The US Food & Drug Administration is playing a deadly game with the American people, a game that protects over-priced, oftentimes ineffective or inappropriate, and sometimes toxic or lethal drugs, while muzzling any evidence that there are cheaper, safer and more effective and appropriate non-prescription remedies.

The FDA does not consider its mission to inform the American public of less problematic alternatives, even safer drugs within the same class, nor does it inform the public of natural remedies which have the same biological action as Rx drugs. In fact, any natural remedy that does in fact prevent, treat or cure a disease is declared a drug.

The FDA arrogantly maintains prescription drugs are the high standard upon which all other remedies must be compared. The gold standard for an FDA-approved drug is the double-blind (doctors and patients don’t know who is taking active or inactive medicine), placebo-controlled, longitudinal (long-term) study. A drug need only beat placebo (inactive pill) to be approved.

However, the outright flaw in this type of study is that it is based upon results in groups, not individuals. We now know that the individual genetic, environmental and family health history of patients is needed to adequately prescribe medicines and other treatments. These factors are generally not considered in these types of studies. As Steve Hickey and Hilary Roberts say in their recent critique of evidence-based medicine (Tarnished Gold, The Sickness of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2011), “populations are not people.”

Some studies intentionally involve an overly large number of subjects in order to come up with the misleading conclusion that it is ever so slightly effective. An example would be statin cholesterol-lowering drugs that only avert a non-mortal heart attack in 1 of 71 high-risk subjects over a 5-year period of time. There is an even more remote chance statin drugs will save lives when used among healthy adults who have no risk factors for heart disease. Most statin drug users will derive no meaningful benefit because these drugs do not prevent mortal heart attacks.

In the era prior to controlled studies, drugs like insulin, penicillin, aspirin, digitalis, sulfa drugs and many vaccines came into common use because it was obvious they worked in nearly all subjects. The same is true for vitamins. Except for those individuals with absorption or transport problems, vitamin C cured scurvy every time; vitamin D cured rickets nearly every time; thiamin (vitamin B1) cured beri beri every time; vitamin B12 cured pernicious anemia every time.

By comparison, today’s FDA approved drugs may in fact be ineffective (statin drugs don’t prevent mortal heart attacks, cancer drugs don’t improve survival, antidepressants and drugs for Alzheimer’s disease are no better than a placebo pill) and may even increase the risk for death (examples: erythropoietin prescribed for cancer-induced anemia, anti-inflammatory drugs that may increase risk for cardiac death or from bleeding gastric ulcers).

The logic of arguments used against dietary supplements is stupefying. While it is often said that dietary supplements are unproven, yet many FDA-approved drugs have already been disproven. Most antidepressants, anti-Alzheimer’s medications and anti-cancer drugs simply don’t work and should be removed from the marketplace.

The farce of FDA-approved

FDA-approved drugs have become such a farce. Consider there is not one blood pressure drug that addresses the primary cause of the disease. Diuretics reduce fluid load by increasing excretion of urine, beta blockers slow down the heart pump, ACE inhibitors calm a hormone produced in the kidneys, but the primary cause of age-related hypertension is stiffening of arteries due to calcifications combined with a shortage of nitric oxide, a transient gas that induces arteries to dilate (widen) with physical exertion or emotional stress. Just one magnesium pill a day will do as well as any single blood pressure pill.

The production of nitric oxide is triggered by some nutrients, such as nitrites provided in extracts from beets, or by herbal extracts from pine bark or grapes (resveratrol, quercetin). Natural remedies more appropriately address the primary cause of high blood pressure than any existing FDA-approved drug, but they are shunned by modern medicine and classified as unproven remedies.

Drugs and all-cause mortality

Sometimes drugs do decrease mortality for disease but there are offsetting deaths when all causes of drug-related mortality are considered. Drugs can be approved (like anti-inflammatory drugs) which reduce an intended end-point (inflammation, pain) but increase the risk for death.

The problem is that FDA-approved drugs are allowed to be widely advertised after gaining initial FDA approval before safety data obtained after longer-term use is analyzed. An unsafe and deadly drug may be on the market for years before it is recalled as the FDA relies upon pharmaceutical companies to monitor and tabulate their own safety data.

The FDA’s black box warning label

The FDA has come up with a legal out for drugs that offer benefits while producing offsetting side effects. It is called the black-box warning label. This puts the legal onus on the prescriber. Yes, consumers can read these black-box warnings but often never consider them. By the FDA shifting the risk on the prescribing doctor it is more difficult to pursue legal remedies for avoidable harms that patients may incur. It becomes obvious here that the FDA is in the business of shielding pharmaceutical and vaccines makers, not the public.

Vaccines immune from liability

Consider vaccines where the public cannot by law sue manufacturers for damages from harmful side effects or deaths. Damage claims must be submitted to a vaccine injury board (officially the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program).

Since any significant pay out from this fund would be an admission that many vaccines, or least certain production lots of vaccines, are troublesome, the vaccine injury board makes it nearly impossible to receive pay outs on any claims. Again, the vaccine injury board exists to protect and limit liability of manufacturers, not to protect the public.

Health authorities speak out of two sides of their mouth here. On one side it proclaims vaccines to be safe and the public should be vaccinated against all manner of disease, and on the other side it says there needs to be a vaccine injury claims board to “immunize” vaccine makers from liability claims. If vaccines are safe, then why would a special claims board be needed?

In essence, vaccines represent “a little bit of disease” and are inherently problematic for children under the age of 2 years and seniors over the age of 70 who simply don’t adequately develop antibodies when exposed to pathogenic germs. These two groups represent the at-risk population for infectious disease mortality.

Drug companies drag their feet over long-term safety data

In recent times American pharmaceutical companies have covertly hidden or deleted deaths or other side effects from their required safety data reports. Penalties for doing this are weak. Some companies are tardy by many years in reporting safety data on their products while deaths from their product mount. Intentional obfuscation of safety data is tantamount to hiding a murder. Fines do not adequately penalize.

The profits are so large for some drugs (example: patentable cholesterol-lowering statin drugs sell for $3.00-$4.00 per pill while generic versions sell for ~10-cents), that drug companies can withstand lawsuits and other penalties by building these costs into the price of their products.

FDA as collector of mafia protection money

America’s so-called ethical drug companies have become gangsters. In a reverse role, the mafia-like FDA is paid off in user fees and penalties as protection money for the crimes of these companies. Oh, a Congressional hearing or two pretends to take these criminals to task, then business as usual resumes. Anything short of placing drug company executives in jail will not put a halt to their crimes.

Dietary supplements DO prevent, treat or cure disease

Dietary supplements, which certainly do prevent, treat and cure diseases, are censored from saying that on product labels or advertising. A statement must accompany all dietary supplement labels and advertising saying: “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”

However, a provision in the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994 states that dietary supplements can, in fact, make disease/cure claims for frank nutrient deficiency diseases, such as scurvy (vitamin C), rickets (vitamin D), beri beri (vitamin B1), or pernicious anemia (vitamin B12).

However, the FDA effectively negates the freedom to make disease/cure claims for dietary deficiency diseases by clarifying this law on its own terms. The FDA says any health claims that dietary supplements prevent, treat or cure disease have to be made in the context of what are called structure and function claims. That is, what structure or function in the body does a particular nutrient address? A dietary supplement manufacturer can’t really mention a disease, like scurvy, beri beri, pellagra or rickets, is “cured” by a dietary ingredient.

The assumption here is that nutrients are like drugs and are intended to target a disease in a specific location of the body, like gastric ulcers or skin infections. Natural molecules have broad effects upon the entire body and defy such a narrow description.

Here is the FDA interpretation of the DSHEA provision that permits health claims for dietary deficiency diseases:

Structure/function claims may also describe a benefit related to a nutrient deficiency disease (like vitamin C and scurvy), as long as the statement also tells how widespread such a disease is in the United States. The manufacturer is responsible for ensuring the accuracy and truthfulness of these claims; they are not pre-approved by FDA but must be truthful and not misleading. If a dietary supplement label includes such a claim, it must state in a “disclaimer” that FDA has not evaluated the claim. The disclaimer must also state that the dietary supplement product is not intended to “diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease,” because only a drug can legally make such a claim.

FDA double talk

Of course, this is double talk. How can a vitamin C supplement make a claim it cures the common symptoms of scurvy (bleeding gums, eye hemorrhage, skin bruising, fatigue, anemia, irritability, weakened immune response) but not cure a disease? The disease is scurvy, the symptoms of scurvy are those described above.

How many are deficient?

Furthermore, there is going to be argument with health authorities and the FDA over just what percentage of the population is deficient in a particular nutrient. If recognizing that humans experienced a gene mutation many generations ago that damaged the capacity of the liver to continually produce vitamin C internally, then all humans are deficient by that standard and few individuals except supplement users can adequately maintain healthy vitamin C blood levels.

Based upon published science, roughly the following percentages of Americans are deficient, at least throughout parts of the year, in these essential nutrients, with the exception of dietary supplement users:

PREVALENCE OF NUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES

Vitamin B1: A strong percentage of the population are habitual consumers of alcoholic beverages or coffee or tea, which interfere with B1 absorption.

• Vitamin B12: ~40%
• Vitamin C: nearly 100%
• Vitamin D: nearly 100%
• Magnesium: ~ 40%
• Omega-3 oils: ~80%

It is highly likely that the majority of the American population experiences symptoms related to nutrient deficiencies that are never thought to be caused by shortages of essential vitamins and minerals. The public runs to doctors, gets a prescription drug and is oblivious to the fact their symptoms were caused by a nutrient imbalance.

To make matters worse, the Food & Nutrition Board, part of the National Academy of Science, has dialed in a certain level of disease in the population by setting daily nutrient requirements too low. For example, the recommended daily requirement for vitamins C and D do not even measurably raise blood concentrations. The current recommended daily amount of vitamin D wouldn’t even cure rickets in an African American infant nor would it measurably raise blood levels in an adult.

How many Americans are deficient in vitamin B1 (thiamin)? All alcohol drinkers are at risk since alcohol inhibits absorption of this essential vitamin. Chemicals in coffee and tea called tannins can also react with thiamine, converting it to a form that is difficult for the body to take in.

The Recommended Daily Allowance, in this instance for thiamin, by definition is intended to prevent a nutrient deficiency disease for 98% of the population. Many millions of US adults regularly consume alcohol and are at risk. A standard vitamin B1 pill, generally providing 1-2 milligrams, may not prevent a shortage or overcome a state of deficiency. A fat-soluble form of this naturally water-soluble vitamin may even be needed enhance absorption and overcome common symptoms of deficiency (skin problems, chronic diarrhea and mental issues, coined as the 3Ds of B1 deficiency – dermatitis, diarrhea and dementia).

The problem is, without a blood test, the public doesn’t know their symptoms are caused by a nutrient deficiency.

The dietary supplement label the FDA doesn’t want you to see

Here is the dietary supplement label the FDA doesn’t want to see (below). Why? Because this label creates true competition with dietary supplements replacing drugs prescribed for the treatment of disease.

A newly proposed disclaimer

In a direct letter to the FDA I have proposed different wording as a disclaimer for dietary supplements. It reads as follows:

Dietary supplements make a significant contribution to daily nutrient needs. Consumers are urged to carefully examine the level of scientific evidence (lab dish, animal, human studies) that substantiate whether a supplement prevents, treats or cures disease, and whether that science pertains to a particular product or its ingredients in general and provides the same dosage and form of nutrient used in a controlled study.

How much nutrient-related disease is out there?

God only knows how much nutrient deficiency disease is overlooked or misdiagnosed and inappropriately treated with drugs today. The average 75-year old American is over-medicated (taking 5 prescription drugs) despite the fact nutrient absorption and deficiency problems are rampant in this age group. The drugs themselves deplete essential nutrients yet the FDA does not require this fact to be included in product inserts.

The public is left to their own self-guided use of dietary supplements knowing their doctors are poorly trained on the subject and that doctors typically roll their eyes when they hear their patients talk about vitamin pills. There isn’t a disease on the planet that cannot be aided by vitamins and mineral supplements, yet first-line treatment is drugs.

A retiree can walk into a doctor’s office, present complaints about short-term memory loss, burning feet, fatigue and backache and received prescriptions for a number of drugs when all of these symptoms emanate from a single dietary deficiency – vitamin B12. Furthermore, a blood test that reveals vitamin B12 levels are within the normal reference range does not mean the patient has healthy B12 levels. The only way to conclusively know is to conduct a therapeutic challenge and provide supplemental B12 to see if symptoms subside.

This author has received four inquiries in the past month about chronic diarrhea. Upon further questioning it was found that three of these diarrhea sufferers were regular beer drinkers and one regularly drank wine. Alcohol depletes vitamin B1 and induces chronic diarrhea. A short course of fat-soluble vitamin B1 resolved symptoms in all of these cases, but had these people gone to the doctor they would have likely been worked up with a battery of tests for irritable bowel syndrome and given a drug (lomotil) to slow down motility (passage) of waste material in the digestive tract, a drug that makes a person sleepy, may interfere with driving and produces other side effects.

If the label on vitamin B1 pills were permitted to say “resolves symptoms of chronic diarrhea associated with overconsumption of alcohol” this could eliminate costly visits to the doctor and help consumers find a more appropriate therapy. Oh, doctors will protest, saying the patient may have other health problems that need a doctor’s attention, but the problem is doctors are inadequately trained to detect nutrient deficiency diseases. The patient will never get well on drugs.

Another approach that has been suggested is to fortify alcoholic beverages with vitamin B1. However, this would eliminate a great deal of doctoring and inappropriate medical care, and furthermore, health authorities claim vitamin fortification would give license for over-imbibers to continue drinking. So we allow health problems emanating from alcohol-induced nutrient deficiencies to arise and then treat them as they occur rather than prevent them altogether. As an aside, alcohol also induces nutrient deficiencies for zinc and magnesium.

I recall spending the days of my youth with periodic bleeding gums, green plaque on my teeth, fatigue and irritability, all signs of vitamin C deficiency. Not a word was uttered by my dentist about my need for more vitamin C.

In a drug-oriented health delivery and disease treatment system, just how will the many millions of Americans find their way out of symptoms caused by widespread nutrient deficiencies?

Planned takeover of the dietary supplement industry

The dietary supplement industry has withstood two prior attempts by the FDA to turn their products into drugs, one assault that led to the Senator Proxmire hearings in the 1970s and the 1994 attack that backfired and resulted in passage of the Dietary Supplement Health & Freedom Act of 1994. But now the FDA is ready to take the freedoms gained in 1994 away.

The FDA, knowing that patents on many blockbuster prescription drugs are expiring and most newly approved drugs don’t work better than earlier off-patent drugs, and that so-called drug research and development pipelines are empty, is now ready to turn all dietary supplements into drugs by declaration they must submit to onerous safety testing or be removed from retail store shelves.

This would force dietary supplement manufacturers to spend 20 years of all their profits to complete the required testing. This new requirement emanates from a piece of legislation signed into law by President Obama, the Food Safety Act of January of 2011. If this sounds preposterous, it is. This outlaw agency, the FDA, will stop at nothing, not even written law (DSHEA). You can read about this battle for dietary supplement freedom at www.operationpushback.com

Dietary supplements are poised to bring down the high cost of medicines, reduce avoidable side effects and improve the health of Americans, even reduce the overall mortality rate, but to do so there must be freedom to label supplements truthfully – that they do in fact prevent, treat and cure diseases, that their biological actions mimic or exceed those of prescription drugs and would improve measurable health parameters for most Americans at less cost.

The FDA, in league with a Medicare prescription drug program that does not pay for dietary supplements (if Medicare did pay for supplements you can be sure they would only pay for watered-down doses of vitamins and minerals), and co-payments for medicines are far lower than the cost of supplements. Retirees on limited incomes are forced to use drugs to control age-related diseases rather than supplements, which are often more desired by Medicare enrollees.

Racketeering in healthcare

The public is being held at bay by a cabal involving drug manufacturers, physicians groups, health insurance funds and government research establishments. This is a form of government-involved racketeering, politically extending beyond crony capitalism to fascism, where industry owns government and exerts its influence under authority of law.

There will be those seniors who say: “get this war over with, let supplements become drugs, and let government insurance plans pay for vitamin, mineral and herbal pills without argument.”

Yes, but at what cost may we ask? With what assurance will natural products be prescribed rather than shelved? With what assurance that the public treasure chest won’t be gouged as it now is by overly-priced drugs, like 10-cent cholesterol-lowering statin pills that are billed to Medicare at $3.00-$4.00 per pill?

The Medicare program faces a $60 trillion shortfall, so how can we continue to allow this crime to continue? With Congress in the hip pocket of the drug industry, who is there to launch a complaint to? It appears only an act of God is big enough to put a stop to all of this.

The top-selling branded dietary supplement today, with over $1 billion in sales, is masquerading as a drug sold under the brand name Lovaza. This Rx fish oil concentrate is prescribed to lower a type of blood fat called triglycerides and sells for $240/month suggested retail price but only costs Medicare patients a $25 insurance copayment. An equivalent fish oil pill that IS a dietary supplement sells for around $130/month, but of course, insurance plans don’t pay for it. This is how the FDA, working in league with other self-interested parties, drives up the cost of healthcare.

Legend, clockwise: FDA = government agency whose purpose is largely to promote drugs over dietary supplements; NIH = National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements, which is now threatening to declare all supplements are drugs; Adverse Event Reporting Hotline = phone number to call if dietary supplements cause a serious side effect; CODEX = comprised of representatives from different countries for the purpose of “harmonizing” the dose of dietary supplements worldwide; Food & Nutrition Board = government-appointed committee that establishes daily nutrient needs for the population; Big Pharma = pharmaceutical industry ($883 billion in sales) that dwarfs sales of dietary supplements ($20 billion); US Dept Agriculture = plays peripheral role in making recommendations for nutrients in the population; Physician Groups (AMA) = physicians receive little training about dietary supplements but somehow know all the side effects posed by vitamin pills; Health & Human Services Food Stamp Program = which does not pay for dietary supplements for the group that is most needy in the population; Federal Trade Commission = sanctions and fines companies who make untruthful claims about their products; News Media = largely controlled by Big Pharma which sponsors most evening network TV news programs; Health Freedom Organizations (Citizens for Health, Natural Solutions Foundation, National Health Federation, etc) = groups that pretend to oppose restrictions on health freedoms and access to dietary supplements who tend to be alarmist and constantly seek donations; National Health Federation is only group that has standing at CODEX; National Sanitation Foundation, US Pharmacopeia = independent organizations that certify the quality of dietary supplements; Health insurance and Medicare = pools of insurance money that do not reimburse for dietary supplements because they are “unproven”; Quackwatch = anti-dietary supplement website that somehow has high ranking on the internet, declared two-time Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling a health quack; Council for Responsible Nutrition = industry group that represents dietary supplement manufacturers; Natural Products Association = industry group that represents supplement makers and retail stores; Consumerlab.com = organization that is a shill for the FDA comprised of former FDA personnel who expose improperly labeled dietary supplements.

Re-Balancing The Western Diet

Word description of western processed food diets and health care

It can be said that the western diet is characterized by overly salty processed foods, refined sugars, white (bran-less) bread, hydrogenated (un-metabolizable) fats (used to increase the shelf life of baked goods), omega-6 corn and safflower cooking oil (though essential for human life) over omega-3 fish and flaxseed oil, iron/copper-rich foods (iron-rich meats, copper in tap water, vitamin pills) which oxidizes and hardens fats in the brain and arteries leading to plaque buildup, excessive alcohol (depletes essential nutrients, increases iron overload and fatty liver), paltry amounts of vitamin C, low vitamin D levels (largely induced by sun phobia) and reliance upon man-made drugs to treat disease rather than prevent disease altogether.

With all of the medications in the armament of western medicine, there is yet no wellness pill, though a so-called polypill has been suggested for healthy populations that offers a combination of yet more drugs. In western medicine, disease is largely treated as a drug deficiency and populations are over-medicated and seemingly well-nourished while facing widespread undetected shortage of omega-3 oil, vitamins C, D, B1, B12 and magnesium and potassium.

Lifestyle, diet prevails over modern medicine

Recent evidence strongly suggests lifestyle has a stronger impact than any delivered health care. Look at the Japanese who do not read diet books nor go to the gym. They are far leaner and healthier eating a varied diet that is not rich in iron or calcium (low red meat and dairy consumption) and rich in omega-3 fish oil, fermented soy (miso, tempeh) and iodine-rich sea vegetables. If Japanese males would back away from over-consumption of alcohol and tobacco their life expectancy there would likely soar even further.

Finland used to be the selected venue for many chronic disease studies because of its high rate of cardiovascular disease. In fact it had the highest mortality rate for coronary artery disease in the world. But today, by backing away from tobacco, cutting back on alcohol and increasing plant food intake, Finland has been able to cut it cardiovascular disease mortality rate by a jaw-dropping 80%. Modern medicines and treatment played only a minor role in this health revolution.

It has recently become apparent that control of seven measures of cardiovascular health (body weight, blood pressure, tobacco use, physical activity, diet, cholesterol and blood sugar) will reduce risk for cancer by nearly 40%.

While much bragging that modern treatments for cancer have prolonged survival rates, the sad fact is, while being diagnosed earlier, patients are still succumbing to cancer on or about the same calendar day. Any advances in survival are imaginary, created by earlier detection. The cancer industry has been slow to come up with even one preventive measure.

Sugars and cancer

The prevalence of refined cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup in the western diet is of concern. There is now recognition that low carbohydrate diets would suppress or at least delay the emergence of cancer. Most malignant cells depend upon steady sugar availability for growth. Dietary sugars increase the growth of tumors.

Cancer cells prefer fructose over other forms of sugar for growth and the provision of high fructose corn syrup in so many foods and beverages is believed to promote the growth of cancer.

Yet, it should not be assumed that artificial sweeteners are healthier. Stevia, xylitol and inositol would be desirable low- calorie sweeteners over aspartame or saccharin.

Cholesterol declines but not because of medicines

A recent report published in a British public health journal notes that circulating cholesterol levels have declined in most developed countries in recent years with accompanying declines in cardiovascular disease deaths. But cholesterol-lowering drugs have had little to do with this decline even though 14% of western adult populations take statin drugs.

Even with aggressive use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, calcification of arteries progresses and goes undetected by arterial dye testing (angiograms).

It appears that circulating cholesterol levels are largely a marker for arterial disease, not a direct causative agent in arterial plaque that clogs arteries.

LDL cholesterol, the so-called “bad” cholesterol is now recognized as a marker of arterial calcification. Calcium is the major component of arterial plaque and calcifications, not soft waxy cholesterol. Calcium is what causes arteries to stiffen like a statue with advancing age. Any alleged value of statin cholesterol-lowering drugs appears to be linked to its mild ability to raise vitamin D levels, vitamin D being a natural anti-calcifying agent.

Diabesity epidemic: no cure in sight

Western medicine has gleefully welcomed the diabesity epidemic in the US as an opportunity for more treatment rather than prevention. Yet there is still no proven drug to quell obesity.

An intriguing report recently published in the journal Physiological Behavior asserts that the western diet impairs cognition (thinking) and is linked to dysfunction in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. The western diet then “contributes to the development of excessive food intake and obesity, in part, by interfering with a type of hippocampal-dependent memory inhibition that is critical in the ability of animals to refrain from responding to environmental cues associated with food, and ultimately from consuming excess food.” The drug-for-every disease model does not properly address this problem, dietary changes do.

Hydrogenated (trans) fats persist in the western diet

American food producers persist in lacing baked goods and other foods with hydrogenated fats solely for improving product shelf life, not for any nutritional benefit. A 2% absolute increase in hydrogenated (trans) fats in the diet is associated with a 23% increase in risk for cardiovascular disease.

US Food and Drug Administration labeling rules allow products containing less than 0.5 grams (500 milligrams) of trans fat per serving to claim 0 grams trans fat. Many products with almost 0.5 grams trans fat, if consumed over the course of a day, may approximate or exceed the 2 gram maximum as recommended by American Heart Association, all while claiming to be trans-fat free. Total elimination of trans fats is not possible because they are naturally occurring in foods.

The Mediterranean diet

The American dietary antidote to western disease patterns has been a low-fat diet which appears to be counterproductive. The Mediterranean diet exhibits advantages over a low-fat diet. Other studies confirm this.

Adherence with a Mediterranean diet pattern (fruit, vegetables, whole grains, fish, wine and olive oil) is associated with decreased risk for a heart attack. Modest consumption of red wine negates many of the adverse factors associated with a western diet. But the dark aged red wine consumed in Europe should not be confused with the cheap wine often sold in America.

Replace omega-3 oils

Studies conducted in the 1930s and 1970s as well as recently point to the essentiality of omega-3 oils in the human diet. The typical western processed food diet results in an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of 10-to-20 to 1 versus 1-to-1 in ancestral diets. The medical literature provides compelling evidence for the lack of omega-3 oils correlating with in the onset of metabolic disease (obesity, diabetes). Yet, as the authors of a recent report lament, these facts have not been translated into dietary practice in children’s school lunch programs or even hospital diets. Is modern medicine so loathe to the idea of prevention that it has to encourage dietary disease even while hospitalized?

A recent study was conducted in the animal lab at a university in The Netherlands. Mice were placed on a diet rich in cholesterol or rich in omega-3 DHA starting at 6-months of age for a period a 12 months (lab mice live about 2-3 years). Mice fed a typical western cholesterol-rich diet developed brain plaque in the hippocampus part of the brain. In contrast, the mice fed fish oil exhibited decreased amounts of amyloid brain plaque and improved blood flow to the brain. (But these experiments are a bit misleading because very high amounts of cholesterol are given to these laboratory animals beyond what could be consumed by humans and should not be translated to reduce dietary cholesterol in human populations which comprises only a small fraction (20%) of circulating cholesterol.)

Professor H. Okuyama of Nagoya City University says there is an urgent need for western medicine to change the direction of cholesterol-related medication, away from statin drugs and toward use of omega-3 fish oil.

Studies like these make one wonder where do companies like Kraft Foods that supply much of the food for school lunch programs stand in regard to provision of omega-3 oils and public health?

Dangers of sodium over potassium

Because producers of processed foods compete for taste, frozen foods, canned soups, almost all prepared foods are laced with salt at the expense of its balancing agent potassium. The American diet provides ~4000-6000 mg of sodium per day without using the salt shaker. It would be difficult for an American who eats prepared foods to reduce sodium intake. Food producers are reluctant to reduce sodium. So the best strategy is to increase potassium intake (potatoes, bananas, apricots are rich in potassium). Unfortunately, these are high carbohydrate foods.

In a human experiment, middle-aged adults placed on high sodium diets rapidly developed blood factors (fibrinogen, von Willebrand factor) that encourage blood clotting associated with adverse events such as strokes and heart attacks. When these same subjects were given potassium supplements their blood measures normalized. In processed food western diets it appears potassium supplements should be employed on a widespread basis to counter the effects of sodium-rich processed foods. This is yet another example of how Americans are being fed like lab rats by food producers to breed disease.

Where is the magnesium?

As an example of how western dietary factors combine to produce overweight human beings, researchers in France recently noted the combined high intake of fructose sugar and shortage of magnesium in the diet induces health problems in laboratory animals. Just a few days of experimental magnesium deficiency produces inflammation and a free radical storm that largely occurs in central abdominal fat cells (adipose tissue) that results in obesity and insulin problems (insulin is the pancreatic hormone that metabolizes sugars).

According to a study conducted by US Department of Agriculture researchers, just a modest shortage of magnesium leads to retention of excess calcium in post-menopausal women.

Magnesium is certainly an overlooked medicine. It regulates the flow of sodium, calcium and potassium through cell membranes, protects against overload of calcium, inhibits sodium overload into cells, controls the acid/alkaline balance in cells and controls the levels of triglycerides and helps to control the heart. Yet I have never heard of a conventional cardiologist prescribing magnesium across the board to his patients with heart disease.

About 165 milligrams of daily magnesium is required to produce metabolic balance. While green leafy vegetables and nuts are a dietary source of magnesium, it would be difficult in western countries to meet magnesium needs without dietary supplements (200-400 mg supplemental magnesium needed). Note: magnesium oxide, the most economical form available on store shelves, is poorly absorbed (only 4%) and other forms should be obtained (glycinate, gluconate, malate, citrate, others).

Cholesterol phobia

An absurdity of western medicine is to detect high circulating cholesterol numbers in blood tests and assume that a liver-toxic cholesterol-lowering statin drug deficiency is the problem.

Sometimes it is just emotional or physical stress that signals release of fats into the blood stream. Oftentimes elevated cholesterol is just the result of a copper-over-zinc imbalance.

These stress or dietary-related factors are not a reason to place adults on cholesterol-lowering medications. But modern medicine often treats numbers rather than patients.

Bran, not just fiber (and certainly not white bread)

It has been said that white bread is what started the whole diabesity epidemic. Whole grain diets have been proposed as a remedy but breads are often misleading as to bran content, the key ingredient in whole grains.

Young adults can reduce their circulating cholesterol levels by 14% just by adding bran to their diet, approaching what is accomplished with statin drugs. Rice bran is a particularly desirable source of bran because of its strong antioxidants (ferulic acid, oryzanol, IP6 phytate and both forms of vitamin E – tocopherols and tocotrienols). IP6 rice bran extract can also be purchased at health food stores and is beneficial for cleansing the liver, dissolving calcium or cholesterol stones and calcifications and purging the brain of toxic metals.

Is it exercise or vitamin D that promotes health?

It appears that many of the health promoting aspects of physical exercise are actually attributed to exposure to greater amounts of sunlight and elevated vitamin D levels. The mid-latitude Mediterranean area is warm and sunny and vitamin D levels tend to be higher among geographic inhabitants in that region of the world. While centenarians are known to be physically active, they obviously do not frequent the gymnasium.

Iron and the Mediterranean diet

The role of iron accumulation in aging and age-related disease explains the reason why men have higher rates of disease in middle age than younger females who control iron largely via monthly menstruation. Women also live on average about 8 years longer than men.

Forty-year old males have double the iron load of equally-aged females and twice the risk for diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Women who undergo early hysterectomy or enter menopause will develop the same risk for age-related disease as males.

Adherence to a Mediterranean diet by males on the island of Crete has been shown to cut iron load in males in half. Much of the ability of the Mediterranean diet to promote health and longevity is now attributed to its ability to reduce age-associated iron overload via iron-binding properties in red wine and olive oil. This is accomplished by the polyphenol content of olives and red wine grapes. Unfiltered wine (so-called Jesus wine) and olive oil would provide even more of these beneficial iron-controlling molecules.

Find and consume polyphenols in red wine and olive oil

The polyphenols (resveratrol, quercetin, catechin in wine; tyrosol, hydroxytyrosol in olives) in red wine and olive oil help produce a transient gas (nitric oxide) that promotes better circulation and reduces risk for heart attacks.

Yet many Americans will miss the benefits of a Mediterranean diet by purchasing clear rather than dark polyphenol-rich olive oil, non-aged red wine that is weak in polyphenols, and farm-raised fish that do not feed on cold-water phytoplankton which produces omega-3 oil.

Final comment

It is clear the food processors and modern medicine are more interested in profits than public health. It is us vs. the food makers. The population is being bred like lab rats to overeat and then face overtreatment. In the era before statin drugs, low-fat diets and exercise regimens, Americans were lean and did not overeat. Fats in the diet produced satisfaction (satiety) and raised mood. Obese individuals are often depressed and prescribed antidepressants.

It was modern medicine that first offered the ill advice to avoid eggs which are rich in cholesterol. But subsequent studies show the majority of cholesterol is naturally produced in the liver (80%) and the diet only plays a minor role in circulating levels of cholesterol (20%). The vast majority of adults who consume eggs do not experience a rise in cholesterol. Efforts to reduce consumption of cholesterol-rich foods should be reconsidered. But dietary cholesterol guidelines remain unchanged.

It was Drs. Jeremiah Stamler and Ancel Keys who painted a false picture of heart disease emanating from fat and cholesterol beginning in the 1950s. As many experience heart attacks with low cholesterol as high cholesterol.

Dr. Ancel Keys, who made the front cover of Time Magazine, cherry-picked data from just six of twenty-two available studies to make his biased claim that fats and cholesterol in the diet were causal for heart attacks and mortality. Dr. Stamler advocated margarine over butter. His popular book at the time was sponsored by makers of margarine. Cholesterol-lowering drugs followed which did not significantly reduce cholesterol or coronary artery disease mortality. But the Food & Drug Administration allowed statin drugs to continue to be prescribed. Later stronger statins were developed but have also failed to reduce death rates for cardiovascular disease.

Did modern medicine rig the American diet so doctors would have more disease to treat and drug companies would have more medicines to sell? It appears so. Dr. Keys is still revered by modern medicine today and his work recalled by annual lectures in his memory.

The disease is triggered by consumption of dietary wheat-, rye- and barley-derived gluten and it often manifests with intestinal symptoms such as diarrhea and mal-absorption of nutrients. Part of the problem is the hybridization of grains as explained by William Davis MD in his book entitled Wheat Belly (Rodale Books 2011). His book was preceded by many other damning wheat and grains, such as Life Without Bread by Christian B. Allan and Wolfgang Lutz, Dangerous Grains by Drs. James Braly and Jonathan Wright, and numerous gluten-free cookbooks.

However, celiac disease genetically involves only 1-2% of human populations. You couldn’t sell all those gluten-free foods to such a small group. It’s like every unexplained health problem now is being blamed on gluten and grains. People are avoiding whole grains like Dracula avoided a ring of garlic.

Avoidance is one strategy to overcome gluten intolerance but defensive maneuvers may be more practical. Some doctors in Europe are on a different track to conquer this seemingly widespread but certainly growing problem. They explain that life-long avoidance of gluten is burdensome and probably not achievable given trace amounts in other foods via contamination.

These researchers point to an overlooked study published last year where researchers obtained biopsies from patients with celiac disease and added some ascorbate (vitamin C) to lab dishes containing gut tissue. The effects were dramatic. See the charts below showing tissue where gliadin (the agent in gluten that provokes the immune response) and then gliadin + vitamin C were added to lab dishes. The various inflammatory markers (INF-a & y, TNF, IL-13, 16, 17) were abolished in the vitamin C-treated dishes!

These researchers go on to say: “As we humans are not able to synthesize vitamin C ourselves, we depend on our diet as a source of vitamin C to maintain general health. Vitamin C is known to be able to modulate immune responses in several ways, for instance by stimulating leukocyte (white blood cell) function. Moreover, vitamin C may also play a significant role in the regulation of the inflammatory response. It has also been suggested to be useful for the induction of tolerance to auto-antigens. The implication of vitamin C in tolerance induction is extremely interesting.”

These researchers conclude: “For all the above reasons a diet completely devoid of gluten is probably impossible to maintain and a search for alternative treatment options or dietary supplements is thus called for.”

Other researchers say: “Considering the residual amounts of gluten that some ‘free gluten products’ still have, ascorbate could be a necessary supplement to the dietary treatment of celiac disease.”

Apparently this message is slow to reach the gluten phobics.

I hate to pour rain on the gluten-free party but this phobia is no way to live. It all started when dermatologists began elimination diets by testing for individual food sensitivities, never to explain why others have no such problems. Avoidance therapy needs to be minimized and defensive strategies need to be maximized

What can we conclude from the evidence showing a shortage of vitamin C may reduce natural defenses against gluten?

Dare we say the obvious, that the evidence presented here points to another conclusion: mankind is suffering from yet another manifestation of scurvy.

The blinders against nutrient origins of disease are so prevalent what with every disease now being treated as if it were a drug deficiency, that the prescription of anti-inflammatory drug may quiet the disease but is actually inappropriate. Anti-inflammatory agents are akin to dousing a fire by pointing a fire extinguisher at the smoke rather than the flames. Vitamin C is essential for life, so critical that animals produce it internally all day long (more during periods of emotional or physical stress), but a few species (guinea pigs, fruit bats, humans) exhibit a gene mutation that has resulted in the inability to synthesize vitamin C internally and are completely dependent upon the diet for this indispensable vitamin.

Given that gorillas in the wild consume many times more vitamin C (4500 mg per day) than modern humans and their diet is supplemented with 5000 mg per day in captivity, is it any wonder Americans who consume about 100 mg of vitamin C from their daily diet and have a vitamin requirement of 60 milligrams, suffer from so many allergic disorders?

For those with sensitive digestive tracts, the buffered mineral ascorbate forms of vitamin C may be better tolerated or even the fat-soluble ascorbyl palmitate form of vitamin C.

If celiac’s origin is truly a vitamin C deficiency then this disorder would produce symptoms similar to scurvy. Here are common symptoms of celiac, with those known to be co-associated with scurvy in bold type.

• Abdominal cramps, gas and bloating
• Anemia
• Borborygmi (stomach rumbling)
• Cutaneous bleeding
• Diarrhea
• Easy bruising
• Epitasis (nose bleeding)
• Failure to thrive
• Fatigue or general weakness
• Flatulence
• Fluid retention
• Foul-smelling or grayish stools that are often fatty or oily (lack of bile flow due to vitamin C shortage)
• Gastrointestinal symptoms
• Gastrointestinal hemorrhage
• Hematuria (red urine)
• Hypocalcaemia/ hypomagnesaemia
• Infertility
• Iron deficiency anemia
• Muscle weakness
• Muscle wasting
• Nausea
• No obvious physical symptoms (just fatigue, overall not feeling well)
• Osteoporosis
• Pallor (unhealthy pale appearance)
• Panic Attacks
• Peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage)
• Stunted growth in children
• Vertigo
• Vomiting
• Voracious appetite
• Weight loss
• Obesity

It is sad to peruse the internet and realize so many people with celiac are suffering with overt symptoms of scurvy and no one suggests vitamin C.

And dare we go further in suggesting the rising incidence of peanut allergies followed another aversion brought on by sun-phobic dermatologists? Examine the medical literature yourself by clicking the provided link and see that food allergies appear to be related to the season of birth. Children born in autumn and winter when vitamin D levels are typically low have more food allergies than children born in spring and summer. Does the lack of vitamin D early in life predispose children to food allergies via imprinted genetic mechanisms? Low blood levels of vitamin D are associated with food allergies.

But hey, this sun phobia advice is not only good for the medical business — it even helps the optical trade.

The overriding aversion is nutria-phobia. Doctors don’t practice nutritional medicine and the public is ignorant about it. There are no pharmaceutical representatives who pander vitamin C pills and hand out scratchpads and pens and free lunches for doctors’ offices. How do you change doctors who are trained to prescribe drugs and to look down their nose at dietary supplements, and patients who want a “miracle drug” that insurance will pay for? © 2011 Bill Sardi, Not for posting on other websites.

However you don’t need an anti-aging pill to produced dramatic increases in life expectancy. What is needed for most of the world is public hygiene, clean water, available food (hopefully fortified with essential nutrients) and small number of medicines with antibiotics at the top.

Now, to extend life beyond 80 years or so, that is a challenge because the quality of life drops off drastically. About 1 in 4 octogenarians are in nursing homes being over-medicated. Another 1 in 4 will suffer with shingles (herpes infection) in their 80s. A grave (yes, I said that word) problem is that the closest thing humanity has to an anti-aging pill is largely being ignored by the public. Certainly, pharmaceutical companies don’t want any such pill on the market as they are in the business of selling a pill for every age-related disease instead of a pill that would avert or delay all of them. One Harvard doctor recently wrote a report asking why there isn’t one human clinical trial for a red wine resveratrol pill for cardiovascular disease 8 years after this molecule gained attention of the scientific community.

The greater problem is this. There is a tribe of people in South America who don’t need any pills or diets to live exceptionally long. They have a gene mutation that alters a growth-factor gene that should confer unusual longevity upon this group of people. So how long do people in that South American group live? Answer: not very long. They die in their 40s from traffic accidents, falls, pedestrian deaths, etc. Why you may ask? Answer: largely because of inebriation.

Humanity is doomed. Chasing an anti-aging pill is for the few. Even if convinced, most seniors want someone else to pay for it. Ironically, seniors will pay more for cat food than a pill that might extend their useful years. What seniors want is to be unrealistically young again. Give them a choice of a pill that will restore dark thick hair, smooth skin and viagra versus a pill that will prolong their lives another decade or two. I can tell you which pill they would pick. — Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc.

So what do you think is the top-selling dietary supplement today? Vitamin C? Vitamin D? Well actually it isn’t on the list. It is Lovaza, a prescription fish oil concentrate prescribed by doctors to reduce high triglycerides, a blood fat. Annual sales are about $1.5 billion. Once this dietary product became a drug and covered by insurance ($25 co-payment), its sales soared beyond imagination. So consumers play a role in the gouging of pooled funds in insurance plans.

Consumers want someone else to pay. Imagine if insurance paid for dietary supplements, sales would go through the roof. Of course I don’t relish the idea of having government choose the supplements that get covered along with the dosage.

I thought dietary supplements were “not intended to prevent, treat or cure” any disease, as the FDA’s required disclaimer states. But in this case, a supplement is masquerading as a drug and is prescribed to lower elevated triglycerides, a blood fat. That certainly IS a disease process. So once a dietary supplement gets declared a drug this gives its maker the opportunity to raise its price.

A price comparison between a supplement that masquerades as a drug and a true dietary supplement (fish oil concentrate) will give Americans an idea how much supplements will cost if the FDA’s New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) proposal is adopted. NDI is a newly proposed list of testing requirements that will raise the price of supplements beyond affordability.

The retail price range for Lovaza is around $2.00 per pill and you may have to take 4 pills a day – costing up to $8.00 X 30 days = $240.00 per month. Consumers can purchase Lovaza online with a doctor’s Rx at the discount price of $1.59 per capsule and a 4-capsule daily regimen would cost $6.36/day or $190.80/month.

Each 1-gram capsule of Lovaza provides around 900 mg of fish-oil derived omega-3 fatty acids which have passed through the fish’s liver and have already been converted into biologically ready EPA and DHA. One capsule of Lovaza provides 465 mg of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and 375 mg DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). DHA is the primary ingredient in fish oil that lowers triglycerides.

Let’s compare that to a leading fish oil concentrate provided as a dietary supplement, not a drug.

A leading brand DHA fish oil concentrate provides 300 mg more DHA than the same number of capsules (4) of Lovaza and sells for $1.17 per pill for $4.66 per day for 4 capsules/ $139.80 per month. That is a $51.00 difference (27% savings), not counting the doctor’s bill for an office exam. (See comparison chart below)

So let’s get back to the original question. What is the best selling dietary supplement ingredient in the USA? The unexpected answer is probiotics, such as acidophilus and bifidus ($227 million in annual sales). While the friendly non-pathogenic acid-forming bacteria in probiotics do not survive long in the digestive tract, its acidity cleanses the digestive system and it provokes a white blood cell response that raises immunity.

A contradiction among natural medicine enthusiasts is they frequently advocate alkaline diets and the use of acid-forming bacteria (acidophilus). Acidophilus increases absorption of nutrients from the diet. Drugs which create alkalinity are associated with growth of unfriendly bacteria in the digestive tract.

Over-soyed?

The number two-ranked supplement is soy foods – burgers, cereal and milk ($207 million, rank #2). However, this isn’t what the long-living Japanese consume. They eat fermented sources of soy such as miso and tempeh and benefit from the concentrated isoflavones and other molecules in soy.

A study was conducted in Japan a while back. Soy protein was given to women with no effect in reducing the risk for breast cancer. But a single serving of miso soup reduced the risk for breast cancer, and two servings dropped the risk even more, three servings more again. Fermented soy concentrates the weak plant estrogens so they can do their job in countering estrogen dominance in menopausal females that breeds breast cancer. And don’t overlook the fact that soy provides a heaping dose of IP6, a potent metal chelator.

Big business is behind soy in America and most of the soy is genetically modified (GMO) which can provoke allergic reactions. The FDA dispenses with these soy allergies by adding a warning on soy product labels. In Japan there are no warnings on soy products because they do not use GMO soy.

Energy formulas push taurine to the top

The number 3 supplement is not sold in high volume in health food stores or pharmacies. I’ll give you a hint – it’s sold in roadside convenience stores. It is taurine, an amino acid that is laced into energy drinks ($843 million annual sales).

Multivitamins, omega-3 oils are largest categories

Multivitamins and omega-3 fish and flaxseed oils comprise the largest categories. Multi’s for men, women and adults total over $1.190 billion in sales. Omega-3 oil generates $1.289 billion of sales. For adults, multivitamins should be iron and copper-free and fish oil concentrates can reduce the number of pills that need to be swallowed compared to plain fish oil pills.

Lettered vitamins

The top selling lettered vitamin is still vitamin C ($489 million, rank #6) with vitamin D following ($189 million, rank #19). Still $489 and $189 million equals $1.59 and 62-cents per year per capita in the US. Greater intake of both of these supplemental vitamins would predictably improve the health and life expectancy of Americans. There would be far less doctoring for sure. Vitamins C and D represent the kind of health insurance that we can all afford – offering 10-cent cures and real prevention. For the much ballyhooed uninsured, they should be taking vitamin C and D supplements. Is it a not surprising that modern medicine games the population and steers people away from these vitamins. Few Americans consistently achieve adequacy for these two essential vitamins except supplement users.

A lettered vitamin that ranks low on the list is thiamin (vitamin B1, rank #178) — the vitamin that prevents beri beri. The prevalent consumption of alcohol and refined sugars along with the use of many drugs (diuretics, digitalis) which block B1 absorption creates a hidden B1 deficiency epidemic in America that is misdiagnosed as irritable bowel, dermatitis, fibromyalgia and heart failure. Believe it or not, modern medicine has an outbreak of beri beri on its hands but has blinders on when it comes to nutritional medicine so it completely misses this nutrient deficiency disease. Benfotiamine, the fat-soluble form of B1, a hard-to-find supplement, is the antidote to the above problems.

Garlic pills have an odor of pseudoscience

The most popular herbal supplement is not garlic or Echinacea which were leaders in the herbal category for years. Ginseng ($231 million, rank #17) now outsells garlic ($22 million, rank #76) and Echinacea ($41 million, rank #58). Ginseng is recording many scientific advances.

A note about garlic pills: most do not provide the primary active ingredient allicin whose activating enzyme, alliinase, is destroyed by acid as it enters the stomach. Enteric-coated garlic capsules may or may not slide past the acidic stomach and then open up in the intestines to create allicin. By the way, allicin just bested the most commonly prescribed drug in the treatment of yeast overgrowth (Candida albicans).

Only one type of garlic powder made by NutraProducts, which is buffered against acid and has been tested for allicin, is worthy of purchase. This is not to say aged garlic and other garlic pills are of no benefit. Also, manufacturers test their garlic pills for allicin potential in a dish of neutral pH water rather than acetic acid. So many garlic pills are labeled there is potential to produce allicin when there is none. See www.garlicbreakthrough.com

Might as well sell dirt

There is a long list of dietary supplements with nebulous or questionable health benefits. For example Kombucha mushroom could be lethal ($58 million, (rank #49). red yeast rice may be a natural alterative to statin cholesterol-lowering drugs but still can produce undesirable liver toxicity like statins do. Red yeast rice ($16 million, rank #87) far outsells resveratrol, one of the most promising science-backed nutrients to ever enter the dietary supplement arena ($9.4 million, ranked 109^th in a survey of 500 top supplements).

In recent years there have been so many bogus supplements promoted that have become popular in health food stores. Noni juice (it may be safe, but is it effective?; coral calcium; hoodia; colloidal silver (it kills germs but is a heavy metal); shark cartilage; policosanol; coconut oil; and colloidal minerals have fortunately declined in sales. Unsung supplements such as milk thistle (liver cleanser, rank #74), lipoic acid (antioxidant, rank #97), oregano (natural antibiotic, rank #141), vitamin K (natural anti-calcifying agent, rank #117), sulfphurophane from broccoli (rank # 225) should be promoted more widely at the store level by clerks who advise customers.

Resveratrol: all dressed up but no place to go

Recognize resveratrol (rez-vair-ah-troll) works better than aspirin at preventing mortal heart attacks (baby aspirin doesn’t work at all), thins the blood, counters all manner of germs (bacteria, viruses, fungi) and stops cancer at all three stages of development (initiation, growth and spread), something no cancer drug can claim, and yet it remains ignored in the long list of dietary supplements. Even though there are 345 brands of resveratrol pills offered today, consumer demand is poor. I’ve never seen such a crowded market for a dietary supplement that so few Americans buy.

Ditto for two other dietary supplements – pine bark extract (Pycnogenol; rank #191) and astaxanthin (rank #249), two supplements with strong scientific backing that are largely unused. Pycnogenol currently has 233 published scientific reports, all positive, listed at the National Library of Medicine. Obviously, science doesn’t equate with sales.

Supplements For Connective Tissue

Another perplexity is the sales of glucosamine/chondroitin combinations ($246 million, rank #16) or glucosamine ($43 million, rank #54)) or chondroitin ($1.4 million), all which biologically but weakly stimulate the production of a water-holding space-filling/nerve cushioning molecule in connective tissue called Hyaluronic acid ($3.9 million, rank #156).

For comparison, about $4 billion of Hyaluronic acid products are reportedly sold in Japan annually. It has been said that Hyaluronic acid (HA) is not well absorbed. However recent data dispels that falsehood. Hyaluronic acid (HA) works far better and faster than glucosamine, chondroitin or a combination of both yet it languishes as the 156^th seller. For people with joint problems, skin wrinkles, thinning hair, nerve pain, Hyaluronic acid is a god-send. A little secret about HA is when given orally to women who are having difficulty starting a pregnancy it works miracles.

Calcium Supplements: Good Or Bad?

The supplement industry is in denial over the fact one of its top sellers, calcium supplements ($349 million, rank #10), are problematic, yet it is obvious as women begin to lose calcium from bone (osteoporosis) as their estrogen production declines that that calcium is being deposited into arteries and causing arterial disease. Therefore, calcium supplements are problematic. Osteoporosis is not a calcium shortage it is a hormone shortage. Estrogen sends a signal to hold calcium in bone. Women approaching menopause may want to investigate phytoestrogens, the safest being resveratrol which activates osteocalcin, the hormone that holds calcium in bones.

Calcium ($349 million, rank #10) far outsells magnesium ($36 million, rank #61) yet few Americans (who live in a dairy country) are truly calcium deficient while an estimated 40% of American adults have a shortage of magnesium and pay a steep price for it (migraines, fatigue, muscle cramps, blood clotting, sleeplessness).

Selling rust

There are $73 million of iron pills being sold (rank #40), most likely to young women who are anemic from menstrual flow, but the only safe form of iron is carbonyl iron (trade name Ferronyl). No other form of iron pills should be in American homes. Carbonyl iron is toddler safe and does not cause nausea like other iron pills. Ditto for copper supplements (cupric acid) – unsafe in any hands; obtain copper in stable form from the diet (nuts, cocoa). People playing with fire when they take iron or copper supplements.

Zymes or acid?

Digestive enzymes ($45 million) are also another over-promoted category (if you were enzyme deficient you would have a genetic disorder), while most senior Americans don’t produce a sufficient amount of stomach acid to properly digest food and absorb nutrients. For comparison, only $889,000 of betaine hydrochloride (acid) pills were sold in 2010. Betaine taken with meals improves digestion, calms heartburn, increases absorption of B vitamins, vitamin C, iron and calcium.

Tocotrienols: the overlooked vitamin E family

There is growing science that tocotrienols, the overshadowed family of vitamin E molecules (tocopherols dominate multivitamins), are one of the best science-based nutrients that nature has to offer. Hundreds of millions of dollars of vitamin E is sold, largely as alpha tocopherol, whereas only $268,000 of tocotrienols are reportedly sold. Yet scientific studies reveal tocotrienols may be equally as promising as resveratrol.

Where is the sulfur?

While there is much talk about antioxidants, there is no daily requirement for sulfur published by health authorities, yet this mineral is critical for human health and sulfur-bearing supplements such as lipoic acid (rank #97), N-acetyl cysteine (NAC, rank #166) should rank much higher as they help produce the master endogenous antioxidant in the body – glutathione. (Note: vitamin C also boosts glutathione levels.)

Metal chelators

Iron and copper-binding supplements will offer strong anti-aging effects. These include IP6 rice bran extract (rank #300), elderberry (rank #103, resveratrol (rank #109), pomegranate (rank #65), acai berry (rank #29), cranberry (rank #57), milk thistle (rank #74), cinnamon extract (rank #85), grape seed extract (rank #95), lipoic acid (rank #97), bilberry (rank #167), tart cherry (rank #187). These metal-controlling molecules are largely identified as bioflavonoids or polyphenols. These supplements should be used in low doses (175-350 mg) and work better in combinations than by themselves. Mega doses turn these antioxidants in molecules that promote oxidation. Be aware.

Missing a new trend

For unexplained reasons natural medicine is missing out on the growing science behind the concept of hormesis, roughly defined as a little bit of a toxin (below lethal dose) that will activate defenses in the body and produce profound health. There are numerous dietary and herbal-derived molecules that actually trigger biological stress which in turn activates internal antioxidant defenses in the body. The gene involved is the NRF2 gene, which activates glutathione. This is not homeopathy, it requires a low-dose toxin. One well studied molecule which send a toxic signal in low doses is resveratrol, known as a red wine molecule.

Sales of dietary supplements are brisk and there are dynamic changes underway. While the pipeline of new drug molecules is drying up, nature continues to provide seemingly endless molecules that exhibit profound biological action. The dietary supplement of today represents the medicine of tomorrow. – Copyright 2011 Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc.

• The one man who could get the best possible treatment on earth ultimately did not survive. What point does this prove?
• What an idiot, he basically killed himself off by his own stupidity.
• He forgot to try leaches — that is why he died.

Mr. Jobs survived by nearly 9 years a slow-growing form of pancreatic cancer first discovered in 2003. He initially shunned surgery (a drastic operation called a Whipple procedure) which is a very trying operation for surgeon and patient. You can get a view of this complicated operation at the Mayo Clinic website here. The operation involves removal of the head of the pancreas where most tumors originate as well as removal of the gall bladder and the first part of the small intestine (duodenum) and reconnection of the digestive organs.

The criticism of Mr. Jobs’ decision to delay surgery appears to be unsubstantiated. A recent study shows average survival after surgical treatment of this type of tumor is about 9.5 years, about the survival time achieved by Mr. Jobs.

Surgery does not necessarily slow tumor growth. It may or may not buy time. It certainly does de-bulk a tumor and reduce pain and other life-threatening problems as the tumor expands. But contrary to the CNN report, surgery does not inhibit the spread of cancer. In fact, because surgery provokes wound healing responses it promotes new blood vessel formation (angiogenesis) which is how tumors obtain nutrients to grow.

In cancer surgery there is no such thing as “got it all.” If a 1-millimeter ball of tumor cells remain after surgery that would equal 10 million tumor cells. Surgeons will remove a wide margin of tissue from the edge of the tumor in an attempt to remove all of the cancerous tissue but the fact is the new blood vessels that form to feed tumors (called angiogenesis) emanate outside the tumor zone.

Sadly, modern medicine has no effective treatment designed to halt the spread (metastasis) of cancer, which is the mortal form. Roaming cancer cells can spread to other surrounding or distant organs, often the liver (which Mr. Jobs had removed and replaced because of metastatic tumors there) and sometimes the brain, bone, lung or other organs.

It becomes all important to optimize the immune system to generate white blood cells known as neutrophils, macrophages and natural killer cells to digest or destroy roaming cancer cells before they colonize at a nearby or distant site. While immunotherapy has been called the “end-game“ for cancer, virtually nothing is done to optimize the immune response in cancer therapy today. It needs to be said that all three conventional approaches to treating cancer impair the immune system. No one should belittle Mr. Jobs or any other cancer patient for seeking alternative therapies that may help restore immunity against cancer.

Another alternative strategy is to inhibit adhesion of roaming tumor cells as their movement in the blood circulation must be halted for 30 minutes for colonization to begin. Usually metastases develop where blood clots in small blood vessels form and block the movement of tumor cells. There are various natural (fish oil, garlic, resveratrol, nattokinase) and drug (blood thinners) strategies to inhibit clotting and therefore the spread of cancer. It is not likely Mr. Jobs ever learned of these or other science-backed alternative strategies to beat cancer.

Inevitably and invariably tumors develop resistance to chemotherapy and then cancer must be battled without medicine and a weakened immune system. These toxic treatments only produce temporary shrinkage of a tumor.

It is said that Mr. Jobs practiced quirky dietary measures before and after diagnosis of his tumor including fasting. He must have known something was amiss inside his body. He most likely practiced fasting intuitively rather than based upon any published science. However, it is well known that fasting can starve tumors and is a confirmed strategy to stave off the growth of tumors. In fact, the use of a limited calorie diet has been shown to reduce the size and severity of pancreatic tumors.

In regard to the prevention and treatment of cancer in general, and pancreatic cancer specifically, modern medicine already has identified the primary molecular pathway that leads to cancer. It is called the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B) pathway. NF-kappa B is a protein that binds to specific DNA sequences controlling the flow of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, which is how new cells replace old.

Various natural molecules are well known NF-kappa B inhibitors, such as molecules from spices (curcumin from turmeric), from grapes and green tea (resveratrol, catechin) and other herbs (silymarin from milk thistle). Because of Mr. Jobs’ interest in alternative therapies, had he been schooled in these natural medicines he would likely have employed them with some success. Despite the promise of natural NF-Kappa B inhibitors, they largely are ignored, dismissed and unused by modern medicine.

It is instructive to learn that genistein, a molecule obtained from soybeans, inactivates NF-Kappa B and increases the anti-tumor activity of the most commonly employed chemotherapy drug (gemcitabine) used to treat pancreatic cancer. In a lab dish chemotherapy killed ~25% of tumor cells whereas if tumor cells were pre-treated with genistein 60-80% of tumor cells were killed.

The tumor-cell killing action of gemcitabine is also enhanced when it is used in combination with vitamin C and in cells that are totally resistant to the drug vitamin C inhibits tumor growth by 50%.

Vitamin E succinate is yet another natural compound that exhibits strong anti-pancreatic tumor cell activity.

It is widely known that gemcitabine, the standard treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer, is not very effective when employed alone. The red wine molecule resveratrol works non-toxically to inhibit the growth of pancreatic tumor cells and works synergistically with gemcitabine in animal studies.

The point of citing these scientific reports here is to show that alternative therapies for cancer should not be dismissed outright. They have a scientific basis and while unproven must be compared against the “slash, burn and poison” approach of conventional cancer care which have been repeatedly disproven. Ridiculing Mr. Jobs for seeking alternative therapies is uncalled for.

For those individuals who cannot possibly fathom how natural medicines can trump the best man-made molecules, skeptics must be confronted with evidence that some natural molecules inhibit all three stages of cancer – initiation, growth and spread – something that no existing anti-cancer drug can claim. The biological action of synthetically-made anti-cancer drugs is too narrow to fully address all the challenges posed by cancer.

Two natural molecules come to mind when searching for natural medicines to address cancer – curcumin derived from turmeric spice and resveratrol known as a red wine molecule.

Curcumin exhibits broad biological action. Researchers say curcumin exhibits “great promise“ as a therapeutic agent for cancer and it inhibits NF-Kappa B – the pathway that leads to cancer. Unlike single-gene targeted anti-cancer drugs like Erbitux and Herceptin, curcumin targets many genes and is posed as an inexpensive way to address many diseases, especially cancer.

Resveratrol has recently been found to cause pancreatic cancer cells to die off without the toxicity characteristic of chemotherapy. Unlike chemotherapy, resveratrol does not harm normal (non-cancerous) cells in the pancreas.

Natural molecules have yet to be used even as adjunctive therapy for cancer, despite promising reports of their safety and potential effectiveness.

Another particularly promising molecule (IP6 phytate) from rice bran has been demonstrated to have strong anti-cancer activity in the pancreas. When combined with other natural molecules (IP6 + catechin from green tea) it is even more powerful.

Resveratrol stands out among all natural molecules in the fight against cancer. In the late 1990s researcher John Pezzuto was commissioned by the American Cancer Institute to scour the planet for natural molecules that had anti-cancer action. After screening 30,000 molecules he concluded that resveratrol (rez-vair-ah-troll), a red wine molecule, stood out among all molecules tested. His 1997 report in Science Magazine was widely acclaimed at the time but has been long forgotten. It is unlikely Mr. Jobs ever learned about resveratrol, the most promising anti-cancer molecule currently in existence.

The multivitamin study does instruct, but its interpreters attempt to scare the public away from vitamin pills to soften them up for the next blow – the FDA is scheming to cut the daily vitamin and mineral requirements in half, a move that would ensure a certain level of disease to treat in the population.

According to the data just released, any alleged increased mortal risk from taking multivitamins is attributed largely to their iron and copper content

For over a decade now, since writing a definitive book about multivitamins, which is the best way to cover gaps in the American diet, I have been saying that the medical literature strongly suggests multivitamins for adults should be iron and copper free. These two essential metallic nutrients should be obtained in small amounts from the diet in organic forms, strongly attached to carrier proteins that render them safe.

Dr. Eugene Weinberg, professor emeritus at Indiana University, has been saying for some time now that iron and its cousin in crime, copper, when excessive or misplaced pose a major threat to life and health of humans. The practice of fortifying foods with a highly absorbable forms of iron should also be called into question says Dr. Weinberg. Strikingly, while loss of calcium is considered the major risk factor for osteoporosis, Dr. Weinberg instructs that excessive iron may be at the root of this bone wasting disease.

America not only fortified its foods with iron but removed the major iron/copper controlling molecule from the diet, phytic acid (aka inositol hexaphosphate or IP6) when it began consuming white bread devoid of bran that contains IP6. This has led to the metallic mineral overload diseases of fatty liver, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer and many other diseases. Adding IP6 to the diet would serve as a countermeasure.

George Brewer at the University of Michigan School of Medicine echoes the same warning for copper, saying it poses a major public health threat when provided in its unbound inorganic form in drinking water. Dr. Brewer notes that trace amounts of copper in drinking water, less than one-tenth of that allowed in human drinking water by the Environmental Protection Agency, greatly enhanced an Alzheimer’s-like disease in an animal model.

Sadly, most multivitamin formulations are archaic, not following advances in science. Few multivitamins are iron and copper free. I formulated one popular iron/copper-free multivitamin for Purity Products. — © 2011 Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc. Oct. 2011 Not for posting on other websites.

Finally, after so many inquiries (a couple from Apple employees), I relented and wrote a letter and sent it to his office at Apple and suggested he consult with his doctors about well-referenced natural remedies, while still unproven, were the most promising.

Doctors kept Mr. Jobs alive for 7 years with chemotherapy and finally a liver transplant. But the immune-stunting drugs employed to avoid organ rejection did him in say news reports. Mr. Jobs had some quality of life to the end, saying his goodbyes and staying on as the visible leader of Apple till his end.

Mr. Jobs suffered with a less common for of pancreatic cancer called neuroendocrine tumor which is generally more curable. One doctor, quoted in Time Magazine, said: “I’m sorry to see him affected by this; it only redoubles my resolve to improve on the treatments we have.”

What, more radiation, stronger more toxic chemotherapy? That has been modern medicine’s answer to its failed attempts to cure cancer. And while there is toxic treatment, there is no prevention and no therapy to address the spread of cancer which is the mortal form of the disease.

Why use treatments that have already been disproven at all? Why do cancer doctors treat patients with failed therapies that put the patients in agony and maybe prolong their lives a couple of months? Chemotherapy cannot possibly work as it inevitably induces drug resistance and destroys the immune system that fends off tumors. Radiation treatment kills tumor cells but causes a latent sloughing off of dead cells that drowns people in their own fluids when lungs and throat areas are treated. Surgery downsizes the tumor, but even if a 1-millimeter ball of tumor cells remains, that represents 10 million malignant cells. None of the modern treatments for cancer address its cause. Modern cancer therapy is an exercise in billing insurance companies.

Is the next generation of pancreatic cancer treatments on the drawing board already? Yes, and surprisingly the most promising molecules aren’t coming out of pharmaceutical laboratories but rather from nature.

The most promising molecule against cancer is resveratrol (rez-vair-ah-trol), a red wine molecule that was initially heralded as an anti-aging agent. Resveratrol inhibits pancreatic tumor cell growth.

Tumor cells are normally immortal– they don’t die off as do normal cells. Resveratrol induces pancreatic tumor cells to die off (what is called apoptosis). Resveratrol inhibits stem cells from becoming pancreatic tumor cells. Resveratrol makes pancreatic tumor cells less resistant to chemotherapy. Researchers lament that no human clinical trials have commenced to use resveratrol for pancreatic cancer.

But resveratrol is a dietary supplement, not a drug, and patients could use it on their own, without their doctor’s prescription, if they had the gumption. Why aren’t oncologists prescribing resveratrol on a compassionate basis for otherwise terminal patients when all other avenues of treatment have been exhausted?

You can add IP6, a molecule found in bran, to the list of most-promising anti-pancreatic cancer agents. IP6 is considered a novel and non-toxic treatment for pancreatic cancer.

There is also strong evidence that pancreatic cancer patients live longer if they have higher vitamin D levels. In fact, pancreatic cancer is less prevalent in sunnier areas of the globe. There is a reduced risk of ever developing pancreatic cancer is vitamin D blood levels are high.

None of these natural molecules were likely to have been used by Mr. Jobs. Modern medicine looks down its nose at these natural remedies even though there is abundant science to substantiate their use.

Mr. Jobs is gone and we may never know if these natural molecules will prevent, treat or cure pancreatic cancer. Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc. October 9, 2011

Males have heard time and again that the PSA test, which is a marker of inflammation in the prostate gland, is an inaccurate way to determine whether the prostate is cancer free and its use should be abandoned.  A repeat of this same message has just been issued.  But as an Associated Press report says men “may not listen” because the vast majority of men over age 50 already get tested.  Doctors have continued to string along instead of dropping the test from their physical exam regimens – it’s good for business.  Men are fearful, even that tough bearded former Marine.  A survey some years ago showed if men are told they have prostate cancer and their options for treatment are given to them at that time, most men will opt for immediate surgical removal of the prostate gland.  But if the decision is delayed for two weeks and men have opportunity to educate themselves about treatment options, far fewer will opt for treatment.  So the PSA builds fear and fear results in impulsive decisions to undergo treatment, in many cases for men who don’t have prostate cancer at all.  So how do you stop the train?  Great Britain doesn’t even use the PSA test.  This is immaterial.  Doctors are playing upon patient fears to boost their business.  What medical board will chastise them?  None.  It will be business as usual.  — Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc.

The broad biological scope of the red wine molecule resveratrol is becoming legendary. Dr. Dipak Das at the University of Connecticut has documented the large number of genes that resveratrol controls. Resveratrol is beneficial for brain, heart, liver, blood circulation, immunity, cholesterol, blood clotting, etc, etc. It is difficult to address the breadth of resveratrol’s biological action without writing an encyclopedia.

With that having been said, the problem that resveratrol faces in gaining public and professional acceptance is that it does not fit into the system of medicine which is comprised of separate drugs to address each disease.

In the game to get rich by engineering man-made molecules into patentable drugs, we read of a report where researchers scanned 200,000 synthetically-made small molecules in search of a way to stop the growth of influenza viruses.

Such an approach could possibly work better than flu vaccines and overcome treatment resistance. It would also address all strains of viruses regardless of how fast they mutate into other strains. A class of synthetic molecules comprising just 71 molecules was found that induces an infection-fighting human protein called REDD1. Viruses like the flu normally inactivate REDD1. The concept of a small molecule that could entirely negate contagious strains of the flu is promising and could be developed and commercialized quickly, say researchers.

But there is so much that goes unsaid. The synthetic molecules that induce REDD1 were tested to see if they inhibit a gene target called mTOR (target of rapamycin, an antibiotic drug), which is the primary mechanism by which it block viruses. The researchers don’t mention that there is a natural molecule that went unscreened, which also inhibits mTOR. You guessed it — resveratrol. Resveratrol is a flu-fighter by virtue of its ability to inhibit replication of viruses. Quercetin, another red wine molecule, works in a similar fashion.

Resveratrol confounds at all levels. Drug companies want a man-made molecule that can be patented and become a billion-dollar seller. Consumers want a pill that says, on its label, that it will produce dark hair once again, that it will erase all wrinkles, give them sexual vigor and stamina and generally restore youthfulness, guaranteed. How many times this writer has heard from a former resveratrol pill user that they tried it and they didn’t feel any different.

At least if resveratrol would guarantee to eradicate hemorrhoids, or remove warts, or God knows what else, it would be more popular than it is today. Humanity is missing a big moment. Anything short of God coming out of the sky and prescribing resveratrol pills is unlikely to prompt the public to take red wine pills. Why not skip the pills, drink wine at three times the cost, why at least you will feel much happier. – ® 2011 Bill Sardi, ResveratrolNews.com