Tag Archives: cancer

Exercise as Medicine

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For many chronic health problems, regular exercise is more effective than any drug.

Exercise as Medicine is a major movement at John’s Hopkins School of Medicine.

You can visit this website for links to many topics on the benefits of exercise.

You can find the top 10 things you need to know about exercise here. They include the following evidence based recommendations from the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

any amount of physical activity has some health benefits. Americans can benefit from small amounts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity throughout the day.

The benefits of exercise are cumulative, walk 10 minutes 3 times per day and you get the same benefit as a 30 minute walk. Walk  5 minutes 6 times and the benefit equals that of 30 minutes continuous walking. So you can break up your exercise in little pieces throughout the day. No requirement for a specific long period devoted to exercise.

New evidence shows that physical activity has immediate health benefits. For example, physical activity can reduce anxiety and blood pressure and improve quality of sleep and insulin sensitivity.

Exercise improves cognition, decreases cancer risk, decreases risk of depression, hypertension, diabetes, stroke and heart disease. It lowers risk of falls and injuries from falls. It decreases pain and helps a variety of conditions. Exercise reduces all cause mortality (death rates from all causes)

Here are some direct quotes from the second edition of the  Physical Activity Guidelines.

  • For youth, physical activity can help improve cognition,* bone health, fitness, and heart health. It can also reduce the risk of depression.
  • For adults, physical activity helps prevent 8 types of cancer (bladder,* breast, colon, endometrium,* esophagus,* kidney,* stomach,* and lung*); reduces the risk of dementia* (includingAlzheimer’s disease*), all-cause mortality, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and depression; and improves bone health, physical function, and quality of life.
  • For older adults, physical activity also lowers the risk of falls and injuries from falls.*
  • For pregnant women, physical activity reduces the risk of postpartum depression.*
  • New evidence shows that physical activity can help manage more health conditions that Americans already have. For example, physical activity can decrease pain for those with osteoarthritis, reduce disease progression for hypertension and type 2 diabetes, reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and improve cognition for those with dementia, multiple sclerosis, ADHD, and Parkinson’s disease.

You can choose from a variety of TEDtalks on exercise here.

I particularly enjoyed my friend Darryl Edwards talk here.

 

So sleep well, exercise often, eat clean, filter your water, avoid environmental toxins, get plenty of sunshine, and most important of all, stay connected with friends and family.

Doctor Bob

 

Sleep! You can’t live without it.

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Circadian rhythm refers to the cycling of hormones according to the time of day. Every hormone cycles with daylight and darkness, each in it’s own way. Our brain has a master clock, called the circadian clock, controlled by specialized cells deep in the brain. There is a direct connection from our retina (in the back of the eyes) to the circadian clock in the brain. Blue light (part of the normal outdoor spectrum of light) stimulates very specific receptor cells in the retina which in turn communicates directly with the circadian clock telling the brain whether it is day or night. To synchronize our hormones and achieve restorative sleep, we must get outdoor light exposure to our eyes (without sunglasses, early in the day) and limit light exposure in the evening.

Artificial light, especially from cell phones and other devices that emit intense blue light, shift work, late night social activity, poor eating habits, sedentary lifestyle and at the opposite extreme, late evening workouts,  can all disrupt our circadian rhythm preventing adequate restorative sleep. A rare genetic illness called fatal insomnia that strikes adults at middle age prevents sleep and results in death within a few months, highlighting the importance of sleep. Sleep deprivation can kill a human quicker than starvation! Adequate amounts of deep non-REM sleep are required for tissue regeneration, healing, DNA repair and immune function. REM sleep with dreaming provides great benefit by organizing our memory, discharging the emotional content of traumatic events, and facilitating creative brain activity. One night of short-sleep produces a state of inattention and slow reflexes as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol intoxication. Chronic  short sleep and disrupted circadian rhythm results in increased risk of depression, cancer, hypertension, diabetes, dementia, obesity, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, heart attack and stroke, to name a few. Sleep interruption immediately halts weight loss during a calorie restricted diet (likely the result of hormonal disruption). So getting an adequate amount of restorative sleep every night is essential to good health. Here a few tips to help achieve a good night’s sleep each and every night.

  1. GET OUTDOOR LIGHT EXPOSURE ON YOUR EYES WITHOUT SUNGLASSES EVERY DAY, EARLY IN THE DAY. This helps set your biologic/circadian clock. Even on a cloudy day, outdoor light is much stronger and natural than indoor light. It is essential for setting your biologic/circadian clock. If you cannot get outside, stand or sit in front of a large window for 20-30 minutes in the morning, looking outside. Take a lunch break outside without sunglasses. Wear a shade hat instead of sunglasses. Your brain needs to experience natural outdoor light during the day.
  2. Avoid bright light in the evening, especially the light from TV, computer screens, cell phones, which all emit intense blue light and trick your brain into thinking it is daytime. Wear blue light blocking glasses/goggles for 2-3 hours before bed. (Amber tinted glasses which block blue light can be purchased on-line and can be worn over reading glasses) There is also software available that will decrease the blue light intensity of computer screens and cell phones in the evening.
  3. Practice time restricted eating. Limit all eating to an eight hour period, thus providing for an over-night fast of 16 hours. If that does not seem possible try to limit eating to a 10-hour period which provides a 14-hour overnight fast. This improves sleep, circadian rhythm, blood pressure, blood sugar and reduces stress hormones. NO SNACKS BETWEEN MEALS. NO FOOD FOR 2 HOURS BEFORE BED. For every hour decrease in eating time period from 12 hours to 8 hours you get health benefit.
  4. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet.
  5. If you snore, are overweight/obese, fall asleep during the day, or do not feel refreshed in the morning ask your doctor to order a sleep study. Obstructive Sleep Apnea makes restorative sleep impossible and increases risk of heart attack, stroke and most chronic diseases.
  6. Avoid alcohol altogether and avoid caffeine after late morning.  Alcohol in the evening may help you fall asleep but it results in a withdrawal from alcohol during the night. This disrupts normal sleep patterns.
  7. Sleep in a cold, dark, quiet room. Use black-out curtains, no night lights, no phone charger lights, no lights of any kind should be on in the room. Any amount of light in the room impairs the production of melatonin which facilitates sleep onset.
  8. Have a wind–down time every evening. Develop habits of non-stressful activities, soft music, dim light, casual conversation, enjoyable reading. Do not spend evening time dealing with finances, conflict, or emotional activity.
  9. Try a magnesium supplement before bedtime. Magnesium glycinate, magnesium citrate, magnesium gluconate, are absorbed much better than cheaper supplements such as magnesium oxide. Magnesium L-Threonate is expensive, but it crosses the blood brain barrier into the brain with the greatest brain penetration of all magnesium supplements.
  10. Manage stress with yoga, meditation, regular exercise (but no intense exercise in the evening.) Perform most of your exercise outdoors in a green space. This provides much more health benefit than the equivalent exercise indoors.
  11. Regular contact with supportive family and friends is essential to health and reduces stress. The greatest predictor of health vs disease is the amount of social connectedness an individual experiences.
  12. Establish regular wake-up times and go-to-bed times. Regular sleep habits are essential. If you must rely on alarm clocks you do not have good sleep habits.

A few words about alcohol, caffeine and sleeping pills.

A drink or two in the evening may help you relax but it disrupts your sleep by causing a mild episode of alcohol withdrawal as your liver metabolizes the alcohol and your blood levels drop. Even this slight degree of alcohol withdrawal will impair a good night’s sleep.

Caffeine impairs sleep by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain. Adenosine is the neurotransmitter that increases gradually during the day creating a sate referred to as sleep pressure. Some people metabolize caffeine quickly, others slowly. The slower you metabolize caffeine the longer it takes to clear it from your adenosine receptors. Without adequate sleep pressure (adenosine receptors filled with adenosine in the brain) you cannot fall asleep. Many sleep experts recommend complete abstinence from caffeine and suggest that if you need caffeine to get started in the morning you are regularly sleep deprived.

Sleeping pills of all kinds interfere with normal sleep architecture. While they facilitate falling asleep, they impair your ability to achieve deep restorative stages of sleep and can produce many undesirable side effects including addiction, withdrawal symptoms, sleep walking, sleep driving, worsening of asthma and COPD, constipation, diarrhea, daytime drowsiness, burning and tingling sensations, unusual dreams, weakness, heartburn, etc…. Most importantly they all interfere with cycling through the various stages of sleep in a normal, restorative pattern!

If you want to explore these concepts in depth here are two excellent books that discuss sleep and circadian rhythm.

Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker Ph.D.

The Circadian Code, by Satchin Panda Ph.D.

Eat clean, sleep well, spend time exercising out of doors, love one another.

Bob Hansen MD

Roundup (Glyphosate) Cancer and Monsanto

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I just received this notification from EWG.org.

“Hundreds of cancer victims and their families have filed lawsuits alleging that Monsanto’s signature pesticide Roundup causes cancer.

Now a U.S. judge has denied Monsanto’s attempts to throw out these claims and will allow the case to move forward including expert testimony that links glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, to cancer. These suits allege that Monsanto knew about glyphosate’s cancer risk and failed to warn consumers.

Now hundreds of Americans are seeking to hold Monsanto responsible.

Monsanto has been waging a war on science for years. Just last year, Monsanto colluded with the Environmental Protection Agency to cover up glyphosate’s cancer risk and attacked EWG’s pesticide work, calling it “propaganda.””

I have discussed the risks of glyphosate before. You can read about it here

Glyphosate is a dangerous toxic substance. Most Americans will test positive for glyphosate in the urine. No levels in your body are safe.

It can cause cancer, disrupt your endocrine system, and interfere with brain development in children. There are many other problems with glyphosate. I encourage your to read about the hazards of glyphosate and protect your family. Support the efforts of the environmental working group. (EWG.org.)

Be safe, live clean, shower love on those you love.

Dr. Bob

Agent Orange AND glyphosate in our food? Scott Pruitt Strikes again

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Scott Pruitt and the EPA has approved wider use of Dow Chemical’s new pesticide “Enlist Duo”.

The following is taken from the Center for Food Safety’s recent notification.

“Enlist Duo is a combination of glyphosate (the main ingredient in Roundup) and 2,4-D (one of the active ingredients in “Agent Orange”). This is the first time this novel pesticide cocktail will be sprayed directly over-the-top of corn, cotton, and soybeans that are genetically engineered (GE) by Dow specifically to be sprayed with both.

National Cancer Institute scientists highlighted 2,4-D specifically as associated with two- to eight-fold increases in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization classified 2,4-D as a possible carcinogen to humans and glyphosate as a probable carcinogen to humans.

Despite these harms, EPA dramatically expanded its approval of Enlist Duo for use on more crops and over more acres in 2017. In fact the U.S. Department of Agriculture conservatively estimates that use of Enlist Duo on just corn and soybeans will increase 2,4-D use by 200 to 600%.”

I have discussed the dangers of glyphosate many times before.

Now the toxicity of glyphosate has been combined with an active ingredient from agent orange which was used during the VietNam war. Many VietNam veterans attribute various chronic illnesses to agent orange exposure. I have frequently heard complaints about nerve damage, chronic pain, memory problems, cognitive impairment, etc., during my consultation visits with Vietnam veterans exposed to agent orange.

“The government of Vietnam says as many as 3 million people have suffered illnesses because of Agent Orange.[3]”

“The aftermath of the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam resulted in massive legal consequences. The United Nations ratified United Nations General Assembly Resolution 31/72 and the Environmental Modification Convention. Lawsuits filed on behalf of both US and Vietnamese veterans sought compensation for damages.”

Scott Pruitt has been busy turning the EPA upside down and reversing the recommendations made by the EPA’s own scientists.

EPA scientists recently re-evaluated the harmful effects of organophosphate pesticides on children’s brain health and behavior. They concluded that  Chlorpyrifos (an organophosphate pesticide) is unsafe and the EPA scheduled a ban on the use of this toxic agent. Scott Pruitt stepped in and canceled the ban! The EPA then announced that it would not finish it’s safety analysis for chlorpyrifos until 2022. Even Dr. Oz and his journalistic partner Dr. Mike Rosen  (Director of the Health and Wellness Center at Cleveland Clinic) have commented on the danger of that decision in their “Health and Spirit” newspaper column.

From Wikipedia:

“Chlorpyrifos is considered moderately hazardous to humans by the World Health Organization.[7] Exposure surpassing recommended levels has been linked to neurological effects, persistent developmental disorders and autoimmune disorders. Exposure during pregnancy may harm the mental development of children, and most home use was banned in 2001 in the U.S.[8] In agriculture, it is “one of the most widely used organophosphate insecticides” in the United States, and before being phased out for residential use was one of the most used residential insecticides”

“Chlorpyrifos exposure may lead to acute toxicity at higher doses. Persistent health effects follow acute poisoning or from long-term exposure to low doses, and developmental effects appear in fetuses and children even at very small doses. [16]”

Organophosphates are used as pesticides and in chemical warfare. Organophosphate pesticide use in agriculture causes an estimated 3 million poisonings per year resulting in 200,000 deaths per year.

Be  careful out there. Make wise choices. Eat organic vegetables and fruits whenever possible and pay attention to the EWG’s list of the Dirty Dozen.

Doctor Bob

GMOs are dangerous, no doubt. Roundup and glyphosate are bad players.

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I have discussed the dangers of GMO foods and Roundup before.

The evidence continues to mount.

“A peer-reviewed article, published  November 7, 2017, in the International Journal of Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine, demonstrates that GMOs are likely taking a heavy toll on our health. And a survey of 3,256 people who avoided them reported astonishing improvements in 28 health conditions.”

You can find a summary of the salient points from this scientific article here.

But I suggest you read the first few pages of the full article here.

The first few pages of this article describe the history of GMOs and how the warnings of  FDA scientists were silenced by regulatory executives who were shills for the likes of Monsanto and other dangerous players in this sad history.

11 genetically modified food crops are currently grown for commercial consumption. The six major crops are soy, corn, cotton, canola, sugar beets and alfalfa which are used to feed humans and animals. Cottonseed and canola are also processed into “food-grade” oils and sugar beets are refined to make sugar.

  • All six major GMOs are engineered to be herbicide tolerant, to survive spray of weed killer (such as Roundup)
  • 89% of GMOs grown in the US are herbicide tolerant
  • The most common herbicide involved is Roundup
  • 94% of soybeans grown in the US are Roundup Resistant (RR)
  • Some varieties of corn and cotton have genes inserted that produce a toxic insecticide called Bt toxin.
  • 76% of corn grown in the US is both Bt-producing and herbicide tolerant, 80% of cotton are both Bt and herbicide tolerant.

Roundup is not only used to kill weeds, but it is now sprayed heavily on crops immediately before harvest as a desiccant (drying agent) and large measurable amounts are found in the foods that you purchase in the supermarket.

In 1998 the FDA was sued by the Alliance for Bio-integrity and forced to turn over tens of thousands of pages of internal memos related to GMOs. FDA scientists repeatedly warned their superiors that GMO foods could create serious health risks such as allergies, toxins, antibiotic resistant diseases and nutritional problems. Michael Taylor, the former outside attorney for Monsanto and subsequent vice president of government and regulatory affairs for Monsanto was the political appointee in the FDA charged with overseeing GMOs!

On May 8, 2009,, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine published their policy paper on GMOs citing animal studies that revealed:

  • infertility,
  • immune dysregulation,
  • accelerated aging,
  • dysregulation of genes associated with cholesterol synthesis,
  • faulty insulin regulation, cell signaling and protein formation,
  • changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system

The AAEM recommended that the US government implement a moratorium on all GM foods and urged physicians to prescribe non-GMO diets.

But Monsanto prevailed and FDA officials ignored the warnings of their own scientists.

The three general categories of GMO danger include:

  1. consequences of the GMO transformation process
  2. the Bt toxin found in GMO corn and cotton
  3. the herbicides-particularly Roundup, that are sprayed on most GMO foods and consumed by those who eat GMO food.

A study of Monsanto’s RR corn revealed 117 proteins and 91 small molecule biochemicals significantly different from natural corn. Some of those differences “enhance the effects of histamine, thus heightening allergic reactions” and two of the polyamines in the GMO corn have been implicated in the formation of carcinogens (nitrosamines).

The GMO process can produce a host of unintended changes in RNA, DNA,  proteins and genes. And these changes can migrate and hybridize with non-GMO foods when the wind blows seeds from GMO plants into fields planted with non-GMO plants.

Altered Genes (transgenes) from GMO foods may “horizontally transfer” to humans or other organisms including the gut bacteria in humans that control much of our physiology.

Studies of rats fed GMO potatoes demonstrated adverse effects on every organ in young rats. Most changes occurred within 10 days. Disruption of organ growth, immune suppression and damage to organs of the immune system, thickening of the stomach and intestinal lining were noted.

Monsanto’s own data show that GM soybeans contain up to seven times the level of a natural allergen (trypsin inhibitor which also impairs protein digestion) and a doubling of soy lectin which impairs nutrient absorption. These were unintended consequences of the GMO process.

Monsanto’s MON810 Bt corn has 43 genes significantly altered in levels of expression. One of these genes which is normally switched off in non-GMO corn is switched on in the GMO version and it produces an allergenic protein.

Glyphosate is the major antibiotic in Roundup (yes Roundup is classified as an antibiotic). I have discussed the great hazards of glyphosate before. On October 24, 2017 JAMA published a study of the increase in measurable levels of glyphosate in humans.

The researchers compared urine excretion levels of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in 100 people living in a Southern California community who provided samples during five clinic visits that took place between 1993 to 1996 and 2014 to 2016.

“What we saw was that prior to the introduction of genetically modified foods, very few people had detectable levels of glyphosate,” . “As of 2016, 70 percent of the study cohort had detectable levels.”

In July 2017, glyphosate was listed as a carcinogen by California.

A 2014 review concluded that:

Evidence is mounting that glyphosate interferes with many
metabolic processes in plants and animals and glyphosate residues have been detected in both.
Glyphosate disrupts the endocrine system and the balance of gut bacteria, it damages DNA and is a driver of mutations that lead to cancer.

There are many reasons to follow an organic, GMO-free, whole foods ancestral diet. Contamination with Roundup presents yet another compelling reason to choose your food wisely.

Some folks prefer videos to research articles, so below you will find both.

 

Here are a few links that will take you to articles related to this topic and quoted above.

Survey Reports Improved Health After Avoiding Genetically Modified Food

Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the deterioration of health in the United States of America

Environmental and health effects of the herbicide glyphosate. – PubMed – NCBI

Glyphosate: environmental contamination, toxicity and potential risks to human health via food contamination. – PubMed – NCBI

Aluminum and glyphosate can synergistically induce pineal gland pathology: connection to gut dysbiosis and neurological disease

GMO crops increase pesticide use

The high cost of pesticides: human and animal diseases

Is roundup the toxic chemical that’s making us all sick

Scientists Back Up WHO’s Classification of Glyphosate as “Probably Carcinogenic”

Food for thought: Are Herbicides a Factor for the Increase in Allergies and Autism?

Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance

Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases III: Manganese, neurological diseases, and associated pathologies

Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases IV: cancer and related pathologies

Glyphosate pathways to modern diseases V: Amino acid analogue of glycine in diverse proteins

GMOs, herbicides, and public health

Glyphosate induces human breast cancer cells growth via estrogen receptors

Glyphosate‐based pesticides affect cell cycle regulation

Glyphosate-based herbicides are toxic and endocrine disruptors in human cell lines

Environmental and human health impacts of growing genetically modified herbicide‐tolerant sugar beet: a life‐cycle assessment

Unidentified inert ingredients in pesticides: implications for human and environmental health

The possible link between autism and glyphosate acting as glycine mimetic—A review of evidence from the literature with analysis

Eat organic fruits and vegetables, avoid GMOs, enjoy better health.

Dr. Bob

Fred Kummerow, PhD, fought the battle against Trans Fats for over 50 years.

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Professor Fred Kummerow passed away on May 31 at his home in Urbana, Ill at age 102. He ate butter, red meat and eggs cooked in butter, along with plenty of fruits and vegetables. He avoided margarine, french fries and other fried foods, along with cookies, cake and crackers which contained artificial trans-fats. He conducted research in his nutrition science laboratory at the University of Illinois up until his death. he authored the book Cholesterol Won’t Kill You, But Trans Fat Could: Separating Scientific Fact from Nutritional Fiction in What You Eat

Fred warned the American public and scientists in the 1950s about the dangers of artificial man-made trans fats. His research was largely ignored and criticized by the food industry and by scientists who were funded by the food industry for decades. Despite mounting evidence in both animals and humans that artificial trans fats dramatically increased the risk of heart attacks, strokes, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and probably several forms of cancer, the FDA ignored his pleas to address the issue. In 2009 Professor Kummerow filed a petition with the FDA to ban the use of trans fats. Although federal law required that the FDA respond within 180 days to such a petition, the FDA remained silent. In 2013, approaching the age of 99, Professor Kummerow sued the FDA. Two years latter in 2015 the FDA declared that artificial trans-fats were unsafe and should be eliminated from the US food supply by 2018.

Through his lifelong work, Professor Kummerow has produced a policy change that will likely save hundreds of thousands of lives.

What are trans fats and why have they been in our food for 7 decades?

Although there are some forms of natural trans fats which are safe for consumption when consumed in whole foods, artificial trans-fats are produced by placing unsaturated fat (such as corn oil, soy oil) under high pressure and high temperature conditions and adding hydrogen in the presence of a metal catalyst. These fats were introduced to many American foods because they dramatically extend the shelf life of foods and give a pleasant mouth texture to a variety of processed foods. They remain in many foods still on the shelves today. You cannot rely on labels such as “NO TRANS FATS” OR “TRANS FAT FREE” because food companies are allowed to make this statement as long as the amount of trans fats does not exceed 0.5 grams per serving. No amount is safe!

The Institute of Medicine, on July 10, 2002 declared manufactured trans fatty acid (TFA) a serious danger to the health of our nation with a: “tolerable upper intake level of zero.”  This means there is no safe level of consumption. Despite that strong statement in 2002, it has taken the efforts of an elderly professor, including a lawsuit, to bring the FDA around to finally address the issue.

But it is not over yet, you can bet that the food industry will try to delay the implementation of the ban or possibly even argue against the overwhelming science that supports such a ban.

In the meantime read labels. If any food item contains “partially hydrogenated” oil of any kind or “hydrogenated oil” of any kind it contains trans fats. These foods are typically foods you should not be eating any way because they usually also contain added sugar, refined flour and/or refined easily oxidized inflammatory “vegetable” oils. They are not whole foods and therefore should not be consumed for many reasons. But if you want to eat cake, cookies, crackers, bread, or any other processed foods, beware and read the ingredients so as to at least avoid trans-fats.

You can read about Fred Kummerow, his life and research at these sites:

Fred A. Kummerow, scientist who raised early warnings about trans fats, dies at 102 – The Washington Post

Fred A. Kummerow, an Early Opponent of Trans Fats, Dies at 102 – The New York Times

Fred Kummerow, U. of I. professor who fought against trans fats, dies at 102 – Chicago Tribune

Fred also studied the effects of a oxysterols and oxidized low-density lipoprotein (OxLDL) both of which contribute to atherosclerosis.  In a  2013 publication Professor Kummerow stated

“levels of oxysterols and OxLDL increase primarily as a result of three diet or lifestyle factors: the consumption of oxysterols from commercially fried foods such as fried chicken, fish and french fries; oxidation of cholesterol in vivo driven by the consumption of excess polyunsaturated fatty acids from vegetable oils; and cigarette smoking.”

Yet the American Heart Association continues to recommend increased consumption of polyunsaturated fats from the likes of corn oil, soy oil, cottonseed and similar oils. I have discussed the problems with that advice here and here.

So the next time you avoid trans fats by reading food labels, think of Professor Kummerow who brought light to some very dark areas in the history of nutrition and food in the US.

Eat clean, live clean, and enjoy.

Dr. Bob

Cartoon humor: A Prescription for Health!

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prescription-for-exercise-cropped

Hat tip to Tommy Wood MD, PhD for introducing me to this great cartoon.

So what would happen if your doctor prescribed this? Would you be shocked? Would you follow the advice? Sadly few doctors make such recommendations as explicitly as this cartoon and fewer patients follow the advice.

How important are the elements in this advice?

They are essential. We too often focus on dietary concerns at the expense of ignoring other important low hanging fruit. Early morning  outdoor exercise with exposure to natural light in a green space, even on a cloudy or rainy day, is essential for health. Why? There are many reasons. Click the link above to read fitness expert Darryl Edward’s discussion with references. In fact outdoor exercise in a greenspace is more beneficial than the same exercise indoors. The reasons are many, including but not limited to Vitamin D production.

Early daytime exposure to natural outdoor light helps to maintain our Circadian rhythm and align the biologic clock in all of our cells and organs with the central biological Circadian clock in our brain. Most folks do not know that we have a biologic clock deep within our brain and that all the organs and cells of our body also have clocks. They all need to be synchronized with each other and with the sun for optimal health. When they are not synchronized bad things happen. Night shift workers and other folks with disturbed sleep have higher rates of cancer , depression ,  hypertension, heart attack and stroke.

Maintaining our circadian rhythm is vital to achieving adequate high quality restorative sleep. In turn, obtaining adequate restorative sleep contributes to lower cardiovascular disease risk in addition to four traditional lifestyle risk factors.

Exposure to artificial light at night disrupts our circadian rhythm and impairs the onset of sleep.

In medical school I learned that our retina has two cell types, rods and cones. But advances in science have revealed a  third cell type called retinal ganglionic cells. 

These cells are  particularly sensitive to blue light and directly connected to our central biological clock . Exposure to artificial light, especially from TV screens, computers, cell phones and other electronic devices after sunset disrupts our sleep cycle and delays the onset of sleep. That is why wearing blue light filtering glasses in the evening helps many folks to improve their sleep quality and duration.

Sleep deprivation for even one night causes elevation in interleukin 6 levels the following day. Interleukin 6 suppresses immune function and excessive levels cause bone and tissue damage (especially cardiovascular). Sleep deprivation  increases  Stress hormones (cortisol, adrenalin), decreases prolactin and Growth hormone , and decreases the nightly production of ATP .

Melatonin , often called the sleep hormone, is produced most abundantly during restorative sleep and essential for tissue healing, immune function, cancer prevention, and defense against tissue oxidation. These are just a few of the roles melatonin and sleep cycles play in determining our health..

So exercise outdoors in a green space daily to help synchronize your biologic clock with the sun, dim the lights in the evening and if you must watch TV or work on electronic devices before bed wear Blue Light filter glasses .

Of course eating an abundance of colorful fresh organic vegetables and fruits, and practicing some stress reduction techniques every day are equally important and essential to health and functional status.

Finally, not mentioned in the cartoon above is another healthy lifestyle choice, intermittent fasting (IF). IF will be discussed in the next post.

Until then, sleep well, exercise regularly out doors in a green space environment, eat clean, learn and practice some regular stress reduction techniques and read the next post about IF.

Bob Hansen MD

More toxic substances proposed for our food supply

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I recently received this warning from one of my favorite food safety organizations.

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking comments on a dangerous proposal that will put our farms, our food, and our environment at risk.

The EPA is proposing a dramatic expansion of the use of the toxic pesticide Enlist Duo. Enlist Duo is a mixture of glyphosate (the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup®) and the even more toxic 2,4-D (part of the chemical mixture Agent Orange). If approved the pesticide cocktail could be used on corn, soy, and cotton in 34 states — up from 15 states where the product was previously approved for just corn and soy.

Tell EPA to reject the expanded use of Dow’s toxic mix of glyphosate and 2,4-D >>

The rush to expand the use of Dow AgroSciences’ toxic chemical concoction of glyphosate and 2,4-D for use on the next generation of genetically engineered crops comes only one year after the EPA asked a court to revoke its previous approval due to the unknown risks it posed, and now EPA suddenly wants to more than double the number of states where the pesticide can be used.”

Unfortunately we will likely see an acceleration of such proposals under the Trump administration. Trump has discussed terminating the EPA altogether. It is going to be a difficult four years for food safety.

Be careful out there. Things are about to become very NASTY.

Bob Hansen MD

Roundup and GMOs, are dangerous to your health and threaten the future of family farms in America

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There is a brief discussion of Roundup (Glyphosate) on Medscape.

Our Toxic World; Is Roundup Slowly Killing Us?

The discussion covers several important issues. To Pique your interest in reading further here are a few salient quotes.

Glyphosate is the most used herbicide in the world, the pride and joy (as well as a great cash cow) of mega-giant chemical manufacturer Monsanto. Although ubiquitous as Roundup® and generally presented for many decades as safe for humans and animals, in 2015 The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization labeled glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”[3]

The European Union (EU) is trying to determine whether Monsanto should have its license to sell Roundup renewed this year. With that renewal in mind, in the spring of 2016, 48 members of the EU Parliament, representing 13 nations, volunteered to have their urine tested for glyphosate. All were found positive by a German lab.[4] In May 2016, a University of California, San Francisco, lab working for The Detox Project, funded by concerned individuals, reported positive urine tests for glyphosate in 93% of 131 urine samples from across the United States.[5]

Is this widespread presence of glyphosate in humans incidental and harmless or are we all in danger of being poisoned by this Monsanto product? That is a very good question.

Remember the gut microbiome? We are learning a great deal about how it influences so much of human health. There is a project called Qmulus, at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and funded in part by Quanta Computers of Taiwan. Under its auspices, authors Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff, in a 40-plus-page review[6] with 286 references, paint a very troubling picture of glyphosate’s inhibition of cytochrome P450 enzymes. For example, one role of this enzyme is to detoxify xenobiotics. The authors propose that the consequences of this inhibition, when coupled with other synergistic disruptions, may insidiously induce many diseases associated with a Western diet, including diabetes, obesity, cancer, autism, Alzheimer’s, and others.

A 2015 paper[7] by the same authors takes these and new findings and deductions even further to manganese deficiency in cows fed genetically modified Roundup Ready feed. This update is 55 pages long with 328 supporting references. Both are in open access; peruse them if you choose. [Editor’s note: Links to the full text of these papers are included with the references.]

If you want to learn more about Roundup, GMOs, and the worsening global threat to our food safety (no exaggeration) you can learn more by visiting www.CenterForFoodSafety.org.

I learned about this organization while watching the film The Future of Food. Although this hit the screens in 2004 it is still worth watching. If you think ROUNDUP is safe or that GMO foods are OK, think again. At least give this movie and website a look before you settle back into contentment with Monsanto and all the other bad actors in the food-seed-pesticide industry making decisions that WILL destroy the ability of farmers in the US and possibly world-wide to use their own seeds.

Monsanto has genetically engineered and patented a suicide gene and placed it into all of it’s seeds (cotton, soy, corn) so that farmers must buy seeds EVERY YEAR. This seed produces crops whose seeds are sterile. If this seed is carried by wind, animals, or other common mechanisms, from Monsanto’s’ crops to non-GMO fields, the gene will hybridize with natural seed crops and after several generations render a majority of crops infertile.

Monsanto produces not just pesticides but pesticide resistant seeds that produce sterile crops. Monsanto is playing monopoly and quickly eliminating independent seed producers and destroying family farms that have every year used their own seeds which have been bred to thrive in the local environment of the family farm.

Other issues abound. Roundup resistant crops, eaten by American consumers, have high levels of ROUNDUP and other pesticides that have been demonstrated to cause tumors in > 50% of animals within 1 year. Monsanto only tested ROUNDUP for 3 months in animal studies and declared it safe. The USDA did not test it. The FDA did not test it. Government scientists and university scientists who expressed concerns were silenced by the economic power of this massive multi-national corporation.

When independent scientists published their alarming results (carcinogenesis), Monsanto used it’s financial resources to shut those scientists down. You can learn about this by watching The Future of Food or visiting www.CenterForFoodSafety.org.

Like big Pharma executives cycling between the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA, Monsanto executives and lawyers cycle in and out of the FDA and USDA. We have allowed the fox to guard the chicken pen and the stakes are high. Family farms have been put out of business by Monsanto’s unethical and predatory behavior, eliminating generations of private seed banks and wreaking havoc for family farms across America. Don’t believe it? Watch the movie. Many farmers have gone bankrupt fighting legal battles with Monsanto because the wind has blown Monsanto’s patented seeds onto their private lands and Monsanto successfully sued them for patent infringement. This predatory behavior has been going on below the radar for many years and it started when the Supreme Court ruled that Monsanto can patent seeds.

In fact, Monsanto has gone into the US national seed banks, collected samples of thousands of different seeds, and patented them! This outrageous and ridiculous scenario has allowed a private company to patent thousands of heritage crop seeds.

If this sounds incredible, you are right, but it is true.

In the meantime, support mandatory GMO labeling and support food retailers who have promised to carry only NON-GMO foods.

To your health.

BOB Hansen MD.