely available. You'll have to experiment a bit to produce kefir that bests suits your taste. In general, the longer the fermentation time, the more sour the finished product. Enjoy!

Andrew Weil, M.D.

Scoliosis and Underweight

Today I came across an article from the New York Times which would
interest those with scoliosis and suffering from weight problems. It
has long been known that scoliosis usually affects those who are
underweight. We all know someone who is like this, they eat all they
want and still never put any weight on. Previously genes and
metabolism has been blamed... though as this article highlights
something else might be awry. While this article is long, in summary a
doctor who specializes in weight management believes that the gut
flora of bacteria, viruses and microbes could be the ones to blame. It
highlights that the type and proportion of microbe directly affects
the absorbability of foods and hence calories and nutrients used.
Something that surprised even me is that 90 percent of the cells in
your body is in the form of microbes, only 10% is your own cells!

"Gordon likes to explain his hypothesis of what gut microbes do by
talking about Cheerios. The cereal box says that a one-cup serving
contains 110 calories. But it may be that not everyone will extract
110 calories from a cup of Cheerios. Some may extract more, some less,
depending on the particular combination of microbes in their guts."

This is one of the reasons why I have encouraged all scoliosis
patients to start making their own kefir to help restore the gut flora
to optimal levels and to diligently eliminate sugars and refined
carbohydrates which inevitably feed bad bacteria. Those that have
listened to this advice tended to show better outcome results and
eventually return their weight to normal range highlighting the
multifactorial process of this condition.

Towards the end of the article the Specialist highlight how eventually
a personalize dietary program could be devised based on the persons
gut flora. Fortunately through metabolic typing this already exists.

In practice we take care of the physical imbalances of scoliosis
however it is your responsibility to take care of the biochemical
through the foods that you eat. These recommendations are just as
important for those with normal weight:

1) Restore gut flora with kefir (type kefir in google) either in kefir
starters or grains.
2) Eat according to your metabolic type.
3) Eliminate sugars and refined grains and starch such as potatoes
which research shows produces a blood sugar rush simimlar to sugar it
self.

NYTimes Link

Science behind no grain drain

The Science of the Natural Human Diet

Our agrarian diet began from 2,000 to 10,000 years ago depending on your heritage. In evolutionary terms, this is quite recent. Think of the time of humans as one day. A hunter-gatherer diet was universal for 23 hours and 59 minutes. We switched to our current grain-based diet only in the last minute of that day.

Genetic science calculates that only 0.02% of our genes have changed in that evolutionary “blink of an eye.” So we’re still genetically equipped to eat the foods of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. The “caveman” diet is simple – lean meats, fresh fruits and vegetables. No grains and few starches.

So how did the medical establishment get the idea that red meat and fat were causing heart disease? Back in the 1950s, studies looked at the diets of third–world agrarian cultures and found that Western diets were higher in fat.

Yet these third-world countries had already radically changed their diet during their agrarian revolution. This mistake has long-since been recognized by science but other forces have perpetuated this mistaken notion.

You can’t trademark basic foods like steaks and eggs. But foods like Cheerios, Twinkies and Coke are “proprietary.” No one else can sell them. That means bigger profit margins.

Louise Light, Ed.D, the very nutritionist hired by USDA to create their food pyramid, saw that nutritional facts could not overcome the political and economic motives at work. Here are her words on the subject:

“I was disappointed and depressed that good nutrition and healthy eating were obscured by lobbyists and their allies in government. A seemingly impenetrable wall of distortion had been erected to block thinking that could interfere with the way food was made, promoted and sold.”[1]

The Worst Mistake in Nutritional History

Whenever hunter-gatherer cultures have made the switch to grains and farming, there were health consequences. In Europe, big-game hunters were an average of 6 inches taller than their farmer descendants.1 Look at what happened to Native Americans of the Ohio River valley:

“Archaeologists have excavated some 800 skeletons that paint a picture of the health changes that occurred when a hunter-gatherer culture gave way to the intensive maize farming around A. D. 1150… Compared to the hunter-gatherers who proceeded them, the farmers had a nearly 50% increase in malnutrition, a fourfold increase in iron-deficiency anemia and a threefold rise in infectious disease.”[2]

The idea that modern cultures still show this link is backed by the best science. In 1985, Boyd Eaton, MD published an article “Paleolithic Nutrition,” in the New England Journal of Medicine.[3]

They found no evidence of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic intestinal disease and most types of cancer in the hunter-gatherer cultures that still survive today. Some of these include the Hadza of Tanzania, the Kung and Kade San of the Kalahari and the Australian Aborigines, among others.

Avoid Chronic Disease by Following Your Ancestors Not Your Contemporaries

Those who follow low-fat diets – like the “Pritikin” diet – often develop a variety of problems including low energy, poor concentration, depression, weight gain and mineral deficiencies.[4] Remember Dr. Pritikin himself became depressed and committed suicide.

Often quoted to support the low-fat mistake, the real data of the Framingham Heart Study shows the opposite. Untouched by drug company interference, this ongoing study gives us the most reliable source of data for heart health. After a 40-year study, the director states, “the more saturated fat one ate… the lower the person’s serum cholesterol…”[5]

Drug makers and food processors still insist that fat is killing us – and establishment stalwarts like the American Cancer Society. Yet when the University of Maryland analyzed the data used to support the American Cancer Society’s claim, it turned out that vegetable fat consumption led to cancer. Nothing in the data suggested animal fat caused disease of any kind.[6] And studies like the one that showed that grains processed by high heat are toxic and cause death in test animals[7] have no one to champion the message.

And it’s not just refined grains. Phytic acid in whole grains binds to iron, calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc in your digestive tract and blocks their absorption.[8] Whole grains also contain enzyme inhibitors that interfere with digestion.[9]

Now You Have Choices…

Elephants and rhinos are strong and robust because they are following their natural diet. The same is true for a meat-eating lion. Our ancestors showed us our natural diet. Grains allowed us to feed more people. They continue to stave off starvation in the third world. But now, in the modern world, you have a choice.

Eat the foods you are genetically fitted to and you will lose fat, boost energy and avoid most chronic diseases of the modern world. I’ve witnessed thousands of people do it.

Energy Medicine... the future of medicine.

I have experience one of the most powerful healing tool available... yes equally as powerful as nutrition and exercise. Best thing is that it costs nothing, needs no fancy equipment and for those who are sceptical you don't even have to believe in it for it to work... it plain just works! Patients who have gone thru this with me have experienced total elimination of fears, phobias, mental blocks and negativity which our society is saturated with.

The technique is called Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT which in its simplest terms is acupuncture without needles. Chinese medicine has known for centuries that our body contains subtle energy and when a tramatic experiance happens disruptions occur to this energy. This disruption leads to energy blocks that eventuate to physical dis-ease and finally disease. EFT is an energy medicine that was developed by a church pastor... his generosity and genuine passion towards eliminate human suffering is shown though giving the manual FREE for everyone. I will be using EFT on most scoliosis sufferers due to emotional bagadge thats usually present. While it is too soon to say whether it will help with improving the curve I believe being emotional free and happy is am important step to healing. Happiness truly comes from within, not from the material things we horde. EFT brings positive energy and
for those who master it a feeling of elation that easily rivals any antidepressant or drug.

FREE EFT Manual

Magnesium: A mineral all scoliosis sufferers need to know

From recent abstract

Long-term moderate magnesium-deficient diet shows relationships
between blood pressure, inflammation and oxidant stress defense in
aging rats.

* Blache D,
* Devaux S,
* Joubert O,
* Loreau N,
* Schneider M,
* Durand P,
* Prost M,
* Gaume V,
* Adrian M,
* Laurant P,
* Berthelot A.

INSERM U 498, Biochimie des Lipoproteines, Dijon, F-21079, France;
Faculte de Medecine, Universite de Bourgogne, Dijon, F-21079, France.

Epidemiological and experimental studies have indicated a relationship
among aging, dietary Mg, inflammatory stress, and cardiovascular
disease. Our aim in the present study was to investigate possible
links between dietary Mg, oxidant stress parameters, and inflammatory
status with aging in rats. We designed a long-term study in which rats
were fed for 22 months with moderately deficient (150 mg/kg), standard
(800 mg/kg), or supplemented (3200 mg/kg) Mg diets. Comparisons were
made with young rats fed with the same diets for 1 month. Compared to
the standard and supplemented diets, the Mg-deficient diet
significantly increased blood pressure, plasma interleukin-6,
fibrinogen, and erythrocyte lysophosphatidylcholine, particularly in
aging rats, it decreased plasma albumin. The impairment of redox
status was indicated by increases in plasma thiobarbituric acid
reactive substances and oxysterols and an increased blood
susceptibility to in vitro free-radical-induced hemolysis. We
concluded that Mg deficiency induced a chronic impairment of redox
status associated with inflammation which could significantly
contribute to increased oxidized lipids and promote hypertension and
vascular disorders with aging. Extrapolating to the human situation
and given that Mg deficiency has been reported to be surprisingly
common, particularly in the elderly, Mg supplementation might be
useful as an adjuvant therapy in preventing cardiovascular disease.