Positive Health Online

Immune 26

Yesterday I found out that my friend Bev had died of cancer. I only saw her once a year at Christmas, but if there was one person I will remember it was she. She had a great laugh! She was 56. Her beauty within will never be lost to me.

We never take time, until it is too late to wonder what we are doing to our bodies when we buy the candy bar, that cigarette, that drink. If you want a story then ask yourself, why do we need to have the drugs to relieve the symptoms while we never find that cure? The drug companies are onto a good thing, why find a cure? Do you know anything about the immune system? That armour God gave us to fight off disease? No, we really don't know much about it at all. We never see adverts saying we should improve our immune system, why should we, drugs will take care of the symptoms, but never the cause. Now the overuse of antibiotics has made us more susceptible to flesh eating disease, and viruses we have never heard of. We will sit in the doctor's office, take the drugs he prescribes, then read about the drugs months later. That they were taken off the market because it destroyed organs or caused death! We still do nothing.

We never take care of the one natural God given, our immune system. The one natural barrier against disease. Ever wonder why people live to be 100? Even though they like a nip of gin or whisky before they go to bed and smoke a huge cigar and you cannot breathe or walk at 50 even though you never smoked! I want to know about Immune 26. You can investigate. They are not the big boys like the drug companies but the more I read the more I want to know. Arkion Life Sciences were asked to send a shipment of Immune 26 to Uganda to help the people who were suffering with AIDS. It is not a cure; it alleviates the symptoms helping them to lead a better life. Remember the movie Lorenzo's Oil.

Eventually a cure was found in simple oil not a drug. Remember 60 Minutes when a father found an old diet at the Mayo clinic in the 1930s especially formulated for young children who suffered multiple seizures, it was high in animal fat and was really disgusting to take, but cured them before they got permanent brain damage. A retired nurse who worked at the Mayo clinic told him about the diet. It cured the young children but it was too late for his son. The drug companies started to take over making drugs for seizures and it was quietly put away, the diet was not profitable. The father (actually he was a famous director who took time off work) did manage to save many other children with his discovery when it was shown on 60 Minutes. The toxins in our food, the fruit drink that has no fruit, the cheese pizza that has no cheese, and the polluted air we breath, destroys are immune system but you will never hear how we can retain a healthy immune system while there are drugs for every symptom for every disease. Unless we remove the tunnel vision we have and explore the very reason why God gave us an immune system. No matter what the finds are you should investigate Immune 26? Good or bad it is worth an investigation.

It could change all our lives. I found this. Watch the ABC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT here: www.biochoicestory.net

Thank you for your time.

Susan Cytko
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
cytko4@telus.net
This is for you Bev. I can hear your laughter right now. I love you.
I have lots of information I found if you need it.

HRT and Risk of Gallstones

At a conference of gastroenterologists last month in San Francisco, Dr Andrew Hart and his colleagues from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, presented a report investigating the possibility that HRT use increases the risk of developing gallstones.

The British team studied more than 13,000 women, aged 45-79, who had been recruited in 1993. Participants supplied information on their HRT use at the beginning of the study. The women then gave follow-up interviews (on average, three years later), and 58 were found to have developed gallstones.

Each of the 58 was then matched with four women of similar age who reported no symptoms of gallstones. The researchers compared their HRT use and other gallstone risk factors, including body weight, previous pregnancies and alcohol use. Their conclusion: women using HRT may be as much as three times more likely to develop gallstones. Dr Hart noted that these results are similar to conclusions that have been reported from another large-scale study currently underway in the US.

If you've never experienced gallstone symptoms, I can tell you it's no fun. My mother-in-law recently had surgery to remove her gallbladder after experiencing considerable pain from gallstones. Right before her surgery, she mentioned that she had been taking HRT (and specifically, Premarin). I asked her what types of symptoms she was having and was shocked by her response. Her doctor had prescribed Premarin, which we know is horse urine, to treat one symptom – vaginal dryness. I was livid. To treat a problem like vaginal dryness – which is uncomfortable and upsetting, but certainly not a major or dangerous health issue – with a therapy that has a history of serious side effects is just irresponsible. Would you wash your car with battery acid? I'm sure you'd remove all the dirt from the car, but at what cost?

My mother-in-law has discontinued her HRT use, but if I had known about it earlier and had been able to present her with all her options, it might have saved her from a world of painful discomfort, not to mention invasive surgery.

For some time now, the use of HRT to manage the symptoms of menopause has been controversial. In previous e-Alerts I've told you about a number of different studies that indicate risks of breast cancer and ovarian cancer associated with HRT. Another recent study suggested that HRT may increase a woman's risk of developing insulin resistance and type II diabetes. Now we can add gallstones to that 'con' column.

The decision to take HRT is a personal choice, and not to be taken lightly. Each woman has to make up her own mind. But to do that, you need to seek out accurate, complete and unbiased information. In addition, post-menopausal women should know that they have many alternatives to synthetic HRT. For instance, there are herbal remedies available, like dong quai, black cohosh, licorice, and chasteberry, that effectively manage the side effects of menopause. Nutritional approaches like supplemental vitamin A, C, and B vitamins, plus minerals like boron have also been shown to be effective.

We'll keep bringing you everything we find on HRT – both the 'pros' and the 'cons' – so you can make the decision that's best for you. In the meantime, please pass this on to others you know who take HRT or who are weighing their options. Women everywhere need to understand all the potential risks of any therapy and weigh them against the benefits before they make a decision.

To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute
Copyright©1997-2002 by Institute of Health Sciences, LLC
www.hsibaltimore.com/hsi/hsiindexie.html

Sources:

"Is Hormone Replacement Therapy Associated with Gallstone Formation? A Prospective Cohort Study" – Andrew R. Hart, et al – Abstract, Digestive Disease Week
"Hormone Replacement Linked to Gallstone Risk" – Reuters Health

Further Reading

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause : The Breakthrough Book on Natural Progesterone — by John R., MD Lee, Virginia Hopkins.
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause : Balance Your Hormones and Your Life from Thirty to Fifty — by John R. Lee, et al.
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer : How Hormone Balance Can Help Save Your Life — by John R. Lee M.D., et al.

Seeking Feedback from Medical Professionals

I read your publication's article entitled , by Ronnie Turner (Issue 60 Jan '01). My mother in Florida USA, contacted an alternative medicine doctor in Arizona, USA. She had not been feeling well because her gastrointestinal tract was very weak. 30 years ago she had lots of radiation therapy, because she had ovarian cancer, and, at the time, they did not have chemotherapy. In later years, the radiation, according to the doctors, made her intestinal walls very thin, frail, and brittle, (although they never cut her open to confirm this). And so now at the age of 71, she was getting intestinal blockages every couple of months and was not able to find any foods that really agreed with her. She had constant gas, intestinal spasms, and chronic diarrhoea. This pain prevented her from sleeping for at least the last couple of years. And it was getting worse and worse. Without sleep, she developed high blood pressure, which she says, mad her feel even sicker. So when the traditional western medicine doctors insisted that there was nothing that they could do for her, she contacted this Arizona alternative medicine doctor. He had her mail him a sample of her saliva so that he could analyze the DNA, he said. Then a week later his assistant called my mom and said that they discovered bacteria such as salmonella and also a virus, and some parasites. So they mailed her the Sputnik pellet. She swallowed it. She got severe diarrhoea for 3 days, until finally she went to the hospital where she has been for almost two weeks without eating. She has 101° fever and is taking antibiotics now. She is weak. And the doctors see the Sputnik on the x rays at the end of the small intestine, but it has not been moving for two weeks. They have done everything to try to flush it out of her system. They have had no success. She will probably have surgery today to remove it. My mother is praying for surgery and is hoping that the only good that will come out of her swallowing the Sputnik, will be that the doctors will cut her open and see her small intestines for the first time, and maybe then they will "do something" to make her entire intestinal tract better. She is a very desperate woman.

Sincerely,
Deandra4@hotmail.com
Name supplied

Update

Well, my mother had surgery yesterday. As I mentioned to you in my previous letter, over 30 years ago my mother had radiation therapy due to ovarian cancer. The radiation therapy caused a condition called radiation enteritis. The surgeon explained to me that, what people do not realize is, years after radiation therapy, damage is still being done. And the condition gets progressively worse. So, when he cut my mother open he found a narrowing in the small intestine. In fact, he found three "napkin ring" like narrowings in her small intestine. The Sputnik pinpointed was trapped in one of the three, and helped to pinpoint the narrowing. The other two narrowings were not hard to find, as they were not all that far away. He removed 2 1/2 feet of her small intestine and also he removed her caecum. He then did a remarkable thing. He patched the areas with a gauze. The gauze, he explained, was wiped with an enzyme called hyaluronidase – an enzyme that is derived from snake venom. I believe that this doctor was trying to explain that this enzyme deters the growth of adhesions. This is the way that I understood the surgeon's explanation: When a snake bites, the venom is trying work fast in order to poison a person. The venom is able to get through a person's body quickly because there is an enzyme in it that causes a persons arteries and veins to stay open, to receve the poison. That same enzyme on the gauze, deters the growth of adhesions, keeping the intestinal tube open, the way an artery would stay open if it was receiving that enzyme. The surgeon put this pretreated gauze in the tube in the areas where he cut. He explained that the brand name of the enyme treated gauze was "Interceed". The gauze will eventually dissolve, but after she has time to heal. Usually, he said, when a person has radiation enteritis, the doctors are afraid to do surgery, because of two reasons: 1) trying to pinpoint the problem areas where there is narrowing or scar tissue is "like going into a hornets nest". The problem areas are very difficult to find". 2) Without the hyaluronidase enzyme, scarring or adhesions can reoccur. Many doctors apparently are not aware of hyaluronidase and its benefits.

And so, indirectly, the Sputnik helped my mother, but not in the way it was intended to help. It is a shame my mother had to be tortured so much by the hospital and medical staff, for nearly two weeks in trying to remove the Sputnik by pushing tubes down her nose and throat and stomach and all the way into the small intestine, (while she was awake). They also tryed flushing her with "Go Lightly". They flushed and flushed, to no avail. They were about to try flushing by putting mineral oil through a tube down her nose and throat, when, my mother finally said enough is enough, and refused treatment. My mother was praying, you see, that the good that would come out of the Sputnik, would be that the doctors would finally take a knife to her and listen to her, and cut her open. You see, she was suffering years, even before the Sputnik. She thought it was ridiculous when the doctors told her that if she passed the Sputnik that then she could leave the hospital and go home and eat. She said, that the doctors just did not understand that she could not eat – anything, without getting sick. The surgeon who finally operated, explained to me that the walls of the small intestine are supposed to be as wide as your middle finger or index finger. But in my mothers problem areas, the tubular passageway was only as wide as your pinky finger. So, he said, fibre could not get through. And neither could the Sputnik.

Now, with the surgery, and with the help of Interceed, the doctor said that there is a "possibility that my mother will have a whole new life". Time will tell. Please pray for her.

Name supplied

Appreciative Practitioner

I rang a while back and even though you are so very busy, you took time to listen and talk through my concerns for my patient that has cancer of the liver, lungs and colon.

Thank you so much for giving your time and concentration which brought my mind from the vortex of 'what ifs' and possibilities to give myself permission to continue just as I have been. My patient pleaded with me, just after I had spoken to you and not knowing the content of the call, "Joan, I want to live, not just exist". He is now gardening and enjoying life – off to France for 2 week's holiday soon, I hope. I continue my work with him. He has somebody who cares and he continues to live. That's amazing in itself and sufficient for now.

The ability of life to create a demanding, sometimes rude person, out of a quiet hardworking considerate person is quite remarkable. Mothers with sick children, patients in an unbearably distressed condition, being late.......

The excuse for my rudeness in ringing instead of e-mailing is that I have broken my foot, having given myself permission to take time out and go and look at my rocks in Scotland (ex- geologist), I ended up being stuck on the bed, with the leg up on pillows and demands of the clinic simply don't stop. My computer was out of reach and my mood doesn't improve!

I rang Mary Martin. What a lovely lady. Thank you. My patient's wife rang her and was delighted and obviously comforted with Mary's support.

Thank you for Positive Health.

Recently, I also contacted Teresa Scarman of the Persian Rose article (Issue 73). Again, this was re a 19 year old university student who had cancer of the liver. This contact has led Teresa and myself to a valuable communication. Many things – but also EFAs and Rose Seed Oil? Teresa wasn't aware of this valuable side of rose seed oil. Maybe under the present threatened legislation, an important fact – whilst all doing all we can to continue to live in a society of free choice.

In this stupid world, where the powers to be want to take us all back to the dark ages, from my personal fears of the drug companies, I'm glad I am receiving Positive Health.

Very Best Wishes and many thanks
Joan Buffard
joanbuffard@aol.com

More: Fat and Weight Loss

I discovered Dr Jan Kwasniewski work on the web (see URLs at the end) and think it has great merit. The principles of the Optimal Nutrition are rather shocking to a majority of people, because this dietary approach consists of eating large quantities of fats along with a radical cut in carbohydrates.

After studying various types of fats, I am convinced that increasing the right type of fats in our diet is a key requirement to good health. I have previously sent emails referring to information that shows how marketing of cheap synthetic oils has been pushed at expense of wholesome natural foods. This research leads me to believe that Dr Jan Kwasniewski and others are on to something very important.

"This strange yet real effect of fat-rich diet was first described as long back as in 1863 by William Banting (an undertaker), who wrote a book (Letter on Corpulence) about his very successful program of weight-loss. This dietary program was devised by a physician by the name of Harvey, who by doing so endangered his standing within a profession. The fact that Banting had lost 21 kg and cured himself from a number of ailments was simply unscientific and was not considered valid by a medical establishment of the time. (For excellent discussion of history of high-fat diet read Eat Fat, Get Thin! by Barry Groves). Roughly a century later, two eminent English scientist Kekwick & Pawan conclusively proved that obese patients, fed diets of the same calorie value, but of different composition, showed the greatest weight loss when their diet contained mostly animal fat. In fact, weight loss was achievable with a relatively high-calorie diet, provided it delivered most (80%) of the energy as fat. Later on, they also found that the energy loss (in urine and stools) from the organism was dependent on the type of the main calorie source, with carbohydrate-rich, 'normal' and fat-rich diets producing 6%, 10-12% and 18% loss of a total energy intake, respectively.

Thus, compared to the high- carbohydrate diet, diet rich in fat causes elimination of 3-times as many calories of the total delivered to the organism. Consequently, the burden of calories on the organism is greater when they are delivered in the form of carbohydrates. And the only way the absorbed calories obtained as carbohydrate can be got rid of by the organism, after accounting for the energy needs, is the conversion to fat.

Based on their observations, Kekwick & Pawan arrived at the logical conclusion, which is still valid today: "The assumption that the organism obtains the full energy-value of a diet is therefore untenable, since changing the composition of the diet alters the amount of available energy…"

Yet dietary wisdom, so prevalent at present, dictates that the most important aspect of a weight-loss program is to compare the caloric value of different foods in order to select the one with least calories. Accordingly, fat-reduced but carbohydrate-rich (calorie-restricted) foods are the only way to lose weight. Clearly not so!!! And the best illustration of the fallacy of the latter concept is an ever-growing incidence of obesity.

Finally, it is well known that virtually all glucose available for intestinal absorption will be absorbed. Subsequently, it has to be used for the production of energy (including storage as glycogen), but when energy needs are met, the remainder must be converted to fat. On the other hand, fat absorption through the intestinal wall is physiologically limited to 12-15 grams per hour, regardless of how much of fat there is in the intestinal content. So any excess of fat above that limit must be eliminated in the stools. One can not get too much fat and put on weight, provided there are no other energy sources (carbohydrate or protein) delivered in excess of energy needs at the same time. If that happens the weight gain is a must, because the excess of energy from carbohydrate or protein has to be stored by the organism as fat."

Source:

Chris Gupta mbgupta@imap.uwo.ca

Further Information

www.members.optushome.com.au/bartim/
http://homodiet.netfirms.com/
www.wgp.com.pl/Kwasniewski-eng.html

From the Editor

We will be publishing an extensive feature about Low Carb Diets in Issue 82.