Acupuncture Changes Brain's Perception and Processing of Pain, Researchers Find

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), researchers have captured pictures of the brain while patients experienced a pain stimulus with and without acupuncture to determine acupuncture's effect on how the brain processes pain. Results of the study, which the researchers say suggest the effectiveness of acupuncture, were presented November 30 at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

"Until now, the role of acupuncture in the perception and processing of pain has been controversial," said lead researcher Nina Theysohn, M.D., from the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology at University Hospital in Essen, Germany. "Functional MRI gives us the opportunity to directly observe areas of the brain that are activated during pain perception and see the variances that occur with acupuncture."

fMRI measures the tiny metabolic changes that take place in an active part of the brain, while a patient performs a task or is exposed to a specific external stimulus.

In the study, conducted in close collaboration with the Department of Complementary and Integrative Medicine at University of Duisburg-Essen, 18 healthy volunteers underwent fMRI while an electrical pain stimulus was attached to the left ankle. Acupuncture needles were then placed at three places on the right side, including between the toes, below the knee, and near the thumb. With the needles in place, fMRI was repeated while electrical currents were again directed at the left ankle. The researchers then compared the images and data obtained from the fMRI sessions with no acupuncture to those of the fMRI sessions with acupuncture.

"Activation of brain areas involved in pain perception was significantly reduced or modulated under acupuncture," Dr. Theysohn said.

Specifically, fMRI revealed significant activation in the contralateral supplementary motor area, somatosensory cortex, precuneus bilateral insula and ipsilateral somatomotor cortex during electrical pain stimulation without acupuncture. During acupuncture, activation in most of these pain-processing areas of the brain was significantly reduced.

According to Dr. Theysohn, in addition to the assumed specific effects on the pain signal, acupuncture also affected brain activation in areas governing the patients' expectations of pain, similar to a placebo analgesic response.

The anterior insula, for example, plays a role in transforming pain sensation to cognition and represents a subjective component of pain sensation. The reduction in activation of the primary somatosensory cortex and the insula during acupuncture indicates an acupuncture-induced modulation of the sensory encoding of the painful stimulus.

"Acupuncture is supposed to act through at least two mechanisms -- nonspecific expectancy-based effects and specific modulation of the incoming pain signal," Dr. Theysohn said. "Our findings support that both these nonspecific and specific mechanisms exist, suggesting that acupuncture can help relieve pain."

Is The Hidden Soy in Your Foods Contributing to Illness and Poor Health?

Chocoholics have finally been matched or overtaken by Soyaholics – people who look for soy in every product and sprinkle it over any products that do not contain any. Women eat soy like it is the Holy Grail of food. It has become America’s favorite “health” food.

Nothing could please the soy industry more. Over the past decade, advertisements and newspaper articles have proclaimed soy foods as the answer to all of America’s nutritional problems. The soy industry formed more than 65 associations to lobby state and federal governments to recommend higher consumption of its product – under an ad campaign called, the “joy of soy”.

Now soy can be found in almost every product on your grocery store shelves. You can find it in simple Doritos corn chips, ice cream, caned tuna and every packaged food you can think of under names like yeast extract,soy protein, soybean oil, soy lecithin and soy flour.

It lurks in nearly 90% of the foods sold including infant formulas, McDonald’s hamburgers and almost all frozen foods. Imagine the savings from diluting real hamburger beef with, for example, 10% soy mix?

But, is it a “wonder health food” or is it just another industry hoax to promote the sales of one of its unhealthy genetically modified products?

In 1999, Big Food lobbyists were successful in getting the FDA to approve a health claim for soy protein. The claim states that, “25 grams of soy protein a day, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.”

The additional campaigning touting the possibility that soy would prevent heart disease, fight cancer, eliminate menopause flashes and build strong bodies was very seductive approach to selling soy.

But the industry ignored the fact that soy is one of the top eight allergens that cause immediate hypersensitivity reactions such as coughing, sneezing, runny nose, hives, diarrhea, difficulty swallowing and anaphylactic shock. Delayed allergic responses are even more common and occur anywhere from several hours to several days after the food is eaten.

Cheap genetically modified soy created an opportunity for biotech companies to develop cheap meat substitutes, to dilute products to achieve greater profits, to formulate soy-based pharmaceuticals, and to develop a renewable resource that could replace petroleum-based plastics and fuels.

But, despite their efforts, this is the same genetically modified Bt soy (Bacillus thuringiensis – an insect-killing bacterium ) that Europe and Japan refuse to permit imported into their countries. The reality of Bt toxin soy is summed up in a study by The Cornucopia Institute, “When GM soy was fed to female rats, most of their babies died within three weeks.”

Big Food does not make much profit from any food that people eat in moderation. The continual push seems to be that if the recommend daily allowance (RDA) of any food is good for you, then ten times the RDA must be better. In America, a little or moderate amount of anything is never enough. More is always better for their pockets.

But the FDA health claim for soy protein recommends that consumers incorporate four servings of at least 6.25 grams of soy protein into their daily diet, for a total of at least 25 grams of soy protein each day. The high consumption of soy in Asian countries is an American myth. The fact is that, in Asia, the RDA of organic soy is limited to a mere 39 grams per day. Japan refuses to allow GMO Bt soy to be sold in its country because of its dangers.

To make matters worse, instructing anyone to eat the same thing everyday is dangerous to your health. The repeating of the same thing day after day will cause delayed food intolerance/allergy. So, even if you start out not having allergic/intolerance illnesses, you will eventually. The soy becomes toxic to the body which can not broken down properly. The toxic element starts a cycle of the body craving the soy. Eventually, this will result in over eating and weight gain. It is very unhealthy.

As we say in our other blogs, the same can be said with the corn products and by products that are now in almost everything, including your medicines. Yes, your Intravenous I.V. have corn and medicines sometimes soy. So much of everything in our daily diet are the same but with different flavor enhances. Repeat eating will result in immune system problems, silent chronic inflammation and future diseases, including sudden heart attack.

Initially, people turned their nose up at the sound of soy. Full Psychological profiling reports were accumulated on how to get people to buy into their program of eating lots of soy. The governmental programs and university’s such as Cornell have plenty of marketing savvy. Like corn and MSG, soy became other names hidden in ingredients to sell the GMO soy products.

The soy industry advertisers claim that by simply eating soy for your protein daily you can prevent a heart attack and lower your cholesterol. The vast multi-million dollar campaign worked. Despite the FDA recommendation of only 25 grams per day, some Americans eat as much as 250 grams or 1 cup or more of soy per meal. Dieters who consume energy, breakfast drinks and tofu meatless meals consume even more.

According to the Whole Soy Story - The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food by Kaayla T. Daniel, “There’s nothing natural about these modern soy protein products. Textured soy protein, for example, is made by forcing defatted soy flour through a machine called an extruder under conditions of such extreme heat and pressure that the very structure of the soy protein is changed. Production differs little from the extrusion technology used to produce starch-based packing materials, fiber-based industrial products, and plastic toy parts, bowls, and plates.”

To make soy more appetizing, the manufacturers added sugar, synthetic sweeteners, genetically modified high fructose corn sugar, refined salt, artificial flavorings, colors and MSG. So the soy isn’t really soy. It is a Frankenfood created for the sole purpose of making a profit from health conscious people trying to live a healthier life.

We know many vegans and vegetarians who consider their meatless diets safe. Many, thinking they are mirroring a healthy custom in Asian countries, eat genetically modified soy in amounts their bodies cannot digest. But Americans on a genetically modified (GMO) Bt soy based diet are in as much danger of heart attacks and cancer as red meat eaters.

That is because the process of making soy protein isolate begins with defatted soybean meal, which is mixed with a caustic alkaline solution to remove the fiber, then washed in an acid solution to precipitate out the protein. The protein curds are then dipped into another alkaline solution. But vitamin, mineral, and protein quality are sacrificed in the process. And levels of carcinogens such as nitrosamines are increased to a dangerous level.

In 1979, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology said that the only safe use for this type of soy was for sealers for cardboard packages.

Literally thousands of studies have linked all forms of soy to many diseases, including malnutrition. Many of these studies have also linked soy to digestive distress, immune-system breakdown, thyroid dysfunction, cognitive decline, reproductive disorders and infertility. Now studies are linking soy to even cancer and heart disease.

More than 70 years of human, animal, and laboratory studies show that soybeans put the thyroid at risk. Infants, whose main source of nutrient is soy-based formula, are at the highest risk of illness and disease because of their size and organ developmental.

In 1998, scientists attending the Working Group of biosafety of The UN-Concention on Bilogical Diversity warned the group about soy stating “. . . all governments to use whatever methods available to them to bar from their markets, on grounds of injury to public health, Monsanto’s genetically manipulated (GM) ‘Roundup-Ready” soybeans.

Make no mistake about it, the differences between organic soy and genetically modified soy are dangerous to your health. If you are pregnant or have an infant, then the dangers increases exponentially. If you are going to eat soy, eat organic soy in moderation and never above 25 grams per day. Don’t be fooled by industry claims said for the sole purpose of selling you more soy and increasing their profits.

Many Risks Related to Early Onset Scoliosis Treatments

Surgically treating early onset scoliosis with growing rods or vertical expandable prosthetic titanium rib procedures may not fully control the deformity over a patient's entire growth period, and both procedures are beset with complications, according to a literature review published in the Dec. 1 issue of Spine.


FRIDAY, Dec. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Surgically treating early onset scoliosis (EOS) with growing rods (GR) or vertical expandable prosthetic titanium rib (VEPTR) procedures may not fully control the deformity over a patient's entire growth period, and both procedures are beset with complications, according to a literature review published in the Dec. 1 issue of Spine.

Behrooz A. Akbarnia, M.D., of the University of California San Diego in La Jolla, and John B. Emans, M.D., of Harvard Medical School in Boston, reviewed studies on EOS and the indications, complications, and outcomes of GR and VEPTR.

The researchers found that risks associated with GR included spontaneous spinal fusion and rod breakage. Risks associated with VEPTR included drifting rib attachments and chest wall scars. Potential adverse outcomes associated with the treatments included failure to prevent progressive deformity or thoracic insufficiency syndrome, a spine that is too short or stiff or an unacceptably deformed thorax, increased burden of care for families, and negative psychological consequences from repeated surgery. The authors note that neither technique reliably controls deformity over the full growth period.

"Consideration of the options must include a discussion of complications as they relate to GR or VEPTR. Families need to understand that there will be unexpected events such as rod breakage or loss of anchor points or need for revision or exchange, and these complications might cause the premature cessation of treatment of EOS," the authors write.

Your Child and Self Diagnosis for Scoliosis

It is understandable that a parent may feel a little distressed if they believe that their child has scoliosis, however it is vitally important that you know the difference between a self diagnosis and that carried out by a physician. 

Scoliosis is a condition of the spine that can cause great discomfort and stress to the sufferer. The curving of the spine is something that can affect young people from a relatively early age, and cause great self conscious embarrassment and anxiety. This is the reason why so many people opt to have a screening for it as early as possible. This article looks at ways in which scoliosis is screened for, and how you can even make some attempt to carry out a self screening process, one that may even do as good a job as that which the medical professional will do. It must be stated that if you do opt for any kind of self screening process, it is important that you also gain the advice of a medical professional. This kind of advice can never be substituted for your own assessment, so it is vital that you follow up any self screening with a visit to your local physician if you are concerned about scoliosis.

Scoliosis can greatly affect the flexibility of the sufferer, and even, when cases are more severe, affect the free movement of the sufferer. This can be extremely distressing and cause all sorts of problems for the mental wellbeing of the patient. Since scoliosis is basically an abnormal curve to the back, it is relatively easy to know when it is occurring. If one looks at a person’s back from slightly above or, better still, directly above, you will be able to notice the curvature.

The first thing you should do for your child is go for a physical examination. Doctors are of course the first recommended port of call for this aspect of the treatment plan, and it is advisable that you take yourself to the physician for this initial consultation. However, once you realise that all this entails is being shirtless and bending forward prior to the medical examination, one can see how it can be done by someone at home.

Essentially, any physician is looking for any abnormal variations when it comes to the length and curvature of the spine. Children are especially open to screening, because the effect of scoliosis is pronounced in younger bodies, and this is why children are often screened in this way at school.  With the permission of the parents, the child undergoes the examination. Since discomfort and strain is often a common sign of scoliosis when a sufferer bends forward, it can be quite easy to note what is potentially a sign of the condition. Parents do obviously have to be involved and often request an examination themselves for their child. It can be a little upsetting for a child, but it is often best to check at an early age.

Once a suspected case of scoliosis has been made clear from the physician (or if you think that you have the condition), then it is important that the next stage is proceeded towards as quickly as possible, this is where the x-ray comes into play.

Having an x-ray is vital when it comes to ascertaining if there is indeed a scoliosis case to deal with. As you can understand, if such a condition is suspected, then the x-ray is there to back up the examination with the picture of the condition. This is the best way to get a clear an accurate picture of the extent of the curvature of the spine. This is something that you cannot adequately do in the home environment, so it is most definitely the next stage after the initial examination. So if you are at the stage where you have checked the spine of your child, for example, and you suspect a clear case of scoliosis, then you should now move towards the point where you use x-ray technology to gain a full and clear picture of the problem.

A full diagnosis can only really be made once the physician has carried out the physical examination, and backed this up with the x-ray pictures. Add to this the taking of a full medical history, and you have a complete diagnosis of scoliosis of the spine.

The medical history is an important part of the picture. Once the physician has this to hand and the other factors, then they can make a full diagnosis. Then treatment can proceed.

Treatment of any kind will only really be offered if the curvature of the spine is deemed to be significant. This means that it is pronounced and causing enough discomfort to the sufferer that it will debilitate them in the future f not at the pint of diagnosis. The general benchmark as regards ‘significant’ is if the curvature is 25 degrees.

So there you have it. By all means take the opportunity to diagnoses scoliosis at home. There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, many medical conditions are diagnosed or at least suspected by people before they approach medical professionals. However, as this article explains, having a full diagnosis done by physicians helps to assess the depth of the problem, and therefore the move towards treatment.

If your child is suffering from what you believe to be scoliosis, it shouldn’t be too hard to notice as you go about your caring for them. But general medical treatment, whichever country you are in, is not always guaranteed. Remember that the 25 degrees benchmark is a general one for most practitioners and healthcare providers, and if your child falls below this, other treatments may be an option.

Cinnamon’s anti-diabetes benefits get clinical trial boost

A daily dose of two grams of cinnamon for 12 weeks may improve blood pressure measures and blood sugar levels in people with type-2 diabetes, says new research from Imperial College London.

According to findings of the randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial, the spice may be considered as interesting supplement to the conventional diabetes medications.

“The two gram dose of cinnamon administered in our study was safe and well tolerated over the 12 weeks of treatment,” wrote Dr Rajadurai Akilen and his co-workers in Diabetic Medicine.

“The sustainability and durability of the effect of cinnamon has not been tested, nor has its long-term tolerability and safety, both of which will need to be determined. However, the short-term effects of the use of cinnamon for patients with Type 2 diabetes look promising.”

Exploding statistics

The study adds to a growing body of research reporting that active compounds in cinnamon may improve parameters associated with diabetes.

With the number of people are affected by diabetes in the EU 25 projected to increase to 26 million by 2030, up from about 19 million currently – or 4 per cent of the total population –approaches to reduce the risk of diabetes are becoming increasing attractive.

The statistics are even more startling in the US, where almost 24 million people live with diabetes, equal to 8 per cent of the population. The total costs are thought to be as much as $174 billion, with $116 billion being direct costs from medication, according to 2005-2007 American Diabetes Association figures.

At the end of the study the results indicated that the cinnamon supplement was associated with a mean decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure of 3.4 and 5.0 mmHg, respectively. No significant reductions were recorded in the placebo group.

In terms of blood sugar, the researchers noted a reduction in levels of glycated hemoglobin (used to measure blood sugar levels) over 12 weeks from 8.22 to 7.86 percent in the cinnamon group, compared with an increase in the placebo group from 8.55 to 8.68 percent over 12 weeks.

“This is the first clinical trial in the United Kingdom in a multiethnic population that has confirmed beneficial effects of 2 g cinnamon on [glycated hemoglobin] and blood pressure in Type-2 diabetes patients,” wrote the researchers.

Cinnamon and diabetes

Despite numerous studies championing the role of cinnamon for diabetes management, a recent meta-analysis questioned the potential benefits of cinnamon for type-2 diabetes. The analysis considered only five randomized placebo-controlled trials involving 282 subjects, and found no significant benefits of cinnamon supplement on glycated hemoglobin (A1C), fasting blood glucose (FBG), or other lipid parameters (Diabetes Care, 2008, Vol. 31, pp. 41-43).

Belly fat may weaken bones

One of the few possible advantages of carrying extra weight is being shot down

In the past, doctors had suggested that excess body fat, which is associated with heart disease, diabetes, and many other bodily harms, may protect against the bone disease osteoporosis.

But now, a study finds that even this may be misleading. In fact, deep belly fat may contribute to osteoporosis, say scientists whose research will be presented at the Radiological Society of North America.

That's because the fat cells most likely produce substances, not yet understood, that lead to bone disease in addition to heart disease and diabetes, said Dr. Miriam Bredella of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, where the study was conducted.

Bredella and colleagues looked at 50 premenopausal women and examined their fat using computerized tomography (CT), which can distinguish between compartments of fat. Bredella said the human body has two categories of fat: superficial fat, which lies under the skin, and visceral fat, which surrounds organs. The first type of fat has been shown to have benefits against diabetes and heart disease when distributed around the hips.

It's the second kind of fat, the deep belly fat, that is bad for bones, she said. The study found that this fat was associated with lower bone mineral density, a measure of bone strength.

Most other studies on fat and osteoporosis have looked at weight or body mass index (BMI), which do not reflect this distribution of fat, she said.

And there's no way to know where the fat goes when you gain weight, as it's largely determined by genetics, she said.

The researchers also used a new technique to look at bone marrow fat, or fat within bones, which also appears to make the bones weaker. Women with deep tummy fat also had more fat within their bones, Bredella said.

On the other hand, women with anorexia have also been known to be at increased risk of osteoporosis. The bottom line is that you should strive for a normal weight, because the extremes of too much or too little fat are both bad for bones, Bredella said.

The research is being presented for the first time at the conference, and has not yet appeared in a peer-reviewed journal. Further work should be done to confirm the results.

A future study will look at the relationship between deep belly fat and osteoporosis among men, Bredella said.

For Health Benefits, Try Tai Chi

The gentle, 2,000-year-old Chinese practice of tai chi is often described as "meditation in motion." But the Harvard Women's Health Watch newsletter suggests a more apt description is "medication in motion."


Tai chi, the most famous branch of Qigong, or exercises that harness the qi (life energy, pronounced "chee"), has been linked to health benefits for virtually everyone from children to seniors. Researchers aren't sure exactly how, but studies show that tai chi improves the quality of life for breast cancer patients and Parkinson's sufferers. Its combination of martial arts movements and deep breathing can be adapted even for people in wheelchairs. And it has shown promise in treating sleep problems and high blood pressure.

Flexibility and strength. Tai chi is credited with so many pluses, physiological and psychological, that Chenchen Wang, an associate professor of medicine at Tufts University, set out earlier this year to analyze 40 studies on it in English and Chinese journals. Wang found that tai chi did indeed promote balance, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness, and strength. In a study comparing it with brisk walking and resistance training, a tai chi group improved more than 30 percent in lower-body strength and 25 percent in arm strength, nearly as much as a weight-training group and more than the walkers.

[For Better Balance, Pilates and Tai Chi Beat Yoga]

"Benefit was also found for pain, stress, and anxiety in healthy subjects," adds Wang, who was influenced by her mother, a Chinese doctor, to study an integration of complementary and alternative medicine with Western medicine.

In a 2008 analysis, Harvard Medical School's Gloria Yeh, an internist and assistant professor, reviewed 26 studies in English and Chinese and reported that in 85 percent of trials, tai chi lowered blood pressure. Other studies have shown it to reduce blood levels of B-type natriuretic peptide, a precursor of heart failure, and to maintain bone density in postmenopausal women. The nonprofit Arthritis Foundation offers its own 12-movement tai chi sequence.

Wang says more study is needed. Still, says New York Times personal health writer Jane Brody: "After reviewing existing scientific evidence for its potential health benefits, I've concluded that the proper question to ask yourself may not be why you should practice tai chi, but why not."

Lesson One: Find a teacher. "Learning from a book or video just does not work," says Greg Woodson, vice president of the international T'ai Chi Foundation and a teacher for 35 years. Students need real feedback from a teacher who can make sure exercises are done correctly "so the practice does not cause the type of injury it's designed to alleviate," he says. One example: Weight-bearing feet need to be flat on the floor to avoid knee stress, "an extremely subtle point that an experienced teacher will see." Woodson suggests that if a teacher has less than 10 years of experience, you should make sure he or she has the backing of a school or a more experienced teacher.

[Tai Chi May Help Ward Off Knee Pain in Seniors]

How much tai chi is enough? "Data suggest the minimum amount for effective results" is once- or twice-weekly sessions for eight to 12 weeks, says Wang. No pain, big gains.

Today, the Food and Nutrition Board has Failed Millions

After 13 years of silence, the quasi governmental agency, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Food and Nutrition Board (FNB), yesterday recommended that a three - pound premature infant can take virtually the same amount of vitamin D as a 300 pound pregnant woman. While that 400 IU/day dose is close to adequate for infants, 600 IU/day in pregnant women will do nothing to help the three childhood epidemics most closely associated with gestational and early childhood vitamin D deficiencies: asthma, auto-immune disorders, and, as recently reported in the largest pediatric journal in the world, autism (1). Professor Bruce Hollis of the Medical University of South Carolina has shown pregnant and lactating women need at least 5,000 IU/day, not 600.
The FNB also reported that vitamin D toxicity might occur at an intake of 10,000 IU/day (250 micrograms), although they could produce no reproducible evidence that 10,000 IU/day has ever caused toxicity in humans and only one poorly conducted study indicating 20,000 IU/day may cause mild elevations in serum calcium but not clinical toxicity.
Viewed with different measure, this FNB report recommends that an infant should take 10 micrograms/day (400 IU) and the pregnant women 15 micrograms/day (600 IU). As a single 30 minutes dose of summer sunshine gives adults more than 10,000 IU (250 micrograms), the FNB is apparently also warning that natural vitamin D input – as occurred from the sun before the widespread use of sunscreen – is dangerous. That is, the FNB is implying that God does not know what she is doing.

Disturbingly, this FNB committee focused on bone health, just like they did 14 years ago. They ignored the thousands of studies from the last ten years that showed higher doses of vitamin D helps: heart health, brain health, breast health, prostate health, pancreatic health, muscle health, nerve health, eye health, immune health, colon health, liver health, mood health, skin health, and especially fetal health. Tens of millions of pregnant women and their breast-feeding infants are severely vitamin D deficient, resulting in a great increase in the medieval disease, rickets. The FNB report seems to reason that if so many pregnant women have low vitamin D blood levels then it must be OK because such low levels are so common. However, such circular logic simply represents the cave man existence of most modern day pregnant women.
Hence, if you want to optimize your vitamin D levels – not just optimize the bone effect – supplementing is crucial. But it is almost impossible to significantly raise your vitamin D levels when supplementing at only 600 IU/day (15 micrograms). Pregnant women taking 400 IU/day have the same blood levels as pregnant women not taking vitamin D; that is, 400 IU is a meaninglessly small dose for pregnant women. Even taking 2,000 IU/day of vitamin D will only increase the vitamin D levels of most pregnant women by about 10 points, depending mainly on their weight. Professor Bruce Hollis has shown that 2,000 IU/day does not raise vitamin D to healthy or natural levels in either pregnant or lactating women. Therefore supplementing with higher amounts -- like 5000 IU/day -- is crucial for those women who want their fetus to enjoy optimal vitamin D levels, and the future health benefits that go along with it.
For example, taking only two of the hundreds of recently published studies, Professor Urashima and colleagues in Japan gave 1,200 IU/day of vitamin D3 for six months to Japanese 10 year-olds in a randomized controlled trial. They found vitamin D dramatically reduced the incidence of influenza A as well as the episodes of asthma attacks in the treated kids while the placebo group was not so fortunate. If Dr. Urashima had followed the newest FNB recommendations, it is unlikely that 400 IU/day treatment arm would have done much of anything and some of the treated young teenagers may have come to serious harm without the vitamin D. Likewise, a randomized controlled prevention trial of adults by Professor Joan Lappe and colleagues at Creighton University, which showed dramatic improvements in the health of internal organs, used more than twice the FNB's new adult recommendations.
Finally, the FNB committee consulted with 14 vitamin D experts and – after reading these 14 different reports – the FNB decided to suppress their reports. Many of these 14 consultants are either famous vitamin D researchers, like Professor Robert Heaney at Creighton, or in the case of Professor Walter Willett at Harvard, the single best-known nutritionist in the world. So, the FNB will not tell us what Professors Heaney and Willett thought of their new report? Why not? Yesterday, the Vitamin D Council directed our attorney to file a federal Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the IOM's FNB for the release of these 14 reports.
I, my family, most of my friends, hundreds of patients, and thousands of readers of the Vitamin D Council newsletter, have been taking 5,000 IU/day for up to eight years. Not only have they reported no significant side-effects, indeed, they have reported greatly improved health in multiple organ systems. My advice: especially for pregnant women, continue taking 5,000 IU/day until your (OH)D] is between 50 ng/ml and 80 ng/ml (the vitamin D blood levels obtained by humans who live and work in the sun and the mid-point of the current reference ranges at all American laboratories). Gestational vitamin D deficiency is not only associated with rickets, but a significantly increased risk of neonatal pneumonia (2), a doubled risk for preeclampsia (3), a tripled risk for gestational diabetes (4), and a quadrupled risk for primary cesarean section (5).
Yesterday, the FNB failed millions of pregnant women whose as yet unborn babies will pay the price. Let us hope the FNB will comply with the spirit of "transparency" by quickly responding to our freedom of Information requests.

Garlic 'remedy for hypertension'

Garlic may be useful in addition to medication to treat high blood pressure, a study suggests.

Australian doctors enrolled 50 patients in a trial to see if garlic supplements could help those whose blood pressure was high, despite medication.

Those given four capsules of garlic extract a day had lower blood pressure than those on placebo, they report in scientific journal Maturitas.

The British Heart Foundation said more research was needed.

Garlic has long been though to be good for the heart.

Garlic supplements have previously been shown to lower cholesterol and reduce high blood pressure in those with untreated hypertension.

In the latest study, researchers from the University of Adelaide, Australia, looked at the effects of four capsules a day of a supplement known as aged garlic for 12 weeks.

They found systolic blood pressure was around 10mmHg lower in the group given garlic compared with those given a placebo.

Researcher Karin Ried said: "Garlic supplements have been associated with a blood pressure lowering effect of clinical significance in patients with untreated hypertension.

"Our trial, however, is the first to assess the effect, tolerability and acceptability of aged garlic extract as an additional treatment to existing antihypertensive medication in patients with treated, but uncontrolled, hypertension."

Experts say garlic supplements should only be used after seeking medical advice, as garlic can thin the blood or interact with some medicines.

Ellen Mason, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said using garlic for medicinal purposes dates back thousands of years, but it is essential that scientific research proves that garlic can help conditions such as raised blood pressure.

She said: "This study demonstrated a slight blood pressure reduction after using aged garlic supplements but it's not significant enough or in a large enough group of people to currently recommend it instead of medication.

"It's a concern that so many people in the UK have poorly controlled blood pressure, with an increased risk of stroke and heart disease as a consequence. So enjoy garlic as part of your diet but don't stop taking your blood pressure medication."

Iron in Coronary Artery Plaque Is a Marker of Heart Attack Rick

Newswise — Plaque in a heart artery looks threatening, but cardiologists know that many of these buildups will not erupt, dislodge and block a vessel, causing a heart attack that can be fatal. Some will, however, and the challenge is to figure out atherosclerotic plaque that is dangerous and treat or remove it.

Now, researchers at Mayo Clinic have shown that iron, derived from blood, is much more prevalent in the kind of plaque that is unstable and is thus more likely to promote a myocardial infarction (MI) - heart attack - and possibly sudden death.

The team of researchers has demonstrated through a variety of experiments that iron buildup may be suitable as a marker of risk for a future MI, they reported today at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2010 in Chicago.

For example, they have found that Dual Energy Computed Tomography (DECT) and three-dimensional computerized tomography (CT) micro scans can detect excess iron in plaque, thus holding promise that in the future a scanning device might be able to noninvasively detect dangerous plaque formations in patients.

“We know that 70 percent of heart attacks are caused by unstable plaque, so what we really need for our patients is a way to identify the plaque that turns evil and puts them at jeopardy,” says cardiologist Birgit Kantor, M.D., the study’s lead researcher. “The scans we use now just show narrowing of heart arteries from plaque buildup but that doesn’t tell us if the plaque inside those vessels walls is imminently dangerous.”

“We think it is possible, based on these findings, to use iron as a natural marker for risk,” she says. Dr. Kantor predicts that probably 5-10 years will pass before novel diagnostic scanners to identify these plaques become available in cardiology clinics.

Testing iron as a marker in human arteries

Excess iron in atherosclerotic plaque was noticed decades ago, but little research followed up on that observation, Dr. Kantor says. “The hypothesis then was that iron was the poison that created the plaque, but that was never proven and is in fact unlikely.”

Cardiologists now know that plaque can be classified as stable or unstable. Mayo Clinic researchers believe that the amount of iron in the plaque can be seen as a “readout” of prior hemorrhagic, or bleeding, events that put a person at risk for plaque eruption.

In normal heart arteries, small blood vessels known as vasa vasorum bring nutrients to the vessel wall, and when plaque starts to build up inside the artery wall, some of these tiny vessels grow as well to feed them. These vessels can rupture, depositing iron, a component of blood, into the growing plaque. This unstable plaque, which has a large core of dead cells covered by a thin fibrous cap, can eventually rupture, forming a big blood clot that can shut down a heart artery.

“This kind of plaque can bleed and heal, bleed and heal, depositing iron into the buildup,” Dr. Kantor says. “This plaque is at risk of breaking up and causing a heart attack.”

To conduct this study, the researchers used samples from a unique Mayo Clinic biobank of heart arteries collected over time from autopsies of 400 patients who died from a suspected heart attack. Small sections (1–1.5 inches) from the three main coronary arteries of each patient have been preserved.

In this study, pathologists examined 97 artery samples and separated them into stable and unstable groups based on their appearance under a microscope (dead zones and fiber cap). They classified 31 plaques as stable, 24 as “vulnerable,” and 22 as normal and then linked them to patient clinical records to see which patients died from a heart attack.

Then Yu Liu, M.D., Ph.D., the study’s first author, applied a stain to the samples to detect iron content. She found iron content in the unstable plaque group was significantly higher than in the other groups. Iron was absent in normal arteries.

In a third step, the researchers scanned a subset of the artery segments using a benchtop micro-CT scanner, and created 3-D images to look for iron deposits in plaque. The CT could identify iron in plaque without the need for staining. “There was a high correlation between the vulnerability of the plaque and the quantity of iron in it,” says Dr. Kantor.

Still, non-invasive imaging for plaque does not yet have the necessary resolution to differentiate high risk from low risk plaque in patients, she says, and so the research team is testing other imaging modalities such as photon counting that can overcome these barriers.