READ THE LABEL!

So I'm sitting in the library reaching for the magazine rack next to the sink and I see one of those pharmaceutical ads – the ones that make up at least half of all magazine ads. The woman says she uses artificial tears all the time, so she went to see the doctor and she told her she has a disease! Horror! So they are selling some drug with a ridiculous name (I won't name it here). I see it says at the bottom of the full page ad to see the next page for a brief summary of the full product information. It also reminds me that my results may vary.

I flip over and look at the small print. My eye which is plenty moist is drawn to the toxicology part. It is divided into three categories: carcinogenesis, mutagenesis and impairment of fertility. Translation: does it cause cancer, does it damage genes and will it make you sterile. It says right in the first paragraph that in a mouse study for 78 weeks that “statistically significant” incidence was found for lymphocytic lymphomas in female mice and hepatocellular carcinomas in males. OMG. They are saying it caused cancer. Right there. I don't care if they force fed the mice their daily body weight in it. I'm going to take something that causes cancer when ingested and put it on my eye? I don't think so!

I am completely appalled that a company can sell something they acknowledge causes cancer and people will buy it. For dry eyes! Many people take conscious steps to increase their health and avoid cancer – look at the amount of sun screen sold, yet most of those same people would be shocked to know that the product they took that was recommended by their doctor and a magazine ad will increase their cancer risk.

I guess it is no small victory for the people that the companies have to put that info out there, but who reads it? I'm sure there would be corporate types saying “well, we told them”. Yes, they did. Everyone, please read labels – at least know what you are putting on your eyes or maybe giving to your children.

Ron

HEALTHY FAT PREVENTS ALZHEIMERS AND OTHER DEGENERATIVE DISEASE

There are many benefits to adding more healthy fat to our diet. The typical American diet of highly processed foods is deficient in the healthy fats our bodies need to support our overall health.

Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. (1). The latest medical thinking is that the escalating rate of Alzheimer’s disease has it’s beginning in chronic inflammation resulting from a diet that is deficient in omega 3 fatty acids, which is one of the 3 essential fatty acids (EFA's) that we must get from our food. EFA’s are known to be highly anti-inflammatory and omega 3 specifically is found in cold water fish such as salmon. Walnuts are also a good source of the omega 3 fatty acid. Of the three fatty acids that we need to get from our food omega 3 is the one that we are most deficient in with the standard American diet. Omega 6 and 9 are found more in processed, frozen and pre-packaged foods.

According to the American Academy of Neurology, people who eat large amounts of foods with Omega 3 fatty acids and other important vitamins like the B vitamins and vitamin C, D, and E have sharper cognitive abilities. In contrast, people with diets high in trans-fats which are found in packaged, fast, fried and frozen foods and margarine spreads were more likely to show shrinking brain tissue that’s linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

Omega 3 in form of EPA (one of its two forms) is noted as being of great support in helping individuals get off their psychiatric medications. Research supports the use of omega 3 in the treatment of depression (2).

The role that omega 3 plays in ASD (autism spectrum disorders) is highly recognized by researchers and natural health care professionals. The Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology did a study. The children were given 1 gram of omega 3 fatty acid for 12 weeks. 80% of the children showed significant improvement in behavior and cognitive function. Don't you think those are pretty good statistics from 1 one supplement being added to their diet (3)?

There is also evidence that essential fatty acids in the proper ratio will help individuals with certain food cravings and assist them in losing weight. The fact that we need these fats in our diet explains partly why so many people have cravings for junk food like fried foods or chips. Our bodies are starving and we need the fats for health. The main point of this article is to show the importance of nutrition to our health and the role these nutrients play in preventing degenerative disease in humans. If millions of people in the US are suffering from AD and 1 out of 50 kids are on the autism spectrum and we are the most obese nation in the world and 25% of the females in this country are on anti-depressants, it’s probably a really good time to start taking the importance of nutrition and supplementation seriously. One of my favorite ways to get the extra EFA’s in my diet is to supplement with cold organic hemp oil. Putting a couple of tablespoons in a protein shake or sprinkling the oil over a salad is a great way to get the best ratio of EFA’s in your diet.

Sources:

1. Alzheimers Association statistics
2. www.pubmed.gov, Robert L.j. et al. Neurology 1993, Natural news Nov 2006
3. Journal of Child and Adolescent psychopharmacology 2009

Distilled, Purified, Filtered or Tap Water?

FROM RON

There are 18-ga-gillion articles out there about diets and eating properly, but no so many on the water you drink. Ask anyone about survival and the usual priorities you get are #1water and #2 food. So water is pretty essential to our survival and health, but who knows what kind of water we should drink?

I'm not the doctor on this blog, but I have been in water quality for over 30 years. Since I'm an engineer let's explore this topic logically.

First, anyone knows you're not supposed to put bad stuff in your body - we just don't all agree on what is bad. Looking at water, the usual "baddies" are: microbes, toxic metals, chlorine, endocrine disruptors (such as birth control pills), pharmaceuticals and fluoride. Some may have things like perchlorate or radiologicals, but they are very few. To know which of these usual bad guys you may have in  your water, if you are on a public supply (ie, no well of your own) go to your water department's "Consumer Confidence Report". It should be online and it tells you where your water comes from, the treatment processes and final quality throughout the distribution system.

Addressing the baddies in order - microbes - if you are on a public supply, this is really rare. All public supplies disinfect and have to test for bacteria monthly, so probably no worries. If you have your own well, you should disinfect it every year and be OK. Toxic metals, again your supplier has to test for at least 13 of them and they should be in the CCR. If you are on a well, you should have these checked, it's not that uncommon. Chlorine, all public supplies have a disinfectant (usually chlorine) all the way to your tap. You can get rid of it with carbon filtration or reverse osmosis (RO). Endocrine disruptors, if your public supply is a surface water such as a lake or river, you probably have these and most treatment facilities do not remove them. If your supply is a well, you probably don't have them. Same for pharmaceuticals. Fluoride, most public supplies fluoridate. You can only remove it with RO. Wells rarely have high fluoride, but some areas need treatment even for groundwater.

I personally don't want any chlorine, or it's by-products in the water I drink. Same for fluoride. Now the question of how pure comes up! Treated, filtered, RO or distilled? (Bottled is another subject for the future). Distilled water is by far the most pure we can get as consumers. It has essentially all salts and dissolved materials removed. RO is next, but it depends on how it is done. Cities do RO at 400-600 psi pressure on the membranes and get 98-99% removal of dissolved salts and bigger molecules, but that is so expensive and that water so corrosive to pipes that they then usually blend it with the original at a ratio that will stay below the limits they have to meet. In other words, only a certain percentage of the water you see at the tap has gone through the RO and a certain percentage just had "conventional" treatment. My home RO unit has only 50-70 psi to work with, so it sends 80% of the water to the drain and purifies only 20% and that not as pure as a high pressure system.

Some will say you can't drink distilled water - it will suck the minerals out of your body. This is like taking a salt-water fish and dropping it into a freshwater lake. It will probably die because of the huge difference in osmotic pressure form the salt content. You would die too, if you drank only distilled water and didn't eat anything. However, if you take distilled water and mix it with a purified and trusted mineral source it is NOT a problem! Your body needs minerals and once "down the hatch" it doesn't care how it got them. I think this is where most of the disagreements come from.

If your food were decent and you got your 90 essential nutrients from it, there would be no problem, your body wouldn't know or care if it came in from the food or the water. The problem is that you can't get those essential nutrients from food anyway, so you have to supplement to get them. Our soils are demineralized and factory farming does not produce healthy food, neither is the meat decent because the regular meat is just fed depleted GMO corn-based feed.

So for me, I have a personal well, but I'm at the bottom of a hill and the people above me are on septic. I choose to drink only RO or distilled. If you are in a typical suburban or urban area, you might want to consider carbon as a minimum and RO if you can get it plumbed. Whole house carbon and RO for drinking is a good place to be. Whole house RO would be a ridiculous cost for little benefit.

I love to hear from people, as I do this for a living, although I don't sell any water filtration equipment. Let me know what your questions are and I can help you find a solution that works.