| Roots of AASAA—The DMSO Connection 35
Muddled Methionine
The food choices that many of us make—nutrient-poor diets heavy in processed, devitalized foods—contribute to self-inflicted deficiencies and imbalances of many different vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. Nutritional surveys continually show vast numbers of Americans with low or suboptimal intakes of essential nutrients, levels that experts such as Harvard nutritional researchers Meir Stampfer and Walter Willett say are "strongly . . . associated with serious health consequences. |
| Medical science knows a good deal about deficiencies of many vitamins and minerals, but not about sulfur.
One sulfur researcher at a major university put it this way: "People look so little at sulfur nutritionally because it is so well known that sulfur-containing proteins, which are in the foods we eat, must be present in plants or else the plants don't grow. When we meet our protein requirements we have enough sulfur produced through the breakdown of the protein to obtain the body's sulfur needs. |
| These two important B complex vitamins are also essential for energy production. Sulfur plays an important role in healthy skin, cartilage, and connective tissue and is vital to healing wounds. Sulfate, a more oxidized form of sulfur, is used by the liver to detoxify substances, make them more water-soluble, and prepare them biochemically for excretion by the kidneys.
Thus, sulfur participates in many basic structural and functional aspects of your being. More than just a raw material, it contributes to the process of life. |
Judith J. Wurtman and Susan Suffes
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 All the foods that appear on a given exchange list have been grouped together according to their primary food value—that is, whether they consist predominantly of protein, fat, carbohydrates, or other nutrients (for example, vitamins). In a diet based on food exchanges, your food choices are determined not just by calorie counts but by nutritive values as well. If food choices were based solely on calories, a candy bar would have just about the value of a cup of cottage cheese. The difference between the two is only twenty or so calories. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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 Together, vitamins D and K are especially helpful in preventing severe OA of the hip joints and knees.
LM Soak in hot water and hot whirlpool baths as often as possible to prevent pain. Relieve acute pain and swelling with ice packs over "hot" joints.
LM Exercise to keep joints as mobile as possible, but avoid putting stress on the joints. For aerobic exercise, swim or do exercises in warm water; see if a community pool in your area has an aquacise program designed for people with joint problems.
LM Avoid wearing high-heeled shoes. |
| Alfalfa leaf tablets are rich in protein and vitamins A, D, E, and K. Alfalfa extract is a good source of chlorophyll and carotene. The leaves contain eight essential amino acids.
EVIDENCE OF BENEFIT
Alfalfa is an immune-system stimulant that promotes normal blood clotting. It also aids in the assimilation of protein, fats, and carbohydrates, and is an excellent blood purifier. Alfalfa alkalizes and detoxifies the body. It is a good choice as a mineral supplement. |
Paul Pitchford
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 If a person has a history of eating too much concentrated food (for example, eggs and meat), the excess is partly stored in the liver in the form of protein, fat, minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients. Synthetic vitamin C, taken in large amounts, may help balance this condition. Since vitamin C utilizes numerous other nutrients to carry out its activities and many of these nutrients will be in the liver, it reduces possible excesses there. This theory whereby excess is reduced
*"Non-organic" in this usage means not organized by plant or animal life. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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| By comparison, in 1999 the FDA announced that during the previous five years, a total of 101 deaths were caused by the misuse of herbs, vitamins, minerals, and other dietary supplements.)
By 1999, a small fraction—about 2 percent—of the American public had abandoned chemical medicine altogether and had begun using alternative medicine exclusively. This 2 percent of the public reported using herbs and visiting nontraditional healers. |
Paul Pitchford
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| On the positive side, from a strictly nutritional standpoint, meat contains high levels of protein, certain vitamins, and an abundance of minerals and trace minerals. But meat is high in fat content, is often laden with toxins, hormones, and antibiotics, and when eaten routinely in large amounts, produces copious dense mucus, urea, and uric acid. Meat and other animal products have been the main source of protein in the West for most of the twentieth century, but this practice is now being seriously questioned. |
Judith J. Wurtman and Susan Suffes
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| While fruits are a wonderful-tasting source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber and should be part of everyone's diet, they don't provide the serotonin boost of other carbohydrates (see page 21). If you have ever noticed that you still feel psychologically hungry after eating fruit, this is the reason.
Not by Bread Alone
It may seem that I'm telling you protein is now to be considered "bad," while carbohydrates are "good." Nothing could be further from the truth. Protein—poultry, fish, red meat, dairy products, eggs, and soy products—is essential to life. |
| Fat and Eating Control
Small amounts of fat are necessary in our diets because fat provides essential nutrients such as fatty acids and vitamins E and A. As you will see in later chapters, all of the food plans include one to two fat servings every day. If you are following a plan to maintain, not lose, weight, then you can increase your calories by adding one or two more fat exchanges to your daily intake.
Make sure, however, that the carbohydrate snack foods you eat to maintain serotonin levels remain as fat free as possible. There are several benefits to doing this. |
| An entire head of iceberg lettuce provides only minor amounts of vitamins and minerals. Green and orange vegetables pack the biggest nutritional punch, with purple (beets and eggplant) and red (tomatoes) following. Dark green leafy vegetables, such as spinach or kale, are rich in folic acid; winter squash is high in beta-carotene. Pale-colored vegetables (like cucumbers and zucchini and other summer squashes, mushrooms, iceberg lettuce) tend to be full of water and not too much else. |
| Smoking puts extra nutritional demands on the body, such as an increased need for vitamins like C and E and for minerals, including calcium. Until your body becomes accustomed to the absence of nicotine, its need for these nutrients may remain high, which is why this plan calls for particularly nutrientdense foods. If you are unable to eat the variety of foods that will naturally supply these nutrients, make sure you take a daily vitamin-mineral supplement. Also pay attention to your food choices; don't waste calories on selections that are geared only to your taste buds. |
| Protein supplies certain amino acids that our bodies do not manufacture, and protein-rich foods also contain important vitamins and minerals.
You must supply your body with protein. The problem is this: How can you get the protein you need for health without interfering with the serotonin production required for emotional well-being and appetite control? How can proteins and carbohydrates both do their jobs without the former undermining the latter?
It's not easy. |
Andrew L. Stoll
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 Although protein, vitamins, and trace elements were also important for brain development, it is becoming accepted that the increased availability of long-chain essential fatty-acids, especially DHA and EPA, were the nutritional drivers of explosive brain growth. Without abundant sources of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, the uniquely complex human nervous system could not have developed, no matter what other factors had come into play. The abundance of omega-3 fatty acid food sources may have made the Rift Valley an ideal setting for rapid evolution of the human brain. |
Grace Ross Lewis
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 Interestingly, they are not vitamins or minerals. Phytochemicals are not nutritious in the usual sense. Some types are isothiocyanates, polyphenols, flavonoids, monterpenes, and organosul-fides. They are credited with the treatment and prevention of the four major causes of death: heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
60. What are the beneficial chemicals found in cruciferous vegetables?
They are isothiocyanates. These vegetables include broccoli, cabbage, and brussel sprouts. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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| Canker sores have been linked to deficiencies of both the B vitamins (especially vitamin B1 [thiamine]) and iron.
LI Eat plenty of raw onions. Onions contain sulfur and have healing properties.
LI Take one or two capsules of acidophilous daily during outbreaks. Break the capsules and apply the contents directly to the sores. Acidophilous can help to prevent and clear up canker sores. Emptying a capsule onto the sores at regular intervals is soothing. Although canker sores are not caused by a bacterial infection, they can become infected by bacteria. |
Attaining Medical Self SufficiencyDuncan Long
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| If this weren't enough, there's another reason universities don't want to do research on non-patented medications, foods, and vitamins that might be employed instead of expensive medications to cure health problems. Because Federal laws passed in the 1980s allow universities to sell patent rights derived from taxpayer-funded research. That's right, your tax dollars fund about $7 billion worth of research each year, aimed at
16 "Big Business Seeks to Control and Influence U.S. Universities," Project Censored's Top Ten Censored Stories of 1997, http://censored.sonoma.edu/ProjectCensored. |
Grace Ross Lewis
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| How are vitamins categorized, as drugs or cosmetics?
According to the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, this has not been defined. These are probably dietary supplements that the FDA no longer oversees.
4. When does a soap become a cosmetic?
If the manufacturer makes a cosmetic claim on the label, such as "moisturizing" or "deodorizing", the product must meet all FDA requirements for a cosmetic and the label must list all ingredients.
5. When does soap become a drug? |
Dr. Julian Whitaker
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| SUMMING IT UP
Although I've described the best studied of the vitamins and minerals that protect your brain, others are likely involved. My advice to you is to take a high-dose, broad-based multivitamin and mineral supplement to make sure you get adequate amounts of these and other nutrients involved in brain function and overall health maintenance.
Restore Memory With Herbs
Susie is a very successful hairstylist. Her success is due to her -professional skills—she's a great hairdresser with thirty years experience—as well as her people skills. She treats all of her clients like old friends. |
Bill Gottlieb
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 Moreover, taking high daily doses of antioxidant vitamins for I week and of zinc for 2 to 3 weeks after the burn may speed recovery, according to Bradley Bongiovanni, N.D., a naturopathic physician in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This should be done only under medical supervision, he adds.
If you have a second-degree burn, which involves the dermis, or underlying skin layer, and causes swelling, blisters, intense pain, and perhaps nausea, chills, and fever as the body tries to cope with the shock, you need to seek immediate medical care. |
| B-COMPLEX VITAMINS: The Homocysteine Defense
As your body metabolizes protein, it converts the amino acid methionine into another amino acid, cystine, making the chemical homocysteine in the process. High levels of homocysteine can have a direct, toxic effect on the coronary arteries, damaging them in such a way that arterial plaque can get a foothold, says Seth Baum, M.D., an integrative cardiologist and founder of the Baum Center for Integrative Heart Care in Boca Raton, Florida.
Perhaps as much as 30 percent of all heart disease is directly caused by high homocysteine levels, he says. |
| Why are millions of Americans turning to vitamins, herbs, and other natural remedies?
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS: ONE OF THE TOP 10 CAUSES OF DEATH
Well, for the answer to that question, I had to look no further than the morning paper and this headline: Heartburn Drug Can Harm Heart, FDA Warns. A popular heartburn drug, used by more than 30 million people since 1993, has caused 70 deaths and 200 other incidents of heart problems, and, says the government, it should be used "only as a last resort." (Now you tell me! |
| And, like vitamins, each one has a different role in your body. Four fatty acids—alpha-linolenic acid (LNA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and gamma-linolenic acid (GLA)—help reverse some of the symptoms and complications of both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, including inflammation, pain, a weakened immune system, and low resistance to stress of all kinds. That's why Dr. Prosch puts all of his arthritis patients on a dietary regimen (including fatty acid supplements) that guarantees that they won't have a deficiency. |
| These two vitamins help fight inflammation.
• Healthy condiments, such as go-masio (roasted sesame seeds and sea salt), lemon juice, fresh spices, Dijon mustard, and low-sodium, preservative-free tamari, which is similar to soy sauce. High-fat, high-salt condiments are unhealthy for people with asthma (and everybody else!).
EXERCISE: Keep It Short and Sweet
People with asthma almost always benefit from regular aerobic exercise. But Dr. Firshein believes that "pulsed exercise"—brief, intense spurts—is the best approach. |
Dr. Julian Whitaker
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| High blood levels of vitamin C were associated with increased ability in performing visual and spatial tasks, and higher intake of vitamins E, A, B6, and B12 correlated with better scores on visual and spatial recall and/or abstract thinking. The participants in this study who, on their own, had taken vitamin supplements, did better on difficult visual and spatial tests and on tests of abstract thinking. |
Attaining Medical Self SufficiencyDuncan Long
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| Super Broccoli
In addition to the several groups of vitamins that are antioxidants, there are also chemicals in some foods which encourage the human body to create Phase II enzymes which act as natural antioxidants.
One food that promotes Phase II enzymes is broccoli. The March 14, 1992 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore uncovered what is behind the ability of this vegetable to reduce cancer risks. |
Dr. Julian Whitaker
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| She exercised regularly, took vitamins, and ate a low-fat diet. Yet she had difficulty concentrating and was plagued with fatigue, irritability, and mood swings. She was unable to focus at work and began letting important details slip by. After consulting her family physician, who ruled out serious medical problems, she sought my help at Whitaker Wellness Institute.
One of the first things I looked at, which other physicians often overlook, was Vivian's diet. She was very conscientious about what she put in her mouth; "fat" was a dirty word to her. |
Attaining Medical Self SufficiencyDuncan Long
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| With such powers supplying the money, the generic and inexpensive medications, vitamins, and regimens are ignored when the funding dollars are handed out for research.
(Fortunately the information isn't totally suppressed and a few people are looking into less expensive alternatives in the form of medications and therapy — as will be detailed later in this manual.)
Hi-Tech Dangers
Another obstacle between you and good health is the hi-tech orientation of American medicine. |
| But now they are learning that even modest shortages of key vitamins and minerals, even though they don't immediately cause problems, can undermine the body's weapons against disease over the long haul.
Such shortages of key nutrients are common among older people, who often lack the money and motivation (and perhaps the teeth) to maintain a balanced diet. In factl, surveys show that 30 to 50 percent of the elderly have diets significantly poor in one or more nutrients. |
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