In Kentucky's first appellate-court ruling on the issue, the state Court of Appeals today upheld the Bullitt County Board of Health's smoking ban, which is virtually the same as others enacted by several other county health boards. However, the panel's 2-1 vote and the strength of the dissent suggests that the ruling will be appealed to the state Supreme Court.
UPDATE, Dec. 19: The county Fiscal Court voted Dec. 18 to appeal, Tom O'Neill of The Courier-Journalreports.
Health boards in Clark, Hopkins, Madison and Woodford counties have enacted smoking bans. The Hopkins County ban was upheld by the local circuit judge, whose ruling was not appealed. (Courier-Journal video story on smoking in Bullitt County bars)
In Bullitt County, the fiscal court and eight towns sued to stop the ban four days before it was to take effect last year. Bullitt Circuit Judge Rodney Burress ruled that the board lacked authority to ban smoking in public places, but the appeals court said the General Assembly had clearly given county health boards the power to impose regulations protecting public health, that secondhand smoke is a public-health issue, and that the board's regulation is reasonable, because it is virtually the same as an ordinance upheld in Lexington.
The majority cited regulations that the Jefferson County Board of Health had enacted in the 1970s to prevent lead poisoning, and cited other court decisions saying that courts should construe public-health laws liberally. The local governments argued that the Bullitt health board has usurped legislative power held only by them, but the 2-1 majority said the state legislature had granted the board that authority in public-health matters.
Judge Jeff Taylor of Owensboro dissented, writing that the law cited by the majority and the board was passed 58 years ago. "I harbor grave doubt that the General Assembly intended to empower health departments at that time with the authority to regulate smoking as a threat to public health," he wrote. "In 1954, second-hand smoke was not a known public health issue." He said the legislature had specifically authorized the Jefferson County lead program, and the Lexington ban was passed by the local council, not the Fayette County Board of Health.
Taylor noted that the Bullitt board had relied on "national and international studies on the effects of secondhand smoke," with no local studies showing "smoking presents a threat to the health of the citizens of Bullitt County." And even if the board had such studies, he wrote, other state laws "reserve to cities and counties the authority to regulate smoking and secondhand smoke in their respective jurisdictions." The laws he cited do not appear to do that, but he argued that allowing health boards to enact smoking bans, he said, would give them "limitless" power to regulate guns, alcohol, sales of large-size soft drinks or "the number of cheeseburgers sold by fast-food restaurants."
Taylor wrote, "To the extent the cities and county, and their elected officials have failed to address a perceived serious public health issue, the citizens of Bullitt County have an easy method to remedy the problem – the ballot box," Taylor wrote. "Or, in the alternative, the Kentucky General Assembly can expressly authorize health boards to regulate smoking in each county." To read the seven-page majority opinion and the eight-page dissent, click here.
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News
In Kentucky's first appellate-court ruling on the issue, the state Court of Appeals today upheld the Bullitt County Board of Health's smoking ban, which is virtually the same as others enacted by several other county health boards. However, the panel's 2-1 vote and the strength of the dissent suggests that the ruling will be appealed to the state Supreme Court.
UPDATE, Dec. 19: The county Fiscal Court voted Dec. 18 to appeal, Tom O'Neill of The Courier-Journalreports.
Health boards in Clark, Hopkins, Madison and Woodford counties have enacted smoking bans. The Hopkins County ban was upheld by the local circuit judge, whose ruling was not appealed. (Courier-Journal video story on smoking in Bullitt County bars)
In Bullitt County, the fiscal court and eight towns sued to stop the ban four days before it was to take effect last year. Bullitt Circuit Judge Rodney Burress ruled that the board lacked authority to ban smoking in public places, but the appeals court said the General Assembly had clearly given county health boards the power to impose regulations protecting public health, that secondhand smoke is a public-health issue, and that the board's regulation is reasonable, because it is virtually the same as an ordinance upheld in Lexington.
The majority cited regulations that the Jefferson County Board of Health had enacted in the 1970s to prevent lead poisoning, and cited other court decisions saying that courts should construe public-health laws liberally. The local governments argued that the Bullitt health board has usurped legislative power held only by them, but the 2-1 majority said the state legislature had granted the board that authority in public-health matters.
Judge Jeff Taylor of Owensboro dissented, writing that the law cited by the majority and the board was passed 58 years ago. "I harbor grave doubt that the General Assembly intended to empower health departments at that time with the authority to regulate smoking as a threat to public health," he wrote. "In 1954, second-hand smoke was not a known public health issue." He said the legislature had specifically authorized the Jefferson County lead program, and the Lexington ban was passed by the local council, not the Fayette County Board of Health.
Taylor noted that the Bullitt board had relied on "national and international studies on the effects of secondhand smoke," with no local studies showing "smoking presents a threat to the health of the citizens of Bullitt County." And even if the board had such studies, he wrote, other state laws "reserve to cities and counties the authority to regulate smoking and secondhand smoke in their respective jurisdictions." The laws he cited do not appear to do that, but he argued that allowing health boards to enact smoking bans, he said, would give them "limitless" power to regulate guns, alcohol, sales of large-size soft drinks or "the number of cheeseburgers sold by fast-food restaurants."
Taylor wrote, "To the extent the cities and county, and their elected officials have failed to address a perceived serious public health issue, the citizens of Bullitt County have an easy method to remedy the problem – the ballot box," Taylor wrote. "Or, in the alternative, the Kentucky General Assembly can expressly authorize health boards to regulate smoking in each county." To read the seven-page majority opinion and the eight-page dissent, click here.
Kentucky's "pill problem" went more public Thursday when David Hopkins, head of the state's prescription drug monitoring program, told the National Conference of State Legislatures the true extent of our prescription pain pill addiction. Maggie Clark of Stateline reports that lawmakers "shook their heads in disbelief" when Hopkins said the state's doctors issued 60 million prescriptions for the 4.4 million Kentuckians in August of this year alone. The stark admission was a way to start talking about where patient privacy ends and public health concerns begin, Clark writes.
Kentucky is among 42 states with operational prescription-monitoring laws but few others require physicians to use the database to chronicle each patient and their drug use before prescribing as Kentucky does. And while the commonwealth allows its law-enforcement officers access to the database, the database is not controlled by the attorney general's office but, as a nod to patient privacy, by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. In Vermont, legislators fought that battle earlier this year, with police there needing a warrant to access it. When Kentucky's law enforcement officers were surveyed about the law in 2010, 73 percent said they found the tool "excellent" for obtaining evidence.
At the conference, a report citing a Centers for Disease Control review explained that data collected through 2005 in a limited number of studies shows that having a prescription drug monitoring program in place hadno clear impact on overdose mortality, Clark reports.
Kentucky's "pill problem" went more public Thursday when David Hopkins, head of the state's prescription drug monitoring program, told the National Conference of State Legislatures the true extent of our prescription pain pill addiction. Maggie Clark of Stateline reports that lawmakers "shook their heads in disbelief" when Hopkins said the state's doctors issued 60 million prescriptions for the 4.4 million Kentuckians in August of this year alone. The stark admission was a way to start talking about where patient privacy ends and public health concerns begin, Clark writes.
Kentucky is among 42 states with operational prescription-monitoring laws but few others require physicians to use the database to chronicle each patient and their drug use before prescribing as Kentucky does. And while the commonwealth allows its law-enforcement officers access to the database, the database is not controlled by the attorney general's office but, as a nod to patient privacy, by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. In Vermont, legislators fought that battle earlier this year, with police there needing a warrant to access it. When Kentucky's law enforcement officers were surveyed about the law in 2010, 73 percent said they found the tool "excellent" for obtaining evidence.
At the conference, a report citing a Centers for Disease Control review explained that data collected through 2005 in a limited number of studies shows that having a prescription drug monitoring program in place hadno clear impact on overdose mortality, Clark reports.
Kentucky is not even remotely up to snuff on state tobacco-prevention programming. According to a new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control, the state spends only $2.2 million on such programs. That amount is only 4.5 percent of what the CDC recommends that state, which has the highest incidence of tobacco use in the nation, spend. If the state spent what the nation's most prestigious health institution recommended, state spending to improve Kentucky's collective lungs should be in the $57 million range.
Kentucky ranks 36th in state tobacco control spending nationwide. According to the RWJ Foundation report, states will collect a record $25.7 billion in revenue from the tobacco settlement and from tobacco taxes this year, but will spend just 1.8 percent of that money on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. That's less than two cents of every tobacco dollar sent back to the states. Only Alaska and North Dakota are funding the levels that the CDC has recommended.
Read the report here. To view an interactive national map, with each state's spending outlined at here.
Kentucky is not even remotely up to snuff on state tobacco-prevention programming. According to a new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control, the state spends only $2.2 million on such programs. That amount is only 4.5 percent of what the CDC recommends that state, which has the highest incidence of tobacco use in the nation, spend. If the state spent what the nation's most prestigious health institution recommended, state spending to improve Kentucky's collective lungs should be in the $57 million range.
Kentucky ranks 36th in state tobacco control spending nationwide. According to the RWJ Foundation report, states will collect a record $25.7 billion in revenue from the tobacco settlement and from tobacco taxes this year, but will spend just 1.8 percent of that money on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. That's less than two cents of every tobacco dollar sent back to the states. Only Alaska and North Dakota are funding the levels that the CDC has recommended.
Read the report here. To view an interactive national map, with each state's spending outlined at here.
Prepare for a bad flu season. According to the Centers for Disease Control, this flu season seems to be ahead of schedule if you use the last decade as any judge of when the season should begin, which is usually around Christmas. Suspected cases have already showed up in Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, with two infant deaths already having been reported. (Getty Images)
Dr. Thomas Frieden, CDC director, sees good news in that fact that the nation seems well prepared this year. He told the Associated Press that more than a third of Americans have been vaccinated and that the vaccine is well matched to the strains of flu seen so far. (Read more)
Prepare for a bad flu season. According to the Centers for Disease Control, this flu season seems to be ahead of schedule if you use the last decade as any judge of when the season should begin, which is usually around Christmas. Suspected cases have already showed up in Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, with two infant deaths already having been reported. (Getty Images)
Dr. Thomas Frieden, CDC director, sees good news in that fact that the nation seems well prepared this year. He told the Associated Press that more than a third of Americans have been vaccinated and that the vaccine is well matched to the strains of flu seen so far. (Read more)
For Kentucky which has the dubious distinction of having the nation's highest rate of teen smokers, an study published this week in Pediatrics reports that teenagers may be less likely to buy cigarettes at convenience stores if they aren't sold in plain sight. Genevra Pittman of Reuters Health explains that requiring stores to hide tobacco product displays is one option some states are considering to curb teen smoking after the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 was passed, according to Annice Kim, the study's lead author. No state has yet banned the displays. (Associated Press photo)
The study was conducted using a virtual reality game where teens, ages 13 to 17, "visited" simulated stores to purchase items. In some cases, the cigarettes were displayed behind the counter; in others, they were covered up. The researchers from RTI International found that 16 to 24 percent of teens tried to buy tobacco when the display was open, compared to 9 to 11 percent when it was closed. Thirty-two percent said they were aware cigarettes were available when the display case was closed , compared to 85 percent of those who had the open version.
Dr. Michael Siegel, of the Boston University School of Public Health, told Pittman that the study was interesting but he was skeptical of extrapolating it into real life. Real life kids, he said, will go to a store when they want to buy cigarettes. "I don't know how many situations there are when a kid is hanging out in a convenience store with nothing to do and says, 'Oh, I'll just try a cigarette as long as they're here.' "(Read more)
For Kentucky which has the dubious distinction of having the nation's highest rate of teen smokers, an study published this week in Pediatrics reports that teenagers may be less likely to buy cigarettes at convenience stores if they aren't sold in plain sight. Genevra Pittman of Reuters Health explains that requiring stores to hide tobacco product displays is one option some states are considering to curb teen smoking after the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 was passed, according to Annice Kim, the study's lead author. No state has yet banned the displays. (Associated Press photo)
The study was conducted using a virtual reality game where teens, ages 13 to 17, "visited" simulated stores to purchase items. In some cases, the cigarettes were displayed behind the counter; in others, they were covered up. The researchers from RTI International found that 16 to 24 percent of teens tried to buy tobacco when the display was open, compared to 9 to 11 percent when it was closed. Thirty-two percent said they were aware cigarettes were available when the display case was closed , compared to 85 percent of those who had the open version.
Dr. Michael Siegel, of the Boston University School of Public Health, told Pittman that the study was interesting but he was skeptical of extrapolating it into real life. Real life kids, he said, will go to a store when they want to buy cigarettes. "I don't know how many situations there are when a kid is hanging out in a convenience store with nothing to do and says, 'Oh, I'll just try a cigarette as long as they're here.' "(Read more)
If only we knew from the start which babies were predisposed to becoming diabetic and hypertensive and overweight . . . News out this week suggests we can. NBC News reports that British researchers have published findings in the journal PLOS ONE saying that a simple assessment can predict at birth a baby's likelihood of becoming obese during childhood. The formula, available as an online calculator here, estimates the child's obesity risk based on its birth weight, the body mass index of the parents, the number of people in the household, the mother's professional status and whether she smoked during pregnancy.
The hope is to help families will take steps to control the weight of babies and small children before medical problems arise. Philippe Froguel of Imperial College London, who led the study, explained that teaching parents about the dangers of over-feeding and bad nutritional habits at a young age is much more effective than having to teach children how to lose weight. Froguel's team developed their formula following 4,000 Finnish children since 1986. Childhood obesity is a leading cause of early type 2 diabetes, as well as various types of cardiovascular disease. (Read more)
If only we knew from the start which babies were predisposed to becoming diabetic and hypertensive and overweight . . . News out this week suggests we can. NBC News reports that British researchers have published findings in the journal PLOS ONE saying that a simple assessment can predict at birth a baby's likelihood of becoming obese during childhood. The formula, available as an online calculator here, estimates the child's obesity risk based on its birth weight, the body mass index of the parents, the number of people in the household, the mother's professional status and whether she smoked during pregnancy.
The hope is to help families will take steps to control the weight of babies and small children before medical problems arise. Philippe Froguel of Imperial College London, who led the study, explained that teaching parents about the dangers of over-feeding and bad nutritional habits at a young age is much more effective than having to teach children how to lose weight. Froguel's team developed their formula following 4,000 Finnish children since 1986. Childhood obesity is a leading cause of early type 2 diabetes, as well as various types of cardiovascular disease. (Read more)
PE teacher Sharon Williams, right, leads morning exercises before classes start at Bells Elementary. (The State photo by Tim Dominick)
With nearly two-thirds of South Carolina deemed overweight or worse, lucky Colleton County got picked to be a test case for doing better. That is, for improving its chances to beat the state's already overwhelming rates of diabetes, heart disease and stroke and for helping to lower the state's $1.2 billion dollar medical bill. Lucky, because in 2010, the county was awarded almost a half million Eat Smart Move More grant by the BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation to see if it could promote health eating and more physical exercise countywide. Joey Hollerman of The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., reports that "the results have been striking," though he notes that changing obesity numbers is "like turning an aircraft carrier, it's a slow process." Mostly, he's talking about attitude and perseverance.
How does the county-wide program work on a daily basis? First, of course, you have to have buy-in, which this county did. Hollerman explains that now when children arrive at Bells Elementary School in the county seat of Walterboro, "they go straight to the gym and walk laps before heading to classrooms. Worshipers at Power of Faith Delivery Ministry harvest collards as well as souls, and fried chicken is discouraged at church dinners. The local farmers market has a sparkling new home and a system set up to accept cards from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program." The Let’s Go, Eat Smart program and exercise programs are posted in schools, workplaces, grocery stores and churches.
So how, if the numbers aren't clear yet, how to measure if it's working? Well, only one fried chicken basket showed up at a recent church supper and the member who brought it ended up apologizing for her breach. On the day the reporter visited only the elementary school only one child in the entire first grade tried to slip through without selecting a fruit or vegetable. He was sent back and grabbed a plastic container of grapes from the Go (instead of the Slow or Whoa) food options, Hollerman reports. There are also anecdotes galore, including those of children, once on insulin, who are now fine without it.
South Carolin's BlueCross BlueShield recently awarded another grant to Eat Smart Move More, in part to continue the work in Colleton County but also to for expand it to other communities. (Read more)
PE teacher Sharon Williams, right, leads morning exercises before classes start at Bells Elementary. (The State photo by Tim Dominick)
With nearly two-thirds of South Carolina deemed overweight or worse, lucky Colleton County got picked to be a test case for doing better. That is, for improving its chances to beat the state's already overwhelming rates of diabetes, heart disease and stroke and for helping to lower the state's $1.2 billion dollar medical bill. Lucky, because in 2010, the county was awarded almost a half million Eat Smart Move More grant by the BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation to see if it could promote health eating and more physical exercise countywide. Joey Hollerman of The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., reports that "the results have been striking," though he notes that changing obesity numbers is "like turning an aircraft carrier, it's a slow process." Mostly, he's talking about attitude and perseverance.
How does the county-wide program work on a daily basis? First, of course, you have to have buy-in, which this county did. Hollerman explains that now when children arrive at Bells Elementary School in the county seat of Walterboro, "they go straight to the gym and walk laps before heading to classrooms. Worshipers at Power of Faith Delivery Ministry harvest collards as well as souls, and fried chicken is discouraged at church dinners. The local farmers market has a sparkling new home and a system set up to accept cards from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program." The Let’s Go, Eat Smart program and exercise programs are posted in schools, workplaces, grocery stores and churches.
So how, if the numbers aren't clear yet, how to measure if it's working? Well, only one fried chicken basket showed up at a recent church supper and the member who brought it ended up apologizing for her breach. On the day the reporter visited only the elementary school only one child in the entire first grade tried to slip through without selecting a fruit or vegetable. He was sent back and grabbed a plastic container of grapes from the Go (instead of the Slow or Whoa) food options, Hollerman reports. There are also anecdotes galore, including those of children, once on insulin, who are now fine without it.
South Carolin's BlueCross BlueShield recently awarded another grant to Eat Smart Move More, in part to continue the work in Colleton County but also to for expand it to other communities. (Read more)
About 60 grams of heroin, worth about $8,000. (AP photo)
It was only few months ago that Northern Kentucky law enforcement officers and substance abuse clinics began expressing grave concern that heroin was fast becoming the go-to drug in their region. Today, there are signs that the drug is already moving swiftly east, into the already drug-ravaged mountains of Eastern Kentucky. The reason for the uptick in heroin use? Because pain pills aren't as available anymore.
Federal and state law enforcement have been cracking down on the prescription pain-pill drug trade for years in these parts. They've created electronic prescription-tracking systems, staked out pain management clinics and shut down a drug pipeline that starts in Florida. Some argue that last year's passage of House Bill 1 has discouraged even legitimate doctors from prescribing pain drugs. All these things make heroin usage an unintended consequence of their success, officials fear.
"There's always some type of drug to step up when another gets taken out," Dan Smoot, law enforcement director of Operation UNITE, which handles drug investigations in 29 Eastern Kentucky counties, told Brett Barrouquere of The Associated Press. "We didn't know it was going to be heroin. We knew something was going to replace pills."
Officials say the heroin is trafficked from Mexico into the U.S., where it first goes to Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. Northern Kentucky counties have been the epicenter of heroin abuse in the state, but law enforcement officials in Louisville, Lexington and Appalachian counties are reporting "a dramatic rise in the number of arrests and seizures related" to heroin. Kentucky State Police seized 11 doses of heroin and other opiates in 2008 in the eastern half of the state; they have seized 395 doses there so far this year.
Users are attracted to heroin's low cost compared to pain pills, Barrouquere reports. A single oxycodone pill can cost from $80 to $100, but heroin can cost as little as $15 to $20 for an amount that will produce the same level of intoxication as one pain pill for 24 hours, Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy Director Van Ingram said. (Read more)
About 60 grams of heroin, worth about $8,000. (AP photo)
It was only few months ago that Northern Kentucky law enforcement officers and substance abuse clinics began expressing grave concern that heroin was fast becoming the go-to drug in their region. Today, there are signs that the drug is already moving swiftly east, into the already drug-ravaged mountains of Eastern Kentucky. The reason for the uptick in heroin use? Because pain pills aren't as available anymore.
Federal and state law enforcement have been cracking down on the prescription pain-pill drug trade for years in these parts. They've created electronic prescription-tracking systems, staked out pain management clinics and shut down a drug pipeline that starts in Florida. Some argue that last year's passage of House Bill 1 has discouraged even legitimate doctors from prescribing pain drugs. All these things make heroin usage an unintended consequence of their success, officials fear.
"There's always some type of drug to step up when another gets taken out," Dan Smoot, law enforcement director of Operation UNITE, which handles drug investigations in 29 Eastern Kentucky counties, told Brett Barrouquere of The Associated Press. "We didn't know it was going to be heroin. We knew something was going to replace pills."
Officials say the heroin is trafficked from Mexico into the U.S., where it first goes to Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. Northern Kentucky counties have been the epicenter of heroin abuse in the state, but law enforcement officials in Louisville, Lexington and Appalachian counties are reporting "a dramatic rise in the number of arrests and seizures related" to heroin. Kentucky State Police seized 11 doses of heroin and other opiates in 2008 in the eastern half of the state; they have seized 395 doses there so far this year.
Users are attracted to heroin's low cost compared to pain pills, Barrouquere reports. A single oxycodone pill can cost from $80 to $100, but heroin can cost as little as $15 to $20 for an amount that will produce the same level of intoxication as one pain pill for 24 hours, Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy Director Van Ingram said. (Read more)
Poli A, Tozon N, Guidi G and Pistello M. Renal alterations in feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)-infected cats: a natural model of lentivirus-induced renal disease changes. Viruses. 2012; 4: 1372-89. [Free, full text article] Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is associated with severe kidney disease including acute and chronic renal failure, but the underlying pathogenic mechanisms are unclear. HIV and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) are closely related viruses so that disease in cats may be a model for disease in humans. Both human and feline patients may live for many years after infection and suffer from chronic diseases. While kidney disease has been documented in cats with FIV, no detailed description of the kidney lesions has been published.
The investigators, working at the University of Pisa in Italy, examined kidneys from 72 cats infected with FIV. They found and described pathologic changes in the kidneys of cats with FIV that are similar to those in humans with HIV. A high proportion of the cats were affected. Thus they conclude that FIV may cause kidney changes, perhaps leading to kidney disease in infected cats. [MK]
Poli A, Tozon N, Guidi G and Pistello M. Renal alterations in feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)-infected cats: a natural model of lentivirus-induced renal disease changes. Viruses. 2012; 4: 1372-89. [Free, full text article] Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is associated with severe kidney disease including acute and chronic renal failure, but the underlying pathogenic mechanisms are unclear. HIV and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) are closely related viruses so that disease in cats may be a model for disease in humans. Both human and feline patients may live for many years after infection and suffer from chronic diseases. While kidney disease has been documented in cats with FIV, no detailed description of the kidney lesions has been published.
The investigators, working at the University of Pisa in Italy, examined kidneys from 72 cats infected with FIV. They found and described pathologic changes in the kidneys of cats with FIV that are similar to those in humans with HIV. A high proportion of the cats were affected. Thus they conclude that FIV may cause kidney changes, perhaps leading to kidney disease in infected cats. [MK]
Anarchy in the U.K.? Nope. Anarchy in the USA after Sandy!
Forget about the “fiscal cliff,” people are suffering in NY and New Jersey. Why does the U.S. Government wait until after predictable disasters occur to begin the process of protecting people from death and disease? Although Hurricane Sandy was not preventable, much of the suffering could have been quelled and ended in a responsible manner, instead the water supply is polluted, more than it used to be, homeowners are homeless, and worst of all, the power companies are charging everyone for a month of power they never provided, then saying they’ll compensate a little bit each month from now on to ease up on people’s pockets! What??? So kick them while they’re down and give them a box of band-aids later? This is insanity!
Hurricane Sandy may have already passed through New York and New Jersey, but its aftermath is still a very present reality in New York Harbor, where an unimpeded flow of human waste continues to flood this busy, urban waterway. Recent reports indicate that the nation's fifth largest water treatment plant in Newark is still dumping some 240 million gallons of partially treated wastewater into the harbor every single day, which continues to create a very serious health hazard throughout the region.
The super storm Sandy may have passed and faded long ago but the lives of U.S.citizens in the hardest hit areas are far from being normal. Natural News reports that the mayhem that Sandy left behind has not yet been aptly dealt with. The authorities are showing no signs of rapid work to make the life of people normal as before. Human wastes continue to flood in New York’s water supply system and, most ironically, residents may have to pay bills for the power they have used during the days of power cuts. Does this refer to a situation of anarchy that has blanketed the country?
According to Natural News, the fifth largest water treatment plant in Newark is still out of order and is vehemently pumping 240 million gallons of untreated or partially treated water from the sewerage into the harbor. Though Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, or PVSC,maintains the water treatment plantis trying hard to restoreits previous capacity, until the day it succeeds, the harbor is going to be flooded with human waste, giving rise to diseases and may be epidemic.
The most ironic yet alarming affair is that authorities are asking people to pay for the power that they have used during power cuts. It may sound ridiculous but it is a fact. Due to such baseless precepts, discontent among people is growing more and more and it is making the already bad situation even worse. The Long Island Power Authority has been subjected to widespread customer outrage after the organization charged their customers for the power that they have never supplied. With all these things in mind, it seems that the U.S. has turned into anarchy from a highly revered community after the ravages of Sandy.
Anarchy in the U.K.? Nope. Anarchy in the USA after Sandy!
Forget about the “fiscal cliff,” people are suffering in NY and New Jersey. Why does the U.S. Government wait until after predictable disasters occur to begin the process of protecting people from death and disease? Although Hurricane Sandy was not preventable, much of the suffering could have been quelled and ended in a responsible manner, instead the water supply is polluted, more than it used to be, homeowners are homeless, and worst of all, the power companies are charging everyone for a month of power they never provided, then saying they’ll compensate a little bit each month from now on to ease up on people’s pockets! What??? So kick them while they’re down and give them a box of band-aids later? This is insanity!
Hurricane Sandy may have already passed through New York and New Jersey, but its aftermath is still a very present reality in New York Harbor, where an unimpeded flow of human waste continues to flood this busy, urban waterway. Recent reports indicate that the nation's fifth largest water treatment plant in Newark is still dumping some 240 million gallons of partially treated wastewater into the harbor every single day, which continues to create a very serious health hazard throughout the region.
The super storm Sandy may have passed and faded long ago but the lives of U.S.citizens in the hardest hit areas are far from being normal. Natural News reports that the mayhem that Sandy left behind has not yet been aptly dealt with. The authorities are showing no signs of rapid work to make the life of people normal as before. Human wastes continue to flood in New York’s water supply system and, most ironically, residents may have to pay bills for the power they have used during the days of power cuts. Does this refer to a situation of anarchy that has blanketed the country?
According to Natural News, the fifth largest water treatment plant in Newark is still out of order and is vehemently pumping 240 million gallons of untreated or partially treated water from the sewerage into the harbor. Though Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, or PVSC,maintains the water treatment plantis trying hard to restoreits previous capacity, until the day it succeeds, the harbor is going to be flooded with human waste, giving rise to diseases and may be epidemic.
The most ironic yet alarming affair is that authorities are asking people to pay for the power that they have used during power cuts. It may sound ridiculous but it is a fact. Due to such baseless precepts, discontent among people is growing more and more and it is making the already bad situation even worse. The Long Island Power Authority has been subjected to widespread customer outrage after the organization charged their customers for the power that they have never supplied. With all these things in mind, it seems that the U.S. has turned into anarchy from a highly revered community after the ravages of Sandy.
Are you using artificial sweeteners and opting for low-cal "diet" foods in an effort to control of your weight?
If so, you may be surprised to learn that research has repeatedly shown that artificial no- or low-calorie sweeteners are anything but good news for weight loss... Contrary to popular belief, studies have found that artificial sweeteners such as aspartame can:
Stimulate your appetite
Increase carbohydrate cravings
Stimulate fat storage and weight gain
Now, yet another study1 has been published showing that saccharin andaspartame cause greater weight gain than sugar.
The belief that artificially sweetened foods and beverages will help you lose weight is a carefully orchestrated deception. So if you are still opting for "diet" choices for this reason, you are being sorely misled. Ditto for diabetics, as recent research has shown aspartame also worsens insulin sensitivity.
The fact that these are still being promoted as "diet" flies in the face of any rational behavior. One wonders why the FTC doesn't come down like a ton of bricks on these companies for massively fraudulent marketing.
New Study Negates Weight Management Claims of Artificial Sweeteners
The featured study, published in the January 2013 issue of the journal Appetite2, was done by a Brazilian research team with the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University do Rio Grande do Sul. Rats were fed plain yogurt sweetened with either aspartame, saccharin, or sugar, plus their regular rat chow, for 12 weeks.
"Results showed that addition of either saccharin or aspartame to yogurt resulted in increased weight gain compared to addition of sucrose, however total caloric intake was similar among groups," the researchers write.3
The reason for the similar calorie consumption between the groups was due to increased chow consumption by the rats given artificially sweetened yoghurt. This type of compensation has been found in previous studies4 as well, indicating that when your body gets a hit of sweet taste without the calories to go with it, it adversely affects your appetite control mechanisms, causing increased food cravings. The authors concluded that:
"Greater weight gain was promoted by the use of saccharin or aspartame, compared with sucrose, and this weight gain was unrelated to caloric intake. We speculate that a decrease in energy expenditure or increase in fluid retention might be involved."
You Actually Gain Weight by Using "Artificial Sweeteners
A 2010 scientific review published in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine (YJBM)5 discussed the neurobiology of sweet cravings and the unexpected effect of artificial sweeteners on appetite control. It cites several large scale prospective cohort studies that found positive correlations between artificial sweetener use and weight gain, which flies in the face of "conventional wisdom" to cut calories in order to lose weight. For example:
"The San Antonio Heart Study6 examined 3,682 adults over a seven- to eight-year period in the 1980s. When matched for initial body mass index (BMI), gender, ethnicity, and diet, drinkers of artificially sweetened beverages consistently had higher BMIs at the follow-up, with dose dependence on the amount of consumption. Average BMI gain was +1.01 kg/m2 for control and 1.78 kg/m2 for people in the third quartile for artificially sweetened beverage consumption.
The American Cancer Society study7 conducted in early 1980s included 78,694 women who were highly homogenous with regard to age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and lack of preexisting conditions. At one-year follow-up, 2.7 percent to 7.1 percent more regular artificial sweetener users gained weight compared to non-users matched by initial weight... Saccharin use was also associated with eight-year weight gain in 31,940 women from the Nurses' Health Study8conducted in the 1970s."
Experiments have found that sweet taste, regardless of its caloric content, enhances your appetite. Aspartame has been found to have the most pronounced effect, but the same applies for other artificial sweeteners, such as acesulfame potassium and saccharin.
The reason why glucose or sucrose (table sugar) tends to lead to lower food consumption compared to non-caloric artificial sweeteners is because the calories contained in natural sweeteners trigger biological responses to keep your overall energy consumption constant. This was again evidenced in a study9 published last year, which concluded that:
"The results support the hypothesis that consuming non-caloric sweeteners may promote excessive intake and body weight gain by weakening a predictive relationship between sweet taste and the caloric consequences of eating."
In essence, real sugar allows your body to accurately determine that it has received enough calories, thereby activating satiety signaling. Without the calories, your appetite is activated by the sweet taste, but as your body keeps waiting for the calories to come, sensations of hunger remain.
"Human research must rely on subjective ratings and voluntary dietary control. Rodent models helped elucidate how artificial sweeteners contribute to energy balance. Rats conditioned with saccharin supplement had significantly elevated total energy intake and gained more weight with increased body adiposity compared to controls conditioned with glucose. Saccharin-conditioned rats also failed to curb their chow intake following a sweet pre-meal...
Increasing evidence suggests that artificial sweeteners do not activate the food reward pathways in the same fashion as natural sweeteners... Lastly, artificial sweeteners, precisely because they are sweet, encourage sugar craving and sugar dependence... Unsweetening the world's diet may be the key to reversing the obesity epidemic," the YJBM review states.10
That last statement is probably the most accurate conclusion there is. Americans in particular are addicted to the flavor sweet, which appears to trigger a complex set of biological systems, pathways, and mechanisms that in the end leads to excess weight gain whether that flavor comes loaded with calories or not.
Another Oft-Ignored Mechanism Driving Weight Gain from Artificial Sweeteners
Another reason for aspartame's potential to cause weight gain is because phenylalanine and aspartic acid – the two amino acids that make up 90 percent of aspartame -- are known to rapidly stimulate the release of insulin and leptin; two hormones that are intricately involved with satiety and fat storage. Insulin and leptin are also the primary hormones that regulate your metabolism.
So although you're not consuming calories in the form of sugar, aspartame can still raise your insulin and leptin levels. Elevated insulin and leptin levels, in turn, are two of the driving forces behind obesity, diabetes, and a number of our current chronic disease epidemics. Over time, if your body is exposed to too much leptin, it will become resistant to it, just as your body can become resistant to insulin, and once that happens, your body can no longer "hear" the hormonal messages instructing your body to stop eating, burn fat, and maintain good sensitivity to sweet tastes in your taste buds.
What happens then?
You remain hungry; you crave sweets, and your body stores more fat. Leptin-resistance also causes an increase in visceral fat, sending you on a vicious cycle of hunger, fat storage and an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and more.
Additionally, large doses of phenylalanine can lower important neurotransmitters like serotonin,11 which also influences satiety. Decreased serotonin levels reduce feelings of satiety, which can then lead to over-eating or binge eating. In the end, the research tells us that artificial sweeteners are nothing more than a pipe dream when it comes to being a dieter's aid, because contrary to what the marketing campaigns claim, low- or no-calorie artificial sweeteners are more likely to help you pack on the pounds than shed them.
What's the Answer for Stubborn Weight Gain?
The first thing you need to understand is that counting calories is typically useless for weight loss. This is because calories are NOT created equal, and will not have identical effects on your weight or health. And, as reviewed above, trying to fool your body with artificial sweeteners devoid of calories is not the answer. In fact, it will likely make matters worse.
Secondly, it's important to realize that the preferred fuel for your body is fat, not carbohydrates. Switching from a carb-based diet to a fat- and protein-based diet will help rebalance your body's chemistry, and a natural side effect of this is weight loss, and/or improved weight management once you're at an ideal weight. One explanation for this is that you don't really get fat from eating too much and exercising too little. Nor do you get fat from eating fat.
In fact, there's reason to believe that most people's health would benefit from having:
As much as 60-70 percent healthful fats in their diet, and
No more than one gram of protein per kilo of lean body mass or about 0.5 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass. (Can be increased by 25 percent if pregnant or aggressively exercising). To determine your lean body mass, calculate your body fat percentage and subtract that from 100. So if you are 20 percent body fat you would have 80 percent lean body mass. Then, multiply that times your current weight to get lean body mass in kilos or pounds
Dr. Richard Johnson's latest book, The Fat Switch, dispels many of the most pervasive myths relating to diet and obesity. He discovered the method that animals use to gain fat prior to times of food scarcity, which turned out to be a powerful adaptive benefit. His research showed that fructose activates a key enzyme, fructokinase, which in turn activates another enzyme thatcauses cells to accumulate fat. When this enzyme is blocked, fat cannot be stored in the cell.
Interestingly, this is the exact same "switch" animals use to fatten up in the fall and to burn fat during the winter. Fructose is the dietary ingredient that turns on this "switch," causing cells to accumulate fat, both in animals and in humans.
In essence, overeating and excess weight could be viewed as a symptom of the wrong proportion of macronutrients. You're simply not feeding your body the right fuel. It's not necessarily the result of eating too many calories, per se, but rather getting your calories from the wrong sources. In simple terms, when you consume too many sugars and carbs, you set off a cascade of chemical reactions in your body that makes you hungry and leaves you craving for sweets.
Even if you have the highest quality raw and organic foods, if you have a non-optimal combination with identical calories, you will likely gain weight. So listen to your body and if you are one of the two-thirds of people who are overweight, seriously consider radically reducing your carbs and replacing them with fibrous vegetables, lowering your protein levels to the quantity discussed above, and replacing those missing calories with healthy fats from coconut oil, olives, olive oil, avocado, pastured grass fed butter, and nuts. You can also try intermittent fasting, which will give you a radical jumpstart in your ability to normalize your weight.
About Dr Kevin Lau
Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition. He is a member of International Society On Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment (SOSORT), the leading international society on conservative treatment of spinal deformities. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to:
Are you using artificial sweeteners and opting for low-cal "diet" foods in an effort to control of your weight?
If so, you may be surprised to learn that research has repeatedly shown that artificial no- or low-calorie sweeteners are anything but good news for weight loss... Contrary to popular belief, studies have found that artificial sweeteners such as aspartame can:
Stimulate your appetite
Increase carbohydrate cravings
Stimulate fat storage and weight gain
Now, yet another study1 has been published showing that saccharin andaspartame cause greater weight gain than sugar.
The belief that artificially sweetened foods and beverages will help you lose weight is a carefully orchestrated deception. So if you are still opting for "diet" choices for this reason, you are being sorely misled. Ditto for diabetics, as recent research has shown aspartame also worsens insulin sensitivity.
The fact that these are still being promoted as "diet" flies in the face of any rational behavior. One wonders why the FTC doesn't come down like a ton of bricks on these companies for massively fraudulent marketing.
New Study Negates Weight Management Claims of Artificial Sweeteners
The featured study, published in the January 2013 issue of the journal Appetite2, was done by a Brazilian research team with the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University do Rio Grande do Sul. Rats were fed plain yogurt sweetened with either aspartame, saccharin, or sugar, plus their regular rat chow, for 12 weeks.
"Results showed that addition of either saccharin or aspartame to yogurt resulted in increased weight gain compared to addition of sucrose, however total caloric intake was similar among groups," the researchers write.3
The reason for the similar calorie consumption between the groups was due to increased chow consumption by the rats given artificially sweetened yoghurt. This type of compensation has been found in previous studies4 as well, indicating that when your body gets a hit of sweet taste without the calories to go with it, it adversely affects your appetite control mechanisms, causing increased food cravings. The authors concluded that:
"Greater weight gain was promoted by the use of saccharin or aspartame, compared with sucrose, and this weight gain was unrelated to caloric intake. We speculate that a decrease in energy expenditure or increase in fluid retention might be involved."
You Actually Gain Weight by Using "Artificial Sweeteners
A 2010 scientific review published in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine (YJBM)5 discussed the neurobiology of sweet cravings and the unexpected effect of artificial sweeteners on appetite control. It cites several large scale prospective cohort studies that found positive correlations between artificial sweetener use and weight gain, which flies in the face of "conventional wisdom" to cut calories in order to lose weight. For example:
"The San Antonio Heart Study6 examined 3,682 adults over a seven- to eight-year period in the 1980s. When matched for initial body mass index (BMI), gender, ethnicity, and diet, drinkers of artificially sweetened beverages consistently had higher BMIs at the follow-up, with dose dependence on the amount of consumption. Average BMI gain was +1.01 kg/m2 for control and 1.78 kg/m2 for people in the third quartile for artificially sweetened beverage consumption.
The American Cancer Society study7 conducted in early 1980s included 78,694 women who were highly homogenous with regard to age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and lack of preexisting conditions. At one-year follow-up, 2.7 percent to 7.1 percent more regular artificial sweetener users gained weight compared to non-users matched by initial weight... Saccharin use was also associated with eight-year weight gain in 31,940 women from the Nurses' Health Study8conducted in the 1970s."
Experiments have found that sweet taste, regardless of its caloric content, enhances your appetite. Aspartame has been found to have the most pronounced effect, but the same applies for other artificial sweeteners, such as acesulfame potassium and saccharin.
The reason why glucose or sucrose (table sugar) tends to lead to lower food consumption compared to non-caloric artificial sweeteners is because the calories contained in natural sweeteners trigger biological responses to keep your overall energy consumption constant. This was again evidenced in a study9 published last year, which concluded that:
"The results support the hypothesis that consuming non-caloric sweeteners may promote excessive intake and body weight gain by weakening a predictive relationship between sweet taste and the caloric consequences of eating."
In essence, real sugar allows your body to accurately determine that it has received enough calories, thereby activating satiety signaling. Without the calories, your appetite is activated by the sweet taste, but as your body keeps waiting for the calories to come, sensations of hunger remain.
"Human research must rely on subjective ratings and voluntary dietary control. Rodent models helped elucidate how artificial sweeteners contribute to energy balance. Rats conditioned with saccharin supplement had significantly elevated total energy intake and gained more weight with increased body adiposity compared to controls conditioned with glucose. Saccharin-conditioned rats also failed to curb their chow intake following a sweet pre-meal...
Increasing evidence suggests that artificial sweeteners do not activate the food reward pathways in the same fashion as natural sweeteners... Lastly, artificial sweeteners, precisely because they are sweet, encourage sugar craving and sugar dependence... Unsweetening the world's diet may be the key to reversing the obesity epidemic," the YJBM review states.10
That last statement is probably the most accurate conclusion there is. Americans in particular are addicted to the flavor sweet, which appears to trigger a complex set of biological systems, pathways, and mechanisms that in the end leads to excess weight gain whether that flavor comes loaded with calories or not.
Another Oft-Ignored Mechanism Driving Weight Gain from Artificial Sweeteners
Another reason for aspartame's potential to cause weight gain is because phenylalanine and aspartic acid – the two amino acids that make up 90 percent of aspartame -- are known to rapidly stimulate the release of insulin and leptin; two hormones that are intricately involved with satiety and fat storage. Insulin and leptin are also the primary hormones that regulate your metabolism.
So although you're not consuming calories in the form of sugar, aspartame can still raise your insulin and leptin levels. Elevated insulin and leptin levels, in turn, are two of the driving forces behind obesity, diabetes, and a number of our current chronic disease epidemics. Over time, if your body is exposed to too much leptin, it will become resistant to it, just as your body can become resistant to insulin, and once that happens, your body can no longer "hear" the hormonal messages instructing your body to stop eating, burn fat, and maintain good sensitivity to sweet tastes in your taste buds.
What happens then?
You remain hungry; you crave sweets, and your body stores more fat. Leptin-resistance also causes an increase in visceral fat, sending you on a vicious cycle of hunger, fat storage and an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and more.
Additionally, large doses of phenylalanine can lower important neurotransmitters like serotonin,11 which also influences satiety. Decreased serotonin levels reduce feelings of satiety, which can then lead to over-eating or binge eating. In the end, the research tells us that artificial sweeteners are nothing more than a pipe dream when it comes to being a dieter's aid, because contrary to what the marketing campaigns claim, low- or no-calorie artificial sweeteners are more likely to help you pack on the pounds than shed them.
What's the Answer for Stubborn Weight Gain?
The first thing you need to understand is that counting calories is typically useless for weight loss. This is because calories are NOT created equal, and will not have identical effects on your weight or health. And, as reviewed above, trying to fool your body with artificial sweeteners devoid of calories is not the answer. In fact, it will likely make matters worse.
Secondly, it's important to realize that the preferred fuel for your body is fat, not carbohydrates. Switching from a carb-based diet to a fat- and protein-based diet will help rebalance your body's chemistry, and a natural side effect of this is weight loss, and/or improved weight management once you're at an ideal weight. One explanation for this is that you don't really get fat from eating too much and exercising too little. Nor do you get fat from eating fat.
In fact, there's reason to believe that most people's health would benefit from having:
As much as 60-70 percent healthful fats in their diet, and
No more than one gram of protein per kilo of lean body mass or about 0.5 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass. (Can be increased by 25 percent if pregnant or aggressively exercising). To determine your lean body mass, calculate your body fat percentage and subtract that from 100. So if you are 20 percent body fat you would have 80 percent lean body mass. Then, multiply that times your current weight to get lean body mass in kilos or pounds
Dr. Richard Johnson's latest book, The Fat Switch, dispels many of the most pervasive myths relating to diet and obesity. He discovered the method that animals use to gain fat prior to times of food scarcity, which turned out to be a powerful adaptive benefit. His research showed that fructose activates a key enzyme, fructokinase, which in turn activates another enzyme thatcauses cells to accumulate fat. When this enzyme is blocked, fat cannot be stored in the cell.
Interestingly, this is the exact same "switch" animals use to fatten up in the fall and to burn fat during the winter. Fructose is the dietary ingredient that turns on this "switch," causing cells to accumulate fat, both in animals and in humans.
In essence, overeating and excess weight could be viewed as a symptom of the wrong proportion of macronutrients. You're simply not feeding your body the right fuel. It's not necessarily the result of eating too many calories, per se, but rather getting your calories from the wrong sources. In simple terms, when you consume too many sugars and carbs, you set off a cascade of chemical reactions in your body that makes you hungry and leaves you craving for sweets.
Even if you have the highest quality raw and organic foods, if you have a non-optimal combination with identical calories, you will likely gain weight. So listen to your body and if you are one of the two-thirds of people who are overweight, seriously consider radically reducing your carbs and replacing them with fibrous vegetables, lowering your protein levels to the quantity discussed above, and replacing those missing calories with healthy fats from coconut oil, olives, olive oil, avocado, pastured grass fed butter, and nuts. You can also try intermittent fasting, which will give you a radical jumpstart in your ability to normalize your weight.
About Dr Kevin Lau
Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition. He is a member of International Society On Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment (SOSORT), the leading international society on conservative treatment of spinal deformities. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to:
Kentucky has one of the highest rates of colorectal cancers in the nation, with about 50 of every 100,000 Kentuckians being diagnosed with the disease each year. The state also ranks among the worst in colorectal cancer deaths, with 18-20 deaths per 100,000 annually. So perhaps Kentuckians should care more about some research that was announced as seasonal fare: using mistletoe extract in chemotherapy. (Wikipedia image)
At the University of Adelaide, scientists found that an extract from mistletoe grown on ash trees was found to be highly effective against colon-cancer cells in cell cultures and was gentler on healthy intestinal cells compared with chemotherapy. In fact, the extract was found to be more potent against cancer cells than the chemotherapy drug. It has been authorized for use by sufferers of colon cancer in Europe, but has not been allowed yet in some countries such as Australia and the United States due to a lack of scientific testing. (Read more)
We should note that the leaves and berries of some mistletoe species are mildly toxic. The plant is parasitic, growing on trees and forming green clumps that are highly visible this time of year and popular as Christmas decorations, especially at the top of doorways, where tradition calls for anyone standing under the mistletoe to be kissed.
Kentucky has one of the highest rates of colorectal cancers in the nation, with about 50 of every 100,000 Kentuckians being diagnosed with the disease each year. The state also ranks among the worst in colorectal cancer deaths, with 18-20 deaths per 100,000 annually. So perhaps Kentuckians should care more about some research that was announced as seasonal fare: using mistletoe extract in chemotherapy. (Wikipedia image)
At the University of Adelaide, scientists found that an extract from mistletoe grown on ash trees was found to be highly effective against colon-cancer cells in cell cultures and was gentler on healthy intestinal cells compared with chemotherapy. In fact, the extract was found to be more potent against cancer cells than the chemotherapy drug. It has been authorized for use by sufferers of colon cancer in Europe, but has not been allowed yet in some countries such as Australia and the United States due to a lack of scientific testing. (Read more)
We should note that the leaves and berries of some mistletoe species are mildly toxic. The plant is parasitic, growing on trees and forming green clumps that are highly visible this time of year and popular as Christmas decorations, especially at the top of doorways, where tradition calls for anyone standing under the mistletoe to be kissed.
Kentucky added a robust tobacco cessation benefit to its Medicaid program, only to lose much of it in 2011 by putting the program under managed care by insurance companies, the American Lung Association notes in its annual report. Not only do their plans offer fewer treatments, explained the report, but information was confusing to patients and healthcare providers alike. The report also notes that the state -- which is not alone in this -- offers its smokers who desire to quit inadequate access to medications and counseling.
Robert Preidt of HealthDay reports that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services late last month published a proposed rule that requires tobacco cessation as an essential health benefit under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The lung association report how states could put that rule to maximum use. "Giving all smokers access to a comprehensive cessation benefits is not only the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do," Billings said. "The bottom line is that quitting smoking saves lives and saves money." One recent study, reports Preidt, showed that providing smokers with help to quit has a three-to-one return on investment, meaning $3 is saved for every for $1 spent. (Read more)
To see more about how Kentucky's tobacco cessation coverage rates, according to the American Lung Association, go here.
Kentucky added a robust tobacco cessation benefit to its Medicaid program, only to lose much of it in 2011 by putting the program under managed care by insurance companies, the American Lung Association notes in its annual report. Not only do their plans offer fewer treatments, explained the report, but information was confusing to patients and healthcare providers alike. The report also notes that the state -- which is not alone in this -- offers its smokers who desire to quit inadequate access to medications and counseling.
Robert Preidt of HealthDay reports that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services late last month published a proposed rule that requires tobacco cessation as an essential health benefit under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The lung association report how states could put that rule to maximum use. "Giving all smokers access to a comprehensive cessation benefits is not only the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do," Billings said. "The bottom line is that quitting smoking saves lives and saves money." One recent study, reports Preidt, showed that providing smokers with help to quit has a three-to-one return on investment, meaning $3 is saved for every for $1 spent. (Read more)
To see more about how Kentucky's tobacco cessation coverage rates, according to the American Lung Association, go here.
A coalition of health groups thinks maybe it's time to enlist SpongeBob in the childhood obesity fight. Earlier this week, the groups asked the Nickelodeon Channel to stop airing commercials that promote unhealthy foods with the help of the doofy adorable sponge, among other lovable characters the children's channel employs. The letter the groups signed asked that Nickelodeon's parent company, Viacom, put in place strong nutrition standards for the foods marketed by it and by its characters. Their sentiment was strongly backed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Elise Viebeck of The Hill's Healthwatch blog quotes the letter: "Research shows that food marketing is an important factor contributing to children's poor diets and obesity. The majority of foods marketed to children remain of poor nutritional quality. The [federal Institute of Medicine] concluded that marketing puts children's health at risk." The letter went on to shake its finger at Nickelodeon for being behind Disney and other prominent child marketers on this front. (Read more)
This comes on the same day that the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Kansas Medical Center release study results that found obese children may be more susceptible to food advertising than healthy-weight children, suggesting at least one reason the nation's childhood obesity rate could continue to climb as feared. (Read more)
A coalition of health groups thinks maybe it's time to enlist SpongeBob in the childhood obesity fight. Earlier this week, the groups asked the Nickelodeon Channel to stop airing commercials that promote unhealthy foods with the help of the doofy adorable sponge, among other lovable characters the children's channel employs. The letter the groups signed asked that Nickelodeon's parent company, Viacom, put in place strong nutrition standards for the foods marketed by it and by its characters. Their sentiment was strongly backed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Elise Viebeck of The Hill's Healthwatch blog quotes the letter: "Research shows that food marketing is an important factor contributing to children's poor diets and obesity. The majority of foods marketed to children remain of poor nutritional quality. The [federal Institute of Medicine] concluded that marketing puts children's health at risk." The letter went on to shake its finger at Nickelodeon for being behind Disney and other prominent child marketers on this front. (Read more)
This comes on the same day that the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Kansas Medical Center release study results that found obese children may be more susceptible to food advertising than healthy-weight children, suggesting at least one reason the nation's childhood obesity rate could continue to climb as feared. (Read more)
The Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati, which includes much of Northern Kentucky, is included as one of three regions to participate in a program designed to bolster availability of information about doctors, hospitals and health care providers, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the new program will match private data with Medicare claims data to create comprehensive reports on provider performance. The other two organizations selected are Kansas City Quality Improvement Consortium and the Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation.
The program will place quality markers on those receiving Medicare claims data. For example, they must show that they can manage and process consumer-focused data, can prevent breaches of protected health information and that they are working with private insurers in order to produce comprehensive reports on provider performance. The program is also intended to protect patient privacy, enforcing strong penalties if Medicare data is misued. (Read more)
The Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati, which includes much of Northern Kentucky, is included as one of three regions to participate in a program designed to bolster availability of information about doctors, hospitals and health care providers, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the new program will match private data with Medicare claims data to create comprehensive reports on provider performance. The other two organizations selected are Kansas City Quality Improvement Consortium and the Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation.
The program will place quality markers on those receiving Medicare claims data. For example, they must show that they can manage and process consumer-focused data, can prevent breaches of protected health information and that they are working with private insurers in order to produce comprehensive reports on provider performance. The program is also intended to protect patient privacy, enforcing strong penalties if Medicare data is misued. (Read more)
Almost 110,000 teens and young adults in Kentucky are not enrolled in school and are not employed, even part-time, according to a new Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Nationwide, the number reaches nearly 6.5 million. In Kentucky between 2000 and 2011 the number of 16-19 year-olds not in school and not employed rose by 3 percent, but the number of idle young adults ages 20-24 climbed by a whopping 88 percent. Both rates exceed the national rate. (Getty Images)
The Kids Count report, "Youth and Work: Restoring Teen and Young Adult Connections to Opportunity," termed these 16- to 24-year-olds "disconnected." It found that they face many obstacles on their path to securing a stable financial future. For starters, many haven't finished high school and are competing with older Americans for the few entry-level jobs. In addition, they lack skills for higher-paying jobs. Many are poor and have attended under-performing schools. The report explains that, as such, this group can present a significant cost to taxpayers. (Read more) View the report here.
Almost 110,000 teens and young adults in Kentucky are not enrolled in school and are not employed, even part-time, according to a new Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Nationwide, the number reaches nearly 6.5 million. In Kentucky between 2000 and 2011 the number of 16-19 year-olds not in school and not employed rose by 3 percent, but the number of idle young adults ages 20-24 climbed by a whopping 88 percent. Both rates exceed the national rate. (Getty Images)
The Kids Count report, "Youth and Work: Restoring Teen and Young Adult Connections to Opportunity," termed these 16- to 24-year-olds "disconnected." It found that they face many obstacles on their path to securing a stable financial future. For starters, many haven't finished high school and are competing with older Americans for the few entry-level jobs. In addition, they lack skills for higher-paying jobs. Many are poor and have attended under-performing schools. The report explains that, as such, this group can present a significant cost to taxpayers. (Read more) View the report here.
Kentucky has the highest incidence of cancer in the United States, but it is about to be a national leader in delivering information about cancer cases to researchers.
With the help of an almost $1 million Centers for Disease Control grant, the University of Kentucky has created the nation's first working model for electronic reporting of cases to the state cancer registry. Kentucky's cancer doctors will be able to feed clinical data to the state's epidemiologists immediately so that they can see and analyze cancer statistics more quickly that ever before.
“This project is laying the groundwork for electronic reporting not only in Kentucky but across the United States,” said Eric Durbin, director of Cancer Informatics at the Kentucky Cancer Registry and one of the investigators who created the model. (Read more)
Kentucky has the highest incidence of cancer in the United States, but it is about to be a national leader in delivering information about cancer cases to researchers.
With the help of an almost $1 million Centers for Disease Control grant, the University of Kentucky has created the nation's first working model for electronic reporting of cases to the state cancer registry. Kentucky's cancer doctors will be able to feed clinical data to the state's epidemiologists immediately so that they can see and analyze cancer statistics more quickly that ever before.
“This project is laying the groundwork for electronic reporting not only in Kentucky but across the United States,” said Eric Durbin, director of Cancer Informatics at the Kentucky Cancer Registry and one of the investigators who created the model. (Read more)
DiGangi BA, Levy JK, Griffin B, et al. Prevalence of serum antibody titers against feline panleukopenia virus, feline herpesvirus 1, and feline calicivirus in cats entering a Florida animal shelter. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2012; 241: 1320-5. Feline panleukopenia virus (FPV), feline herpes virus 1 (FHV-1), and feline calicivirus (FCV) are widespread in the cat population, and particularly in shelter environments. The American Association of Feline Practitioners guidelines recommend that all cats at or over 4 weeks of age be vaccinated against these three viruses upon admission to animal shelters. However, the proportion of cats entering shelters that are already protected (i.e., seropositive) against infection (FPV) or disease (FHV-1 and FCV) because of prior vaccination or natural exposure is usually unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with seropositivity for FPV, FHV-1, and FCV in cats entering a Florida animal shelter.
Of 347 cats enrolled in this study, prevalence of seropositivity was 39.8%, 11.0% and 36.6% against FPV, FHV-1, and FCV, respectively. Factors associated with seropositivity included sterilization, age equal to or greater than 6 months, and relinquishment by an owner. Surprisingly, community origin (i.e., rural or urban), health status, signs of previous caregiving aside from sterilization, and outcome (i.e., adopted, transferred, euthanized, or reclaimed by owner) were not associated with seropositivity and should not be used to determine an individual cat’s need for vaccination. This study suggests that most cats admitted to an animal shelter do not have adequate antibody protection against infection or disease; therefore, the recommendation to vaccinate all cats admitted to an animal shelter is reasonable and vaccination should not be withheld due to signs of previous veterinary care. [GO]
DiGangi BA, Levy JK, Griffin B, et al. Prevalence of serum antibody titers against feline panleukopenia virus, feline herpesvirus 1, and feline calicivirus in cats entering a Florida animal shelter. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2012; 241: 1320-5. Feline panleukopenia virus (FPV), feline herpes virus 1 (FHV-1), and feline calicivirus (FCV) are widespread in the cat population, and particularly in shelter environments. The American Association of Feline Practitioners guidelines recommend that all cats at or over 4 weeks of age be vaccinated against these three viruses upon admission to animal shelters. However, the proportion of cats entering shelters that are already protected (i.e., seropositive) against infection (FPV) or disease (FHV-1 and FCV) because of prior vaccination or natural exposure is usually unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with seropositivity for FPV, FHV-1, and FCV in cats entering a Florida animal shelter.
Of 347 cats enrolled in this study, prevalence of seropositivity was 39.8%, 11.0% and 36.6% against FPV, FHV-1, and FCV, respectively. Factors associated with seropositivity included sterilization, age equal to or greater than 6 months, and relinquishment by an owner. Surprisingly, community origin (i.e., rural or urban), health status, signs of previous caregiving aside from sterilization, and outcome (i.e., adopted, transferred, euthanized, or reclaimed by owner) were not associated with seropositivity and should not be used to determine an individual cat’s need for vaccination. This study suggests that most cats admitted to an animal shelter do not have adequate antibody protection against infection or disease; therefore, the recommendation to vaccinate all cats admitted to an animal shelter is reasonable and vaccination should not be withheld due to signs of previous veterinary care. [GO]
If you are like most people, when you think of reducing your risk of cancer, exercise probably isn't at the top of your list. However, there is compelling evidence that exercise can not only help slash your risk of cancer, but can also help cancer patients get well sooner, and help prevent cancer recurrence.
Research has also shown it may help minimize the side effects of conventional cancer treatment.
A preliminary study presented at The Integrative Biology of Exercise VI meeting in mid-October1 helps shed light on why exercise is so effective for decreasing the risk of secondary cancers in survivors, or why it can decrease your risk of getting cancer in the first place.
Exercise Improves Your Immune System's "Cancer Surveillance"
Sixteen cancer survivors who had just completed chemotherapy participated in the three-month long study. The fitness program, which was tailored to each individual, included:
Strength training
Endurance training
Cardiovascular exercise
Exercises for flexibility, balance and posture
The researchers examined the immune cells in the participants' blood before and after completion of the 12-week program, and the analysis showed that a large portion of the T cells were altered into a more effective disease-fighting form, called "naïve" T cells. As reported by Medical News Today:2
"[Lead researcher] Bilek explained, 'What we're suggesting is that with exercise, you might be getting rid of T cells that aren't helpful and making room for T cells that might be helpful.'
This research is important because it not only emphasizes the advantages of exercise for cancer patients and cancer survivors, but it also demonstrates how it can benefit healthy individuals. However, the increased 'cancer surveillance,' or the power of the immune system to stop emerging cancers, is particularly beneficial for those struggling with cancer, or who have just survived it.
Bilek concluded: 'There's a litany of positive benefits from exercise. If exercise indeed strengthens the immune system and potentially improves cancer surveillance, it's one more thing we should educate patients about as a reason they should schedule regular activity throughout their day and make it a priority in their lives.'"
Viewing Exercise as a Drug
Besides altering your immune cells into a more potent disease-fighting form and improving circulation of those immune cells in your blood, another primary way exercise lowers your risk for cancer is by reducing elevated insulin levels. This creates a low sugar environment that discourages the growth and spread of cancer cells. It's also been suggested that apoptosis (programmed cell death) istriggered by exercise, causing cancer cells to die.
The trick though, is understanding how to use exercise as a precise tool. I like to suggest viewing it as a "drug" that needs to be carefully prescribed to achieve its maximum benefit. This ensures you're getting enough to achieve the benefit, not too much to cause injury, and the right variety to balance your entire physical structure and maintain strength, flexibility, and aerobic and anaerobic fitness levels.
Ideally, doctors would prescribe exercise in specific "doses" and intervals. To do this properly, oncologists would be wise to develop relationships with personal trainers, and prescribe training sessions for their patients. If you have cancer, I would highly recommend discussing exercise with your oncologist, and/or work with a trained fitness professional who can help you devise a safe and effective regimen.
Unfortunately, many public health guidelines still focus only on the aerobic aspects of exercise, and this exclusive focus can lead to imbalances that may actually prevent optimal health.
It's important to include a large variety of techniques in your exercise routine, such as strength training, aerobics, core-building activities, and stretching. Most important of all, however, is to make sure you include high-intensity, burst-type exercise, once or twice a week, in which you raise your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold for 20 to 30 seconds, and then you recover for 90 seconds. These exercises can increase your body's natural production of human growth hormone.
Compelling Evidence in Support of Exercise as Cancer Prophylactic
In the 1980s the notion that exercise may help prevent cancer started getting its due attention. According to a study published 12 years ago in the British Medical Journal,3 which explored the relationship between exercise and cancer, exercise affects several biological functions that may directly influence your cancer risk. These effects include changes in:
Cardiovascular capacity
Energy balance
Pulmonary capacity
Immune function
Bowel motility
Antioxidant defense
Hormone levels
DNA repair
In 2003, a paper in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise4 reported that "more than a hundred epidemiologic studies on the role of physical activity and cancer prevention have been published." The authors noted that:
"The data are clear in showing that physically active men and women have about a 30-40 percent reduction in the risk of developing colon cancer, compared with inactive persons … With regard to breast cancer, there is reasonably clear evidence that physically active women have about a 20-30 percent reduction in risk, compared with inactive women. It also appears that 30-60 min·d-1 of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity is needed to decrease the risk of breast cancer, and that there is likely a dose-response relation."
Cancer Groups Recommend Making Exercise Part of Standard Care
In recent years, a number of cancer groups have started taking exercise seriously. For example, a recent report issued by the British organization Macmillan Cancer Support5 argues that exercise really should be part of standard cancer care. It recommends that all patients getting cancer treatment should be told to engage in moderate-intensity exercise for two and a half hours every week, stating that the advice to rest and take it easy after treatment is an outdated view.
The organization offers loads of helpful information about the benefits of exercise for cancer patients on their website, and also has a number of videos on the subject, available on their YouTube channel.6
Professor Robert Thomas discusses the benefits of physical activity during after cancer treatment.
According to Ciaran Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support:7
"Cancer patients would be shocked if they knew just how much of a benefit physical activity could have on their recovery and long term health, in some cases reducing their chances of having to go through the grueling ordeal of treatment all over again..."
Indeed, the reduction in risk for recurrence is quite impressive. Previous research has shown that breast and colon cancer patients who exercise regularly have half the recurrence rate than non-exercisers.8 Macmillan Cancer Support also notes that exercise can help you to mitigate some of the common side effects of conventional cancer treatment, including:
Reduce fatigue and improve your energy levels
Manage stress, anxiety, low mood or depression
Improve bone health
Improve heart health (some chemotherapy drugs and radiotherapy can cause heart problems later in life)
Build muscle strength, relieve pain and improve range of movement
Maintain a healthy weight
Sleep better
Improve your appetite
Prevent constipation
Exercise Tips for Cancer Patients
I would strongly recommend you read up on my Peak Fitness program, which includes high-intensity exercises that can reduce your exercise time while actually improving your benefits.
Now, if you have cancer or any other chronic disease, you will of course need to tailor your exercise routine to your individual circumstances, taking into account your fitness level and current health. Often, you will be able to take part in a regular exercise program -- one that involves a variety of exercises like strength training, core-building, stretching, aerobic and anaerobic -- with very little changes necessary. However, at times you may find you need to exercise at a lower intensity, or for shorter durations.
Always listen to your body and if you feel you need a break, take time to rest.
Just remember that exercising for just a few minutes a day is better than not exercising at all, and you'll likely find that your stamina increases and you're able to complete more challenging workouts with each passing day. In the event you are suffering from a very weakened immune system, you may want to exercise at home instead of visiting a public gym. But remember that exercise will ultimately help to boost your immune system, so it's very important to continue with your program, even if you suffer from chronic illness or cancer.
That said, if your body will not allow you to exercise, either due to pain or worsening of your underlying condition, then you have no practical option but to honor your body's signals and exercise less. Even though your body desperately needs the exercise to improve, you will only get worse if you violate your current limitations.
Protein Intake Also Crucial for Cancers
I recently interviewed Dr. Ron Rosedale for nearly fifteen hours and i hope to be able to start posting those articles very soon. He is one of the first physicians in the U.S. that started measuring leptin levels clinically and was far ahead of the curve on this one. In our interview, he helped me understand the major importance that excessive protein intake can have on cancer growth.
The mTOR pathway is short for mammalian target of rapamycin. This pathway is ancient but relatively recently appreciated and has only been known for less than 20 years. Odds are very high your doctor was never taught this is medical school and isn't even aware of it. Many new cancer drugs are actually being targeted to use this pathway. Drugs using this pathway have also been given to animals to radically extend their lifespan. But you don't have to use drugs to get this pathway to work for you.
You can biohack your body and merely restrict your protein intake and replace the decreased protein with healthy fats as this will provide virtually identical benefits as these dangerous and expensive drugs.
Eating excessive protein can be an additional synergistically powerful mechanism. Dr. Rosedale believes that when you consume protein in levels higher than one gram of protein per kilogram of LEAN body mass you can activate the mTOR pathway, which will radically increase your risk of cancers. It is very easy to consume excess protein and my guess is that most people reading this are. I know I was, and as a result of this new insight I have reduced my protein intake by about half.
To determine your lean body mass find out your percent body fat and subtract from 100. So if you are 20% body fat you would have 80% lean body mass. Just multiply that times your current weight to get lean body mass. For most people this means restricting protein intake from 35 to 75 grams. Pregnant women and those working out extensively need about 25% more protein though.
Of course when you reduce protein you need to replace it with other calories, so the key is to replace the lost calories with high-quality fats such as avocados, butter, coconut oil, olives, olive oil, nuts and eggs. It is also very helpful to avoid eating anything for three hours before going to bed as this allows you to have relatively low blood sugars while you are sleeping. This is another good trick to move your body to fat burning mode.
Nearly everyone is primarily in carb burning mode because of the amount of carbohydrate content that they consume. The beauty of shifting over to fat burning mode is that it virtually eliminates hunger. Intermittent fasting is one way to help achieve this, but radically cutting back on non-vegetable carbs is also very important. Coconut oil is particularly useful to use in making the transition to fat burning mode as it is primarily short and medium chain fats which break down very quickly and can be used as an energy source which is important for countering the decreased energy and other physical challenges that many encounter in the several weeks it typically takes to make the transition to fat burning mode .
Cancer Prevention Begins with Your Lifestyle Choices
While exercise is an important facet of cancer prevention and treatment, it's certainly not the only one. I believe the vast majority of all cancers could be prevented by strictly applying the healthy lifestyle recommendations below:
Avoid sugar, especially fructose. All forms of sugar are detrimental to health in general and promote cancer. Fructose, however, is clearly one of the most harmful and should be avoided as much as possible.
Optimize your vitamin D. Vitamin D influences virtually every cell in your body and is one of nature's most potent cancer fighters. Vitamin D is actually able to enter cancer cells and trigger apoptosis (cell death). If you have cancer, your vitamin D level should be between 70 and 100 ng/ml. Vitamin D works synergistically with every cancer treatment I'm aware of, with no adverse effects. I suggest you try watching my one-hour free lecture on vitamin D to learn more.
Limit your protein. Newer research has emphasized the importance of the mTOR pathways. When these are active, cancer growth is accelerated. The best way to quiet this pathway is by limiting your protein to one gram of protein per kilogram of lean body weight, or roughly a bit less than half a gram of protein per every pound of lean body weight. For most people this ranges between 40 and 70 grams of protein a day, which is about 2/3 to half of what they are currently eating.
Avoid unfermented soy products. Unfermented soy is high in plant estrogens, or phytoestrogens, also known as isoflavones. In some studies, soy appears to work in concert with human estrogen to increase breast cell proliferation, which increases the chances for mutations and cancerous cells.
Improve your insulin and leptin receptor sensitivity. The best way to do this is by avoiding sugar and grains and restricting carbs to mostly fiber vegetables. Also making sure you are exercising, especially with Peak Fitness.
Maintain a healthy body weight. This will come naturally when you begin eating right for your nutritional type and exercising. It's important to lose excess body fat because fat produces estrogen.
Drink a pint to a quart of organic green vegetable juice daily. Please review my juicing instructions for more detailed information.
Get plenty of high quality animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. Omega-3 deficiency is a common underlying factor for cancer.
Curcumin. This is the active ingredient in turmeric and in high concentrations can be very useful adjunct in the treatment of cancer. For example, it has demonstrated major therapeutic potential in preventing breast cancer metastasis.9 It's important to know that curcumin is generally not absorbed that well, so I've provided several absorption tips here.
Avoid drinking alcohol, or at least limit your alcoholic drinks to one per day.
Avoid electromagnetic fields as much as possible. Even electric blankets can increase your cancer risk.
Avoid synthetic hormone replacement therapy, especially if you have risk factors for breast cancer. Breast cancer is an estrogen-related cancer, and according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer rates for women dropped in tandem with decreased use of hormone replacement therapy. (There are similar risks for younger women who use oral contraceptives. Birth control pills, which are also comprised of synthetic hormones, have been linked to cervical and breast cancers.)
If you are experiencing excessive menopausal symptoms, you may want to consider bioidentical hormone replacement therapy instead, which uses hormones that are molecularly identical to the ones your body produces and do not wreak havoc on your system. This is a much safer alternative.
Avoid BPA, phthalates and other xenoestrogens. These are estrogen-like compounds that have been linked to increased breast cancer risk
Make sure you're not iodine deficient, as there's compelling evidence linking iodine deficiency with certain forms of cancer. Dr. David Brownstein10, author of the book Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without It, is a proponent of iodine for breast cancer. It actually has potent anticancer properties and has been shown to cause cell death in breast and thyroid cancer cells.
For more information, I recommend reading Dr. Brownstein's book. I have been researching iodine for some time ever since I interviewed Dr. Brownstein as I do believe that the bulk of what he states is spot on. However, I am not at all convinced that his dosage recommendations are correct. I believe they are too high.
Avoid charring your meats. Charcoal or flame broiled meat is linked with increased breast cancer risk. Acrylamide—a carcinogen created when starchy foods are baked, roasted or fried—has been found to increase cancer risk as well.
About Dr Kevin Lau
Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition. He is a member of International Society On Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment (SOSORT), the leading international society on conservative treatment of spinal deformities. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: http://www.hiyh.info.
By Dr. Mercola
If you are like most people, when you think of reducing your risk of cancer, exercise probably isn't at the top of your list. However, there is compelling evidence that exercise can not only help slash your risk of cancer, but can also help cancer patients get well sooner, and help prevent cancer recurrence.
Research has also shown it may help minimize the side effects of conventional cancer treatment.
A preliminary study presented at The Integrative Biology of Exercise VI meeting in mid-October1 helps shed light on why exercise is so effective for decreasing the risk of secondary cancers in survivors, or why it can decrease your risk of getting cancer in the first place.
Exercise Improves Your Immune System's "Cancer Surveillance"
Sixteen cancer survivors who had just completed chemotherapy participated in the three-month long study. The fitness program, which was tailored to each individual, included:
Strength training
Endurance training
Cardiovascular exercise
Exercises for flexibility, balance and posture
The researchers examined the immune cells in the participants' blood before and after completion of the 12-week program, and the analysis showed that a large portion of the T cells were altered into a more effective disease-fighting form, called "naïve" T cells. As reported by Medical News Today:2
"[Lead researcher] Bilek explained, 'What we're suggesting is that with exercise, you might be getting rid of T cells that aren't helpful and making room for T cells that might be helpful.'
This research is important because it not only emphasizes the advantages of exercise for cancer patients and cancer survivors, but it also demonstrates how it can benefit healthy individuals. However, the increased 'cancer surveillance,' or the power of the immune system to stop emerging cancers, is particularly beneficial for those struggling with cancer, or who have just survived it.
Bilek concluded: 'There's a litany of positive benefits from exercise. If exercise indeed strengthens the immune system and potentially improves cancer surveillance, it's one more thing we should educate patients about as a reason they should schedule regular activity throughout their day and make it a priority in their lives.'"
Viewing Exercise as a Drug
Besides altering your immune cells into a more potent disease-fighting form and improving circulation of those immune cells in your blood, another primary way exercise lowers your risk for cancer is by reducing elevated insulin levels. This creates a low sugar environment that discourages the growth and spread of cancer cells. It's also been suggested that apoptosis (programmed cell death) istriggered by exercise, causing cancer cells to die.
The trick though, is understanding how to use exercise as a precise tool. I like to suggest viewing it as a "drug" that needs to be carefully prescribed to achieve its maximum benefit. This ensures you're getting enough to achieve the benefit, not too much to cause injury, and the right variety to balance your entire physical structure and maintain strength, flexibility, and aerobic and anaerobic fitness levels.
Ideally, doctors would prescribe exercise in specific "doses" and intervals. To do this properly, oncologists would be wise to develop relationships with personal trainers, and prescribe training sessions for their patients. If you have cancer, I would highly recommend discussing exercise with your oncologist, and/or work with a trained fitness professional who can help you devise a safe and effective regimen.
Unfortunately, many public health guidelines still focus only on the aerobic aspects of exercise, and this exclusive focus can lead to imbalances that may actually prevent optimal health.
It's important to include a large variety of techniques in your exercise routine, such as strength training, aerobics, core-building activities, and stretching. Most important of all, however, is to make sure you include high-intensity, burst-type exercise, once or twice a week, in which you raise your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold for 20 to 30 seconds, and then you recover for 90 seconds. These exercises can increase your body's natural production of human growth hormone.
Compelling Evidence in Support of Exercise as Cancer Prophylactic
In the 1980s the notion that exercise may help prevent cancer started getting its due attention. According to a study published 12 years ago in the British Medical Journal,3 which explored the relationship between exercise and cancer, exercise affects several biological functions that may directly influence your cancer risk. These effects include changes in:
Cardiovascular capacity
Energy balance
Pulmonary capacity
Immune function
Bowel motility
Antioxidant defense
Hormone levels
DNA repair
In 2003, a paper in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise4 reported that "more than a hundred epidemiologic studies on the role of physical activity and cancer prevention have been published." The authors noted that:
"The data are clear in showing that physically active men and women have about a 30-40 percent reduction in the risk of developing colon cancer, compared with inactive persons … With regard to breast cancer, there is reasonably clear evidence that physically active women have about a 20-30 percent reduction in risk, compared with inactive women. It also appears that 30-60 min·d-1 of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity is needed to decrease the risk of breast cancer, and that there is likely a dose-response relation."
Cancer Groups Recommend Making Exercise Part of Standard Care
In recent years, a number of cancer groups have started taking exercise seriously. For example, a recent report issued by the British organization Macmillan Cancer Support5 argues that exercise really should be part of standard cancer care. It recommends that all patients getting cancer treatment should be told to engage in moderate-intensity exercise for two and a half hours every week, stating that the advice to rest and take it easy after treatment is an outdated view.
The organization offers loads of helpful information about the benefits of exercise for cancer patients on their website, and also has a number of videos on the subject, available on their YouTube channel.6
Professor Robert Thomas discusses the benefits of physical activity during after cancer treatment.
According to Ciaran Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support:7
"Cancer patients would be shocked if they knew just how much of a benefit physical activity could have on their recovery and long term health, in some cases reducing their chances of having to go through the grueling ordeal of treatment all over again..."
Indeed, the reduction in risk for recurrence is quite impressive. Previous research has shown that breast and colon cancer patients who exercise regularly have half the recurrence rate than non-exercisers.8 Macmillan Cancer Support also notes that exercise can help you to mitigate some of the common side effects of conventional cancer treatment, including:
Reduce fatigue and improve your energy levels
Manage stress, anxiety, low mood or depression
Improve bone health
Improve heart health (some chemotherapy drugs and radiotherapy can cause heart problems later in life)
Build muscle strength, relieve pain and improve range of movement
Maintain a healthy weight
Sleep better
Improve your appetite
Prevent constipation
Exercise Tips for Cancer Patients
I would strongly recommend you read up on my Peak Fitness program, which includes high-intensity exercises that can reduce your exercise time while actually improving your benefits.
Now, if you have cancer or any other chronic disease, you will of course need to tailor your exercise routine to your individual circumstances, taking into account your fitness level and current health. Often, you will be able to take part in a regular exercise program -- one that involves a variety of exercises like strength training, core-building, stretching, aerobic and anaerobic -- with very little changes necessary. However, at times you may find you need to exercise at a lower intensity, or for shorter durations.
Always listen to your body and if you feel you need a break, take time to rest.
Just remember that exercising for just a few minutes a day is better than not exercising at all, and you'll likely find that your stamina increases and you're able to complete more challenging workouts with each passing day. In the event you are suffering from a very weakened immune system, you may want to exercise at home instead of visiting a public gym. But remember that exercise will ultimately help to boost your immune system, so it's very important to continue with your program, even if you suffer from chronic illness or cancer.
That said, if your body will not allow you to exercise, either due to pain or worsening of your underlying condition, then you have no practical option but to honor your body's signals and exercise less. Even though your body desperately needs the exercise to improve, you will only get worse if you violate your current limitations.
Protein Intake Also Crucial for Cancers
I recently interviewed Dr. Ron Rosedale for nearly fifteen hours and i hope to be able to start posting those articles very soon. He is one of the first physicians in the U.S. that started measuring leptin levels clinically and was far ahead of the curve on this one. In our interview, he helped me understand the major importance that excessive protein intake can have on cancer growth.
The mTOR pathway is short for mammalian target of rapamycin. This pathway is ancient but relatively recently appreciated and has only been known for less than 20 years. Odds are very high your doctor was never taught this is medical school and isn't even aware of it. Many new cancer drugs are actually being targeted to use this pathway. Drugs using this pathway have also been given to animals to radically extend their lifespan. But you don't have to use drugs to get this pathway to work for you.
You can biohack your body and merely restrict your protein intake and replace the decreased protein with healthy fats as this will provide virtually identical benefits as these dangerous and expensive drugs.
Eating excessive protein can be an additional synergistically powerful mechanism. Dr. Rosedale believes that when you consume protein in levels higher than one gram of protein per kilogram of LEAN body mass you can activate the mTOR pathway, which will radically increase your risk of cancers. It is very easy to consume excess protein and my guess is that most people reading this are. I know I was, and as a result of this new insight I have reduced my protein intake by about half.
To determine your lean body mass find out your percent body fat and subtract from 100. So if you are 20% body fat you would have 80% lean body mass. Just multiply that times your current weight to get lean body mass. For most people this means restricting protein intake from 35 to 75 grams. Pregnant women and those working out extensively need about 25% more protein though.
Of course when you reduce protein you need to replace it with other calories, so the key is to replace the lost calories with high-quality fats such as avocados, butter, coconut oil, olives, olive oil, nuts and eggs. It is also very helpful to avoid eating anything for three hours before going to bed as this allows you to have relatively low blood sugars while you are sleeping. This is another good trick to move your body to fat burning mode.
Nearly everyone is primarily in carb burning mode because of the amount of carbohydrate content that they consume. The beauty of shifting over to fat burning mode is that it virtually eliminates hunger. Intermittent fasting is one way to help achieve this, but radically cutting back on non-vegetable carbs is also very important. Coconut oil is particularly useful to use in making the transition to fat burning mode as it is primarily short and medium chain fats which break down very quickly and can be used as an energy source which is important for countering the decreased energy and other physical challenges that many encounter in the several weeks it typically takes to make the transition to fat burning mode .
Cancer Prevention Begins with Your Lifestyle Choices
While exercise is an important facet of cancer prevention and treatment, it's certainly not the only one. I believe the vast majority of all cancers could be prevented by strictly applying the healthy lifestyle recommendations below:
Avoid sugar, especially fructose. All forms of sugar are detrimental to health in general and promote cancer. Fructose, however, is clearly one of the most harmful and should be avoided as much as possible.
Optimize your vitamin D. Vitamin D influences virtually every cell in your body and is one of nature's most potent cancer fighters. Vitamin D is actually able to enter cancer cells and trigger apoptosis (cell death). If you have cancer, your vitamin D level should be between 70 and 100 ng/ml. Vitamin D works synergistically with every cancer treatment I'm aware of, with no adverse effects. I suggest you try watching my one-hour free lecture on vitamin D to learn more.
Limit your protein. Newer research has emphasized the importance of the mTOR pathways. When these are active, cancer growth is accelerated. The best way to quiet this pathway is by limiting your protein to one gram of protein per kilogram of lean body weight, or roughly a bit less than half a gram of protein per every pound of lean body weight. For most people this ranges between 40 and 70 grams of protein a day, which is about 2/3 to half of what they are currently eating.
Avoid unfermented soy products. Unfermented soy is high in plant estrogens, or phytoestrogens, also known as isoflavones. In some studies, soy appears to work in concert with human estrogen to increase breast cell proliferation, which increases the chances for mutations and cancerous cells.
Improve your insulin and leptin receptor sensitivity. The best way to do this is by avoiding sugar and grains and restricting carbs to mostly fiber vegetables. Also making sure you are exercising, especially with Peak Fitness.
Maintain a healthy body weight. This will come naturally when you begin eating right for your nutritional type and exercising. It's important to lose excess body fat because fat produces estrogen.
Drink a pint to a quart of organic green vegetable juice daily. Please review my juicing instructions for more detailed information.
Get plenty of high quality animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. Omega-3 deficiency is a common underlying factor for cancer.
Curcumin. This is the active ingredient in turmeric and in high concentrations can be very useful adjunct in the treatment of cancer. For example, it has demonstrated major therapeutic potential in preventing breast cancer metastasis.9 It's important to know that curcumin is generally not absorbed that well, so I've provided several absorption tips here.
Avoid drinking alcohol, or at least limit your alcoholic drinks to one per day.
Avoid electromagnetic fields as much as possible. Even electric blankets can increase your cancer risk.
Avoid synthetic hormone replacement therapy, especially if you have risk factors for breast cancer. Breast cancer is an estrogen-related cancer, and according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer rates for women dropped in tandem with decreased use of hormone replacement therapy. (There are similar risks for younger women who use oral contraceptives. Birth control pills, which are also comprised of synthetic hormones, have been linked to cervical and breast cancers.)
If you are experiencing excessive menopausal symptoms, you may want to consider bioidentical hormone replacement therapy instead, which uses hormones that are molecularly identical to the ones your body produces and do not wreak havoc on your system. This is a much safer alternative.
Avoid BPA, phthalates and other xenoestrogens. These are estrogen-like compounds that have been linked to increased breast cancer risk
Make sure you're not iodine deficient, as there's compelling evidence linking iodine deficiency with certain forms of cancer. Dr. David Brownstein10, author of the book Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without It, is a proponent of iodine for breast cancer. It actually has potent anticancer properties and has been shown to cause cell death in breast and thyroid cancer cells.
For more information, I recommend reading Dr. Brownstein's book. I have been researching iodine for some time ever since I interviewed Dr. Brownstein as I do believe that the bulk of what he states is spot on. However, I am not at all convinced that his dosage recommendations are correct. I believe they are too high.
Avoid charring your meats. Charcoal or flame broiled meat is linked with increased breast cancer risk. Acrylamide—a carcinogen created when starchy foods are baked, roasted or fried—has been found to increase cancer risk as well.
About Dr Kevin Lau
Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition. He is a member of International Society On Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment (SOSORT), the leading international society on conservative treatment of spinal deformities. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: http://www.hiyh.info.
