Processed Poison: A New Meat Study
—May 19, 2010If you have a sandwich in one hand and a mouse in the other, I can guarantee you that you’re not going to like this article. A new study sheds light on the dangers of processed meats. That means favorites like sausage, bacon, hot dogs and deli meats. These tasty items are linked to a 42% increase in heart disease and 19% increase in the risk of developing diabetes. And we’re not talking a lot of it either. A daily 1.8 ounce serving [that’s one hot dog, folks!] was enough to increase risk.
The good news is that unprocessed meats like lamb and beef did not demonstrate the same health risks. The obvious conclusion is that, once again, the food industry is poisoning us for profits. The chemicals used in the processing are the culprits, not the meat itself.
Of course, the president of the American Meat Institute said that these facts are no reason to make dietary changes. And you can trust him. So just forget the whole thing and finish that salami sandwich. In the meantime, I have a refrigerator to clean out.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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Keep Your Pancreas Healthy By Avoiding Killer Fats
—Jun 30, 2009As many of you may already know, I lost my mother-in-law to pancreatic cancer this year. Pancreatic cancer is merciless and deadly. Unlike colon cancer, there is no regular test to catch it early. Sadly, for most victims, pancreatic cancer isn't found until it has spread to another organ, usually the liver. By then, it is just too late.
Every year, 42000 Americans contract pancreatic cancer according to the American Cancer Society With that cheery fact in mind, it only behooves us to do everything in our power to lower our risk of developing the disease.
A National Institute of Health study shows a clear link between pancreatic cancer risk and a high fat diet. This was a very large study. The records of 500,000 participants were analyzed. Those with a high fat diet had a 23 percent greater risk of pancreatic cancer. And the higher the fat intake, the greater the risk, especially for men. Men with the highest percentage of fat in the diet had a 53 percent increased risk.
This is bad news for folks that rely on fast food which has 40 to 55 percent fat. Many of the 'quick and easy' foods from the grocery store are just as bad. Add to that the alarming array of chemicals used to preserve food and enhance the taste and its no wonder that our vital organs are having a tough time keeping us alive.
So what's the solution? First, eat out less. Brown bag your own lunch. When you go grocery shopping, stick to the perimeter of the store where the fresh foods are located. Start a garden. If your diet is loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables that's the best way to avoid becoming another cancer statistic.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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Hydroxycut...No Short Cut To Weight Loss
—Jun 18, 2009In America, we love the quick fix. And if the fix requires no effort on our part, that's even better. Unfortunately for us, life doesn't work that way. Hydroxycut is a prime example of the consequences of the quick fix.
Open any fitness magazine and you will run across an ad for Hydroxycut. With 8 million sales in 2008, this product was the number one weight-loss supplement. It was used by folks who wanted to shed a couple of pounds and bodybuilders who wanted a more sculpted look. This month, Hydroxycut was recalled by the FDA. The reason? Liver damage. Some users showed signs [yellow skin and dark urine] in a matter or weeks after using the product.
“Okay, now that I can't buy Hydroxycut, what should I take?” Nothing. Zero Zip. That's the safe answer. There is no short cut to losing weight and getting in shape. Short cuts, quick fixes and miracle cures are almost always dangerous or at the very least, a waste of time and money. In the end, it's like the old TV ad line, “It's not nice to fool Mother Nature”
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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Vitamin D Link To The Latest Study
—Mar 26, 2009I’ve had a number of patients ask me for details of the latest vitamin D study that was discussed in the previous post. After searching the web, I’ve found Science Daily has an excellent summary of Dr. Ginde’s work. So, if you’re one of those folks that wants all the nitty gritty details, just click here.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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Vitamin D Health Hazard In America
—Mar 24, 2009The sun used to be worshiped. Now, with the prospect of skin cancer, it is feared. People who go out stay slathered in sun block. Many avoid the glare of the great outdoors entirely. But there is a dark side to staying in the dark. It’s Vitamin D deficiency.
In the normal scheme of things, half of our vitamin D is derived from exposure to the sun. A new study on vitamin D by Adit A. Ginde, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, found that an increasing percentage of the American population is deficient in this vitamin. There are a host of health issues associated with low levels of vitamin D including osteoporosis, heart disease and cancer. Vitamin D deficiency in chronic low back pain patients is well documented. In 2003, a research study in the journal Spine reported that 341 out of 360 subjects were relieved of their low back pain after three months of vitamin D supplementation. Clinical research has also shown that vitamin D supplementation is important for many other conditions including osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, depression, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and type 2 diabetes. So while staying out of the sun may lower your risk of skin cancer, you may be undermining your overall health in the process.
Actions Steps For Getting Enough Vitamin D
Catching some rays without sunblock in moderation [like almost everything else in life] is fine. Don’t rely on dairy products that are fortified with vitamin D to give you enough of this nutrient. Take a vitamin D supplement daily. The great news is that vitamin D supplements are inexpensive as well as being one of the cornerstones to optimum health.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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Cancer Fighting Mushrooms To The Rescue
—Mar 17, 2009Cancer is a word that can send anyone into a cold sweat. This disease seems to come at us from every direction. Some types of cancer have no clear cause. Others like lung cancer are closely tied to airborn irritants [think cigarettes and smog]. And there are some cancers that are just plain inevitable. Men will develop prostate cancer and women will develop breast cancer if they live long enough. That’s just the nature of the cells in those organs. Certainly as with any cancer, early detection gives you an edge. Outside of regular testing once we enter middle age, is there anything we can do about these common cancers?
Enter the lowly mushroom. A white button mushroom to be exact. Recently, in the medical journal Nutrition and Cancer, Shiuan Chen, PhD, Professor and Director of the Division of Tumor Cell Biology at the Beckman Research Institute has documented the cancer fighting properties of mushrooms. His earlier work found that the white button mushrooms suppressed the spread of breast cancer cells. Dr. Chen’s latest research studied the effects of this mushroom on prostate cancer. When mice with prostate cancer were given the mushroom extract, their tumors shrank 68 percent compared to the control mice.
Of course, eating white button mushrooms doesn’t take the place of regular checkups, but Dr. Chen’s results are encouraging. He concluded that adding white button mushrooms to the diet may help protect men from prostate cancer.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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Go Fish – The Importance of Omega 3 supplements
—Mar 10, 2009It’s common knowledge that the American diet isn’t exactly healthy. We live in the land of processed foods. For that reason, many folks take a multivitamin. That’s a good start but it isn’t the whole story. There is one type of supplement that would be beneficial for everyone. That’s omega 3 fatty acids a.k.a. fish and flax seed oil.
There are two major types of oils in our diet—omega 6 and omega 3. In a perfectly nutritious world the ratio would be 1:1. Today it isn’t even close. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, our diet is weighted heavily to the omega 6 side, 20:1. Why is that so bad? Omega 6 oils promote inflammation. Inflammation is the underlying cause of pain. Fish oil supplements not only reduce pain but also lower cholesterol and improve blood flow. In addition, it is a factor in almost all diseases in the body, including Alzheimer’s and cancer. As a quick rule of thumb, if your doctor ever gives you a diagnosis that ends in ‘itis’, he or she is telling you that inflammation is the culprit [think arthritis, colitis].
It’s best to take fish oil supplements with antioxidants [vitamins B or C] since they protect the oil from breaking down [and turning rancid] before they become absorbed. Daily recommended amount is 500mg per 50 pounds of body weight. Some people get an after taste from taking fish oil. To avoid that, take them before you go to bed.
Omega 3 fatty acids [fish oil] reduce inflammation and have been proven beneficial to many critical areas in the body, including the brain and heart.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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High Fructose Corn Syrup...Safe & Natural? Who is Kidding Who?
—Feb 22, 2009The food industry has come out with a new piece of propaganda. This time its about the alleged benefits of high fructose corn syrup. According to the commercials from the Corn Refiners Association [Lord knows they don’t have an ax to grind] high fructose corn syrup [HFCS] is made from corn and it’s natural, just as sweet as sugar and is just dandy in moderation.
There are a few problems with that. First, it may start out as corn starch but HFCS is a chemically engineered product that doesn’t exist in nature. In fact, it requires at least one genetically modified enzyme to produce it. Of course, that’s not the only red flag. It is next to impossible to consume HFCS in moderation because it is in everything. Don’t take my word for it. Go to your local grocery store and read the label of every food product before you buy it. You will be shocked. HFCS isn’t just in soft drinks. It’s in everything. The average person consumes 60 pounds of HFCS each year. This mass consumption of fructose is an underlying cause of the national obesity epidemic. It also promotes insulin resistance in the body.
Here’s some real food for thought. A 2007 study at the University of St. Louis by Brent Tetri, M.D., professor of internal medicine, used rats to test the effects of the American diet and lifestyle on health.. The rats were given a diet rich in fat and HFCS. They were kept sedentary and were allowed to eat as much as they wanted. In other words, these were typical couch potato rats.
The results of the study?
“We had a feeling we’d see evidence of fatty liver disease by the end of the study,” Dr. Tetri says. “But we were surprised to find how severe the damage was and how quickly it occurred. It took only four weeks for liver enzymes to increase and for glucose intolerance – the beginning of type II diabetes – to begin.”
And unlike other studies, the mice were not forced to eat; rather, they were able to eat whenever they wanted – and eat they did. Dr. Tetri says there’s evidence that suggests fructose actually suppresses your fullness, unlike fiber-rich foods, which make you feel full quickly.
And if all of that weren’t bad enough…
Last month a study in the journal Environmental Health reported that 9 out of 20 samples of commercial grade HFCS contained mercury. Another study from the the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy tested 55 name brand foods containing HFCS and found nearly one third had mercury.You read it right. Mercury, the neurotoxin. Why is mercury found in high fructose corn syrup? Because caustic soda which is contaminated with mercury is often used in the production of HFCS. Sounds natural doesn’t it? And there’s no way of telling if the product you’re consuming has mercury because of contaminated HFCS. So, in essence, we are all playing Russian Roulette every time we pick up a fork.
What can you do? Read the labels before you buy the food. Reduce or eliminate HFCS from your diet. It won’t be easy but a slimmer, healthier you will be the end result.
And if those Corn Refiners Association commercials still have you convinced that high fructose corn sryup is natural, just remember so is tobacco, lead and arsenic.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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New Alzheimer's Research: Diet May Be Everything
—Nov 18, 2008As many of you may already know the subject of Alzheimer’s is important to me—my father died from it. So, I’m always on the lookout for new information regarding this disease. There was an exciting article in Nature Neuroscience.
As reported by the BBC, “Scientists from Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and the University of California looked at fatty acids in the brains of normal mice and compared them with those in mice genetically engineered to have an Alzheimer’s-like condition.
They identified raised levels of a fatty acid called Arachidonic acid in the brains of the Alzheimer’s mice.”
What’s the big deal about that? We can control the production of Arachidonic acid through diet. And, as a bonus, by making these dietary changes we end up with less pain!
The key is reducing [or, better yet, eliminating] grains from our diets. Yes, grains. That means bread, pasta, cereal, etc. Grains, seeds and seed oils give us Linoleic acid, which is transformed into Arachidonic acid in the body. Arachidonic acid is then transformed into pro-inflammatory chemicals. Inflammation means pain. And according to this study, those same substances impair brain function.
Also from the BBC article: Dr Rene Sanchez-Mejia, who worked on the study, said, “The most striking change we discovered in the Alzheimer’s mice was an increase in Arachidonic acid and related metabolites [products] in the hippocampus, a memory centre that is affected early and severely by Alzheimer’s disease.”
He suggested too much Arachidonic acid might over-stimulate brain cells, and that lowering levels allowed them to function normally.”
Sounds like a good time to make some dietary changes, doesn’t it? Dr. H, Dr. Lee and myself have been on the soapbox about reducing pro-inflammatory substances from the diet [once again, grains & seeds] and adding anti-inflammatory supplements [fish oil and other omega-3 oils] to your daily routine. This is just one more reason to take charge of your health. If you would like any additional information about this all -important topic, all you have to do is ask.
— Dr. Rich Fink
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Do Something Different This Thanksgiving...Don't Overeat!
—Nov 18, 2008The Center for Disease Control released a report last month on the staggering increase in diabetes. The rate for Type 2 diabetes has doubled over the last decade. The report states, not surprisingly, that the rate of new diabetics mirrors the increase in obesity. If you are one of the many who think that diabetes is curable or easily controlled, think again. It is impossible to control blood sugar accurately using insulin. The result is wild swings in the levels of insulin and sugar which damages blood vessels. This can lead to gangrene, blindness, heart disease and stroke.
Okay, call me Doctor Killjoy for bringing this up just before the glutton fest that is our national holiday. Well, somebody’s got to do it. Winter is just around the corner. Those extra pounds that you pack on with that extra helping of…everything…are tougher to lose when the weather turns cold. Your body has an innate tendency to hang on to the fat during this time. So save yourself the trouble by not accumulating the fat in the first place. Enjoy the dinner table conversation and pass on the pie.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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