The Health Plus Letter
June 8, 2004, Vol. 2, No. 18
By Larry Trivieri, Jr. – founder & publisher,
http://www.1healthyworld.com
If you prefer to read this issue online, you can read it, along with all other back issues, at http://www.1healthyworld.com/ezine.
Table Of Contents
What’s New
Quote of the Day
Fast Fact
Medical Freedom Alert
Health News and Commentary
Facts and Factoids: An Information Sheet for Patients by Abram Hoffer, MD PhD FRCP(C) (Part One)
Self-Care Tips for Preventing and Managing Fungal Infections
Recommendations
Reader Feedback
Unabashed Plug
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What’s New
Hello again. This week I’m featuring Part One of an article written by Dr. Abram Hoffer, one of the giants in the field of orthomolecular medicine (the therapeutic use of nutrients to treat disease). The article is about facts and factoids. Facts, as Dr. Hoffer makes clear, are things that are known to be true, whereas factoids are considered to be true simply because they appeared in print. Given the current flood of articles and TV and radio news stories on the alleged dangers of nutritional supplements, I think it is extremely important to be able to discern the facts (truths) from the factoids (in many cases, actual blatant lies). To find out more about Dr. Hoffer, please visit his website: http://www.islandnet.com/~hoffer. You can also read an informative interview with him at http://snipurl.com/6xpz.
Also in this issue are self-care tips for preventing and managing fungal infections, and comments about this newsletter by noted health pioneer Sharry Edwards.
Please continue to send me your comments and suggestions. And please spread the word about The Health Plus Letter by passing it along to your friends and inviting them to subscribe.
Quote Of The Day
“To heal means to meet ourselves in a new way— in the newness of each moment where all is possible and nothing is limited to the old.”
-- Stephen Levine
Fast Fact
A recent study conducted by researchers in Israel found that 48 percent of doctors’ neckties contain at least one infectious disease.
Unabashed Plug
Dr. Garry Gordon’s entire line of nutritional products are available for purchase directly from 1HealthyWorld.com. Dr. Gordon is a member of 1HealthyWorld’s Medical Advisory Board, and an internationally acclaimed expert in the areas of cardiovascular health, anti-aging medicine, and the use of nutritional medicine to prevent and reverse inflammation, toxicity, and chronic disease. He is also one of the most accomplished and knowledgeable physicians it’s ever been my privilege to meet, and the nutritional products he’s developed reflect his expertise. You can order them by visiting http://www.1healthyworld.com/healthproducts/garrygordon
Medical Freedom Alert
Our health freedom is again under siege. Please support the following organizations, which are at the forefront of those working to protect our rights:
Citizens for Health - http://www.citizens.org (Sing their online petition to safeguard health supplements.)
Institute for Health Freedom – http://www.ForHealthFreedom.org
Health Lobby (Monica Miller) – http://www.healthlobby.com
Also, please do your part to ensure that the misleadingly named “Dietary Safety Supplement” Act (S. 722) is defeated. To become informed about S. 722 and to take action to help defeat its passage, please visit: http://capwiz.com/nnfa/S722.html
To stay informed of other developments related to medical freedom, please visit http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org the website of Dr. Mattias Rath, a leading crusader for medical freedom.
To see to what depraved lengths people will go to persecute practitioners of alternative medicine in the U.S., please read the following report by noted medical freedom advocate Tim Bolen at http://www.quackpotwatch.org/opinionpieces/Suster2.htm
And to learn how corrupt and extensive Big Pharma’s monopoly is, visit http://www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr/online/research/index.html the website for the Campaign Against Fraudulent Medical Research. In particular, read their in-depth report The Pharmaceutical Drug Racket that you will find there.
Health News and Commentary
New York State Attorney General Sues Paxil Manufacturer
Last week, Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of New York State, sued pharmaceutical conglomerate GlaxoSmithKline, Plc, on the grounds that it knowingly committed fraud in its attempts to market its antidepressant drug Paxil to children and adolescents. According to Spitzer, beginning in 1998 the company withheld negative information and misrepresented research findings about the drug’s safety and effectiveness, including the fact that research conducted by GlaxoSmithKline indicated that Paxil could increase the potential for suicide in children and teens.
[Comment: Nice to see my state’s attorney general doing the FDA’s job! While I applaud Spitzer for this move, I wish the redress he is seeking went further. All his lawsuit is pressing for is payback by GlaxoSmithKline of the revenue it made marketing Paxil to children and teenagers. While that sum is no doubt substantial, it hardly goes far enough, in my opinion, given the criminal nature of the accusation Spitzer makes. Unless knowingly hiding the fact that your drug can cause people to kill themselves doesn’t strike one as a crime. Incidentally, in 2002, over 2 million prescriptions for Paxil were written for children and teenagers in the U.S., despite the fact that it has only been approved for adults. This neat little sidestep of government regu/lations occurred because physicians are allowed to prescribe the drug to whomever they wish, including children. This loophole in the law—known as “off label” drug use—is something Big Pharma has long taken advantage of once its drugs gain approval.]
A New Report Bolsters Claims That Fluoride Can Cause Cancer
According to a recent 12-year study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, earlier scientific evidence that exposure to fluoride can cause cancer has been confirmed. The 12-year follow-up study found that fluoride specifically increases the risk of developing lung and bladder cancer. Although the study focused on workers who were exposed to fluoride as a result of working in the fluoride industry, where exposure was ten times the average of that of fluoride levels in municipal drinking water, according to a statement by the Fluoride Action Network (FAN), its findings raise serious concerns regarding the advisability of fluoride-treated drinking water.
To read more on the study and the FAN’s accompanying commentary, see http://www.fluoridealert.org/science-watch/11.htm
[Comment: Most Americans are unaware of the fact that fluoridation of drinking water has been rejected by over 98 percent of the communities in Western Europe, due to evidence indicating fluoride may act as a carcinogen. They also don’t realize that the push to fluoridate municipal drinker water had little to do with preventing tooth decay (the evidence that fluoride does this is scant at best), and very much to do with higher-ups in the federal government’s nuclear weapons program, who were seeking a way to dispose of fluoride, which is a waste product of the industry that even then was known to be a poisonous environmental toxin. To learn more about the special interests and politics behind fluoridation in the U.S., and elsewhere, I highly recommend the newly released book The Fluoride Deception by Chris Bryson.]
Unabashed Plug
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Facts And Factoids: An Information Sheet for Patients by Abram Hoffer, MD PhD FRCP(C) (Part One)
Fact: Something that has really occurred or is the case: hence a datum of experience, as distinct from conclusions. Loosely defined, something that is alleged to be, or might be a "fact."
Factoid: A factoid is a fact that nev/er existed before it appeared in print, but has been reprinted ever since. It is truly launched if it first appears in a reputable medical journal like the Journal of the American Medical Association and republished in the New York Times, which gives it international stature. A factoid, using simple Anglo Saxon terminology, is a lie, and like many lies and misconceptions, once it has been published, develops a life of its own and is reprinted over and over, from textbook to textbook. The best example is the lie (factoid) that vitamin C causes kidney stones.
There is a close and intimate relationship between these definitions and the battle between the former vitamins-as-prevention and the current vitamins-as-treatment paradigms. A paradigm consists of a system of beliefs which are generally accepted by the supporters of the paradigm, usually a majority of the scientific establishment if we are considering medicine and science. It is a combination of facts and factoids, but the supporters of the paradigm will support both facts and factoids with equal fervor. Pirsig wrote, "You are nev/er dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kind of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas and goals are in doubt".
In most cases the facts and factoids comprising the paradigm are not properly labeled, and factoids will be accepted as facts. The paradigm is replaced in time by a new paradigm when enough of the factoids present in the original paradigm are either destroyed by new evidence or data or become facts by the accumulation of new data, new observations. A factoid may become a fact, but a fact can nev/er revert to a factoid.
Factoids about vitamins are rampant on the Internet because there is no editorial control as there are in the journals. In journals, statements are expected to be derived from previous publications, and from data. On the Internet they do not need any basis since they are merely ideas put forward by the writers. The Internet also contains discussions of facts designed to explode the factoids. Other public media use either facts or factoids, depending on the current public opinion. If the opinion is positive for vitamins, facts are most often published. If the public opinion is judged to be negative, factoids receive easy publication.
Evidence Required to Establish Facts in Clinical Medicine
Clinical facts are based on clinical observations made by a clinician who can draw careful and honest conclusions from clinical data. These are one-to-one observations, patient and doctor. These kind of observations have fallen into disfavor with the medical establishment and are labeled anecdotal. These clinical trials are basic to the whole field of medicine because no therapeutic trials will ever be undertaken until one or more physicians find that the treatment has some value, even if only for a few patients.
The clinical observations are reinforced by special ways of collecting the data called controlled clinical trials.
1) Historical controls. A number of patients are given the treatment and the outcome of treatment over the follow-up period is compared with the expected outcome based upon the history of that disease as established by many observers. Thus if a disease kills every patient and if a treatment saves half of them over the same follow-up period, then one will conclude that the treatment had value. This is the traditional way of running therapeutic trials. This is the least expensive way of testing treatments but is no longer considered scientific.
2) Controlled comparison therapeutic trials based on probability theory and the need for equal samples of patients from the treatment and the control (no treatment) group. This is similar to the first method except that it uses current controls, not historical controls. The decisions as to whether the patients will receive the control treatment, i.e. no treatment, or the research treatment, is based on random selection to remove bias.
3) Prospective single blind controlled therapeutic trials. With these experiments the investigators and evaluators of the results of treatment know whether the patients got the research treatment or the control treatment but the patients are not told. That, of course, does not mean that they do not know.
4) Prospective double blind randomized double blind therapeutic trials. In these trials the treatment is allocated by random selection and neither the patients nor the investigators know from which group each patient is derived. Under my direction, Psychiatric Services Branch, Department of Public Health, Saskatchewan, conducted the first psychiatric controlled trials of this type, completing six between 1952 and 1960. We compared the therapeutic effect of vitamin B-3 (niacin and niacinamide) against placebo in schizophrenic patients. In this way I contributed to the development of a method which is n/o/w the gold standard but which has nev/er been calibrated, i.e. shown to do what it is supposed to do. It is an awkward, very costly method best suited for institutions with a lot of mo/ney and little imagination, and meets the needs of the U.S. FDA and Health Protection Branch in Canada, medical journals and granting agencies. It is a treatment trial which probably is not as valuable as the direct clinical examination which is so
derided today as anecdotal. However, fewer than one-quarter of the treatments commonly used in medicine and surgery have been tested in this way.
[To be continued next week.]
Self-Care Tips for Preventing and Managing Fungal Infections
Fungal infection refers to disease, usually of the skin, but may be of other organs, that is due to fungal organisms (simple parasitic life forms including molds, mildew, and yeast), sometimes called mycoses.
Symptoms: May be mild, such as discoloration and swelling of the nail beds, moist, reddened patches over various parts of the body, cheesy and smelly discharge from the vagina. May be severe, such as infecting and disrupting normal organ functioning.
Special Notes: May be more common and/or severe in people taking long-term antibiotic medication, corticosteroids, immunosuppressant drugs (used to inhibit normal immune functioning), contraceptives, and in people with conditions such as obesity, AIDS, and diabetes mellitus.
Self-Care
Diet:Whole foods diet with emphasis on raw food, less dairy products. Avoid foods high in yeast such as beer and breads with yeast. Avoid sugar of all sorts (including honey and fruit juices) for some weeks while antifungal methods are being used.
Nutritional Therapy: Acidophilus, Bifidobacteria and L. bulgaricu and garlic capsules can help the body successfully fight off fungal infection, as can vitamin B complex, pantothenic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin A, zinc, and thymus glandular extract. Essential fatty acids (black currant, evening primrose, and salmon oils) can help maintain cell/ular integrity, protecting cells from fungal infection.
Leon Chaitow, N.D., D.O., suggests taking caprylic acid capsules as an antifungal agent while acidophilus and other probiotics are being taken to repopulate sites where fungi had colonized. Grapefruit seed extract may also be an effective remedy.
Aromatherapy:Tea tree oil, patchouli, and geranium are all useful for treating topical fungal infections.
Flower Essences: Rescue Remedy Cream®. Crab Apple.
Herbs: Fungicidal herbs are an effective topical treatment for skin infections. Examples are myrrh, tea tree, and garlic. Tea tree oil can be applied directly or diluted with calendula oil for application to sensitive skin. Oregano oil or capsules and products containing pau d’arco are good antifungals.
Homeopathy: Calendula, Chamomilla, Belladonna, Merc sol., Sulfur.
Juice Therapy: Add garlic to vegetable juice.
Topical Treatment:To the affected area, apply some of the following: tea tree oil or gel, citrus seed extract, honey and crushed garlic, pau d’arco tea by wetting tea bag for ten minutes and then leave the bag itself on the area or use gauze or cotton soaked in tea if area is too large.
Professional Care
The following therapies should only be provided by a qualified health professional:
Environmental Medicine, Magnetic Therapy, Naturopathic Medicine, Oxygen Therapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Note: The information above was adapted from Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition, co-authored and edited by Larry Trivieri, Jr. (Celestial Arts, 2002).
Unabashed Plug
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Recommendations
Website:
http://www.navalt.org - Online home of the North American Vodder Association for Lymphatic Therapy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating anf providing support for people with lymphodema and other immune system problems. They also provide a f/r/e/e referral service. I highly recommend you visit this site to learn more about the essential role your lymphatic system plays in your overall health, especially since it is all but ignored by most physicians.
Books:
The Quiet American by Graham Greene. Written in the 1950’s, during France’s attempt to stem the tide of Communism in Vietnam, this novel is primarily about a well-meaning CIA worker seeking to create “regime change” in Vietnam and the disasterous consequences that result from his meddling. Greene’s observations have just as much relevance today as they did when he made them nearly 50 years ago.
How We Choose to be Happy by Rick Foster and Greg Hicks. This is a wonderful book describing the nine choices that are regularly made by people who are consistently happy. What it proves is that happiness is not a trait endowed by nature, but a habit that all of us can cultivate to create greater and more frequent levels of happiness in our lives and, in the process, improve our health. Very highly recommended.
Reader Feedback
Sharry Edwards writes: “I very greatly appreciate your being able to seek out and connect me with all of this great information. Your newsletter has depth as well as breadth. It certainly saves me time - a most precious commodity.”
My hearty thanks to Sharry and all of my other readers who have written me to express their gratitude for The Health Plus Letter. I’m very grateful in return for being able to provide this service to such a sincere and informed audience. And when people like Sharry commend me, I really know I must be doing something right!J
Sharry is one of the true pioneers in the field of energy medicine, specifically the use of sound to both diagnose and heal illness. The proprietary technologies that she developed have the potential to revolutionize not only medicine, but also our understanding of who and what we are as human beings. For this reason, I included Sharry in my book Health on the Edge. I’ll include an excerpt from that chapter in a future issue of this ezine. In the meantime, I encourage you to visit Sharry’s website: http://www.soundhealthinc.com to learn more about her and the exciting work she is doing. It truly is “healing for the new millennium!”
Health and Blessings!
Larry Trivieri, Jr. (larry@1healthyworld.com)
Disclaimer: The Health Plus Letter is a weekly eZine published by Larry Trivieri, Jr. and Library of Health, LLC (dba www.1healthyworld.com) 1514 Genesee Street, Suite 52, Utica, NY 13502. It is made available without charge for information purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical care. If you are experiencing a health problem, seek prompt medical attention.
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Legal Notice: The information in this eZine may be freely and widely disseminated so long as full attribution is made as follows: The Health Plus Letter, June 8, 2004, Vol. 2, No. 18. Copyright © 2004 by Larry Trivieri, Jr. All rights reserved.
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