I don’t believe there is any greater insidious threat to our health than genetically modified foods (GE or GMO).  Think about what it means.  You are taking a gene that is in one species (say a lectin) and splicing it into species that may not even be in the same family.  What will the body do with it?   All one has to do is read about the immune systems response to oral antigens to know we are in for a potential catastrophic disaster.

This is not selective breeding.  I hear pro GMO folks say well ‘we are just speeding up evolution.’  That statement is a fallacy as evolution is a process of slow change.  Our immune systems and digestive systems are not changing and adapting along with the GMO foods

The danger of GMO foods trumps bisphenol-A (BPA) worries.  It trumps chemical toxins accumulating in the fat of livestock.   It is far more disastrous than aeriel spraying pesticides on crops.  All of the aforementioned issues can somehow be contained, so they are not the threat that GMOs pose. Once GMO food gets loose in the environment it can cross pollinate into organic food (which it has already done).   And once GMOs cross pollinate then food as our bodies know it can become an immunological nightmare.  Physicians that deal with allergies, hypersensitivities and environmental illnesses are very concerned about GMOs.     Click here for a study demonstrating GMOs inducing food hypersensitivities in mice (i.e. inflammatory mediator release and a loss of oral tolerance to common foods).

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(From HealthDay News) — Pregnant women with low levels of vitamin D may be putting their children at risk for language difficulties, Australian researchers report.

Taking vitamin D supplements during pregnancy may relieve the problem, they suggest.

“Adequate vitamin D levels among pregnant women may be important for the optimal development of their baby,” said lead researcher Andrew Whitehouse, an associate professor and reader in developmental psychopathology at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research at the University of Western Australia. “However, it is important for the findings of this study to be replicated before any strong conclusions are made.”

Vitamin D levels among pregnant women have decreased steadily over the past 20 years, most likely because of less exposure to sunlight, Whitehouse said.

“The effects of lower maternal vitamin D levels on the developing offspring is not fully understood,” he said. “The current study found that women with vitamin D insufficiency during pregnancy have an increased risk of having a child with developmental language difficulties.” Read the rest of this entry

Since Valentine’s Day is upon us it is a good time to bring up chocolate and the moral consequences that goes along with purchasing the majority of chocolate we find on the shelves. Certainly chocolate has a plethora of benefits as can easily be found in research studies. These are often because of the powerful plant chemicals known as polyphenols which are made by the plant to protect itself, however us humans can ingest polyphenols for nutritional benefit.   A truly polyphenol rich dessert would be a dark chocolate with Shiraz red wine which will warm and protect your heart.

But the dark side of chocolate is where does it come from?   CNN did a feature a couple of weeks ago looking into the cocoa slave trade, click here for the link as it is well worth a conscience chocolate lover’s time. (will open in a new window/tab). Read the rest of this entry

Yesterday I watched a phenomenal webinar on the effects of food chemicals and child behavior. It was entitled “Driven to Distraction: Food, chemicals and child behavior” and hosted by an organization that is worth knowing, Healthy Food Action.   The webinar was recorded and they promise to have it up soon, once they do I’ll post a link.

Today a video with a similar theme was posted on a Functional Medicine listserv I am on. If you want to see digestion of wholesome foods vs. processed foods you need to check out this video. Amazing how long long those Ramen noodles are intact in the stomach. I guess we can also just use a compost bin to compare processed vs. whole instead of expensive technology.

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As we age we lose our ability to properly absorb B12.  There is something called Intrinsic Factor which is needed for B12 to be properly absorbed.  Therefore if we take oral supplements of B12 that we swallow they aren’t doing us much good either because the intrinsic factor is not available to absorb what is in a vitamin pill.    That is why many physicians use B12 injections.   In my office I use sublingual B12 that is absorbed through the capillaries under the tongue directly into the blood stream.   Anyone who is severely B12 deficient should use injections to get their levels up.   But really anyone over 60 might want to get a complete blood count (CBC) to determine if they might be B12 deficient.   If you see your (Mean Corpuscular Volume) MCV greater than around a 95 and your Hematocrit (HCT) and Red Blood Cell Count (RBC) on the low end of normal you may be B12 insufficient.   (A blood test for B12 directly is not a good measurement of B12 status.  Better measurements are Methylmalonic Acid (MMA) and Homocysteine which is a measure of folate status.) Read the rest of this entry

I specialize in food sensitivities where certain foods and chemicals are tested for a loss of oral tolerance (a fancy way of saying food sensitivity).   I’ve seen certain chemicals cause headaches in people.  Today I had a patient that determined by a methodical food challenge/washout process that she can eat a non-organic apple only if it is washed very well, otherwise she will get a headache.  Although not certain we can assume it is the pesticide residues on the skin of the unwashed apple as many people are reactive to chemicals. (and do not realize it!)

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Acupuncture and in particular Chinese Medicine is a proven technique for increasing conception rates.   Massachusetts is one of 16 states that require insurance companies to cover ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies) which is a cost we all incur.  The cost for a single IVF cycle is at minimum $10,000.  The goal of ARTs is to have a baby, but ignores the health of the mother and father.     Read the rest of this entry

Acupuncture is a great adjunct therapy for cancer treatments to heal ameliorate the side effects.  Here is an article on its effectiveness for dry mouth caused by radiation.

HOUSTON – When given alongside radiation therapy for head and neck cancer, acupuncture has shown for the first time to reduce the debilitating side effect of xerostomia, according to new research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center.

The study, published in the journal Cancer, reported findings from the first randomized controlled trial of acupuncture for the prevention of xerostomia.

Xerostomia, or severe dry mouth, is characterized by reduced salivary flow, which commonly affects patients receiving radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. Most current treatments are palliative and offer limited benefit, according to Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., professor in MD Anderson’s Departments of General Oncology and Behavioral Science and director of the Integrative Medicine Program.

The condition impairs quality of life for patients, as it creates difficulties eating, speaking and sleeping, while also increasing the risk for oral infections.

“There have been a number of small studies examining the benefits of acupuncture after xerostomia develops, but no one previously examined if it could prevent xerostomia,” said Cohen, who is also the study’s principal investigator. “We found incorporating acupuncture alongside radiotherapy diminished the incidence and severity of this side effect.”

Cohen and his colleagues examined 86 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, treated at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center. Forty patients were randomized to acupuncture and 46 to the standard of care. Those in the treatment arm received acupuncture therapy three times per week during the seven-week course of radiotherapy. Patients were evaluated before radiotherapy, weekly during radiotherapy, and then again one and six months later.

The results were based on data derived from two self-report questionnaires and measuring actual saliva flow. Patients completed the Xerostomia Questionnaire (XQ), an eight-item survey which assessed symptoms consistent with the condition. XQ scores under 30 corresponded to mild or no symptoms of xerostomia.

The second measure, MD Anderson Symptom Inventory Head and Neck (MDASI-HN), ranked the severity of cancer-related symptoms, other than xerostomia, and their interference with quality of life. The team also measured saliva flow rates using standardized sialometry collection techniques.

Benefits Noticed Quickly

“What was quite remarkable was that we started to see group differences as early as three weeks into radiotherapy for the development of xerostomia, cancer-related symptoms that interfere with quality of life, and saliva flow rates – an important objective measure,” said Zhiqiang Meng, M.D., Ph.D., co-principle investigator of the study and deputy chair of the Department of Integrative Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center.

The largest group differences in XQ scores were seen by the end of radiotherapy, but the differences persisted over time. By one month after the end of radiotherapy, 54.3 percent of the acupuncture group reported XQ scores greater than 30, compared to the control group at 86.1 percent. By six months after radiotherapy, the numbers dropped to 24.1 percent in the acupuncture group and 63.6 percent of the control group still reporting symptoms of xerostomia. Saliva flow rates were also greater in the acupuncture group, starting at three weeks into radiotherapy and persisting through the one and six month follow-up.

Acupuncture also helped cancer-related symptoms, other than xerostomia, as measured by the MDASI-HN questionnaire, with differences that emerged in week three and continued through six months.

“The medical implications are quite profound in terms of quality of life, because while chronic dry mouth may sound benign, it has a significant impact on sleeping, eating and speaking,” Cohen said. “Without saliva, there can be an increase in microbial growth, possible bone infection and irreversible nutritional deficits.”

Additional studies are needed to determine the mechanisms for the benefits of acupuncture, and while the study didn’t examine this issue, Cohen said it may have an impact on local blood flux, specifically at the parotid gland.

Further research is planned, including a large trial conducted at MD Anderson in collaboration with Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center. Both centers will enroll 150 patients undergoing radiotherapy for head and neck cancer: 50 will receive acupuncture, 50 sham acupuncture and 50 will be enrolled in a control group. Researchers will also examine saliva constituents and a number of other measures to better determine the mechanisms of acupuncture.

In addition to Cohen, other authors on the study include, from MD Anderson: M. Kay Garcia, Dr. P.H., Integrative Medicine Program; Joseph Chiang, M.D., Department of Anesthesiology; Mark Chambers, D.M.D, Department of Dental Oncology; David Rosenthal, M.D., Department of Radiation Oncology; J. Lynn Palmer, Ph.D., Department of Biostatistics; Amy Spelman, Ph.D., and Qi Wei, M.S., both in the Integrative Medicine Program. From Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Hospital: Huiting Peng, M.D., Ying Zhang, Luming Liu, M.D., Ph.D., all in Department of Integrative Oncology, Chaosu Hu, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Radiation Oncology. From Fudan University College of Public Health: Qi Zhao, Ph.D. and Genming Zhao, Ph.D., both in Department of Statistics.

Support for the study was provided, in part, through grants from the National Cancer Institute and the Chinese Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality.

About MD Anderson
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ranks as one of the world’s most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. MD Anderson is one of only 40 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute. For eight of the past 10 years, including 2011, MD Anderson has ranked No. 1 in cancer care in “America’s Best Hospitals,” a survey published annually in U.S. News & World Report.