Sep 2007
"Pharmacologic Treatment of Osteopenia Not Usually Indicated"
Monday, September 17, 2007 Filed in:
Medical
A recent American Family Physician journal, citing a JAMA article, puts the lie to the idea that people
(particularly women) with osteopenia (low bone density) should be
on medications. With all the evidence that these medications (like
Fosamax or its friends) shouldn't be first-line treatments, why are
doctors still prescribing them so quickly? If your doctor pulls out
the pad for this, ask them when the last time they saw that drug
rep and whether they are pushing the doc to use it as a
preventative. This kind of behavior is occurring more and more, so
let your doctor know that it's getting so obvious and blatant that
even the patients are picking up on it. There are some movement
among conventional docs to limit their exposure to drug
reps, No Free Lunch
for practicing physicians
and Pharmfree for medical students. Sadly, the No
Free Lunch doesn't turn up any drug-rep free primary care
physicians in Ann Arbor (though it does find a pediatrician in
Ypsilanti).
Interestingly, the article points out that the only treatment that has been shown to reduce nonvertebral fracture risk in women with osteopenia is estrogen. Bioidenticals, anyone?
Interestingly, the article points out that the only treatment that has been shown to reduce nonvertebral fracture risk in women with osteopenia is estrogen. Bioidenticals, anyone?
Yield or flavor and nutrition?
Sunday, September 16, 2007 Filed in:
Medical
When I was in college, I brought my
grandmother an organic nectarine from the co-op in Champaign. She wasn't interested, saying, "I
don't like nectarines," but finally acquiesced. When she tried it,
her eyes lit up and she said she didn't like the ones in the stores
any more since they were flavorless, but this one tasted like they
did when she was a kid.
A nice report just came out that puts together the increase in yield through modern farming with the loss of flavor and nutrients that has been dogging our foods. The bottom line is that while the volume of food per acre has increased, the nutrients per acre has not seen the same increase, so the food is less nutritious. Along with the loss of nutrition comes a loss of flavor (is it because of this that people are thought to lose their sense of taste as they get older?).
There's lots of great info in the full report, but it's 36 pages plus introduction and footnotes, so let me hit a couple important points:
•At least 30% "of the U.S. population ingests inadequate levels [by their estimation of "average requirement"] of magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin A". This also means "the average American consumes inadequate levels of 2.9 [of the 16 evaluated] essential nutrients each day". This is worse in women and worse with increasing age (women 19-30 years old average 3.78 deficiencies, nearly 1/4 of the nutrients studied). Specifically, vitamin E intake is inadequate in over 97% of adult women, with the average getting only half of what she needs (note that this is vitamin E from food which is more then just the alpha-tocopherol found in most supplements). [p. 8]
•By growing new, high-yield, varieties next to older varieties, they were able to demonstrate that the significant reductions in modern crops stems from the high-yield strains: between strains used in 1873 and 2000, iron dropped by 28%, zinc dropped by 34% and selenium dropped by 36%, in addition to a decrease in the quality of the protein. This means you must eat more food to get the same amounts of nutrients. [p. 14]
•This doesn't only apply to vegetables, but to other foods as well: as milk production per cow increased, the nutrient concentration decreased. [p. 18]
•The increased transit distance of or food (averaging at least 1,500 miles from farm to plate) means most food is picked green and ripened artificially, further diminishing nutrients: ripe blueberries have more than four times the anthocyanins (cancer-protective compounds) that green picked ones do, and picking apples and apricots green leaves them with no vitamin C, which is normally contained in the ripe fruits. [p. 19]
•Increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere also leads to further losses in nutrients. [p. 19]
•Organic foods do have higher concentrations of nutrients that conventionally grown crops. [p. 25]
Finally, they point out that due to the higher nutrient density of organic produce, it scores higher in taste than conventional produce. [p. 32]
Score one for my grandmother.
A nice report just came out that puts together the increase in yield through modern farming with the loss of flavor and nutrients that has been dogging our foods. The bottom line is that while the volume of food per acre has increased, the nutrients per acre has not seen the same increase, so the food is less nutritious. Along with the loss of nutrition comes a loss of flavor (is it because of this that people are thought to lose their sense of taste as they get older?).
There's lots of great info in the full report, but it's 36 pages plus introduction and footnotes, so let me hit a couple important points:
•At least 30% "of the U.S. population ingests inadequate levels [by their estimation of "average requirement"] of magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin A". This also means "the average American consumes inadequate levels of 2.9 [of the 16 evaluated] essential nutrients each day". This is worse in women and worse with increasing age (women 19-30 years old average 3.78 deficiencies, nearly 1/4 of the nutrients studied). Specifically, vitamin E intake is inadequate in over 97% of adult women, with the average getting only half of what she needs (note that this is vitamin E from food which is more then just the alpha-tocopherol found in most supplements). [p. 8]
•By growing new, high-yield, varieties next to older varieties, they were able to demonstrate that the significant reductions in modern crops stems from the high-yield strains: between strains used in 1873 and 2000, iron dropped by 28%, zinc dropped by 34% and selenium dropped by 36%, in addition to a decrease in the quality of the protein. This means you must eat more food to get the same amounts of nutrients. [p. 14]
•This doesn't only apply to vegetables, but to other foods as well: as milk production per cow increased, the nutrient concentration decreased. [p. 18]
•The increased transit distance of or food (averaging at least 1,500 miles from farm to plate) means most food is picked green and ripened artificially, further diminishing nutrients: ripe blueberries have more than four times the anthocyanins (cancer-protective compounds) that green picked ones do, and picking apples and apricots green leaves them with no vitamin C, which is normally contained in the ripe fruits. [p. 19]
•Increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere also leads to further losses in nutrients. [p. 19]
•Organic foods do have higher concentrations of nutrients that conventionally grown crops. [p. 25]
Finally, they point out that due to the higher nutrient density of organic produce, it scores higher in taste than conventional produce. [p. 32]
Score one for my grandmother.
Insurance companies reject bioidentical hormones!
Sunday, September 09, 2007 Filed in:
Medical
I just got a note from
SaveMyMedicine.org about the latest way that insurance
companies are working to help the drug companies: by refusing to
pay for compounded hormones. You'd think they'd be smart enough to
see that by covering compounded bioidentical hormones they could be
saving themselves drastic amounts of money: Premarin or Prometrium
are about $45 a month each and testosterone gel or patches are
upwards of $200 a month, while compounded estrogen (usually a
combination of estrone, estradiol, and estriol), progesterone, or
testosterone each start at around $25 or so a month (they can go a
little higher at higher doses). Add the additional costs of higher
incidences of breast cancer in women taking Provera and they could
really be making out by supporting
bioidenticals.
Aetna's going to stop on October 1, while BCBS changed their policy back in May (note that BCBS cites an unscientific 2001 FDA study that even the FDA doesn't support).
As the note I got says: If you are an Aetna or BlueCross BlueShield customer, please contact your employer’s HR department and ask them to petition your health insurance company to reinstate coverage of bioidentical hormones and other compounded medicines. Remind them that healthy employees are productive employees and your health depends on these drugs. Your doctor has decided that compounded medicines such as bioidenticals are the best treatment option for you. Both your employer and your insurer have a responsibility to provide you with the medicines you need at a reasonable cost.
Aetna's going to stop on October 1, while BCBS changed their policy back in May (note that BCBS cites an unscientific 2001 FDA study that even the FDA doesn't support).
As the note I got says: If you are an Aetna or BlueCross BlueShield customer, please contact your employer’s HR department and ask them to petition your health insurance company to reinstate coverage of bioidentical hormones and other compounded medicines. Remind them that healthy employees are productive employees and your health depends on these drugs. Your doctor has decided that compounded medicines such as bioidenticals are the best treatment option for you. Both your employer and your insurer have a responsibility to provide you with the medicines you need at a reasonable cost.
The HBOT that just won't stop
Monday, September 03, 2007 Filed in:
Medical
Alright, new there's even more stuff
I've found on hyperbarics and I hate to keep it to myself.
HBOTreatment.com carries a variety of mountains of info
on the utility of HBO, including this article (in PDF format) on HBO for multiple
sclerosis. In fact, this
page is a
catalog of articles on using HBO in a variety of disorders.
The AAHA (American Association for Hyperbaric Awareness) is seeking to advance the understanding of HBOT. Their website is worth a look (just be ready for the audio "Welcome!" when the page loads). The Hyperbaric Healing Institute has a few notes on using HBO for various disorders.
The AAHA (American Association for Hyperbaric Awareness) is seeking to advance the understanding of HBOT. Their website is worth a look (just be ready for the audio "Welcome!" when the page loads). The Hyperbaric Healing Institute has a few notes on using HBO for various disorders.
