Chinese Medicine which includes acupuncture, herbal medicine and nutrition can often treat conditions concerning poor egg quality. Often when a woman is labeled with poor egg quality they have other signs of poor circulation such as cold extremities, low energy and maybe skin conditions. Most often the cause does not lie with the eggs, but the overall health of the body and poor circulation to the uterus and ovaries.

The quality of the eggs depend on the DNA and the environment in which they are developing. The lifecycle of an egg is upwards of 150 days, but the 3 months prior to ovulation is the most critical time of cell division. During this critical time we want to increase blood flow to the ovaries and work on getting supportive nutrition to the body. This may include herbal medicine and nutraceuticals such as minerals and vitamins if necessary. We also want to make sure we aren’t causing additional inflammation in the body (and thus preventing reproductive blood flow) by eating foods which are causing immune reactions.

Acupuncture can increase blood flow to the reproductive organs which can thereby provide more blood flow to the ovaries and improve egg quality over time. With any fertility treatment strategy besides using Chinese Medicine (acupuncture, herbs, shiatsu) we always want to make sure nutrition is sound. Nutraceuticals such as powerful antioxidants like ubiquinol and alpha lipoic acid can help reduce an inflammation response. Blood tests can uncover and food sensitivity issues.

In addition to the services we offer your home treatments of castor oil packs on the abdomen are used to increase blood flow to the uterus and ovaries. Self massage and visualization are also important tools and we will provide information and resources on these techniques.

Each patient will follow a different treatment protocol based on their Chinese Medical Diagnosis. Some women conceive naturally after a couple of months of treatments for poor egg quality. But many go on to have a successful IVF or IUI as the chances of conceiving improve greatly after a treatment protocol.

Yours In Health,

George Mandler CNS LDN LicAc

There are several studies showing that maternal diet plays an important role in the health of offspring:

• Vegetables are beneficial to fetal growth
• Fish oil during pregnancy can reduce asthma in offspring
• Fish oil during pregnancy and lactation reduces risk of infant allergies
• Fast food negates breast feeding benefit

An interesting study was just published to determine if a particular strain of probiotic  supplementation can reduce the incidence of eczema in infants that are born into a family history of allergies and eczema.  There were 68 infant/mother pairs separated into a study group receiving the probiotic and a control group receiving a placebo. Read the rest of this entry

Today I was reminded about cinnamon’s incredible health benefits when reading a newly released study about cinnamon’s effect on blood glucose in diabetics. People with diabetes have trouble controlling their blood sugar levels so using insulin helps reduce the blood sugar and the insulin spike. Research has shown that cinnamon imparts multiple health benefits (as do just about all spices).

A few of cinnamon’s health benefits include:

• Reduces LDL in people with Type II diabetes
• Reduces free radical damage that can cause cardiovascular disease
• Lowers blood sugar even in healthy subjects.  (so great to add on sweets!)

Read the rest of this entry

More than a decade ago (even just a few years ago) alternative MDs that used supplements and suggested patients take Vitamin D above the RDA of 400IU/day were called quacks.    The inaccurate ‘truth’ stated over and over again is that above 400IU/day you can get Vitamin D toxicity.    Read the rest of this entry

I know so many friends, especially ones with young kids, that have such a fear of sunlight. We need sun and it is my belief that children need to be in the sun, not coated with chemicals that are toxic and cause cancer! Yes sunscreen can cause cancer because we are lathering on chemicals that then cause oxidative damage to our DNA. The current medical thinking is that the most important reason we want to be in the sun is to increase our Vitamin D levels. Michael Holick MD a researcher at Boston University (an alma mata of mine) has a great presentation about Vitamin D and sunlight. Read the rest of this entry

A great website for determining the pesticide load on foods and what foods to by organic is called “What’s On My Food”.

From the website:

What’s On My Food? is designed to allow you a deep look into the USDA PDP results, linked up with all the information on pesticides that we have compiled over many years of studying them. The data and search functionality here allow you to see what levels of pesticide residues are on your food, in what combinations, and with what associated health risks.

We begin with the tests on tens of thousands of samples that USDA has performed as part of the Pesticide Data Program. Between 1992 and 2007, 89 different foods have been tested for pesticide residues. USDA often tests the same foods in different years. Since older tests aren’t as relevant for the food you eat today, this website contains data only for the test years 1999 to 2007.

The USDA test results in the database can be searched for three kinds of information:

1. How often is a pesticide residue found in a food?
2. On average, how much of a pesticide residue is found in a food?
3. What is the maximum amount of a pesticide residue in a food?

Ideally, there would be hundreds of tests for every combination of food and residue, but in practice there are not always that many. When there are very few measurements, the queries become unreliable. To only show reliable results, when there are fewer than five measurements, the What’s On My Food? website puts “N/A” instead of a number.

What’s On My Food? also allows you to compare organic, conventional, domestic and imported test results. USDA has some other categories in addition to organic and conventional, but there are so few tests in those categories that we have not included them.

Background: Recent information suggests that the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) supplement, enhanced intake of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and reducing dietary glycemic index (dGI) are protective against advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods: Dietary information was collected at baseline and fundus photograph grades were obtained during the 8-y trial period from 2,924 eligible AREDS AMD trial participants. Using eye as the unit of analysis and multi-failure Cox proportional-hazards regression, we related the risk of AMD progression to dietary intake in the four arms of the trial.

Results: Independent of AREDS supplementation, higher intakes of DHA (? 64.0 vs. < 26.0 mg/d) (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.57, 0.94), EPA (? 42.3 vs. < 12.7 mg/d) (HR = 0.74, 95% CI, 0.59, 0.94), and lower dGI (dGI, < 75.2 vs. ? 81.5) (HR = 0.76, 95% CI, 0.60, 0.96) were associated with lower risk for progression to advanced AMD. Participants consuming lower dGI and higher DHA or EPA had the lowest risk (P for synergistic interaction < 0.001). Only participants in the ?placebo? (P for antagonistic interaction = 0.006) benefited from higher DHA intake against early AMD progression (HR = 0.58, 95% CI, 0.37, 0.92; Ptrend = 0.01).

Conclusions: Our findings show an association of consuming a diet rich in DHA with lower progression of early AMD. In addition to the AREDS supplement, lower dGI with higher intakes of DHA and EPA was associated with reduced progression to advanced AMD.

Read entire article here. (subscription required for full text)

Maternal intake of omega-3 (omega-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) during pregnancy has decreased, possibly contributing to a current increased risk of childhood allergy. Aim: To describe the effects of maternal omega-3 long-chain PUFA supplementation during pregnancy and lactation on the incidence of allergic disease in infancy. Methods: One hundred and forty-five pregnant women, affected by allergy themselves or having a husband or previous child with allergies, were included in a randomized placebo-controlled trial. Daily maternal supplementation with either 1.6 g eicosapentaenoic acid and 1.1 g docosahexaenoic acid or placebo was given from the 25(th) gestational week to average 3-4 months of breastfeeding. Skin prick tests, detection of circulating specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies and clinical examinations of the infants were performed. Results: The period prevalence of food allergy was lower in the omega-3 group (1/52, 2%) compared to the placebo group (10/65, 15%, p < 0.05) as well as the incidence of IgE-associated eczema (omega-3 group: 4/52, 8%; placebo group: 15/63, 24%, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Maternal omega-3 fatty acid supplementation may decrease the risk of food allergy and IgE-associated eczema during the first year of life in infants with a family history of allergic disease.

Read the entire article here.

We put a tremendous amount of trust in certain brands of foods.   Advertising sells.  Most of us believe that the OJ we drink in the morning is giving us a good start to our day packed with Vitamin C.   A few years ago a study from the American Dietetic Association showed that packaged OJ contains very little vitamin C after about 7 days. Recently a new book was published called Squeezed: What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice by Alissa Hamilton. Read the rest of this entry

Jefferey Smith the author of Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roullette recently published an article below about a recent conference of the Amercian Academy of Environmental Medicine.
The article below can be found here. Read the rest of this entry