What could they do with this white substance with no food appeal? Those ingenious marketeers added yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter.

Let’s compare margarine and butter.

Both have the same amount of calories.

Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams; compared to 5 grams for margarine.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical School study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.

Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and only because they are added.

Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.

Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.

There’s more bad news about margarine:
Very high in trans fatty acids.
Triples risk of coronary heart disease when used daily.
Increases total and LDL cholesterol and lowers HDL cholesterol.
Increases the risk of cancers up to five times if eaten daily.
Lowers the quality of breast milk.
Decreases immune response.
Decreases insulin response.

Why is margarine such a problematic fat?
Mostly because it is only one molecule away from being a PLASTIC compound.

Margarine is molecularly similar to paint.

These facts alone should be enough to have us avoiding margarine (and all hydrogenated foods) for life. Hydrogenation is a process in which hydrogen molecules are jammed onto an otherwise “good” fat (all good fats are based on energy-rich carbon chains), breaking apart the carbon chains and depleting the life-giving properties of the oil or fat, while extending its “shelf-life” almost indefinitely.

Which is why, if you were to purchase a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage you will notice a couple of things within a few days:
* no bugs, roaches or flies, not even those pesky fruit flies, will go near it.
* It does not rot or start to smell funny, because it has no nutritional value; nothing will grow on it. Why not? Because it is nearly plastic.

Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on toast?

I now recall some wise words from a favorite nutrition mentor:
“Don’t eat any food that wouldn’t rot; but eat it before it does.”

When I see patients who have been told they “need” a statin drug, I will help to break this down for them. The only reason to “need” a statin if is there is evidence of atherosclerotic plaque in the arteries that cannot be reduced any other way. Cholesterol level is a very soft indicator for cardiovascular risk. It is well known that at least 60% of folks coming to a hospital with their first heart attack have cholesterol levels under 200. I review the major parameters of cardiovascular risk with all of my patients: blood pressure, diet, exercise habit, smoking habit, C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, family history, co-morbidities such as diabetes or metabolic syndrome and current levels of plaque. A handy, non-invasive and relatively inexpensive way to check for plaque is an ultrasound of the carotid artery (in the side of the neck). The lining of the carotid wall (the intima) can be measured, and a thickness of over 1 mm is considered suggestive of plaque. You can google “intima media thickness” for lots more information on this topic. Here’s a good article published over a decade ago in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association.

Breast awareness is critical to the all-important early detection of possible breast disease.  Men get breast cancer also, and it’s not rare in men, although it is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women, after lung cancer. Although men should regularly check their breast tissue, this article is aimed more at increasing awareness of female breast tissue.

Check breasts regularly.  This means several times a week.  Once a month is not enough.  You don`t need to lie down or have any props.  You just need your hands and your mental focus.  Please don`t think to yourself  ”I’m checking my breast(s) to make sure I don’t have cancer.”  The optimal mind set is “Hi! How are you doing today gals! Nice to feel you!”

Incorporate breast self-exam into your bathing routine.  As you soap up your armpits, spend 5 extra seconds feeling in the armpits.  Feel for lumps or bumps, which could signify enlarged lymph nodes.  The lymph nodes that drain the breast tissue are located in the armpits, so enlarged armpit (axillary) nodes could signify breast infection or breast disease.

Next, using both hands simultaneously, carefully feel the entire breast tissue, down to the chest wall.  You might use a circular pattern, spiraling in towards the nipple to make sure you cover the whole terrain.  A stripe pattern is fine too.  Just as long as all of the breast tissue is felt.  What you are feeling for is ASYMMETRY.  Breasts are most definitely lumpy and bumpy – this is normal!  This is the nature of fibrocystic tissue, which most women have and which does not predispose to breast disease or cancer.  A lump or bump that is hard (not squishy) and is not felt in the mirror opposite area of the other breast, requires immediate medical attention.

If your breast tissue is already asymmetrical (due to surgery or disease) you cannot rely on feeling the symmetry of the breast tissue.  Feel instead for lumps or bumps that seem to be growing.

If you find a suspicious lump or bump consider follow-up with a mammogram, ultrasound or biopsy.  Regular mammograms are not necessarily the best approach to breast cancer prevention.  Consider the following:

Mammograms deliver ionizing radiation to sensitive breasts tissue.
Mammograms may create complacency in women, and reduce the likeliness of performing regular breast self-exam.
An aggressive breast cancer, especially in a younger, hormonally active, woman could kill her before the next annual mammogram.
Mammograms have not reduced breast cancer deaths according to some sources.
Mammograms produce many false positive results, leading to unnecessary medical intervention including biopsies, which leave scar tissue in the breast.

References
http://www.gotomydoc.com/education/breast_health/learn/false_pos_mammo/
http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/wha/wha_selfexam_crs.htm
http://www.ahrq.gov/CLINIC/uspstf/uspsbrca.htm

Is this a sneak preview of government rationing of healthcare dollars?  Even in advance of providing universal coverage?  Well guess what?  Healthcare must be rationed.  The endless deep pocket attitude is what is driving the system to rapid bankruptcy.  That being said, the issue of PAP guidelines now recommending delayed screening completely misses the target.

One of the problems with the new guidelines is that age has minimal relevance in determining which woman should receive a PAP screen, and when.

The purpose of a PAP (short for Dr. Papanicolau, the test inventor) is to find cervical cancer as soon as possible, before it progresses.  This is what any good cancer screening test is for.

In the PAP test, cells are gently scraped off the cervix (which is the muscular neck at the base of the uterus) for analysis by a pathologist.  Cervical cancer is caused by human papilloma virus (HPV).  The virus causes very specific cell changes.  Macroscopically, cells damaged by HPV will blanch (turn whitish and slightly powdery) with a vinegar application.  This pre-test is often done by the savvy gynecologist or primary care provider to help begin to localize the area of infection.  Microscopically, HPV causes a characteristic crinolation (edges of the cells get crinkled looking) which can be quantitatively measured for degree of infection.

Here is a very important point, often not divulged to the patient:  MOST HPV infections are low grade and thus, by definition, self-resolving.  Low grade HPV must be watched, not treated.  Repeat the PAP in 3 to 6 months.  Patients with low grade HPV may benefit from anti-viral therapy (Vit A, Lomatium (Osha), zinc, maybe Echinacea, maybe in vaginal suppository form as well as oral dosing).  Only some of the HPV strains (16, 18, 33,35, 69, 72) are high grade or high risk and may progress to cervical cancer if left untreated.

Patients with high grade HPV in the naturopathic physician’s office are offered a very effective therapy called escharotic treatment which is basically a slow, herbal burn of the infected outer cells of the cervix, resulting in fresh, healthy tissue.  This option requires at least 8 office visits.  Another option is a referral for a LEEP, a surgical procedure which slices out a cone of tissue in the cervix, which may compromise future vaginal deliveries, so of concern to younger women still wanting children.

This article is purposely avoiding discussion of the Gardasil vaccine because this particular vaccine has caused so many problems and the issue is fraught with political and financial malfeasance.

Here is the main point:  Every time a woman has a new sex partner, she needs a PAP.  Her age doesn’t matter.  This is because HPV is an STD (sexually transmitted disease) which does not arise spontaneously, but needs to be acquired, by sexual contact with an infected partner.  HPV is almost always silent in men.  It is relatively rare to find healthcare providers, even urologists, to screen, much less treat, a man for HPV infection.  However, men can, and should, be screened and treated if a sex partner of theirs turns up with high grade HPV.

Once a woman is settled in to a mutually monogamous sex partnership and has 3 normal PAPs with that partner, she doesn’t need chronic screening UNLESS she starts to use tobacco, or uses hormones (such as birth control pills or HRT) which are both risk factors for potentiating latent HPV.  Many women diligently present to their doctor`s office wanting their annual PAP.  This may not be necessary, but, and hopefully the physician will explain that, and also take time to check their blood glucose, blood pressure, and look for new/strange moles on their backs.  Unless the above parameters apply (new sex partner, tobacco or hormone use) chronic PAP screenings are not a good use of healthcare time and money.

However, starting around age 40 an annual pelvic exam is advisable for women with a strong family history of ovarian cancer.  A bimanual exam of the uterus and ovaries should be performed every 2-3 years for women over age 40 without known risks for ovarian cancer.  Also, women should get a baseline CA-125 (as yet imperfect, but in the process of improving) which is a blood screen for abnormal ovarian activity, by age 40.  Unfortunately, most ovarian cancers are found too late.

By the way, long-term hair bleaching and taking anti-depressants are both established but little known risk factors for ovarian cancer.  So is using talcum powder in the genital area (talc grains are very hard and will irritate the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries if it migrates up through the cervix.  Other known risks for ovarian cancer, besides genetics, is taking fertility drugs, such as Clomid, for more than 6 rounds.

References
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2008/09/09/cdc_gardasil_vaccination_safe.aspx
http://www.thehpvtest.com/About-HPV.html
http://www.medhelp.org/NCI/CancerNet/CDR62822.html#

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):
1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).
2. “Hands-off-the-face” approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless eating or bathing).
3.  Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don’t like salt).  H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms.  Simple gargling prevents proliferation.  In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one.  Don’t underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventive method.
4. Clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water.  Not everybody may enjoy neti pot use, but at least blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.
5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (leafy greens, orange veggies and citrus fruits).  If you prefer to supplement with Vitamin C tablets or powder, make sure to also take 50 mg  Zinc to boost absorption.  Zinc is a potent anti-viral itself, especially combined with beta-carotene or Vitamine A (25,000 IUs daily for 6 weeks).
6. Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, hot fresh lemonade, etc.) as you can.  Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction.   Both wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, because of the low pH of stomach acid.  This is a major reason why taking anti-acids on a regular basis is a really bad idea.  If you have heartburn, see other posts on this site about how to remedy that problem.

Fluoridated water isn’t the answer to dental caries

When I joined the mayoral commission to study the issue of municipal water fluoridation in 2004, I was fairly certain adding fluoride to city water was not the best approach to dental health.

I also had some concerns about the ethics and safety of adding a medicine and waste product to the water system, which virtually forces everyone to consume, bathe in and breathe it. After three years of study, my stance has evolved to a deeper and more urgent level of concern.

For those who believe they, or their children, need fluoride – it’s everywhere! Almost all canned foods have high levels of fluoride. Virtually all toothpastes contain fluoride. Your dentist can apply fluoride to your teeth. Public health will give out sodium fluoride tablets and drops for free. Grapes, corn, chicken, fish, tea are all high in fluoride. Fluoride is not a necessary element for human life. In fact, in relatively small doses, it is toxic. Remember, fluoride accumulates. About 50 percent of all the fluoride you have ever ingested is still in your body and will remain there, in the bones, in the kidneys, in the brain and, yes, on your teeth. This is likely the way fluoride confers long-term damage to susceptible individuals.

Fluoridation advocates cite “60 years of public health research” to support the idea. About 60 years ago it was noted that areas of the country (Colorado and Texas) where aquifer-derived water was naturally high in fluoride, kids had more dental fluorosis (permanent dental staining) and, arguably, fewer cavities. This naturally occurring fluoride is calcium fluoride, which is almost insoluble, meaning it doesn’t bind well to internal tissues, such as bones and kidneys.

The soluble chemical, sodium fluoride, which is what is typically added to city water, is considered more toxic than lead and almost as toxic as arsenic, in comparable amounts. Sodium fluoride is 20 times more toxic than the naturally occurring calcium fluoride. The lethal dose for calcium fluoride in humans is 5,000 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. The lethal dose of sodium fluoride in humans is 250 mg per kg of body weight.

No studies on the toxicology of sodium fluoride in humans were undertaken at the beginning of the fluoridation experiment in 1945, nor have any such studies been conducted since.

Can you imagine our government in 2007 mandating the addition of another biologically active substance to everyone’s water supply – with no safety data, only marginal efficacy data and amidst a good deal of public protest? Can we learn anything from the fact that all of the European Union countries (except Ireland and parts of England) have rejected fluoridation?

Fluoridation proponents claim a 20 to 40 percent improvement in dental caries (cavities) rates in fluoridated cities. This is based on a small portion of one study of about 39,000 school children that followed dental caries rates in 1986-87. Only about 8,000 of these children fit the forgone conclusion (fluoridation is good), while the data from the other 31,000 children was rejected.

In reality, caries rates are no different in fluoridated versus nonfluoridated communities. To list just one (of many) references making this point is Yiamouyiannis JA (1990) “Water Fluoridation and Tooth Decay: Results from the 1986-87 National Survey of U.S. Schoolchildren,” Fluoride, 23, 55-67, which analyzes the data from all 39,000 children. Since 1990, 149 communities in North America (including Juneau) have discontinued fluoridation of their water.

Fluoride is clearly not the answer to dental caries. Overall, as oral hygiene has improved, the general trend for caries rates continues downward, regardless of fluoridation status. A huge amount of early childhood caries is caused by bottle feeding with high-sugar formula or juices, in which these sugary liquids sit on the teeth and literally make them rot. Sugary drinks also cause obesity and diabetes. Adding fluoride to the water is not the solution to any of our public health problems.

Part of the solution is to take as much personal responsibility for your health as possible. Stay informed and make choices. Please vote no to enforced fluoridation on Oct. 2.

Several dentists and public health workers are attempting, with American Dental Association funding, to gather the 2,000 signatures needed to put the fluoride issue on a ballot in October. While I believe that the citizens of Juneau would step up and vote the right way- to keep our water uncontaminated – as a member of the mayor’s fluoride commission who gave up many nights to research and meet on the issue of fluoridation, it makes me groan to think about going through this again.

Six members of the community, all professionals with many years of higher education, combed through all the available research we could find and hashed through the citations, casting aside conspiracy theories and strictly focusing on science. The mayor’s fluoride commission made a recommendation to the Juneau Assembly after more than two years of study. The Assembly, guided by our research, very sensibly voted to get fluoride out of Juneau’s water. Most of the developed world reached the same conclusion at least a decade ago.

Before signing this petition, please make sure you have studied the research, not just looked at the dogma on an ADA pamphlet. Fluoride is bad for people, especially young children. It is a hazardous waste product. It’s much better to take care of your teeth, and your children’s well-being (including dental health), by eating whole foods (not processed junk) and brushing or at least rinsing after every meal or snack.