• Your hair is falling out for no apparent reason.
• You have inexplicable bouts of heartburn accompanied by bloating and belching.
• You are chronically fatigued. You seek help from a chronic fatigue syndrome support group.
• You cannot get pregnant, forcing you to pursue help at a fertility clinic.
• You are an insomniac and go begging for a normal night’s sleep.
• Your doctor, after repeated visits to his office, says your fatigue and dizziness upon standing from a sitting position is related to low vitamin B12 levels and provides you with a B vitamin supplement.
• A bone scan reveals you have premature bone loss (osteoporosis).
• The fluid pressure in your eyes is elevated and your eye doctor is concerned you may be developing glaucoma.
• Your immune system apparently isn’t up to par because you have frequent sick days from colds, allergies and the flu.
• You are taking thyroid hormone pills and your hormone levels continue to vary widely resulting in a wide variety of symptoms.
• You have been diagnosed with anxiety disorder and given mood-boosting drugs.
• Your doctor wants you tested for premature Alzheimer’s disease.
• You have a chronic and unremitting migraine headache for which your doctor is perplexed how to extinguish.

Doctors often call these idiopathic disorders, that is, “conditions arising spontaneously from an obscure or unknown cause.” Modern medicine says it doesn’t know what causes Alzheimer’s, cancer, migraine headaches, and many other maladies. Could there be a common cause?

Because modern medicine is compartmentalized into specialties that are divided anatomically (eyes, brain, lung, heart, etc.) or systemically (endocrinology, hematology, immunity, allergist), any trigger for a broad disease that crosses over the borders of these specialties is likely to remain obscure. Even the etiology of a single disease, stomach ulcers, that is now known to be caused by this bacterium, remained obscure for decades. That is because the germ this report addresses is a stealth bacterium.

Maybe half the planet’s human population is infected by this pathogen and while research on this bacterium has been avid, little progress has been made in understanding how it is transmitted. Furthermore, while it is said that maybe 30% of children and 75% of adults in undeveloped lands are infected, the dilemma is how to treat such a highly prevalent infection with a battery of antibiotics that will surely produce drug-resistant strains. So only those few cases, maybe 1%, that go on to develop bleeding gastric ulcers will get treated. Modern medicine largely ignores this infection otherwise. No preventive measures are in place. Modern medicine knows how to treat, but it doesn’t know how to prevent.

While the prevalence of this bacterial infection is much lower in developed countries, what is not said is what likelihood there is that ANYBODY living a normal lifespan will NOT acquire this infection. It’s likely every human on the planet will suffer with the symptoms caused by this nasty germ over their lifetime.

This report is written to help fill the void in between infection-induced symptoms and positive diagnosis. Not only does modern medicine often fail to link this infection with its highly variable symptoms, but many sufferers never go to the doctor, thinking their problems are common for their age or whatever.

The germ is Helicobacter pylori (also known as Campylobacter), a spiral-shaped bacterium that uses its flailing tentacles to dig into the mucus lining of the stomach and reside there. H pylori is a pretty brainy bacterium evidenced by the fact it has found a nice place to get fed every day – the human digestive tract.

Medical specialists don’t know whether various common factors cause H pylori or just are associated with this bacterium. The difference between a cause and association can be explained this way. For example, if it is found that 90% of children involved in pedestrian accidents were wearing tennis shoes at the time of their accident, it is obvious that the tennis shoes were only associated with these accidents, not a cause of the accidents.

The stealthy puzzling nature of H pylori causes so much human suffering, like the following:

• A 15-year old girl continues to experience unexplained fainting spells. She is found to be anemic but it takes time to find that an H pylori infection is the cause of her symptoms. Successful treatment with antibiotics caused the fainting spells to disappear.
• In up to 30% of patients with anemia no underlying cause can be found. Some researchers suggest anemia of unexplained orgin may be induced by H pylori infection. Some anemic patients treated for H pylori infection have experienced resolution of their chronic anemia.
• Many millions of dollars of anti-anxiety medicines are prescribed annually. The origin of the anxiety is often never determined. However, it has been observed that patients with peptic ulcers, which are known to be caused by H pylori infection, are 280% more likely to experience anxiety.
• H pylori infection appears to be associated with glaucoma (abnormally high fluid pressure in the eyes). Helicobacter pylori was detected in 88% of glaucoma cases and in 47% of healthy adults. When H pylori is eradicated measurable improvement in glaucoma is achieved. The connection between H pylori and glaucoma is suspected to be increased free radicals and inflammation. Eye physicians are not likely to suspect or treat H pylori when glaucoma is diagnosed.
• Fertility clinics abound. Few women know that H pylori infection interferes with the progression of sperm in the cervix. Unexplained infertility may be rooted in H pylori infection. H pylori infection is also implicated in polycystic ovary.
• Women undergoing thyroid hormone therapy frequently find their hormones levels vary widely, producing many undesirable symptoms that requires doctoring. H pylori infection interferes with the absorption of thyroxine, which is a common cause of such side effects.
• H pylori infection is highly prevalent among Alzheimer’s disease patients. In one study 88% of Alzheimer’s subjects had H pylori detected compared to 47% of healthy subjects. When H pylori was eradicated in 50 patients, they experienced measurable improvement in brain function. Researchers say this means there is a possible link between H pylori and Alzheimer’s disease.
• Some 12-15% of humanity suffers with recurrent migraine headaches, often of unknown origin. Chronic, recurring migraine headaches may be rooted in H pylori infection. Active H pylori infection is strongly related to the outbreak and severity of migraine headaches, and H pylori treatment reduces migraine headaches significantly. Migraine is often accompanied by gastric reflux (stomach acid rising up into the esophagus or throat producing symptoms known as heartburn) is a common sign. The H pylori infection origin of migraine is more highly suspected among individuals with aura (visual disturbance).While there are mixed reports concerning a link between H pylori and migraine, one study reports about 8 in 10 migraine patients report relief when H pylori is eradicated.
• Hair loss is a particularly disturbing problem both for males and females. A disease of the hair follicles known as alopecia is believed to be caused by autoimmune problems. H pylori infection is associated with a wide variety of autoimmine disorders including autoimmune thyroiditis and psoriasis. A 43-year old man with alopecia (hair loss) of the scalp and beard underwent H pylori eradication treatment and experienced complete regrowth of hair. (Click to see dramatic photos of hair restoration.)

• Surprisingly, estrogen levels have been found to be lower in H pylori-infected individuals. This may lead to bone loss (osteoporosis) as estrogen sends a signal to hold calcium in bone. Men who develop osteoporosis are more likely to be H pylori infected. The provision of estrogen actually protects against H pylori induced inflammation. Since loss of estrogen induces other problems, such as insomnia and mental depression, hair loss, these should be added to the list.

There are many other maladies outside the digestive tract linked to H pylori infection. The list includes respiratory disorders (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis, lung cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchial asthma); blood vessel disorders (ischemic heart disease, stroke, primary Raynaud’s phenomena, primary headache); autoimmune disorders (Sjogren syndrome, Henoch-Schonlein purpura, autoimmune thrombocytopenia, autoimmune thyroiditis, Parkinson’s disease, idiopathic chronic urticaria, rosacea, alopecia areata); and other disorders (growth retardations, liver cirrhosis). So far, there is not convincing evidence that eradication of H pylori ameliorates all of these conditions.

The germ

H pylori is a spiral-shaped bacterium, which was established in 1982 by Australian researchers Robin Warren and Barry Marshall as the cause of gastritis and peptic ulcer. For this they were awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine in 2005. Prior to that time physicians treated ulcers with acid-suppressing drugs, believing ulcers were induced by mental and physical stress. But Marshall and Warren removed the false notion that stomach ulcers originated in the mind. Shamefully, the FDA allowed antacid/anti-ulcer drugs to be sold till their patents expired, and only then approved antibiotics for treatment of stomach ulcers.

Common overt symptoms

Over 80% of people infected with H pylori show no symptoms.

Symptoms may include:

• weight loss
• loss of appetite
• bloating
• burping
• nausea
• vomiting (vomit may be bloody or look like coffee grounds)
• black, tarry stools

Prevalence

Helicobacter pylori is one of the human pathogens with highest prevalence around the world; yet, its principal mode of transmission remains largely unknown. The epidemiology of H. pylori infection is characterized by marked differences between developing and developed countries, notably among children.

The country you reside in predicts your chance of acquiring H pylori infection. Generally, poorer countries with inadequate sanitation and poor nutrition experience higher rates of H pylori infection. H pylori inhabits the stomach of more than half of the world’s population. That is about 3 billion people. Of those infected, about 10% develop peptic ulcer disease and roughly 1% develop gastric cancer. The following is a selected list of countries with estimates of prevalence of H pylori infection.

While the prevalence of H pylori is far lower in western developed countries, the most common strain (50-70% of those infected) of this bacterium is the cag strain which is the most pathogenic (causes the most tissue damage).

Infection And Route Of Transmission

Despite over 40,000 published scientific reports on H pylori, no one conclusively knows its primary route of infection.The greatest risk factor is living with a mother infected with H pylori. This author suspects that contaminated water is the primary route on infection since every child has a mother, but the rate of infection is more dependent upon country. Poorer countries are known to have poorer sanitation. H pylori can be transmitted by the waterborne route. Furthermore, H pylori can survive chlorination and remain undetected by culture methods. It is possible that water suppliers don’t want this known as it could reduce reliance upon tap water and increase consumption of bottled water.

Conventional Treatment

Health authorities indicate “new strategies to treat H pylori are urgently needed.”

While there is treatment, there is not necessarily foolproof eradication.

Treatment failure exceeds 20% and greater efforts to quell this common pathogen which leads to more antibiotic-resistant bacteria. However, there are reports of 90% eradication rates with very aggressive multiple antibiotic regimens.

The gold standard in the eradication of H pylori is one-week triple drug therapy (one antacid, two antibiotics).

Recurrence rates are generally low following treatment, about 2-3% in developed lands and as much as 13% per year in undeveloped countries.

New strategies for eradication and prevention

Generally, non-antibiotic drug therapies for treatment of H pylori have remained underexplored.

Urease enzyme inhibition

Urease is a critical enzyme upon which H pylori depends for its replication. H pylori produces large amounts of this enzyme which breaks down urea into carbon dioxide and ammonia which then converts to ammonium that neutralizes stomach acid. The lack of stomach acid then results in nutrient malabsorption and increases vulnerability to infection from other pathogenic germs. Urease inhibition is a strategy to prevent H pylori infection.

Foods

A number of foods are generally associated lower rates of H pylori infection. Some of these include garlic, green tea, red ginseng and broccoli sprouts.

Unconventional treatment and prevention

So-called phytoceuticals (plant based medicines) have been described as “mighty but ignored weapons against Helicobacter pylori infection.”

Natural therapies that may inhibit or eradicate H pylori include vitamins, herbals and probiotics.

Plant extracts may work by (a) disrupting the cell membrane in H pylori bacteria; (b) inhibiting urease, the enzyme needed for H pylori survival; (c) elevation of the immune response to kill off H pylori, or (d) inhibit adhesion of H pylori to tissues.

Vitamins

H pylori infection is associated with malabsorption of essential nutrients. H pylori blocks nutrient absorption by a reduction in production of stomach acid. The list of nutrient shortages induced by H pylori includes iron, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B12, vitamin A and folic acid.

The eradication of H pylori has been shown to increase acid secretion.

Iron deficiency anemia is often improved following eradication of H pylori.

Because H pylori infection interferes with absorption of essential nutrients, it is important to supplement with critically important nutrients to ensure vitamin deficiencies do not arise.

Vitamin supplementation is also helpful in reducing rates of infection and staving off serious disease caused by H pylori infection. For instance, in China a long-term (7.3 year) study revealed that vitamin supplementation (vitamins C, E and selenium) nearly halved the risk for death from gastric cancer.

In one study, the addition of 500 mg of vitamin C to triple-drug therapy increased the H pylori-eradication rate from 48.8% to 78.0%.

Vitamin D

H pylori appears to lower vitamin D blood levels.

In Italy researchers found that H pylori-infected patients were severely vitamin D deficient (11.1 ng/ml, where 20 nanograms/milliliter is considered a frank deficiency). Healthy subjects didn’t fare much better, exhibiting a vitamin D blood concentration of 21.3 ng/ml.

High dose vitamin D produces a natural antibiotic peptide in the body called cathelicidin which has been demonstrated to kill H pylori.

In one study, during antibiotic therapy, the addition of 1000 mg of vitamin C and 400 IU of vitamin D increases eradication rates from 45% to 82.5%.

Vitamin C

A high concentration of vitamin C in gastric juice may inactivate H. pylori urease, the key enzyme for the pathogen’s survival and colonization into acidic stomach. However once infection established, urease is not very important for its survival. The role of vitamin C as anti-H pylori agent in peptic ulcer diseases appears to be preventive rather than curative. However, H pylori depletes vitamin C from the body and should be taken during therapy as well.

Minerals

Zinc Carnosine

Zinc carnosine deserves special attention as a non-prescription remedy for H pylori given it is fairly well documented and not costly. It is an approved drug in Japan. In one human study, zinc carnosine improved eradication of H pylori after antiobiotic therapy from 86% to 100%.

Herbals

Hot water herbal extracts

Researchers in England tested various herbs and plants for their anti-H pylori activity.

A number of herbs were boiled to produce a hot-water extract and then tested in lab dishes for their ability to kill off H pylori.

The importance of this study is that it did not use more expensive commercially available alcohol herbal extracts but rather utilized hot-water extracts obtained from common fresh herbs.

While these herbal extracts were not employed in live humans in this study, and therefore we have no idea how well they would perform outside of lab dishes when exposed to harsh stomach acids, this study does indicate cooked herbs are likely to inhibit H pylori growth to some degree in humans.

There is no comprehensive guide to herbal products and H pylori inhibition. Therefore, there is a patchwork of reports regarding various herbals that appear to be effective against H pylori. These include:

• Rosemary and nutmeg.
• Blackcurrant seed oil and broccoli sprouts: New Zealand researchers found that a combination of broccoli sprouts and blackcurrant oil had the most noticeable effect against H pylori.
• Cinnamon and thyme: another study found cinnamon and thyme extracts were most effective against H pylori.
• Licorice root extract have been found to be effective against antibiotic resistant strains of H pylori.
• Cranberry extract inhibits H pylori growth.
• Oregano oil inhibits H pylori growth.

Garlic

Allicin is the key ingredient in garlic responsible for the killing off of H pylori.

Another human study found that standard antibiotic therapy plus 4200 micrograms of allicin produced a 90% eradication rate compared to 66.6% for the antibiotics alone.

An advantage of garlic, known as “the poor man’s penicillin,” is that it is effective against bacteria that develop drug resistance — it has never been observed to develop germ resistance. It is effective against a broad spectrum of bacteria including viruses, and it works synergistically with antibiotic drugs. Garlic also kills antibiotic-resistant strains of H pylori.

Because stomach acids negates the alliinase enzyme in garlic pills that is needed to convert alliin to alliinase, the primary active ingredient, only garlic cloves that are crushed outside of the digestive tract are expected to produce a sufficient amount of allicin. There is also a buffered garlic pill that resists stomach and has been proven to produce allicin. Cooking destroys allicin.

Resveratrol

Resveratrol (rez-vair-ah-troll) is known as a red wine molecule. Wine (which is an alcohol extract of grape skin) as well as commercially available grape extracts has been shown to be helpful in the eradication of H pylori.

Resveratrol appears to work against H pylori by inhibition of a key inflammatory agent (interleukin-8) as well as inhibition of free radicals.

Both red wine and resveratrol at relatively low concentration inhibit the growth of the strain of H pylori (Cag) that poses the greatest risk for stomach ulcers and cancer.

All red wines tested show some anti-H pylori activity and resveratrol has been found to be the main active compound.

Apple peel extract (polyphenols) has also been shown to inhibit the urease enzyme which H pylori is dependent upon for growth.

Probiotics

Antibiotic regimens to eradicate H pylori can be quite troublesome. Common symptoms experienced during treatment are nausea, taste disturbance, diarrhea and pain. Only recently has it been reported that probiotics (which includes Lactobacillus, Saccharomyces and Bifidobacterium) may be helpful in alleviating these symptoms. Published studies now confirm that probiotics allay the side effects of antibiotic therapy.

It has now been said that the question regarding probiotics and H pylori is not if but how much. There is a growing appreciation that probiotics used during anti-H pylori therapy can help to reduce adverse effects and improve tolerability and compliance of multiple antibiotic regimens.

Probiotics are live bacteria that do not produce disease (pathology). Probiotics generally do not survive long but provoke an immune response. Probiotics, due to their acidity, also produce a direct germ-killing effect. The general belief today is that probiotics are useful but not solely able to eradicate H pylori. That idea may be changing.

A study in Italy which employed eight strains of acid-forming bacteria as probiotic treatment produced eradication in 13 of 40 H pylori-infected patients whereas all 40 patients who received an inactive placebo remained infected. Supplementation with probiotics may eradicate H pylori in some cases.

Non-vitamin nutrients

N-acetyl cysteine, a sulfur-based molecule available as a dietary supplement, is considered a good companion to take with other anti-H pylori regimens.

Periodic cleansing

Due to the wide prevalence of H pylori infection, it is suggested that humans conduct periodic cleanses of their digestive tract employing various dietary supplements (i.e. garlic, zinc carnosine, resveratrol, turmeric (curcumin), cranberry, oil of oregano (carvacrol), vitamin D, vitamin C, probiotics and selenium.

Copyright 2012 Bill Sardi – Knowledge of Health, Inc. – Not for posting on other websites.

Furthermore, there is no drug that cures cancer (chemotherapy drugs only need to temporarily shrink a tumor by 50% before drug/tumor resistance sets in to gain FDA approval).

There is no single drug (diuretics, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, calcium blockers) that adequately controls high blood pressure, and then none address the most common cause of hypertension (inability of blood vessels to dilate upon mental or physical exertion).

For example, there is no evidence that diuretics prescribed in their usual dose reduce risk for heart attack, stroke or death. (American Journal Medicine 2011 Oct;124:896-9)

Patients receiving diuretics (water pills) need an accompanying drug 79% of the time. (Journal Hypertension April 11, 2012) The most frequently prescribed beta blockers (atenolol and metoprolol) simply do not dilate blood vessels via nitric oxide as do more modern drugs. (Postgraduate Medicine 2012 Mar; 124(2):7-15)

Statin drugs do measurably lower circulating cholesterol numbers, but do not prevent mortal heart attacks (The Lancet 369: 168-69, 2007). Yet if patients inquire about their herbal equivalent (red yeast rice) they are informed it is unproven.

Aspirin prevents blood clots but at the risk of over-thinning the blood and creating bleeding gastric ulcers and brain hemorrhages, which represents disease substitution, not disease prevention. (The American Journal of Medicine, Vol 123, No 2, 101-102, February 2010)

Acetycholinesterase inhibitors Donepezil (Aricept), galantamine (Nivalin, Razadyne, Razadyne ER, Reminyl, Lycoremine), and rivastigmine (Exelon) prescribed for Alzheimer’s disease work no better than placebo (PLos ONE April 2006), but if patients inquire about their herbal equivalent (huperzine), they are told it is unproven.

Alternative medicine is guilty of its own misdirection, attempting to copy ineffective prescription drugs with their herbal equivalents. The point here is that cholesterol may not be the primary culprit in arterial plaque and the lack of acetycholine may not be the primary problem in Alzheimer’s disease.

There are some herbal products however that modern medicine appears to be so fearful of that it simply refuses to put them to the test. One such herbal molecule is resveratrol (rez-vair-ah-troll), known as a red wine molecule, which has been shown in animal studies to prevent mortal heart attacks, block cancer at all three stages of development (something no anti-cancer drug has demonstrated), potentially restore vision to otherwise hopeless patients, properly addresses the primary cause of hypertension, and is the most promising anti-Alzheimer’s agent tested so far.

But modern medicine isn’t ready to adopt an unproven nutriceutical like resveratrol until it finds a way to cut itself into the equation financially. It is attempting to introduce re-arranged resveratrol-like molecules called analogs that will gain patents and become a blockbuster drug. The foot-dragging regarding resveratrol is appalling. In eight years since resveratrol dietary supplements have become widely available, not a single human clinical study has been launched for heart disease even though that is its primary calling.

The lack of medical ethics aside, physicians could begin to prescribe resveratrol as a dietary supplement for good health without making any claim as to its effectiveness to cure, treat or prevent disease. Dietary supplements are restricted to making claims they promote a healthy heart, eyes, arteries, brain, etc. But surprisingly health promotion is not a doctor’s primary objective. Doctors are in the “disease care” business, not the “health care” business. Doctors are not living up to their calling as the guardians of public health.

In fact, the Food & Drug Administration says if a molecule like resveratrol is proven to cure, treat or prevent disease by independent researchers even though manufacturers of resveratrol pills make no such claims, regardless of that fact, it is a drug. Which means the private enterprise system of medicine forces the most costly and problematic synthetic remedies upon the public. If a molecule like resveratrol comes along that would eliminate many of the blockbuster drugs now on the market, do you think modern medicine is going to put itself out of business?

The public, being oblivious to all these behind the scenes manipulations, continues to demand so-called miracle drugs that are paid for by health insurance plans. Patients don’t mind being bilked into taking ineffective and problematic drugs as long as insurance pays.

So the status quo reigns, patients suffer, insurance pools are drained of funds, and America nears insolvency. Maybe only a complete collapse of the health care system, forcing patients to care for themselves, would force Americans to search for alternatives like resveratrol.

Unfortunately, there are 350 brands of resveratrol pills to choose from ranging in dosage from 50 to 1000 milligrams per pill. Resveratrol works safely and effectively at a comparatively low dose (100-350 mg). Higher doses are potentially problematic. Only a few brands have been successfully tested in humans so far. Copyright 2012 Bill Sardi, ResveratrolNews.com Not for posting on other websites.

Like Dipak Das, PhD, the University of Connecticut researcher who was charged with over a hundred counts of scientific deceit in January of this year, both researchers stand accused of altering graphic images in their published papers. And in both instances, there is unequivocal evidence of altered images in these published papers. However, interpretation of whether these altered images represent honest mistakes or intentional trickery is a bit more difficult.

Both researchers, Das and Aggarwal, are noted for their work on herbal molecules; Das for the red wine molecule resveratrol and Aggarwal for his study of curcumin, the turmeric spice molecule.

There is suspicion that both of these researchers were singled out for review largely because the molecules they are researching just happen to pose the greatest threat to modern pharmacology. Curcumin and resveratrol could replace most modern medicines as they both exhibit broad biological action and activate a large number of genes.
Just coincidentally, investigation of Das’ and Aggarwal’s published papers come at a time when drug patents on blockbuster drugs are expiring and these nutriceuticals stand poised to replace them.

Generally, modern medicine discovers plant molecules, uses them as a template to make synthetic drugs, that are look-alike molecules called analogs, into patentable drugs and claim they work in a superior manner to what nature provides. But in this case, the analogs are costly and may not work as well. Modern medicine needs more cost effective medicine, not high-priced medicine. There is incentive to keep the many health benefits promised by resveratrol and curcumin in the scientific closet.

Consider that curcumin and resveratrol, two similar shaped small molecules of about the same molecular weight, block cancer in all three stages of development – initiation, growth and spread (metastasis). No cancer drug can make such a claim. Yet in the past decade there has not been one human study to put these molecules to the test for cancer.

Furthermore, both of these molecules are known to avert the development of drug/tumor resistance. Yet not one study has been planned to use them in combination with chemotherapy, even for helpless terminal cancer patients who have no other hope.

Resveratrol, known as a red wine molecule, has not undergone a single human clinical trial for heart disease in the past eight years even though heart disease is supposedly its primary calling. In animal studies, resveratrol turned mortal heart attacks into non-mortal events. Aspirin and statin cholesterol-lowering drugs only modestly prevent non-mortal heart attacks.

The purpose of the attacks on these researchers has not solely been to sanction them and banish them from further research, it has been to retract all of their published works from publication. It sounds like a covert book-burning and censorship campaign. However, none of the altered images would change the conclusions drawn by these published studies. The University of Connecticut over-stepped when it said the altered images in Dr. Das’ paper negated all of his findings about resveratrol.

A larger question is why there was no adequate peer review prior to publication of these images. These mistakes or deceptions are not supposed to make it past peer reviewers at scientific publications. Why are the researchers left to hang? If bogus science was detected it should have never gotten into print.

Also, most of the images in Dr. Das’ case were altered at the request of editors who demanded they be enhanced for publication purposes. In Dr. Aggarwal’s case, a number of images were sloppily published upside down or in the wrong order, but this was deemed to represent fraud. But again, the images in question simply wouldn’t alter the major findings of the study.

In the case of Dr. Das, some unidentified party at the university is sending requests to retract all of his published papers. Yet, when confronted, university representatives say they have no idea who is sending these demands. Science journals are obligated to retract papers when a university makes such a request. Dr. Das maintains the research his lab conducted is 99% accurate and he is refuting all allegations made against him in a private hearing taking place this week.

Stay tuned – we will all see where this is headed. It’s the repeat of a scenario well described in the 1953 Ray Bradbury novel entitled Fahrenheit 451. Copyright 2012 Bill Sardi Not for posting on other websites.

A recent report published in Epigenomics attempts to sort out genetics (inherited gene mutations) from epigenetics (protein making influenced by environmental factors). It is worth the read for science-savvy readers.

Largely due to commercial interests the mapping of the human genome and gene mutation testing has dominated news reports. But it is clearly epigenetics that described disease and aging. The good news is that the epigenome can be rapidly and effectively influenced by dietary and molecular measures. – Copyright 2012 Bill Sardi Knowledge of Health, Inc.

Despite all the research, the confirmation of the first anti-aging pill has been elusive if for no other reason than the impracticality of conducting a long-term study to validate such an idea. The only conclusive evidence would be a long-term (many decades long) study. Many thousands of people would have to be followed for 8-10 decades to produce convincing data.

But a recent 5-year study of 10,889 middle-age human subjects may be as close as researchers will get, and a long-known vitamin may have slid in front of resveratrol as the front-runner in the race to confirm a bona fide anti-aging pill.

There has been concern that a costly anti-aging pill would become an elitist product but the cost of this vitamin ranges from free to a few pennies a day, certainly making it affordable for the masses.

The said vitamin is really a sun-derived hormone — cholecalciferol, made in human skin via exposure to solar ultraviolet-B radiation. It is commonly called vitamin D3.

The recent study referred to above, published in The American Journal of Cardiology, reveals all-cause mortality was 164% higher among those with vitamin D deficiency while use of vitamin D supplements were associated with a 61% increase in survival.

Alarmingly, the cut-off for deficiency was a blood level of 30 nanograms per milliliter of blood and 70.3% of the study population fell below this mark, meaning the lives of most Americans are being cut short by a shortage of a single vitamin-like hormone.

The best diet will not significantly raise blood levels of this vitamin and a person would have to over-eat to reach vitamin D sufficiency. Advice to avoid strong exposure to the sun to prevent skin cancer combined with humans spending more time indoors operating computers, as well as lack of solar radiation in northern climates during winter, suggests dietary supplementation is the simple route to remedy this problem.

Experts like John Cannell MD, founder of The Vitamin D Council, thinks current science points to an optimal healthy blood level of vitamin D in the range of 50-60 nanograms, so we simply don’t know what the top end of the survival curve would look like if adults consistently achieved blood levels in that range. In other words, humans may live even longer than this study reveals if they can maintain optimal blood concentrations that are only achieved by outdoor workers such as lifeguards, roofers and agriculture workers.

Furthermore, vitamin D appears to overcome concerns that an anti-aging pill will only prolong years of misery in old age. Contrarily, vitamin D promises to promote independent living in the latter years of life.

Longevity seekers can read an abstract of the most recent vitamin D study here:

© 2012 Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc. Not for posting on other websites.

The American Journal of Cardiology

Volume 109, Issue 3, 1 February 2012, Pages 359–363

Vitamin D Deficiency and Supplementation and Relation to Cardiovascular Health

James L. Vacek, MD, MSc^a,, Subba Reddy Vanga, MBBS^a, Mathew Good, DO^a, Sue Min Lai, PhD^b, Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy, MD^a, Patricia A. Howard, PharmD^c

1. Mid America Cardiology, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center and Hospital, Kansas City, Kansas
2. University of Kansas Medical Center School of Public Health, Kansas City, Kansas
3. Department of Pharmacy Practice, University of Kansas School of Pharmacy, Kansas City, Kansas

Recent evidence supports an association between vitamin D deficiency and hypertension, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, coronary artery disease, and heart failure. The effect of vitamin D supplementation, however, has not been well studied. We examined the associations between vitamin D deficiency, vitamin D supplementation, and patient outcomes in a large cohort. Serum vitamin D measurements for 5 years and 8 months from a large academic institution were matched to patient demographic, physiologic, and disease variables. The vitamin D levels were analyzed as a continuous variable and as normal (≥30 ng/ml) or deficient (<30 ng/ml). Descriptive statistics, univariate analysis, multivariate analysis, survival analysis, and Cox proportional hazard modeling were performed. Of 10,899 patients, the mean age was 58 ± 15 years, 71% were women (n = 7,758), and the average body mass index was 30 ± 8 kg/m². The mean serum vitamin D level was 24.1 ± 13.6 ng/ml. Of the 10,899 patients, 3,294 (29.7%) were in the normal vitamin D range and 7,665 (70.3%) were deficient. Vitamin D deficiency was associated with several cardiovascular-related diseases, including hypertension, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, and diabetes (all p <0.05). Vitamin D deficiency was a strong independent predictor of all-cause death (odds ratios 2.64, 95% confidence interval 1.901 to 3.662, p <0.0001) after adjusting for multiple clinical variables. Vitamin D supplementation conferred substantial survival benefit (odds ratio for death 0.39, 95% confidence interval 0.277 to 0.534, p <0.0001). In conclusion, vitamin D deficiency was associated with a significant risk of cardiovascular disease and reduced survival. Vitamin D supplementation was significantly associated with better survival, specifically in patients with documented deficiency.

In recent times there has been a renaissance in immunotherapy for cancer. Immunotherapy aims to activate an efficient immune response against tumors or prevent cancers from occurring in the first place. Decades ago cancer researchers dismissed this approach in favor of the toxic cancer cell-killing treatments that now predominate. But now cancer researchers are reporting some breakthroughs, at least in the animal laboratory.

Normal healthy cells carry proteins on their surfaces that mark them as “self” and keeps them from being attacked by the immune system. White blood cells then easily recognize invading germs or tumor cells and either destroy them outright with a burst of free radicals issued from white blood cells known as neutrophils or swallow them entirely by white blood cells known as macrophages. But tumor cells also exhibit these “self” proteins on their surface to escape immune surveillance.

If these proteins can somehow be negated then the immune system would have a chance to attack and kill off cancer cells. Specifically, roaming white blood cells known as macrophages recognize a protein called CD47 and therefore do not attack and engulf cancer cells. In this manner cancer cells escape the normal immune surveillance that keeps cancer cells at bay.

Cancer cells typically have a higher level of CD47 than healthy cells and the amount of CD47 predicts the survival of cancer patients.

Cancer researchers have recently documented the blockade of the CD47 cell-surface receptor with a monoclonal antibody to re-activate macrophages to engulf cancer cells and kill them. Since virtually all known types of tumor cells exhibit the CD47 receptor on their surface, this development may be monumental.

This single monoclonal antibody drug has now been demonstrated to shrink or even cure human breast, ovary, colon, bladder, brain, liver, and prostate tumors that have been transplanted into laboratory mice.

In recent years blockade of the CD47 receptor had been shown to cure some cases of non-solid tumors (lymphomas and leukemias) in the research lab.

It is important at this juncture in time to look forward in time to see how it may alter current cancer treatment.

So far monoclonal antibodies aren’t receiving rave reviews by cancer researchers. One recent report says “side effects,  elevated costs and resistance problems” limit the efficiency of monoclonal antibodies as targeted therapy against cancer.

Use of monoclonal antibodies that block the formation of new blood vessels that feed tumor cells, a process called angiogenesis, has been modestly successful in prolonging survival for colorectal cancer.

So where is oncology headed here in its quest to conquer cancer via the use of monoclonal antibodies to re-arm the immune system against tumor cells?

We can get a picture of what monoclonal antibody therapy for cancer would be like by studying another human disease that is successfully treated using this approach.

Monoclonal antibodies are also used quite successfully to inhibit abnormal new blood vessels that invade the visual center of the eye in a disease called wet macular degeneration. Aged eyes that are deprived of oxygen deliver due to poor circulation will trigger a signal to produce new blood vessels to deliver more oxygen, but this can permanently destroy vision. The injection of a monoclonal antibody that blocks a gene known as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) causes these abnormal blood vessels to recede and vision to be restored.

However, anti-VEGF therapy requires repeated treatments, about every six weeks, about 6 to 8 treatments a year.

So imagine now that oncologists could possibly be treating tumors that can be directly reached with a needle with repeated injections of monoclonal antibodies that block CD47. Remote tumors in the brain and deep internal organs may not be accessible to this treatment and it is anticipated the cost of a single treatment would be expensive. The cost of repeated treatments would likely soar beyond imagination.

Using 2005 data, there are about 1.37 million new cases of cancer diagnosed annually that are added to the pool of about 11 million Americans who have a history of cancer. Direct costs to provide cancer care runs close to $40 billion a year, without monoclonal antibody treatment.

To hazard a rough guesstimation, let’s say monoclonal antibodies targeted at the CD47 protein are injected in 1 million patients a year, six times a year at the cost of $3000 per injection, which includes fees for the physician and the outpatient center. We are talking about $18 billion of treatment that would likely be added to existing therapy, such as chemotherapy.

What if monoclonal antibodies did saves lives and produce temporary remissions, but not long-term cures? What if it did produce long-term cures but the patients would be subject to long-term invasive treatment? Current chemotherapy drugs are approved by the FDA if they shrink tumors by 50%, however none of them produce a cure and they only modestly prolong survival. © 2012 Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc.

Compared to healthy adults, four times as many loose cells that slough off the inner lining of arteries, called endothelial cells, were found among heart attack patients who arrived at a hospital emergency room complaining of chest pain.  A quicker and more efficient test is now being developed to count circulating endothelial cells in a blood sample.

Endothelial cells (green) found in the bloodstream of healthy people (left) differ from those taken from heart attack patients (right). The cells from heart attack patients tend to cluster and have multiple nuclei (shown in pink). Credit: S. Damani et al/Science Translational Medicine 2012

An association between a rise in the number of circulating endothelial cells and a heart attack actually dates back to the 1970s.  Maybe 5 circulating endothelial cells per milliliter of blood can be found in healthy adults.  The problem is that the tests to measure a rise in the number of these cells have been limited to experimental studies, not everyday clinical use.  An improved test is in development and will be certainly welcomed.

But even with the test, what would be the therapy?  You may or may not be surprised at the answer – red wine molecules.

At least that is what researchers in Europe discovered about five years ago.  Laboratory animals were subjected to a chemical (carbon tetrachloride) in their drinking water that induces an increase in circulating endothelial cells.  Untreated healthy animals only had an average of 2.47 of these cells in their blood sample.  Adding the chemical to their water increased the number of circulating endothelial cells by three-fold.  Then the animals were given three weeks to recover, but time alone did not produce a decline in the number of these freely roaming cells. Three weeks of recovery plus the provision of red wine molecules significantly decreased their numbers in the blood (from 6.88 to 4.61 cells per milliliter).

Red wine molecules not only were effective after administering the chemical but also preventively, when given in drinking water prior to the caustic drug. The effect was more dramatic when given prior to the chemical.

Red wine pills are widely available in health food stores.  Resveratrol is the best-studied red wine molecule, but it is not the only protective molecule in wine.  Red wine pills that provide an array of protective molecules are more likely to produce the same protective effect seen in laboratory animals.

After the Presidential election anticipate what amounts to terrorist attacks upon the dietary supplement industry as regulatory agencies and the news media do the bidding for big business in a predictable industry takeover now that vitamin pills are yielding greater profitability and unit sales growth than the American economy as a whole and drug patent expirations force pharmaceutical companies to search for replacements for their blockbuster drugs.

Proctor & Gamble and Pfizer, two food and drug giants, announced acquisition of two dietary supplement companies, making it clear the vitamin pill business is up for grabs now that it is growing faster than the rest of the economy. One source predicts the supplement industry will grow at the clip of 9% per year during 2011-15. For comparison, the entire US economy is in the doldrums with less than a 2% annual growth rate. This growth is attracting pariahs and predictable pressure from regulatory agencies to rid the industry of competition.

The first part of the strategy has been underway for some time – attack the industry, make false claims products are unsafe, and head off public demand. As big business buys up these supplement companies so they don’t have to pay millions or even billions of dollars for them if sales are hindered by negative publicity. So negative news is generated, unfairly claiming dietary supplements are risky for consumers.

For example, a recent NBC Dateline report, where NBC reporters dug up a 4-year old case involving a lone derelict company that made a faulty product, was depicted as what is characteristic in the industry. It’s all part of the mud that the news media has been lobbing at the supplement companies for years now.

How big business will swallow the vitamin pill business

It should not be a surprise that big business can get news agencies to do its bidding for them. For example, Proctor & Gamble spends $1 billion a year on advertising. Pfizer spends ~$19 billion a year on marketing and promotion. Ditto for Johnson & Johnson.

These companies have clout and can rub out competition in various ways, including paying off politicians to write legislation that will just make it too difficult for small competitors to survive in the supplement industry.

The New Dietary Ingredient regulations, which the FDA plans to impose, are an example. These regulations require new and existing brands of dietary supplements to undergo costly testing to prove they are safe, even if they have been safely used in the market place for years. Thousands of dietary supplements are likely to disappear from store shelves in the near future due to this requirement.

Another recent example is Rite-Aid drugs stores which hired wellness ambassadors and placed them in white coats to promote the sales of dietary supplements. Apparently drug companies caught wind of this successful strategy that was resulting in consumers purchasing more supplements and fewer drugs. So two US Senators wrote a strong letter to Rite-Aid alleging these wellness ambassadors were wearing white coats, making it appear they are pharmacists. It’s a bogus claim and a clear interference with free trade, but nonetheless any successful strategy to sell dietary supplements instead of drugs is a target for sanctions.

Some attacks against the industry are more direct. Some retail dietary supplement outlets are being raided without justifiable cause and their products confiscated.

As the US becomes less and less of a free market and more of a fascist nation as big business buys off government overseers, the supplement industry can anticipate more pressure from unseen directions.

Big Pharma exerting its will

As a FoxNews report says: “The world’s largest producers of new drugs and medicines are facing an unprecedented time in their history as a record number of patents expire and generic drugs swoop in as more affordable alternatives.” A so-called “patent cliff” has been reached where more and more drug patents are expiring, billions of dollars of blockbuster drugs.

Americans don’t realize the freedoms they have when it comes to dietary supplements. In Europe, dietary supplements are prescription drugs. Once the supplement industry is captured by big business, anticipate legislation that will force vitamin and herbal remedies to be acquired by prescription under the false guise doctors need to monitor use. Many overseas tourists visiting America purchase thousands of dollars of dietary supplements to bring home with them. Foreigners know what it is like for dietary supplements to be restricted.

Why the public continues to take dangerous prescription drugs cannot be easily explained. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more people die from such overdoses than from all illegal drugs combined. Furthermore, accidental prescription drug deaths in the United States each year now outnumber roadway fatalities.

Compare this with the fact there was not a single death associated with a dietary supplement in 2010.

Supplement industry sometimes lives up to its reputation

This is not to say the dietary supplement industry hasn’t gone off in the wrong direction from time to time. The industry has a penchant for selling what is popular, not what works.

Take Sea Silver, a supplement that was avidly purchased by naïve consumers who were desperately searching for natural remedies for a wide array of maladies —650 of them in all that Sea Silver’s makers said its products cured. The Federal Trade Commission put that company out of business.

Another over-hyped supplement was Coral Calcium, which was no better than a plain calcium carbonate supplement yet it was advertised as a cure-all for many maladies and widely embraced and sold within the dietary supplement industry. Many a health food store posted sidewalk signs outside their establishments saying “Coral Calcium here.” It was an embarrassing moment for the retail supplement industry. For unknown reasons, consumers are susceptible to the most bogus of health claims attached to dietary supplements.

Sleight of hand against supplements

Oftentimes the supplement industry is unfairly accused of selling ineffective products. One of the common sleights of hand is to generate studies that are inherently slanted against supplements. For example, a recent review of the effectiveness of B vitamins and vitamin E showed that randomized clinical trials do not reveal a beneficial effect in reducing cardiovascular disease in humans. But the review also showed that these studies failed to consider confounding factors, that drugs like aspirin and statin drugs reduced or abolished any possibility of observed differences in the number of heart attacks between vitamin pill users and non-users.

Whether you believe supplements are good for you or not, a continued barrage of publicity leads people to believe that supplements are not controlled by the Food and Drug Administration and have the potential to do more harm than good.

The FDA does in fact control the manufacture, labeling, and distribution of supplements. Manufacturers of dietary supplements are subject to legal liability if their products are impure, improperly labeled, result in side effects when properly used or when false or unsubstantiated advertising claims are made. And why is it that the unregulated supplements have a better safety record than the FDA-approved drugs?

You can fool the people only some of the time

You can only fool some of the people some of the time. There is scientific evidence that substantiates the widespread use of supplements that cannot be easily refuted.

The most remarkable is vitamin D, a long overlooked sun-produced hormone/vitamin that is producing striking health benefits, including declines in the risk for cancer and diabetes, as well as a reduction in overall mortality. Vitamin D pills are a 10-cent cure for what ails most people, from the winter blues to osteoporosis and the common cold.

When noted New York Times health reporter Jane E Brody gives vitamin D her blessing (she’s penned a number of negative reports about vitamin supplements in the past), you have really convinced a skeptic.

It doesn’t look like anything can hide the plethora of positive scientific reports now being published about vitamin D. As the public adopts vitamin D pills into their daily health regimens anticipate a measurable improvement in health parameters, a decline in overall mortality that cannot be easily hidden and a revelation that modern medicine has for a long time now been gaming a certain rate of disease into the population by limiting intake of essential nutrients.

The tactics used by big business are not new. A similar consolidation effort was made in the retail gasoline market when California required small independent filling stations to dig out their old underground storage tanks and replace them with double-lined tanks. This was too costly for the independent stations and they folded. Gasoline prices then rose dramatically in California without the price competition. Consumers are surely to lose as the supplement industry is taken over by big business.

At least that is what two US Senators allege in their letter to Rite-Aid, which has GNC nutrition centers inside many of its stores. A letter from the senators to Rite-Aid says they are concerned these ambassadors “could be making false and misleading claims by marketing dietary supplements as treatments for health conditions.”

Wait a minute — I thought the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) gave the right to market dietary supplements as long as they strictly support health, not as cures, treatments or prevention for any disease. Drugs do not promote wellness, and few are an appropriate cure for anything.

A grave problem (the word grave being used in its true meaning) is that that DSHEA didn’t go far enough. Dietary supplements do in fact prevent, treat and cure diseases, many of them. The Food & Drug Administration mandates censorship of the truth. Doesn’t vitamin D prevent rickets, vitamin C prevent scurvy, vitamin B1 prevent beri beri, etc?

The FDA says that even claims that these obvious nutrient deficiency diseases are remedied by vitamin pills must be stated in terms of which bodily structure and functions they affect, they cannot be labeled they prevent, treat or cure a disease when they clearly do. For example, the label on a bottle of vitamin D pills could say “promotes healthy bones” or vitamin C could say “supports healthy capillaries” (connectors between arteries and veins). They can’t say “prevents osteoporosis” or “treats arteriosclerosis.”

The FDA says (can you believe this?) that dietary supplements would be required to submit a New Drug Application to the FDA to make such a disease/cure claim. Ditto for limes if a label affixed to them said they cure scurvy, as they did for British sailors in the 19^th century. How absurd.

How dare these “wellness ambassadors” direct anyone to a dietary supplement instead of a drug! Forget that drug companies and pharmacists are hiding the fact that diet supplements replicate the biological action of most Rx drugs without the high cost or side effects. Why modern medicine treats every disease as if it were a drug deficiency goes unexplained. Terrible that anyone should address the true cause of disease with a dietary supplement rather than a drug.

Instead of getting vitamin B1 to treat heart failure, you get diuretics and digitalis that deplete vitamin B1.

Instead of getting vitamin D to treat osteoporosis you get synthetic bone hardeners.

Instead of getting vitamin C to treat high cholesterol you get liver-toxic statin drugs which increase the risk for muscle aches, diabetes and mental confusion, and while “FDA-approved,” statin drugs only prevent one non-mortal heart attack among 1 in 200 healthy adults and 1 in 70 at-risk adults.

Instead of getting fish oil, magnesium, resveratrol, vitamin E or a garlic pill to thin the blood you get vitamin-K depleting warfarin or coumadin which then result in calcification and stiffening of arteries.

Instead of resveratrol, SAMe, vitamin E or folic acid for mental depression you get Elavil or Wellbutrin. If you are mentally depressed due to a nutrient deficiency these drugs artificially elevate mood, are inappropriate and do not address the primary cause of the problem, only its symptoms. The drug only masks the symptoms of the nutrient deficiency.

Instead of getting vitamin D, resveratrol, folic acid or vitamin B1 to remedy Alzheimer’s-like dementia, you get Aricept or Tacrine that are no better than a placebo tablet.

Instead of getting fish oil after a heart attack to natural slow the heart rate you get beta blockers which induce energy deficiency in the heart, as well as asthma, fatigue, impotence and poor mental function.

That Congress wants to step in and protect pharmaceutical profits is fascism, not democracy. Government will steer you in a safe direction, right? How many Americans die of properly-used prescription drugs annually? Answer: over 100,000. How many die from use of dietary supplements? Answer: according to poison control center data, zero.

Maybe natural health advocates should hand out the proper questions for consumers to ask in retail stores, questions that will pass the scrutiny of a government censor, so wellness ambassadors can provide true answers. Questions like these:

Instead of asking “What can I take that would substitute for a statin cholesterol-lowering drug?, ask: “What do I take to support healthy cholesterol levels?” (vitamin C, apple pectin, resveratrol)

Instead of asking “What can I take in place of coumadin and Warfarin?” ask: “What do I take to support healthy blood clotting?” (fish oil, garlic, magnesium, resveratrol, vitamin E)

Instead of asking “What can I take in lieu of digitalis and beta blockers for heart failure?” ask: “What do I take to promote a stronger heart?” (vitamin B1)

Instead of asking “What is the alternative to diabetic drugs?” ask: “What do I take to support healthy kidneys, eyes and nerves if I am a diabetic?” (vitamin B1)

Instead of asking “Don’t you have something natural that will replace my antidepressant drug?” ask: “What natural products can I take that promote a healthy mood?” (vitamin D, folic acid, SAMe, resveratrol)

Instead of asking “What can I take in lieu of antibiotics so I don’t develop germ resistance?” ask: “What do I take to support a healthy immune response?” (vitamin D, vitamin C, fish oil, beta glucan, quercetin, oil of oregano, garlic, cinnamon extract)

Instead of asking “What can I take in lieu of allergy medications?” ask: “What natural anti-histamines are available?” (vitamin C, quercetin)

If public health authorities were truly interested in protecting consumers from product-related health problems they would require drug companies to list all of the nutrient deficiencies induced by pharmaceuticals. Some common examples are:

• Vitamin C depleted by: cortisone/prednisone (steroidal anti-inflammatories), aspirin, estrogen replacement, tobacco, antacids.
• Vitamin B1 depleted by: digitalis, diuretics (water pills), antibiotics, antacids.
• Vitamin B12: antibiotics, antacids.
• Vitamin D: cortisone/prednisone, some cholesterol-lowering drugs.
• Zinc: ACE inhibitors (Enalapril, Lisinopril), cortisone/prednisone, estrogen, some antidepressants, antacids.
• Magnesium: digitalis (digoxin), antibiotics, diuretics, estrogen, cortisone/prednisone, antacids.
• Folic acid (vitamin B9): aspirin, cortisone/prednisone, metformin anti-diabetic drug, estrogen), antacids

Taking drugs that induce deficiencies of essential nutrients means patients will never get well.

Who knows, government overseers may soon install wire taps in health food stores and pharmacies to listen in on private conversations about dietary supplements over the telephone.

“Nutriceuticals, a more sophisticated name for dietary supplements, do in fact prevent, treat and cure essential nutrient deficiency diseases such as vitamin D for rickets, vitamin C for scurvy, vitamin B1 for beri beri, as well as many chronic diseases, yet the FDA bans (censors) statements of fact, keeping the public in the dark over the obvious health benefits and cost effectiveness of nutriceuticals,” says Sardi.

“The US FDA maintains a narrow pharmaceutical model for chronic diseases, which are basically treated as drug deficiencies. The FDA maintains dietary supplements must become expensive drugs before statements can be made they cure or treat disease, which is absurd,” says Sardi.

Example of sudden-death heart attack

Sardi points to sudden-death heart attacks as an example. There is evidence that resveratrol (pronounced rez-vair-ah-troll), a red wine molecule available as a dietary supplement, can potentially turn mortal heart attacks into non-mortal events.

Sardi says recent studies reveal aspirin and statin drugs do not reduce the risk for sudden-death heart attacks, only non-mortal events. So millions are dying without any proven technology to prevent these deaths, he says.

The evidence that a modest dose of resveratrol prevents mortal heart attacks is largely derived from animal studies but it would be unethical to proceed to human studies where high-risk patients would be forced to take inactive placebo pills and allowed to die to determine if resveratrol does in fact prevent these sudden unexpected deaths, says Sardi.

“It would take at least 5 years and cost more than $50 million to determine whether resveratrol pills prevent mortal heart attacks in humans like they do in the animal lab,” says Sardi. During that time millions of Americans will needlessly die.

If resveratrol pills are relatively safe (they have been sold as non-prescription pills to hundreds of thousands of Americans over the past eight years without report of significant side effects), why don’t public health officials allow resveratrol pills to come into common use with the provisional approval their health benefits remain to be demonstrated in humans but are based upon solid animal and human epidemiological data? Waiting means millions more will die prematurely.

In fact, some heart researchers are wondering why there is not even one human clinical study involving resveratrol and heart disease in the past 8 years since resveratrol pills became widely available and scientific studies linked resveratrol to the French Paradox, the fact the wine-drinking French exhibit far fewer heart attacks despite their high-fat, high-calorie diet.

A New Jersey cardiologist, Nate Lebowitz MD, a rare breed of physician who recommends resveratrol pills to his patients, says he has observed some of his patients experience blockage of their coronary arteries without experiencing symptoms or tissue damage, which is consistent with published animal studies.

Ed Skonenzy, a 70-year old Palm Desert, California man who has been taking a resveratrol pill for over five years, claims in a CNN report that he was found to have five partially or totally blocked coronary arteries but experienced no angina chest pain or heart muscle damage, and when surgeons opened his chest they surprisingly found a new blood vessel had formed to deliver oxygenated blood to his heart muscle tissue which is precisely what resveratrol was found to do in animal studies.

Repeat scenario: vision loss

The same is true for nutriceuticals in rescuing patients from permanent irreversible vision loss due to a condition called wet macular degeneration. While there is effective medicine for this condition, an injectable drug that inhibits the formation of abnormal blood vessels that invade the visual center (macula) of the eye, these drugs don’t work in 1 of 6 cases and some patients refuse to have a needle stuck directly into the white of their eyes.

In animal studies, resveratrol causes abnormal blood vessels to recede. Even more convincingly, a soon-to-be-published series of case presentations shows a resveratrol-based pill rescues aged patients from threatened permanent vision loss. Their treatment options had been exhausted and patients either failed drug treatment or refused injection of medicine into their eyes.

“However, we are unsure we can find eye physicians willing to launch such a study given their financial conflict of interest in administering injectable medications into the eye,” says Sardi.

“We actually became aware in 2007 that a resveratrol pill I had formulated was reversing this disease. Photographic evidence was provided. But then the eye doctors who made us aware of this suddenly claimed the treatment didn’t last and they backed away. Since then about 150,000 older adults have permanently lost their vision due to this eye malady that could have been saved had off-label use of this nutriceutical been allowed,” says Sardi.

An inpatient at a government hospital threatened with permanent vision loss refused injected drug treatment but was prohibited from using a resveratrol pill as an alternative because it was not FDA approved. The patient acquired the resveratrol pill on her own and experienced major visual improvement within four days.

“It is clear that the FDA and physicians are not working in the best interest of patients and are using the drug approval process to maintain the status quo and thwarting safer and more economical alternatives from being used,” says Sardi.

Nutracon is the premier conference for ingredient and technology innovation within the health and nutrition industry. For more information about resveratrol and health, visit www.resveratrolnews.com #####