health care – Page 28 – TranscendingSquare

November 28, 2017November 30, 2017

Autoimmune Trivia – clothing choices for health

I have a new ugly sunhat and it gets just as many funny looks as the last ugly sunhat – sometimes there is no winning solution if you are unhealthy except to do what you have to do to stay healthy. I thought the new hat was slightly less odd as it’s a straw hat, summery, but oh well. I need a broad brim for sun protection. Cute hats don’t always have a brim or a large floppy beach hat has too much brim and can obstruct your ability to see.

Due to a tendency to develop severe rashes or eczema I need natural fibers. Modern fabrics can leave me itching and as my autoimmune disease has worsened I’ve even had problems with rashes that lead to a lack of skin – an open sore over a large patch is painful more than itchy. Fashion may be fun but not as much fun as having skin. Sewing my own clothes allows my own fabric choices. Hunting through resale shops for natural fiber clothing can be another way to find items that don’t make me sick. Organically grown cotton products are available in limited styles and limited places for a price that is generally more than a department store price but probably less than an expensive fashionable brand.

Laundry detergents or fabric softeners can also leave me with an allergic reaction. Having overactive white blood cells means the allergic and autoimmune sensitivities are more likely to occur – there is one bonus, cancer cells may be more likely to be identified and removed. Until it is a severe condition someone with autoimmune disease may be less likely to have cancer due to the overactive white blood cells. Increased inflammation in a patient and those with “dermatomyositis,” type of infllammatory autoimmune disease were more associated with cancer risk than some other types of arthritis like autoimmune diseases, “systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs), in a large study.” [3] Someone with autoimmune disease can be at greater risk of developing another type of autoimmune disease however. [1]

Adequate treatment of hypothyroidism might have an additional benefit of reducing risk of demyelination and development of Multiple sclerosis. [1]

“For example, an intriguing finding based on a rodent model of chronic demyelination indicates that administration of thyroid hormone can enhance remyelination under certain conditions (31, 32). Relevance of this finding to multiple sclerosis in humans is unknown, but, hypothetically, routine treatment of hypothyroidism could diminish the risk of multiple sclerosis.” [1]

The sunhat is helping reduce inflammatory reactions that can make underlying autoimmune symptoms worse. Oxidative stress is another way to say inflammatory reactions and a variety of things in addition to excessive sun exposure can lead to oxidative stress and increased production of free radicals – a type of reactive chemical which antioxidant foods helps to detoxify safely rather than allowing an increase in negative health symptoms. Pollution and smoking can also be external factors in addition to excess sun exposure which can be a cause of inflammatory oxidative stress. [2]

Eating adequate but not necessarily excessive amounts of antioxidant rich foods can help the body detoxify the free radical chemicals safely. Excessive supplements or very rich food sources of antioxidants can tip the chemical balance too far in the other direction. Studies with supplements of vitamin E and vitamin A found that some is good but more isn’t. Sesame seeds are a good source of a variety of nutrients and have been tested for helping with the oxidative stress caused by athletic exercise, two tablespoons per day were found to be a helpful and safe amount. See: Effects of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) Supplementation on Creatine Kinase, Lactate Dehydrogenase, Oxidative Stress Markers, and Aerobic Capacity in Semi-Professional Soccer Players. [4(G3.8)]

More information antioxidant rich foods and on oxidative stress and who is more at risk of having inflammatory oxidative stress reactions is available in this post on my other blog site: https://effectiveselfcare.info/2017/09/08/three-negative-stress-can-trigger-the-fight-flight-response-whos-at-risk/

Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.

Emily C. Somers Sara L. Thomas Liam Smeeth Andrew J. Hall,
Are Individuals With an Autoimmune Disease at Higher Risk of a Second Autoimmune Disorder?, American Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 169, Issue 6, 15 March 2009, Pages 749–755, https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/169/6/749/90353
Anu Rahal,Amit Kumar, Vivek Singh,Brijesh Yadav,Ruchi Tiwari,Sandip Chakraborty,and Kuldeep Dhama, Oxidative Stress, Prooxidants, and Antioxidants: The Interplay, Biomed Res Int. 2014; 2014: 761264. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3920909/
Kuang-Hui Yu, MD, Chang-Fu Kuo, MD, PhD, Lu Hsiang Huang, MSc, Wen-Kuan Huang, MD, and Lai-Chu See, PhD, Cancer Risk in Patients With Inflammatory Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases, Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 May; 95(18): e3540. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4863778/
8. Barbosa CV, Silva AS, de Oliveira CV, et al., Effects of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) Supplementation on Creatine Kinase, Lactate Dehydrogenase, Oxidative Stress Markers, and Aerobic Capacity in Semi-Professional Soccer Players. Front Physiol. 2017 Mar 31;8:196.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28408889 (G.8)

November 7, 2017January 13, 2018

Health is about health not reality shows

Health may not seem important until you don’t have it anymore. Reality shows may seem real but real life is different than an edited for television show. Healthy choices in the present can help protect and prevent problems later. Hair growth gets joked about but it can be a sign of health or lack of nutrients in some cases and in other people it is just a genetic difference or an age difference. Male facial hair requires genetics, age and testosterone for some types of hair growth. A few links about it are included in this post along with a brief note about nutrients for cardiovascular health. The nutritional need for healthy hair growth and a healthy heart are similar.

The Iodine and Testosterone Relationship

Iodine is essential for women and men and growing healthy babies.

Genetics is involved in individual differences but the underlying need for essential nutrients helps a variety of issues in the body not just ability to have a healthy cardiovascular system, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16522926,

or a good testosterone level and healthy hair growth of eyebrows, or on other areas of the body.

https://www.realbeardedmen.com/blogs/news/124881031-how-genetics-affect-beard-growth

Oversupplementing of some nutrients (selenium, vitamin A and E) may be harmful rather than helpful to hair growth and other health symptoms. Selenium and iodine in balance are needed, and adequate vitamin A and E also, Other nutrients that seem involved in hair growth include vitamin D, the B vitamins folate, niacin, and biotin, and the trace minerals iron and zinc are also needed. Simple protein malnutrition alone or lack of some amino acids can lead to sparse hair growth. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5315033/

A recent post was short but important, many nutrients work together to support a healthy body and cardiovascular system:

Whether nutrient deficiencies or other metabolic imbalance is the cause is not clear or it may be a response to oxidative stress, however levels of the trace nutrients magnesium, selenium, zinc, and vitamin D3 were found to be low and the level of calcium elevated in myocardium, a type of muscle tissue in the heart. [1]

Karl T. Weber,^1,^* William B. Weglicki,² and Robert U. Simpson³ Macro- and micronutrient dyshomeostasis in the adverse structural remodelling of myocardium, Cardiovasc Res. 2009 Feb 15; 81(3): 500–508.

Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.

October 18, 2017November 30, 2017

Caring about others may mean caring about our food supply too

I care about others and that is why I worked in a very demanding job for a reasonable but not large salary for my profession and credentials, and why I shared health information online after resigning my demanding job. Good news I thought, about health being obtainable with some attention to neglected nutrients, however it was met with more difficulty than I expected or could ever have imagined, but also with an outpouring of love and support, that was more than I could ever have imagined. I realized that we are a very divided nation, and so I’ve continued to try to share the good news that health can be obtained – with a lot of effort and a very restricted diet in the current food climate.

Whether standard or “health” foods our modern food supply has too many negative chemicals and not as many nutrients as food would have contained prior to about 1950-1985. Modern humans are no longer built out of the same ingredients that we once were. Toxins have been found in most people and types of body fluids that have been sampled in some areas/some research. Many things are not tested for however and that lack of testing is not shared.

In 1983 there was concern that the rate of infertility in women of childbearing age had increased significantly from 6% to 9%. A type of birth control that was used at the time was thought to have been involved in the increased rate. http://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/10/garden/infertility-increases-in-young-women.html

Today 12% of women aged 15-44 (the range considered of childbearing age) have sought fertility services – 7.3 million women. Of the 15-44 year old group of women 6.7% are considered infertile and 12.1% are considered to have impaired fecundity (–> dictionary “fecundity” ~ the ability of females to produce great numbers of offspring – or ideas – or for the planet’s level of fruitfulness and fertility). https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/infertility.htm

The average rate of childbirth has dropped fairly rapidly and in most areas of the U.S.. Other nations are also seeing a reduction in childbirth rates and have had some success with changes in policy to be more supportive of childbearing but even those have had limited success in increasing average rate of childbirth. https://medium.com/migration-issues/the-great-baby-bust-of-2017-2f63907402fc

Pesticide residue in produce has been linked to a reduced likelihood of becoming pregnant when using fertility treatments and a 26% lower liklihood of delivering a live birth. The study compared women who ate 2 to 6 servings of commercially grown produce with low pesticide residue produce. Increased risk was associated with increasing number of servings of the commercially grown produce. Organic produce may be a safer source of nutrients for prenatal health. https://www.medpagetoday.com/endocrinology/infertility/68977

An overview of a theory regarding glyphosate, is available here: https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/environmental-toxins/glyphosate-in-collagen/. Glyphosate is an artificially produced amino acid analogue that is being used as an herbicide on many crops. It is chemically so similar to the amino acid glycine that it may be incorporated directly into protein structures in plants, animals and humans.

I share information because I’m concerned about individual and planetary fecundity. As a health professional I trusted that my recommendations were based on adequate research, however once I resigned and I had more time to look into the background information I was very dismayed to find out that much of the nutrient guidelines are based on very old research or research that seems skewed by corporate or political goals or lack of common sense. Medical research in the for-profit industry is skewed towards finding a way to hijack a step in physiology and substitute a pharmaceutical medication that modifies a symptom or lab test slightly more than a placebo.

The worse news is that the placebo isn’t necessarily no treatment but may be a comparison of the ingredients of the test substance that are considered inert/inactive, however they may not be safe either. A better comparison would be the test substance or treatment compared to no treatment or just whatever dietary and lifestyle recommendations that are part of the standard treatment for the experimental condition.

Roundup is an herbicide that contains glyphosate but it also contains other ingredients that are considered inactive/inert and safety tests are primarily only done and only required to have been performed on the glyphosate. Studies have not been required to continue for an entire animal’s lifespan in the U.S. or for a few generations. I recently learned that generational research was performed elsewhere.

“A Russian study found that feeding hamsters GMO soy resulted in complete sterility after 2 or 3 generations.” page 35 http://farmwars.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Glyphosate-Destructor-of-Human-Health-and-Biodiversity-2.pdf

The combination of the ingredients in Roundup may be even more harmful than the glyphosate alone and may particularly affect aquatic species, particularly amphibians. http://stopthespraybc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Literature-Review-of-Impacts-of-Glyphosate-Herbicide1.pdf

The rate of infertility and spontaneous abortions has increased in a variety of animal species in the wild and raised domestically for the food industry. A new infectious pathogen has also been identified that is more prevalent in animals raised with more Roundup Ready GMO foods in their diet. “The pathogen is also found in the fungal causative agent of SDS (Fusarium solani fsp glycines).” http://farmandranchfreedom.org/letter-dr-huber-roundup-animal-miscarriage-infertility/ However that research claim has not been followed up by more substantiated work in peer reviewed journals. He mentions a specific pathogen that includes the word glycines – more recent research suggests a risk that glyphosate is being incorporated into proteins in place of glycine. That is a wild card scenario that nature never experienced in such quantity. We as humans are unlikely to have any idea what differences might occur in a pathogen that is formed with glyphosate in the place of glycine within proteins.

Tests to detect the DNA of a pathogen based on it containing glycine might not detect the pathogen if it is present but made with glyphosate in the place of glycine. The following article discusses testing for the presence of the Fusarium solani fsp glycines pathogen and failing to do so when preliminary tests suggesting that it would be found were positive. See the discussion section regarding the PCR assay that was developed for the study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-3059.2003.00797.x/full

In later articles online that aim to disprove his (unpublished in peer reviewed journals) work he is asked about genetic sequencing of the organism that was discovered and he didn’t provide samples and said it didn’t have DNA and was more like a prion (a protein that can replicate like a virus but which contains no nucleus with DNA). https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2014/10/13/robyn-obrien-defends-anti-gmo-crusader-don-huber-whistleblower-or-crank/#.VDvzVVfLnVk.google_plusone_share

Prions are an infectious protein that does not contain DNA or RNA but which can infect humans and animals and be replicated by the infected cells. Brain damage can be a long term result that causes physical symptoms of loss of muscle control. An active section of the prion does contain several molecules of glycine. https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/recent-research-advances-in-the-glycinexxxglycine-motif-of-mammalian-prion-proteins-2167-0501.1000e151.php?aid=24132 So in an environment/food supply where glycine was in limited supply and glyphosate was prevalent it is possible that prions might occur that are different in structure and activity because they were built with the similarly shaped molecules of glyphosate instead of glycine.

An earlier concern about unknown prion production from the GMO process as a long term potential human health hazard was expressed by a scientist who actually was working with Monsanto during development phases and who quit because of ethical concerns. http://responsibletechnology.org/allfraud/monsanto-whistleblower-says-genetically-engineered-crops-may-cause-disease/

If pathogens exist that are actually other types of pathogens but which were formed with glyphosate instead of glycine, we don’t know what they might be capable of doing because they would be brand new. Canadian research suggested there is an increased risk for Fusarium infection in glyphosate crops. https://www.organicconsumers.org/old_articles/ge/monsanto121503.php

If we impair the base of the food chain than all species who eat those smaller species will also be at risk of lack of food if not also being at risk of impaired health and fecundity due to the toxins in the environment. If we raise our domesticated animals who are used directly for human food on crops that contain increased amounts of a toxin than we are also increasing our own intake of the potential toxin.

Humans are intelligent but are we also wise?

/Guidance that might be helpful to avoid negative effects of glyphosate – supplemental vitamin D3, coQ10, and trace minerals may help and bathing or soaking in magnesium sulfate salt (Epsom salt) for about 20 minutes every few days. The skin’s ability to make bioactive sulfate and vitamin D may be impaired by glyphosate. To avoid the glyphosate itself – choose as much organically grown ingredients as you can afford. Organic foods used in dietary change research has shown a reduction in the body’s load of toxins before the dietary switch was made. – a summary, use at your own risk as the standard recommendation is that standard food is fine for promoting health for everyone.

/Disclosure: This information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes./

October 16, 2017October 31, 2017

Maps of the United States & mental illness

A map of the rate of mental illness in the United States suggests some geographic patterns however the reason for the pattern is not speculated about in the following article: http://www.newsweek.com/nearly-1-5-americans-suffer-mental-illness-each-year-230608

For comparison purposes consider this map of the locations of fracking sites, not an exact overlap but similar regions are highlighted: https://earthjustice.org/features/campaigns/fracking-across-the-united-states

And then add in the many decade struggle with radioactive waste in Hanford Washington. The article doesn’t have a map but Washington state is in the upper left corner of the contiguous United States: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/washington/articles/2017-05-09/history-of-hanford-nuclear-waste-site-in-washington-state

Radiation exposure has been associated with an increase in PTSD, depression and anxiety but that was when the exposure was known and could be worried about. https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2015/aug/09/nagasaki-anniversary-radiation-nuclear-mental-health

Residents of the Washington State and surrounding regions have not been warned about any potential for increased radiation exposure or potential benefit of assuring adequate iodine intake to protect their thyroid and other glands from radioactive iodine. More of the opposite reaction has occurred in the U.S. health care system. Radioactive iodine is considered a therapy and scanning tests that use radioactive iodine do not work as well when the individual has plenty of iodine.

A simple search of the Pub Med site for “radioactive iodine” gives 13,171 search results: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=radioactive+iodine “radioactive iodine therapy” gave 5307 results: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=radioactive+iodine+therapy

“iodine nutrient therapy” gave 1403 results that include radioactive iodine, I’m not familiar with whether I can exclude terms from the results. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=iodine%20nutrient%20therapy

Coincidentally, or not, depression is a symptom of hypothyroidism and irritability is also mentioned here: https://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/thyroid/hypothyroidism-too-little-thyroid-hormone

Both hypo- and hyperthyroidism is associated in psychiatric circles with panic levels of anxiety including PTSD. Other psychiatric conditions found more often in patients who also have thyroid conditions include bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder and psychotic disorder/paranoid psychosis: http://www.mdedge.com/currentpsychiatry/article/62439/identifying-hypothyroidisms-psychiatric-presentations

Iodine is an essential nutrient that helps prevent or treat congenital and other types of hypothyroidism and the main U.S. medical database has fewer than 1403 entries using non-radioactive iodine in therapeutic ways – it can’t be patented.

A general search engine gave 9,210,000 results for “patent for radioactive iodine” https://www.bing.com/search?q=patent+on+radioactive+iodine&form=EDGTCT&qs=PF&cvid=46f8b85d9f214ee7873433434493b545&cc=US&setlang=en-US&PC=HCTS

I’m only slightly surprised by the vast number of results for patents on a poison that is produced as a waste product of nuclear reactions.

A for-profit health care system is an oxymoron that may be harming more than helping our population and likely is harming our ground water supply as well, in my opinion at least.