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Parents and schools are battling a pesky parasite that won't seem to go away.

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This Week's NutraBytes!


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Dietary supplements essential to health of seniors


A rapidly growing body of evidence shows that dietary supplements significantly improve the health of senior citizens. Conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, declines in memory, decreased immunity to illness and other maladies once viewed as normal signs of aging have now been linked to deficiencies in vitamins and minerals.

Three recent clinical studies show dietary supplements can treat nutritional deficiencies in the elderly and boost their immune systems, combat short-term memory loss, reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and improve overall health.

In the September 2001 issue of Nutrition, the findings of a yearlong study of 86 persons over the age of 65 show that a supplement with moderate amounts of 18 vitamins, minerals and trace elements improves short-term memory and overall cognitive abilities of seniors and greatly strengthens their immune systems. The study also suggests that supplements may prevent serious neurological damage and disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

A separate study in the May 2001 issue of Neurology links poor nutrition to Alzheimer’s disease. This study followed 370 older adults aged 75 and over for three years and found that seniors with low blood levels of folate and vitamin B12 have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

And a study published in the August 2001 issue of Nutrition found that nutritional deficiencies greatly increase with age and concluded that supplement use would eliminate these deficiencies in the elderly. Researchers at the University of Iowa studied 420 persons over the age of 78 and found 80 percent of those seniors consumed inadequate amounts of four or more nutrients. Eight-three percent consumed too little vitamin D and 63 percent did not consume enough calcium, both necessary for preventing osteoporosis and fractures and preserving bone mass. Seventy-five percent reported not getting enough folate, important for heart disease and stroke prevention.

Source: Dietary Supplement Education Alliance


New legislation introduced to allow health plan coverage of dietary supplements


At a time when the majority of Americans use dietary supplements to improve their health and well being, the U.S. Senate is taking some new steps to ensure that vitamins, minerals, herbs and special supplements, like prescription drugs, will be covered by health insurance plans.

Through the new bill Dietary Supplement Tax Fairness Act of 2001 (S.B. 1330) sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), dietary supplements, medical foods and foods for special dietary needs would be treated as medical expenses under the U.S. tax code. That means when these products are offered through a health insurance plan, the costs would be tax deductible for employers and excluded from taxable income for employees.

Source: Dietary Supplement Education Alliance


Leading reference book sorts through hype surrounding supplements



The publishers of the Physicians’ Desk Reference (PDR), the leading drug reference for healthcare professionals and consumers, have published a 700-page reference manual that summarizes and analyzes the research data behind nutritional supplements and weights whether or not the health claims are valid. The reference book, which costs $59.95, is available at bookstores and online outlets.

According to the PDR for Nutritional Supplements, most nutritional supplements that claim to promote weight loss, improve sex life or increase athletic endurance don’t work and some may even be harmful. Others show real promise for a range of conditions, including cancer, osteoarthritis, cardiovascular disease, macular degeneration and Alzheimer’s disease.

Included in the reference book are indications for usage, pharmacology, mechanism of action, research summaries, contraindications, precautions, adverse reactions, dosing, over dosage, potential interactions, available formulations and literature citations for hundreds of substances.

Source: Thomson Healthcare


Hypertension Drugs May Slow Diabetic Kidney Disease



Results from a trio of studies of nearly 4,000 diabetic patients suggest treatment with the blood pressure drugs Avapro or Cozaar can protect kidneys and reduce the need for dialysis or kidney transplant. The only treatments for kidney failure are dialysis or kidney transplant.

The three new studies suggest diabetics taking the hypertension medications from a class of drugs called angiotensin II receptor blockers or ARBS have a 20 percent reduction in death from kidney disease and a 28 percent reduction in kidney failure, even if they have some evidence of early kidney damage.

The studies are reported in the Sept. 20 New England Journal of Medicine. About 5 million Americans have type 2 or adult onset diabetes, the leading cause of kidney failure. Almost all of these patients also have high blood pressure, which also is a contributing factor in kidney failure.

Source: United Press International, Sept. 20, 2001

Researchers Show Better Treatment for Depression Is Cost-Effective



People suffering from clinical depression can recover more quickly if their primary care providers and mental health specialists receive training that shows them how to work with patients, diagnose and properly treat depression, according to a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Over a two-year period, the program reduced the duration of participating patients' depression by well over a month. The training program cost less than $500 per depressed patient and increased the time that the depressed patients spent employed during that two-year period by about four workweeks.

The study's two-year data are being published in the Sept. 19, 2001, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Source: National Institutes of Health

Surgeons Perform First Trans-Atlantic Operation



French surgeons have performed the first trans-oceanic, robot-assisted operation on a human. In an article published in the Sept. 27 issue of Nature, the doctors describe the procedure carried out by New York-based surgeons on a 68-year-old woman who had her gall bladder removed in Strasbourg, France.

The surgeons used remote-controlled robotic “arms” to remove the woman’s gall bladder by laparoscopy -- a minimally invasive surgery that employs small incisions and video technology that allows doctors to view internal organs.

In this case, the surgeons were on one side of the Atlantic, the patient on the other. The New York doctors operated a control console linked by high-speed fiber-optic connections to a robotic system in Strasbourg, more than 4,000 miles away. On-site surgeons stood by to ensure the patient’s safety.

Following the roughly 1-hour procedure, “the post-operative period was uneventful and the patient was discharged 48 hours later,” according to the Nature report. Such so-called “telesurgery” has been performed before, but until now “the feasible distance for remote telesurgery was considered to be limited to a few hundred miles by the time lag of existing telecommunication lines,” the surgeons note in the report.

Source: Reuters Health, Sept. 19, 2001

Sports-supplement dangers lurk



Americans spent an estimated $1.4 billion on sports supplements in 1999, hoping that the pills, drinks, and powders would help them bulk up, slim down or compete more effectively. But the few good scientific studies available on these “dietary” supplements suggest that they either are ineffective or, at best, produce only slight changes in performance. More disturbing, they can contain powerful and potentially harmful substances such as:

Androstenedione, which can upset the body’s hormonal balance when it metabolizes into testosterone and estrogen and may cause premature puberty and stunted growth in adolescents.

Creatine, a substance produced by the body that can help generate brief surges of muscle energy during certain types of athletic performance. It may also cause kidney problems in susceptible individuals.

Ephedra, an herbal stimulant that acts like an amphetamine (“speed”) and that some investigators hold responsible for dozens of deaths and permanent injuries.

Nutrition Business Journal, a trade publication that tracks the industry, estimates that 4 percent of American adults have taken a sports supplement at least once, including 1.2 million who use the products regularly.

Source: Consumer Reports Online, September 2001


New anthrax vaccine supply likely to be delayed



The sole U.S. manufacturer of the anthrax vaccine will not be able to release new doses of the product until well into next year unless the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) speeds up its review of the company’s facilities.

Lansing, Michigan-based Bioport has been cited by the FDA for a number of manufacturing infractions. The firm recently completed a top-to-bottom, multimillion-dollar renovation of its manufacturing plant. Under government regulations, the overhauled facility must be inspected and cleared by the FDA before lots produced there can be released for use.

Before last week’s terrorist attacks, Bioport’s inability to release new doses of the vaccine had caused some concern and led to cutbacks in the military’s vaccination program. But in light of the nation’s newly waged “war on terrorism” -- which could involve engaging adversaries who possess biological weapons -- the problem seems even more pressing

Source: Reuters Health, Sept. 20, 2001


Another reason to take a bite of an apple


Apple lovers may one day have less reason to fear the dentist, according to scientists in the United Kingdom. Dental researchers at Guy’s Hospital in London have successfully identified a peptide, a small part of a protein that prevents tooth-decaying bacteria from sticking to teeth. Using the hospital’s research and the tools of biotechnology, a professor at the Horticulture Research Institute in Kent, England, is researching ways to introduce this peptide into apples.

The apple, already an excellent source of fiber, vitamins and minerals, is ideal for delivering the protein to children, who are more susceptible to cavities than adults. The professor at HRI is trying to apply the same technology to strawberries and hopes that the science will someday encourage people to eat more fruit for a healthy diet and a great smile.

Sources: David James, Horticulture Research Institute in Kent, England, University of Illinois Extension, 2001, American Dental Association, 2001.

DSN rates these books reliable!BOOK REVIEWS

The hunt is never-ending for health conscious consumers, constantly on the look out for the next best product that will boost their energy, help them run another 2 ¼ miles and pump them up like Arnold. Embedded in that quest also is a desire to have more information to help them get, if not the perfect body, a balanced, healthy body. After all, this is the information age. DSN has selected a few books to slightly quench the thirst for good, reliable information.


These books are on DSNs'

The Diet Cure: The 8-Step Program to Rebalance Your Body Chemistry and End Food Cravings, Weight Problems and Mood Swings - Now by Julia Ross

Suffer from binge eating, mood swings, sugar cravings or food allergies? Then this may be the book for you. Ross offers an easy-to-follow program that doesn't require going on a strict diet.

Ross writes that years of dieting "leave us in worse shape than we were in when we started. Our health, energy, mood and weight have all deteriorated because of dieting. And yet we can't quit."

The book also contains charts, work sheets, meal plans, recipes and case histories. It allows you to customize your own program to achieve the goal of rebalancing your body chemistry and attaining your ideal weight for good.


The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet: The Powerful Foods, Supplements and Drugs That Can Save Your Life by Dr. Bob Arnot

Chief medical correspondent for NBC News, Dr. Bob Arnot uses years of extensive research done on breast cancer to develop a dietary plan for both women who are most at risk for cancer and those who want to stay risk-free.

Based on that research, Arnot "found dazzling new techniques for probing the nutritional secrets of a breast cancer prevention diet."

He believes that he and his researchers have uncovered the key elements of such a diet.

"The diet is everything we imagined it could be and more-capable of quickly and effectively changing the actual structure of the breasts, capable of changing the flow in the body of hormones that induce breast cancer from the very first day," he writes.

Arnot even provides dietary guidelines for your young daughters so they can avoid this cancer all together.

Readers of the book discover that "DNA damage appears to accumulate most rapidly from menarche (the first menstruation) to time of first birth" and "simple dietary modification may contribute to delay in menarche and substantial reduction in lifetime risk of breast cancer."

Dr. Arnot encourages women to think of foods as drugs-without the side effects.


The Alternative Medicine Ratings Guide by Dr. Steven Bratman

Confused by all the alternative therapies out there and not sure which work? Dr. Steven Bratman has brought together an expert panel of alternative health practitioners to rank the most effective treatments for 85 common health problems.

Which alternative therapy works best to lower cholesterol? Garlic, inositol hexaniacinate, or fiber supplements?

How about the best alternative treatment for chronic low-back pain? Is it acupuncture, osteopathic methods, or chiropractic?

And what about insomnia? Do you use melatonin, St. John's Wort or Chinese medicine?

The 392-page book covers: food supplements, herbal treatments, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, mind/body work, chiropractic, message therapy, vitamins, naturopathic methods, and enzymes.

It also includes sections on exercise, emotional factors, and medical techniques for prevention and wellness.


Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Approaches to Cancer by Michael Lerner

Written by one of the country's leading authorities on alternative and complementary cancer treatments, Choices in Healing is designed for the cancer patient or health professional who seeks a comprehensive overview of the available choices, both in treatments and in living with cancer.

Choices in Healing offers valuable information and guidance for the whole life cycle of cancer -- from the initial shock of diagnosis to decisions about choosing a physician and conventional therapies, selecting complementary therapies, coping with treatment, and the art of living fully with the possibility of recurrence.

There are detailed explanations and evaluations of a wide range of complementary therapy programs, including spiritual and psychological approaches, nutritional therapies, physical therapies, pharmacological therapies, and traditional medicines from around the world. There are sections on prayer and other forms of spiritual healing as well as psychotherapy, support groups, visual imagery, hypnosis, massage, therapeutic touch, yoga, Qi Gong, macrobiotic, acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicines and numerous other unconventional therapies used by American cancer patients.

With an unusual combination of compassion and objectivity, Michael Lerner describes his conclusions following more than a decade of study of unconventional cancer treatments in North America, Europe, India and Japan. He also draws extensively on his work with hundreds of cancer patients who have participated in the Commonweal Cancer Help Programs, the residential support program depicted by Bill Moyers in his 1993 PBS documentary "Healing and the Mind."


Eating Well for Optimal Health: The Essential Guide to Bringing Health and Pleasure Back to Eating by Dr. Andrew Weil

Hopefully, years from now, Eating Well for Optimum Health will be looked upon as the book that saved the health of millions of Americans and transformed the way we eat. It clarifies the mishmash of conflicting news, research, hype and hearsay regarding diet, nutrition and supplementation. If you've ever wondered what "partially hydrogenated soybean oil" really is, been perplexed by contrary news reports about recommended dosages for supplements or questioned the safety of using aluminum pots for cooking, Dr. Weil will make it all clear.

Weil (pronounced "while") bravely criticizes many of the major diet books on the market and backs up his admonitions with science. He warns readers to not fall under "the spell" of the anti-carbohydrate Atkins Diet, but also criticizes the eating plan advocated by Dr. Dean Ornish, which has been granted Medicare coverage for cardiac patients, as being too low fat for the majority of people. Weil's explanation of the chemistry of fats will prove difficult for most readers, but few will want to eat fast-food French fries ever again after reading his appalling reasons for avoiding them, which go way beyond their well-documented heart-clogging capabilities.

Eating Well is an indispensable consumer reference and one not afraid to lambaste the diet industry and empower the public with information about which the majority of doctors -- to the detriment of the public health -- are ignorant.


The Scalpel and the Silver Bear: The First Navajo Woman Surgeon Combines Western Medicine and Traditional Healing by Lori Arviso Alvord and Elizabeth Cohen Van Pelt

In a remarkable book that takes the reader on a spellbinding journey between two worlds, surgeon Lori Arviso Alvord describes her struggles to bring modern medicine to the Navajo reservation in Gallup, New Mexico -- and to bring the values of her people to a medical care system in danger of losing its heart.

Finding the solutions to modern medicine's most daunting problems was far from the mind of a girl from a small, dusty town on a Navajo reservation. But Lori Arviso Alvord would leave the traditional hogans of her people to attend the prestigious Stanford University Medical School and become the first Navajo woman surgeon. Only after conquering the high-tech realm of the operating room would this extraordinarily talented doctor realize something was missing from contemporary medical care -- an understanding of the whole person who has come seeking healing.

The Scalpel and the Silver Bear tells of Dr. Alvord's pioneering journey to become a woman surgeon, fighting the odds presented by her own culture and the unspoken rules that made surgery the territory of a privileged class of males. Then, having accomplished her dreams, the strong-willed young woman would find herself faced with a different challenge -- learning another approach to medicine amid the Hataali, the medicine men of the Diné, the people we call Navajo.

Dr. Alvord teaches us how she merged the latest breakthroughs of science and methodology with the ancient tribal paths to recovery and wellness. In dramatic encounters while practicing reservation medicine -- a man whose intestine was pierced by a porcupine quill, which he insisted was placed there by an enemy's curse; a woman who had been struck by lightning and blamed her cancer on it; an all-night winter sing for a gravely ill young woman, attended by the whole community -- Dr. Alvord witnessed the power of belief to influence health, for good or for ill. She discovered that patients undergoing chemotherapy did better after having a native healer at bedside and that the feelings of both the patient and the surgeon could affect recovery time, postsurgical complications and even whether the patient lived or died.

The secret, Lori Alvord discovered, lay in the Navajo philosophy of a balanced and harmonious life, called "Walking in Beauty." Her sharing of these ancient principles promises to have an immeasurable impact on today's doctors and patients by expanding the concept of mind-body healing to include the interconnectedness of all life.


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ITX-SUNSPOTS, INC., OFFERS FREE SKIN CANCER SCREENINGS AS THE OFFICAL SUN PROTECTION OF THE HONDA CLASSIC



CORAL SPRINGS, FL, March 8, 2002 – ITX-SunSpots, Inc., will be teeing off as the official Sun Protection of the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic, March 4-10, providing golfers, volunteers and patrons with the newest generation of sunscreen and sun protection and offering free skin cancer screenings.

Part of that protection will come in the form of nickel-size stickers that let the wearer know when he or she has been exposed to too much sun. The ultraviolet B indicators called SunSpots Stickers help prevent sunburn by changing color when the day’s UVB exposure reaches the danger point.

SunSpots also takes the nuisance out of applying sunscreen for outdoors enthusiasts who can do without the greasy hands that come with slathering on the protective lotion. SunSpots’ hands-free applicator allows sunscreen to be applied with a soft foam pad that sits atop the sunscreen bottle.

“Both of these patented innovative products are perfect for the Honda Classic because they’re perfect for golfers,” said Mark Wood, ITX-SunSpots spokesperson. “Like fishermen, bicyclists, tennis players and other outdoors sports enthusiasts, golfers are constantly exposed to the sun’s dangerous rays. Sunscreen can protect them. But do they know when to reapply it? SunSpots Stickers solve that riddle, letting them know when their UVB exposure has reached the danger point.

“And when it’s time to reapply there’s no need to mess up their round with a greasy lotion. The hands-free applicator handles the dirty work for them.”

Such sun protection devices have become increasingly important as skin cancer cases steadily rise. Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers. Every year, more than 1 million cases of non-melanoma skin cancer are diagnosed in the United States. The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be 53,600 new cases of melanoma in the United States this year.

As a public service, SunSpots will be providing free skin cancer screenings for participants and visitors at the Honda Classic on Saturday and Sunday, March 9-10, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the SunSpots corporate booth.

Respected South Florida dermatologist Dr. Robert S. Bader, with offices in Deerfield Beach, will be conducting the free screenings as well as providing additional information on how to prevent and treat skin cancer.

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  • 2003
  • 2002 ~ Issue 2
  • 2001