Monday, August 30, 2010
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Does the AMA really have our best interest in mind?
Welcome to May... and like Novemberwe are still teetering in and out of the Flu Season!
Highly unusual for the past...but more commonplace in recent years!
Since November at the official beginning of the flu season...
the media has bombarded us with reasons as to why we need to sit in doctor's offices full of sick people or wait in long lines to be jabbed with a needle containing a substance that will make sure we don't die from this dreaded of all diseases.
Is this truth?
Read on...
In the October issue of Advanced Health & Healing you read about a group of scientists in Washington State trying to decide whether or not to begin studying the 1918 killer flu virus.
The plan was/is to take tissues from exhumed victims of the epidemic and place them into monkeys in order to see why millions of people died from this particular flu and to develop better vaccines.
A few days ago the following came across my desk.
I think you will find it interesting.
Eleanor McBean wrote the following about 25 years ago. This excerpt, from chapter two of her book, Vaccination Condemned, makes a quite different observation:
Chap. 2:
Vaccination Condemned by Eleanor McBean
I WAS AN ON-THE-SPOT OBSERVER OF THE 1918 INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC.
All the doctors and people who were living at the time of the 1918 Spanish Influenza epidemic say it was the most terrible disease the world has ever had. Strong men, hale and hearty, one day would be dead the next. The disease had the characteristics of the black death added to typhoid, diphtheria, pneumonia, smallpox, paralysis and all the diseases the people had been vaccinated with immediately following World War 1.
Practically the entire population had been injected "seeded" with a dozen or more diseases - or toxic serums. When all those doctor-made diseases started breaking out all at once it was tragic. That pandemic dragged on for two years, kept alive with the addition of more poison drugs administered by the doctors who tried to suppress the symptoms.
As far as I could find out, the flu hit only the vaccinated.
Those who had refused the shots escaped the flu. My family had refused all the vaccinations so we remained well all the time.
We knew from the health teachings of Graham, Trail, Tilden and others, that people cannot contaminate the body with poisons without causing disease.
When the flu was at its peak, all the stores were closed as well as the schools, businesses - even the hospital, as the doctors and nurses had been vaccinated too and were down with the flu.
No one was on the streets. It was like a ghost town. We [who didn't taken any vaccines] seemed to be the only family which didn't get the flu; so my parents went from house to house doing what they could to look after the sick, as it was impossible to get a doctor then.
If it were possible for germs, bacteria, virus, or bacilli to cause disease, they had plenty of opportunity to attack my parents when they were spending many hours a day in the sick rooms. But they didn't get the flu and they didn't bring any germs home to attack us children and cause anything. None of our family had the flu - not even a sniffle- and it was in the winter with deep snow on the ground.
It has been said that the 1918 flu epidemic killed 20,000,000 people throughout the world.
But, actually, the doctors killed them with their crude and deadly treatments and drugs.
This is a harsh accusation but it is nevertheless true, judging by the success of the drugless doctors in comparison with that of the medical doctors.
While the medical men and medical hospitals were losing 33% of their flu cases, the non-medical hospitals such as BATTLE CREEK, KELLOGG and MACFADDEN'S HEALTH-RESTORIUM were getting almost 100% healings with their water cure, baths, enemas, etc., fasting and certain other simple healing methods, followed by carefully worked out diets of natural foods. One health doctor didn't lose a patient in eight years. The very successful health treatment of one of those drugless doctors who didn't lose any patients will be given in the other part of this book, titled VACCINATION CONDEMNED, to be published a little later. If the medical doctors had been as advanced as the drugless doctors, there would not have been those 20 million deaths from the medical flu treatment.
There was seven times more disease among the vaccinated soldiers than among the unvaccinated civilians, and the diseases were those they had been vaccinated against.
One soldier who had returned from overseas in 1912 told me that the army hospitals were filled with cases of infantile paralysis and he wondered why grown men should have an infant disease.
Now, we know that paralysis is a common after-effect of vaccine poisoning. Those at home didn't get the paralysis until after the world-wide vaccination campaign in 1918.
Think about it. I do want to take this opportunity to express my thankfulness to all of you not only for subscribing to Advanced Health & Wellness but also for taking interest and responsibility for your own health.
In a few weeks we will be gathering with family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for---big things and small things.
Don't forget to give thanks for your health and if you should be experiencing health concerns be thankful that there are answers available to you. You just have to be willing to take that first step.
Natural Prevention & Treatment For The Flu: What Your Doctor May Not Know
By: Dr. Loretta Lanphier
Flu can affect 10 to 30 percent of the U.S. population each winter.
The flu virus can linger in the air for as long as three hours. In close quarters, conditions are ripe for the spread of the virus.
That explains why the highest incidence of the flu is in 5- to 18-year-olds, who spend much of their time in school, in close contact with their classmates.
The most serious complications occur in older adults, however, especially those in managed care. Do not give aspirin or other "salicylates" to children or teenagers with symptoms of a cold or flu.
Don't bother taking antibiotics to treat your flu or cold; antibiotics do not kill viruses, and they should be used only for bacterial infections. Antibiotic overuse has become a very serious problem, leading to a resistance in disease-causing bacteria that may render antibiotics ineffective for some conditions.
According to a National Survey OTC cough and cold medication sales totaled 3.2 billion dollars in 1995,
That's no surprise, considering Americans endure about 1 billion colds each year.
The "experts" are using fear and vaccine shortage to motivate people to get a flu shot, but this is yet another healthcare illusion.
Let's be clear, flu can definitely be a killer disease and is not something that should be easily dismissed.
But, remember that flu shots don't prevent illness--never have, never will. The flu vaccine can actually weaken the immune system and make you more predisposed to the illness. And the side effects of FluMist, cough, runny nose/nasal congestion, irritability, headaches, chills, muscle aches and fever, sound just like the symptoms of the flu.
If you decide to get the nasal flu vaccine, you will get not only a live flu virus in each dose but also table sugar and MSG, which are fraught with their own problems.
If you take the shot you may get mercury as an added bonus.
Building A Healthy Immune System:
Your #1 Offense
1) Detoxify your digestive tract and liver/gallbladder now.
Disease often begins in the digestive tract and the liver is the main filter of the body. When either or both of these are sluggish then your body can be ripe for illness. This will prepare your body to readily be able to absorb, utilize and transport the good food and supplements that you will be using. It is good to do this once a month for 3 months then 2x's yearly.
I would also recommend a parasite cleanse especially if you consume a lot of non-organic meat.
2) Eliminate all sugar.
One teaspoon of sugar can bring the immune system down for up to 6 hours. Natural, healthy substitutes for sugar are stevia, agave nectar and Xylitol. It is best for you to satisfy your taste buds with fresh, organic fruits. Be sure to eat the whole fruit as juicing your fruit will cause your insulin levels to spike. If you crave chocolate chances are you may have a magnesium deficiency.
3) Change your diet. Your immune system will flourish on a diet of organic fruits and vegetables. Two raw salads (use dark green leafy lettuce) a day eaten with lunch and dinner will help to provide you body with much-needed vitamins and nutrients. Incorporate soups and stews into your diet. If you eat meat make sure that it is organic and free-range. Fish should be cold-water and eaten no more than twice a week. Farmed raised fish are not healthy because most of the feed corn derived and therefore you will not get the benefits of the beneficial fatty acids such as DHA and EPA. They also may be exposed to high levels of pesticides. Consider taking Chlorella to remove any mercury. If you are pregnant it is advised that you not eat fish. Cook with organic, unrefined coconut oil (try to consume 2-3 tablespoons daily) and for salads use organic, unrefined, cold-pressed olive oil. Eliminate pre-packaged foods and those foods that are canned or bagged. Purchase organic, free-range eggs and organic butter. Substitute pasteurized/homogenized milk with almond milk. You can also bake/cook with almond milk.
4) Eat a clove of garlic every day
Garlic acts in the body as a natural antibiotic. You must smash the clove in order to realize the immune enhancing properties.
5) Drink half your body weight in pure, filtered water every day.
Our body is mostly water. We must put back what we eliminate through breathing, sweating and urination. Water helps the kidneys to continually flush toxins from the body. Make sure that you are drinking pure, filtered water. I recommend distilled with organic apple cider vinegar added to replace the minerals lost through distillation.
6) Exercize every single day
Exercise not only helps with blood circulation and to keep unwanted pounds away but also can help with depression. Exercise helps to move the lymph system, which will in-turn move toxins from the body. Walking outdoors in the sun will help your body with Vitamin D production. For those who don't experience a lot of sunshine it is recommended that you supplement with Vitamin D under the care of a health professional. An article published by the International Journal of Sports Medicine illustrates the effect exercise can have on infections. In this study, only 45 minutes of brisk walking per day was shown to lower the incidence of upper respiratory symptoms, cut the duration of illness in half and increase natural killer-cell activity in people prone to upper respiratory tract infections.
7) Adequate Sleep.
Almost 80% of the population is sleep deprived. Sleep is necessary for our body to repair and heal. The body does the most healing between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. There is no such thing as catching-up on sleep as once it is lost-it cannot be regained through marathon sleeping on the weekends. Getting adequate rest allows the immune system to repair and be in top condition.
8) Take a good organic multi-vitamin/mineral formula, Vitamin C and a Probiotic.
Unfortunately eating organically doesn't always protect us in a perfect manner. Depleted soil conditions has definitely affected the nutrients contained in our vegetables and fruits. I have found one that I consider the "Cadillac" when it comes to providing the body with everything it needs to continue in health. It is a wise choice to consume 2-3 grams of Vitamin C (sodium ascorbate) daily in divided doses. A good probiotic will help to keep good bacteria in the digestive tract.
9) Wash your hands frequently
Wash your hands in the mornings, after every meal, after all outings, after shaking hands with people, after each trip to the bathroom and before bed. Teach your children to do the same. Do not use antibacterial soaps. The antibacterial compounds found in most of these soaps sold in the United States are likely contributing to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Use a good all-natural soap from the health food store. Wash with warm water and use a nailbrush along the nail line and in-between fingers.
Keep fresh, clean towels available to dry hands. Make sure that you keep your hands away from your eyes and mouth. When away from home, keep a mixture of lemon essential oil, lavender essential oil and distilled water (40 drops lemon essential oil and 30 drops lavender essential oil to 4 ounces of distilled water) in a dark-colored, glass, fine-mist spray bottle. Spray on hands immediately after trips to grocery stores, doctor, etc. or any time you are shaking people's hands. At home, wipe all doorknobs frequently with this mixture. . Make sure that you keep your computer keys and mouse clean at all times. Also keep your phone's (cell and landline) receivers clean.
10) Deal with stress. Repeated stress is one of the main causes of a suppressed immune system.
Learn to manage your stress with exercise, meditation, deep breathing, walks in nature, good music, Yoga, Pilates and removing yourself from negative situations.
Refuse to allow anyone or any situation to make you stressful.
There are natural supplements that you can incorporate to help with stress such as B-Complex, Lithium Orotate or SamE.
In Case Of Flu-Items To Have On Hand-Your
#1 Defense
1) Hydrogen Peroxide.
In 1928 Richard Simmons, M.D. hypothesized that colds and flu virus enter through the ear canal.
The medical community dismissed his findings. According to Dr. Simmons, contrary to what you may think or have been taught about how you catch the flu or the cold there is only one way that you can catch the two, and that's via the ear canal not through the eyes or nose or mouth as most have believed. We have found good results in curing the flu & cold within 12 to 14 hours when administering a few drops of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) into each infected ear,
(sometimes only one ear is infected) The H2O2 starts working within 2 to 3 minutes in killing the flu or cold; there will be some bubbling and in some cases mild stinging occurs.
Wait until the bubbling & stinging subside (usually 5 to 10 min) then drain onto tissue and repeat other ear. A bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide in 3% solution is available at any drug store for a couple of dollars.
Although this method is perfectly safe for infant/children to use, the loud bubbling and stinging frightens them, they'll need someone they trust to put the hp in their ears.
(Don't get h2o2 in the eyes- if you do, flush with water)
2) Colloidal Silver.
Colloidal Silver is anti-bacterial and anti-viral and has been used for hundreds of years for it's antibiotic affect on the body. Most brands are very expensive and are golden in color. This indicates that there are additives in the product. Silver is the whitest of metals and the solution should be clear to a tiny bit white in color. More PPM does not necessarily make a good colloidal silver. In fact the lower the PPM the better able for it to penetrate the cell wall. While some will say that silver has no benefit, this is not what we have found at our house. Call your healthcare professional for therapeutic dosages.
3) Oregano Oil.
Oregano Oil can be as an effective pain reliever as morphine.
For sinus congestion or stuffiness place 1 drop of oregano oil in 1 ounce of warm water. (more is not better) Make sure that the oil is dispersed. Place 1-2 drops of the mixture in each nostril and sniff. The mixture will burn for about 30 seconds. This will help to break up sinus congestion.
Do this 3-4 times daily and before bed.
To take orally drop 3-5 drops in a veggie cap and take with food three times daily.
Oregano Oil is also anti-bacterial and anti-viral.
4) Vitamin C.
Capsules and powder are best. Take up to bowel tolerance. Taking the recommended dosage on the bottle will not be enough-for preventative purposes, double or triple it. If sick, divide the dosage and take some every hour---up to 6 grams daily. According to Linus Pauling, "adults should be taking at least 2-3 grams a day. There is much evidence about increased health with 2 grams a day, and of course even more with 4 or 6 grams a day.
Even an extra 60mg had been shown to add value in cutting down the death rate from heart disease, cancer and other diseases. Now my feeling is as people grow older they ought to be increasing their vitamin C and perhaps they should follow the policy that I have followed of increasing the intake. I
t can be either one chunk, one dose in the morning, or even better three doses throughout the day, increasing the intake until a laxative effect is observed, speeding up the rate of elimination of waste material from the bowel. So my suggestion is every person who wants to have the best of health should increase the intake of vitamin C to somewhat less than the amount that causes significant looseness of the bowel."
5) Drink lots of fresh vegetable juice and pure, clean water.
Flooding the body with liquids will help to flush out toxins and will also give the body added enzymes (helps with inflammation and pain) and nutrients.
6) Premier 8 - Glyconutrients have been given the title of "the new class of missing nutrients" or "miracle sugars".
Scores of studies have linked a deficiency of the extraordinary sugars to everything from lupus and diabetes to heart disease to cancer; from ADHD to infertility. Dozens of illnesses have been linked to an imbalance of these sugars. This is NOT the same as table sugar. Order the book Miracle Sugars by Rita Elkins for more explanation. Glyconutrients may represent the best of preventative medicine and may help with the following: viral infection, fungal infection, parasitic disease, bacterial disease, micro-bacterial disease, auto-immune disease. Providing the immune system with the right glyconutrients helps it recognize infectious organisms more readily. Remember, it is the "glycol" or sugar portion of both our immune cells and invading organisms that transfer messages. There is only one company (multi-level) that currently offers a similar product for a much higher price. You can get Premier 8 only through Oasis Advanced Wellness.
7) Zinc Lozenges - According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, when using zinc lozenges it is important to recognize that they need to be sucked on, NOT swallowed, and smaller doses taken more frequently seem to work better. Suck on a quarter lozenge every 30 minutes. If started early, this approach seems to work well for the majority of people. One caution: if the lozenges make you nauseous they should be stopped immediately as this is a sign of zinc toxicity. Do not use zinc lozenges that contain aspartame.
8) Eucalyptus Essential Oil - Diffuse eucalyptus essential oil into the air when sleeping at night. This will help to keep the sinuses and nasal passages open. It is also anti-viral and anti-bacterial. During the day diffuse lemon essential oil in the air, especially to keep other family members from getting sick.If you take preventative steps now you will be doing yourself and your family a huge favor. Always make sure that you are prepared if the flu happens to hit you or a family member. If your immune system is functioning at a good level then your "down time" and side effects should be minimal. Talk with your family about the suggestions in this article and then implement as many as possible. You will be glad that you started early!
Flu / Cold Relief For immediate cold/flu relief, try this concoction to strengthen your immune system at onset of cold/flu symptoms.
Commn Cold/Flu Concoction
with Thyme 1 ripe pear, cored and chopped 1 inch (or more) of fresh ginger, peeled and minced 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme (use high quality non-irradiated green leave thyme)
1 1/2 cups unprocessed apple juice Combine ingredients in a small pot with lid and simmer 5-8 minutes. Pour in bowl or cup and consume.
Take three to four times per day as needed. Ideal prior to bedtime -- put on an extra layer of clothing and get under warm covers.
Pear is soothing to the throat and contains antiviral caffeic acid, which is an immune stimulant. Ginger possesses ten or more antiviral compounds. Thyme contains thymol, which is an antimicrobial agent containing more than a dozen antiseptic compounds.
Texas Leads Nation In Mercury Emissions By: Randy Lee Loftis
The Dallas Morning News Fish in nearly one-third of the nation's 41 million acres of lakes are contaminated with mercury, and Texas leads the country in emissions of the toxic metal from power plants, a coalition of environmental groups said Wednesday.
Mercury is a powerful poison that can cause brain and nervous system damage, especially in children, pregnant women and unborn babies.
People are exposed to mercury when they eat fish caught in polluted waters. The Bush administration is battling environmental groups over how to control mercury from power plants, the biggest source of mercury emissions in the United States.
The administration has proposed allowing some plants to delay deep cuts in emissions by buying credits from other plants that make early cuts. Under the plan, the government would cap total emissions nationwide for the first time. Many environmental groups oppose that emissions-trading plan.
They say it waits too long to require emissions cuts, doesn't cut deeply enough and ignores local problems caused when a particular plant emits higher amounts. Unlike other pollutants, some of the mercury remains near its emission source. "Bush's plan is too little, too late," said Wendi Hammond, executive director of the Blue Skies Alliance, a North Texas environmental group.
EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said the administration's plan on emissions trading would rely on market forces rather than strict regulations to cut mercury emissions. "The bottom line is that we will be controlling mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants for the first time," she said. The U.S. Public Interest Group, an environmental and consumer advocacy group, examined reports on state mercury warnings and federal reports on emissions. The group's Texas chapter and several other Texas organizations on Wednesday released a version customized for Texas. The report found that state advisories or bans on fish consumption because of mercury covered at least 13.1 million acres of lakes, or 32 percent of the nation's total, in 2003. That was up by 6 percent from 2002 because of better monitoring, not more pollution. Texas ranked ninth in lakes covered by mercury advisories, with nearly 330,000 acres affected, mostly in East Texas. The state was first in mercury emissions from power plants, with 9,815 pounds in 2002, the latest year available, the report said. Five of the top 10 mercury-emitting plants nationwide are in Texas, it added. Coal mined in Texas, called lignite, has more mercury than other types, said Drew Douglas, spokesman for Dallas-based TXU Corp., which operates two of the top five plants. Technology to make big cuts from lignite doesn't exist, he said, but the company is working on solutions with government and university researchers.
E-mail rloftis@dallasnews.com -
"Some physicians would stand by and see their patients die rather than use ascorbic acid.Vitamin C should be given to the patient while the doctors ponder the diagnosis."Frederick R. Klenner, M.D.
And to put the advertising into perspective, consider this:
Merck spent more money advertising Vioxx than was spent promoting Pepsi worldwide.
Dairy Industry Shocker By: Robert Cohen
June is National Dairy Month, and at the same time dairy industry executives were deceiving last summer's consumers by promoting ice cream and cheese as foods to lose weight by, these same cretins were carefully guarding a secret that they determined you had no need to know.
That secret will now be revealed five months after their annual milk celebration, and today's column should inspire thousands more Americans to immediately jump onto the Notmilk wagon of dairy abstinence.
The November issue of the journal Dairy Science (Volume 87 (11):3770-7) contains a study in which slaughtered cows were tested for paratuberculosis, a bacterium that is not killed by pasteurization.
Mycobacterium paratuberculosis is often passed directly from cow to human in milk and dairy products, causing irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's Disease.
Dr. Shawn McKenna and associates randomly sampled lymph nodes and intestines from 984 cows that had ended their lives in slaughterhouses. During the month of June, 2004, an amazing event transpired.
Forty-two percent of those cows tested positive, infested with dangerous mycobacterium paratuberculosis.
In February of 1998, the British Medical Journal reported:"Mycobacterium Paratuberculosis crosses the species barrier to infect and cause disease in humans." The following month, the Journal of Applied and Environmental Microbiology revealed:
"Mycobacterium paratuberculosis is capable of surviving commercial pasteurization..."
Combine today's news with a publication in the September, 1996 issue of the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences:
"Mycobacterium paratuberculosis RNA was found in 100% of Crohn's disease patients, compared with 0% of controls.
" How could any mother ever again buy milk for her family, armed with the above information? Please help to spread this news far and wide.
http://www.notmilk.com/
Vitamin C, RDAs and Politics By: Steven Wm. Fowkes
Vitamin C has long been a politically loaded subject in US medical circles, especially after the late Dr. Linus Pauling had the gall to pronounce that it was effective in decreasing the severity and duration of the common cold.
Pauling's 1971 meta-analysis of the then-published studies was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and concluded that vitamin C significantly lessened cold-related illness(P.00003).
Although a P value less than 0.05 is considered significant and a P value less than 0.001 is considered outstanding, few physicians accepted Pauling's analysis.
The medical community's resistance to Pauling's conclusion soon found a champion in Robert Chalmers, who, in 1975, published his own meta-analysis of "reasonably well controlled" studies in which he concluded that vitamin C only decreased colds by 0.11 days, a "minor and insignificant" matter.
The fact that Chalmers' analysis flatly contradicted Pauling's resulted in it being highly cited in the medical literature - more than twice as often to date.
This discrepancy is especially telling because Chalmers' analysis was more superficial and made numerous errors reporting on the results of studies considered in his analysis.
Just how many errors was not clear until recently when Harri Hemilä of the University of Helsinki and Zelek Herman of the Linus Pauling Institute published a retrospective analysis of Chalmers' review citing an appalling number of mistakes, almost all of which were prejudicial against vitamin C. Replacing Chalmers' flawed data with correct data resulted in a finding of 0.93 fewer days of illness (P.01), a 21% savings in sick time (P.001) and a combined P value from the six statistically significant studies of less than 0.000004 (2-tailed probability of difference).
In other words, Linus Pauling was right. Vitamin C does, in fact, decrease both the duration and severity of colds.
And studies conducted after Pauling's and Chalmers' meta-analyses have born this out.
Why were so many scientists on the wrong side of this matter? The answer is simple: politics!
Medical attitudes against vitamins were strident in the 1970s, despite a considerable volume of evidence indicating their effectiveness.
In the 1990s, the anti-vitamin rhetoric is still alive, but it is being toned down to a large degree by the volume of young professionals entering science and medicine who know beyond a shadow of a doubt that their older peers are just plain wrong.
The ostracism of Pauling is a testament to the corrupting influence of politics in medicine and science. This is partly due to the anticompetitive nature of medical regulation in which peer standards of conduct are the primary considerations by which physicians are judged (clinical efficacy is considered optional).
Scientists have their peer-review standards for publishing and government grants. But political corruption of science and medicine is also due to the fact that scientists and doctors are people, and people are social and political animals.
Science vs ScienceT here is an essential difference between science as a methodology (a system of discovery) and science as an institution (a group of like-minded people).
As a methodology, science can make claims to impartiality, detachment and lack of bias.
But as an institution, it can never be so. Scientists do not abandon their egos, pride, prejudice, curiosity, spirituality or emotion - some of the things that define our essential humanity - when they choose science as an avocation, no matter how some might pretend that they are not influenced by peer pressure, social conformity or whatever.
Scientists, and doctors, are people like everybody else. Their claim to know "the truth" is just as tenuous as the claims of religious institutions to know the "the will of God." -- And just as religious institutions have been corrupted to the interests of wars and genocide, scientists are corrupted by politics, pride and avarice to suppress good science.
It may seem strange for a scientist to be saying all this "bad stuff" about science.
But in my opinion, the search for the truth cannot know such bounds. One must take the search for truth wherever it leads.
If I can't stand the answer, I shouldn't ask the question in the first place.
Three Nobel Prizes?
Lack of imagination is as much a limiting factor in science and discovery as lack of technology is. In other words, it is easier to discover what is when one can imagine what might be.
In this respect, Linus Pauling was one of the best examples of a modern-age scientist.
His curiosity and imagination led him to explore many diverse fields of science, many in which he demonstrated excellence.
Not only is he the only person to win two unshared Nobel prizes, he might well have won a third for discovering the structure of DNA if the US government had not prevented him from attending a scientific meeting in Europe where key crystallographic data on DNA were presented.
Pauling had most of the structure worked out and only needed a few additional pieces of information to put it all together.
But the US government decided that Pauling's political views about nuclear testing were a security risk and withheld his passport. So Watson and Crick attended the meeting, got the key data, put the pieces together, and won a Nobel Prize for their efforts.
In the meanwhile, the bias against vitamin C and nutrition continues. The US RDAs, for example, are designed to prevent overt deficiency disease in most people, not to prevent the most disease in all people.
Despite evidence that higher vitamin C intake would enhance public health and decrease disease, political considerations are preventing the RDA for vitamin C from being raised from 60 mg to 75 mg or (gasp!) 100 mg. Some scientists are even proposing that it be lowered to 45 mg. The recommended daily dose of vitamin C for a chimpanzee is 300 mg, and chimps weigh less than humans do.
A Wrench in the Works In April, a study by Mark Levine and associates at the National Institutes of Health was published which confirmed the inadequacy of the current 60 mg RDA.
In the study, seven young, healthy men were hospitalized and fed a vitamin C deficient diet (5 mg/day).
After they were depleted, they were given vitamin C at 30 mg, 60 mg, 100 mg and 400 mg.
Six of 7 were tested at 1000 mg and 3 of 7 at 2500 mg.Vitamin C intake of 30 mg hardly had any effect at all on the depleted vitamin C levels.
60 mg was barely able to double levels from the depleted state.
100 mg was able to double them again, and significantly saturate blood-cell vitamin C levels.
And 200 mg was sufficient to raise levels "over the hump" of the sigmoid (S-shaped) dose-response curve, a "standard" for establishing RDA levels. Blood levels of vitamin C continued to increase at 400, 1000 and 2500 mg dosages.
Based on pharmacological considerations considered basic to the establishment of RDAs, Dr. Levine and colleagues suggested that 200 mg would be a better RDA for humans.
They found the existing 60 mg RDA to be "on the lower third of the [dose-response] curve.
"Interestingly, one of the seven study participants appeared to have a distinctly greater response to vitamin C than all the others.
This "highest responder" was able to develop higher vitamin C blood levels at the 60 mg dose than the average response at 100 mg.
This finding was based on 13 separate blood test results, so it is not likely to be a statistical accident.
Although this study establishes that 200 mg is an adequate RDA for young, normal, healthy men, it does not address the vitamin C requirements of women, children, middle aged and elderly adults, and individuals dealing with special circumstances (special diets, tobacco smoking, sickness, infection, toxemia, trauma, metabolic and genetic disorders, or degenerative diseases).
While we may be able to reset the RDA or change the regulation of medicine from a social-conformity standard to a quality-of-services standard, we cannot legislate human nature.
We cannot control other people's beliefs. But we do have the power to challenge ourselves with divergent opinions to better avoid the traps of orthodoxy and narrow-mindedness within our society and ourselves.
References: Hemilä H and Herman ZS. Vitamin C and the common cold:
Highly unusual for the past...but more commonplace in recent years!
Since November at the official beginning of the flu season...
the media has bombarded us with reasons as to why we need to sit in doctor's offices full of sick people or wait in long lines to be jabbed with a needle containing a substance that will make sure we don't die from this dreaded of all diseases.
Is this truth?
Read on...
In the October issue of Advanced Health & Healing you read about a group of scientists in Washington State trying to decide whether or not to begin studying the 1918 killer flu virus.
The plan was/is to take tissues from exhumed victims of the epidemic and place them into monkeys in order to see why millions of people died from this particular flu and to develop better vaccines.
A few days ago the following came across my desk.
I think you will find it interesting.
Eleanor McBean wrote the following about 25 years ago. This excerpt, from chapter two of her book, Vaccination Condemned, makes a quite different observation:
Chap. 2:
Vaccination Condemned by Eleanor McBean
I WAS AN ON-THE-SPOT OBSERVER OF THE 1918 INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC.
All the doctors and people who were living at the time of the 1918 Spanish Influenza epidemic say it was the most terrible disease the world has ever had. Strong men, hale and hearty, one day would be dead the next. The disease had the characteristics of the black death added to typhoid, diphtheria, pneumonia, smallpox, paralysis and all the diseases the people had been vaccinated with immediately following World War 1.
Practically the entire population had been injected "seeded" with a dozen or more diseases - or toxic serums. When all those doctor-made diseases started breaking out all at once it was tragic. That pandemic dragged on for two years, kept alive with the addition of more poison drugs administered by the doctors who tried to suppress the symptoms.
As far as I could find out, the flu hit only the vaccinated.
Those who had refused the shots escaped the flu. My family had refused all the vaccinations so we remained well all the time.
We knew from the health teachings of Graham, Trail, Tilden and others, that people cannot contaminate the body with poisons without causing disease.
When the flu was at its peak, all the stores were closed as well as the schools, businesses - even the hospital, as the doctors and nurses had been vaccinated too and were down with the flu.
No one was on the streets. It was like a ghost town. We [who didn't taken any vaccines] seemed to be the only family which didn't get the flu; so my parents went from house to house doing what they could to look after the sick, as it was impossible to get a doctor then.
If it were possible for germs, bacteria, virus, or bacilli to cause disease, they had plenty of opportunity to attack my parents when they were spending many hours a day in the sick rooms. But they didn't get the flu and they didn't bring any germs home to attack us children and cause anything. None of our family had the flu - not even a sniffle- and it was in the winter with deep snow on the ground.
It has been said that the 1918 flu epidemic killed 20,000,000 people throughout the world.
But, actually, the doctors killed them with their crude and deadly treatments and drugs.
This is a harsh accusation but it is nevertheless true, judging by the success of the drugless doctors in comparison with that of the medical doctors.
While the medical men and medical hospitals were losing 33% of their flu cases, the non-medical hospitals such as BATTLE CREEK, KELLOGG and MACFADDEN'S HEALTH-RESTORIUM were getting almost 100% healings with their water cure, baths, enemas, etc., fasting and certain other simple healing methods, followed by carefully worked out diets of natural foods. One health doctor didn't lose a patient in eight years. The very successful health treatment of one of those drugless doctors who didn't lose any patients will be given in the other part of this book, titled VACCINATION CONDEMNED, to be published a little later. If the medical doctors had been as advanced as the drugless doctors, there would not have been those 20 million deaths from the medical flu treatment.
There was seven times more disease among the vaccinated soldiers than among the unvaccinated civilians, and the diseases were those they had been vaccinated against.
One soldier who had returned from overseas in 1912 told me that the army hospitals were filled with cases of infantile paralysis and he wondered why grown men should have an infant disease.
Now, we know that paralysis is a common after-effect of vaccine poisoning. Those at home didn't get the paralysis until after the world-wide vaccination campaign in 1918.
Think about it. I do want to take this opportunity to express my thankfulness to all of you not only for subscribing to Advanced Health & Wellness but also for taking interest and responsibility for your own health.
In a few weeks we will be gathering with family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for---big things and small things.
Don't forget to give thanks for your health and if you should be experiencing health concerns be thankful that there are answers available to you. You just have to be willing to take that first step.
Natural Prevention & Treatment For The Flu: What Your Doctor May Not Know
By: Dr. Loretta Lanphier
Flu can affect 10 to 30 percent of the U.S. population each winter.
The flu virus can linger in the air for as long as three hours. In close quarters, conditions are ripe for the spread of the virus.
That explains why the highest incidence of the flu is in 5- to 18-year-olds, who spend much of their time in school, in close contact with their classmates.
The most serious complications occur in older adults, however, especially those in managed care. Do not give aspirin or other "salicylates" to children or teenagers with symptoms of a cold or flu.
Don't bother taking antibiotics to treat your flu or cold; antibiotics do not kill viruses, and they should be used only for bacterial infections. Antibiotic overuse has become a very serious problem, leading to a resistance in disease-causing bacteria that may render antibiotics ineffective for some conditions.
According to a National Survey OTC cough and cold medication sales totaled 3.2 billion dollars in 1995,
That's no surprise, considering Americans endure about 1 billion colds each year.
The "experts" are using fear and vaccine shortage to motivate people to get a flu shot, but this is yet another healthcare illusion.
Let's be clear, flu can definitely be a killer disease and is not something that should be easily dismissed.
But, remember that flu shots don't prevent illness--never have, never will. The flu vaccine can actually weaken the immune system and make you more predisposed to the illness. And the side effects of FluMist, cough, runny nose/nasal congestion, irritability, headaches, chills, muscle aches and fever, sound just like the symptoms of the flu.
If you decide to get the nasal flu vaccine, you will get not only a live flu virus in each dose but also table sugar and MSG, which are fraught with their own problems.
If you take the shot you may get mercury as an added bonus.
Building A Healthy Immune System:
Your #1 Offense
1) Detoxify your digestive tract and liver/gallbladder now.
Disease often begins in the digestive tract and the liver is the main filter of the body. When either or both of these are sluggish then your body can be ripe for illness. This will prepare your body to readily be able to absorb, utilize and transport the good food and supplements that you will be using. It is good to do this once a month for 3 months then 2x's yearly.
I would also recommend a parasite cleanse especially if you consume a lot of non-organic meat.
2) Eliminate all sugar.
One teaspoon of sugar can bring the immune system down for up to 6 hours. Natural, healthy substitutes for sugar are stevia, agave nectar and Xylitol. It is best for you to satisfy your taste buds with fresh, organic fruits. Be sure to eat the whole fruit as juicing your fruit will cause your insulin levels to spike. If you crave chocolate chances are you may have a magnesium deficiency.
3) Change your diet. Your immune system will flourish on a diet of organic fruits and vegetables. Two raw salads (use dark green leafy lettuce) a day eaten with lunch and dinner will help to provide you body with much-needed vitamins and nutrients. Incorporate soups and stews into your diet. If you eat meat make sure that it is organic and free-range. Fish should be cold-water and eaten no more than twice a week. Farmed raised fish are not healthy because most of the feed corn derived and therefore you will not get the benefits of the beneficial fatty acids such as DHA and EPA. They also may be exposed to high levels of pesticides. Consider taking Chlorella to remove any mercury. If you are pregnant it is advised that you not eat fish. Cook with organic, unrefined coconut oil (try to consume 2-3 tablespoons daily) and for salads use organic, unrefined, cold-pressed olive oil. Eliminate pre-packaged foods and those foods that are canned or bagged. Purchase organic, free-range eggs and organic butter. Substitute pasteurized/homogenized milk with almond milk. You can also bake/cook with almond milk.
4) Eat a clove of garlic every day
Garlic acts in the body as a natural antibiotic. You must smash the clove in order to realize the immune enhancing properties.
5) Drink half your body weight in pure, filtered water every day.
Our body is mostly water. We must put back what we eliminate through breathing, sweating and urination. Water helps the kidneys to continually flush toxins from the body. Make sure that you are drinking pure, filtered water. I recommend distilled with organic apple cider vinegar added to replace the minerals lost through distillation.
6) Exercize every single day
Exercise not only helps with blood circulation and to keep unwanted pounds away but also can help with depression. Exercise helps to move the lymph system, which will in-turn move toxins from the body. Walking outdoors in the sun will help your body with Vitamin D production. For those who don't experience a lot of sunshine it is recommended that you supplement with Vitamin D under the care of a health professional. An article published by the International Journal of Sports Medicine illustrates the effect exercise can have on infections. In this study, only 45 minutes of brisk walking per day was shown to lower the incidence of upper respiratory symptoms, cut the duration of illness in half and increase natural killer-cell activity in people prone to upper respiratory tract infections.
7) Adequate Sleep.
Almost 80% of the population is sleep deprived. Sleep is necessary for our body to repair and heal. The body does the most healing between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. There is no such thing as catching-up on sleep as once it is lost-it cannot be regained through marathon sleeping on the weekends. Getting adequate rest allows the immune system to repair and be in top condition.
8) Take a good organic multi-vitamin/mineral formula, Vitamin C and a Probiotic.
Unfortunately eating organically doesn't always protect us in a perfect manner. Depleted soil conditions has definitely affected the nutrients contained in our vegetables and fruits. I have found one that I consider the "Cadillac" when it comes to providing the body with everything it needs to continue in health. It is a wise choice to consume 2-3 grams of Vitamin C (sodium ascorbate) daily in divided doses. A good probiotic will help to keep good bacteria in the digestive tract.
9) Wash your hands frequently
Wash your hands in the mornings, after every meal, after all outings, after shaking hands with people, after each trip to the bathroom and before bed. Teach your children to do the same. Do not use antibacterial soaps. The antibacterial compounds found in most of these soaps sold in the United States are likely contributing to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Use a good all-natural soap from the health food store. Wash with warm water and use a nailbrush along the nail line and in-between fingers.
Keep fresh, clean towels available to dry hands. Make sure that you keep your hands away from your eyes and mouth. When away from home, keep a mixture of lemon essential oil, lavender essential oil and distilled water (40 drops lemon essential oil and 30 drops lavender essential oil to 4 ounces of distilled water) in a dark-colored, glass, fine-mist spray bottle. Spray on hands immediately after trips to grocery stores, doctor, etc. or any time you are shaking people's hands. At home, wipe all doorknobs frequently with this mixture. . Make sure that you keep your computer keys and mouse clean at all times. Also keep your phone's (cell and landline) receivers clean.
10) Deal with stress. Repeated stress is one of the main causes of a suppressed immune system.
Learn to manage your stress with exercise, meditation, deep breathing, walks in nature, good music, Yoga, Pilates and removing yourself from negative situations.
Refuse to allow anyone or any situation to make you stressful.
There are natural supplements that you can incorporate to help with stress such as B-Complex, Lithium Orotate or SamE.
In Case Of Flu-Items To Have On Hand-Your
#1 Defense
1) Hydrogen Peroxide.
In 1928 Richard Simmons, M.D. hypothesized that colds and flu virus enter through the ear canal.
The medical community dismissed his findings. According to Dr. Simmons, contrary to what you may think or have been taught about how you catch the flu or the cold there is only one way that you can catch the two, and that's via the ear canal not through the eyes or nose or mouth as most have believed. We have found good results in curing the flu & cold within 12 to 14 hours when administering a few drops of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) into each infected ear,
(sometimes only one ear is infected) The H2O2 starts working within 2 to 3 minutes in killing the flu or cold; there will be some bubbling and in some cases mild stinging occurs.
Wait until the bubbling & stinging subside (usually 5 to 10 min) then drain onto tissue and repeat other ear. A bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide in 3% solution is available at any drug store for a couple of dollars.
Although this method is perfectly safe for infant/children to use, the loud bubbling and stinging frightens them, they'll need someone they trust to put the hp in their ears.
(Don't get h2o2 in the eyes- if you do, flush with water)
2) Colloidal Silver.
Colloidal Silver is anti-bacterial and anti-viral and has been used for hundreds of years for it's antibiotic affect on the body. Most brands are very expensive and are golden in color. This indicates that there are additives in the product. Silver is the whitest of metals and the solution should be clear to a tiny bit white in color. More PPM does not necessarily make a good colloidal silver. In fact the lower the PPM the better able for it to penetrate the cell wall. While some will say that silver has no benefit, this is not what we have found at our house. Call your healthcare professional for therapeutic dosages.
3) Oregano Oil.
Oregano Oil can be as an effective pain reliever as morphine.
For sinus congestion or stuffiness place 1 drop of oregano oil in 1 ounce of warm water. (more is not better) Make sure that the oil is dispersed. Place 1-2 drops of the mixture in each nostril and sniff. The mixture will burn for about 30 seconds. This will help to break up sinus congestion.
Do this 3-4 times daily and before bed.
To take orally drop 3-5 drops in a veggie cap and take with food three times daily.
Oregano Oil is also anti-bacterial and anti-viral.
4) Vitamin C.
Capsules and powder are best. Take up to bowel tolerance. Taking the recommended dosage on the bottle will not be enough-for preventative purposes, double or triple it. If sick, divide the dosage and take some every hour---up to 6 grams daily. According to Linus Pauling, "adults should be taking at least 2-3 grams a day. There is much evidence about increased health with 2 grams a day, and of course even more with 4 or 6 grams a day.
Even an extra 60mg had been shown to add value in cutting down the death rate from heart disease, cancer and other diseases. Now my feeling is as people grow older they ought to be increasing their vitamin C and perhaps they should follow the policy that I have followed of increasing the intake. I
t can be either one chunk, one dose in the morning, or even better three doses throughout the day, increasing the intake until a laxative effect is observed, speeding up the rate of elimination of waste material from the bowel. So my suggestion is every person who wants to have the best of health should increase the intake of vitamin C to somewhat less than the amount that causes significant looseness of the bowel."
5) Drink lots of fresh vegetable juice and pure, clean water.
Flooding the body with liquids will help to flush out toxins and will also give the body added enzymes (helps with inflammation and pain) and nutrients.
6) Premier 8 - Glyconutrients have been given the title of "the new class of missing nutrients" or "miracle sugars".
Scores of studies have linked a deficiency of the extraordinary sugars to everything from lupus and diabetes to heart disease to cancer; from ADHD to infertility. Dozens of illnesses have been linked to an imbalance of these sugars. This is NOT the same as table sugar. Order the book Miracle Sugars by Rita Elkins for more explanation. Glyconutrients may represent the best of preventative medicine and may help with the following: viral infection, fungal infection, parasitic disease, bacterial disease, micro-bacterial disease, auto-immune disease. Providing the immune system with the right glyconutrients helps it recognize infectious organisms more readily. Remember, it is the "glycol" or sugar portion of both our immune cells and invading organisms that transfer messages. There is only one company (multi-level) that currently offers a similar product for a much higher price. You can get Premier 8 only through Oasis Advanced Wellness.
7) Zinc Lozenges - According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, when using zinc lozenges it is important to recognize that they need to be sucked on, NOT swallowed, and smaller doses taken more frequently seem to work better. Suck on a quarter lozenge every 30 minutes. If started early, this approach seems to work well for the majority of people. One caution: if the lozenges make you nauseous they should be stopped immediately as this is a sign of zinc toxicity. Do not use zinc lozenges that contain aspartame.
8) Eucalyptus Essential Oil - Diffuse eucalyptus essential oil into the air when sleeping at night. This will help to keep the sinuses and nasal passages open. It is also anti-viral and anti-bacterial. During the day diffuse lemon essential oil in the air, especially to keep other family members from getting sick.If you take preventative steps now you will be doing yourself and your family a huge favor. Always make sure that you are prepared if the flu happens to hit you or a family member. If your immune system is functioning at a good level then your "down time" and side effects should be minimal. Talk with your family about the suggestions in this article and then implement as many as possible. You will be glad that you started early!
Flu / Cold Relief For immediate cold/flu relief, try this concoction to strengthen your immune system at onset of cold/flu symptoms.
Commn Cold/Flu Concoction
with Thyme 1 ripe pear, cored and chopped 1 inch (or more) of fresh ginger, peeled and minced 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme (use high quality non-irradiated green leave thyme)
1 1/2 cups unprocessed apple juice Combine ingredients in a small pot with lid and simmer 5-8 minutes. Pour in bowl or cup and consume.
Take three to four times per day as needed. Ideal prior to bedtime -- put on an extra layer of clothing and get under warm covers.
Pear is soothing to the throat and contains antiviral caffeic acid, which is an immune stimulant. Ginger possesses ten or more antiviral compounds. Thyme contains thymol, which is an antimicrobial agent containing more than a dozen antiseptic compounds.
Texas Leads Nation In Mercury Emissions By: Randy Lee Loftis
The Dallas Morning News Fish in nearly one-third of the nation's 41 million acres of lakes are contaminated with mercury, and Texas leads the country in emissions of the toxic metal from power plants, a coalition of environmental groups said Wednesday.
Mercury is a powerful poison that can cause brain and nervous system damage, especially in children, pregnant women and unborn babies.
People are exposed to mercury when they eat fish caught in polluted waters. The Bush administration is battling environmental groups over how to control mercury from power plants, the biggest source of mercury emissions in the United States.
The administration has proposed allowing some plants to delay deep cuts in emissions by buying credits from other plants that make early cuts. Under the plan, the government would cap total emissions nationwide for the first time. Many environmental groups oppose that emissions-trading plan.
They say it waits too long to require emissions cuts, doesn't cut deeply enough and ignores local problems caused when a particular plant emits higher amounts. Unlike other pollutants, some of the mercury remains near its emission source. "Bush's plan is too little, too late," said Wendi Hammond, executive director of the Blue Skies Alliance, a North Texas environmental group.
EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said the administration's plan on emissions trading would rely on market forces rather than strict regulations to cut mercury emissions. "The bottom line is that we will be controlling mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants for the first time," she said. The U.S. Public Interest Group, an environmental and consumer advocacy group, examined reports on state mercury warnings and federal reports on emissions. The group's Texas chapter and several other Texas organizations on Wednesday released a version customized for Texas. The report found that state advisories or bans on fish consumption because of mercury covered at least 13.1 million acres of lakes, or 32 percent of the nation's total, in 2003. That was up by 6 percent from 2002 because of better monitoring, not more pollution. Texas ranked ninth in lakes covered by mercury advisories, with nearly 330,000 acres affected, mostly in East Texas. The state was first in mercury emissions from power plants, with 9,815 pounds in 2002, the latest year available, the report said. Five of the top 10 mercury-emitting plants nationwide are in Texas, it added. Coal mined in Texas, called lignite, has more mercury than other types, said Drew Douglas, spokesman for Dallas-based TXU Corp., which operates two of the top five plants. Technology to make big cuts from lignite doesn't exist, he said, but the company is working on solutions with government and university researchers.
E-mail rloftis@dallasnews.com -
"Some physicians would stand by and see their patients die rather than use ascorbic acid.Vitamin C should be given to the patient while the doctors ponder the diagnosis."Frederick R. Klenner, M.D.
And to put the advertising into perspective, consider this:
Merck spent more money advertising Vioxx than was spent promoting Pepsi worldwide.
Dairy Industry Shocker By: Robert Cohen
June is National Dairy Month, and at the same time dairy industry executives were deceiving last summer's consumers by promoting ice cream and cheese as foods to lose weight by, these same cretins were carefully guarding a secret that they determined you had no need to know.
That secret will now be revealed five months after their annual milk celebration, and today's column should inspire thousands more Americans to immediately jump onto the Notmilk wagon of dairy abstinence.
The November issue of the journal Dairy Science (Volume 87 (11):3770-7) contains a study in which slaughtered cows were tested for paratuberculosis, a bacterium that is not killed by pasteurization.
Mycobacterium paratuberculosis is often passed directly from cow to human in milk and dairy products, causing irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's Disease.
Dr. Shawn McKenna and associates randomly sampled lymph nodes and intestines from 984 cows that had ended their lives in slaughterhouses. During the month of June, 2004, an amazing event transpired.
Forty-two percent of those cows tested positive, infested with dangerous mycobacterium paratuberculosis.
In February of 1998, the British Medical Journal reported:"Mycobacterium Paratuberculosis crosses the species barrier to infect and cause disease in humans." The following month, the Journal of Applied and Environmental Microbiology revealed:
"Mycobacterium paratuberculosis is capable of surviving commercial pasteurization..."
Combine today's news with a publication in the September, 1996 issue of the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences:
"Mycobacterium paratuberculosis RNA was found in 100% of Crohn's disease patients, compared with 0% of controls.
" How could any mother ever again buy milk for her family, armed with the above information? Please help to spread this news far and wide.
http://www.notmilk.com/
Vitamin C, RDAs and Politics By: Steven Wm. Fowkes
Vitamin C has long been a politically loaded subject in US medical circles, especially after the late Dr. Linus Pauling had the gall to pronounce that it was effective in decreasing the severity and duration of the common cold.
Pauling's 1971 meta-analysis of the then-published studies was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and concluded that vitamin C significantly lessened cold-related illness(P.00003).
Although a P value less than 0.05 is considered significant and a P value less than 0.001 is considered outstanding, few physicians accepted Pauling's analysis.
The medical community's resistance to Pauling's conclusion soon found a champion in Robert Chalmers, who, in 1975, published his own meta-analysis of "reasonably well controlled" studies in which he concluded that vitamin C only decreased colds by 0.11 days, a "minor and insignificant" matter.
The fact that Chalmers' analysis flatly contradicted Pauling's resulted in it being highly cited in the medical literature - more than twice as often to date.
This discrepancy is especially telling because Chalmers' analysis was more superficial and made numerous errors reporting on the results of studies considered in his analysis.
Just how many errors was not clear until recently when Harri Hemilä of the University of Helsinki and Zelek Herman of the Linus Pauling Institute published a retrospective analysis of Chalmers' review citing an appalling number of mistakes, almost all of which were prejudicial against vitamin C. Replacing Chalmers' flawed data with correct data resulted in a finding of 0.93 fewer days of illness (P.01), a 21% savings in sick time (P.001) and a combined P value from the six statistically significant studies of less than 0.000004 (2-tailed probability of difference).
In other words, Linus Pauling was right. Vitamin C does, in fact, decrease both the duration and severity of colds.
And studies conducted after Pauling's and Chalmers' meta-analyses have born this out.
Why were so many scientists on the wrong side of this matter? The answer is simple: politics!
Medical attitudes against vitamins were strident in the 1970s, despite a considerable volume of evidence indicating their effectiveness.
In the 1990s, the anti-vitamin rhetoric is still alive, but it is being toned down to a large degree by the volume of young professionals entering science and medicine who know beyond a shadow of a doubt that their older peers are just plain wrong.
The ostracism of Pauling is a testament to the corrupting influence of politics in medicine and science. This is partly due to the anticompetitive nature of medical regulation in which peer standards of conduct are the primary considerations by which physicians are judged (clinical efficacy is considered optional).
Scientists have their peer-review standards for publishing and government grants. But political corruption of science and medicine is also due to the fact that scientists and doctors are people, and people are social and political animals.
Science vs ScienceT here is an essential difference between science as a methodology (a system of discovery) and science as an institution (a group of like-minded people).
As a methodology, science can make claims to impartiality, detachment and lack of bias.
But as an institution, it can never be so. Scientists do not abandon their egos, pride, prejudice, curiosity, spirituality or emotion - some of the things that define our essential humanity - when they choose science as an avocation, no matter how some might pretend that they are not influenced by peer pressure, social conformity or whatever.
Scientists, and doctors, are people like everybody else. Their claim to know "the truth" is just as tenuous as the claims of religious institutions to know the "the will of God." -- And just as religious institutions have been corrupted to the interests of wars and genocide, scientists are corrupted by politics, pride and avarice to suppress good science.
It may seem strange for a scientist to be saying all this "bad stuff" about science.
But in my opinion, the search for the truth cannot know such bounds. One must take the search for truth wherever it leads.
If I can't stand the answer, I shouldn't ask the question in the first place.
Three Nobel Prizes?
Lack of imagination is as much a limiting factor in science and discovery as lack of technology is. In other words, it is easier to discover what is when one can imagine what might be.
In this respect, Linus Pauling was one of the best examples of a modern-age scientist.
His curiosity and imagination led him to explore many diverse fields of science, many in which he demonstrated excellence.
Not only is he the only person to win two unshared Nobel prizes, he might well have won a third for discovering the structure of DNA if the US government had not prevented him from attending a scientific meeting in Europe where key crystallographic data on DNA were presented.
Pauling had most of the structure worked out and only needed a few additional pieces of information to put it all together.
But the US government decided that Pauling's political views about nuclear testing were a security risk and withheld his passport. So Watson and Crick attended the meeting, got the key data, put the pieces together, and won a Nobel Prize for their efforts.
In the meanwhile, the bias against vitamin C and nutrition continues. The US RDAs, for example, are designed to prevent overt deficiency disease in most people, not to prevent the most disease in all people.
Despite evidence that higher vitamin C intake would enhance public health and decrease disease, political considerations are preventing the RDA for vitamin C from being raised from 60 mg to 75 mg or (gasp!) 100 mg. Some scientists are even proposing that it be lowered to 45 mg. The recommended daily dose of vitamin C for a chimpanzee is 300 mg, and chimps weigh less than humans do.
A Wrench in the Works In April, a study by Mark Levine and associates at the National Institutes of Health was published which confirmed the inadequacy of the current 60 mg RDA.
In the study, seven young, healthy men were hospitalized and fed a vitamin C deficient diet (5 mg/day).
After they were depleted, they were given vitamin C at 30 mg, 60 mg, 100 mg and 400 mg.
Six of 7 were tested at 1000 mg and 3 of 7 at 2500 mg.Vitamin C intake of 30 mg hardly had any effect at all on the depleted vitamin C levels.
60 mg was barely able to double levels from the depleted state.
100 mg was able to double them again, and significantly saturate blood-cell vitamin C levels.
And 200 mg was sufficient to raise levels "over the hump" of the sigmoid (S-shaped) dose-response curve, a "standard" for establishing RDA levels. Blood levels of vitamin C continued to increase at 400, 1000 and 2500 mg dosages.
Based on pharmacological considerations considered basic to the establishment of RDAs, Dr. Levine and colleagues suggested that 200 mg would be a better RDA for humans.
They found the existing 60 mg RDA to be "on the lower third of the [dose-response] curve.
"Interestingly, one of the seven study participants appeared to have a distinctly greater response to vitamin C than all the others.
This "highest responder" was able to develop higher vitamin C blood levels at the 60 mg dose than the average response at 100 mg.
This finding was based on 13 separate blood test results, so it is not likely to be a statistical accident.
Although this study establishes that 200 mg is an adequate RDA for young, normal, healthy men, it does not address the vitamin C requirements of women, children, middle aged and elderly adults, and individuals dealing with special circumstances (special diets, tobacco smoking, sickness, infection, toxemia, trauma, metabolic and genetic disorders, or degenerative diseases).
While we may be able to reset the RDA or change the regulation of medicine from a social-conformity standard to a quality-of-services standard, we cannot legislate human nature.
We cannot control other people's beliefs. But we do have the power to challenge ourselves with divergent opinions to better avoid the traps of orthodoxy and narrow-mindedness within our society and ourselves.
References: Hemilä H and Herman ZS. Vitamin C and the common cold:
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