Free Radical Therapy Blog

Everyone seems to be getting all excited about vitamin D.  If a little does some good then a whole bunch must be better.  The problem with all this excitement has surfaced about every 10-12 years over the past 40 years, each time bringing the fad to a screeching halt as the reality of increased calcification and risk of arterial stenosis raises its ugly head.  Bare in mind, what we call vitamin D is not truly a vitamin, and what we measure in the name of vitamin D is not vitamin D, but a key metabolite.  So, how do you make your decisions as to whether to give vitamin D?  Lots to be considered.

Interestingly, the same questions were being asked back in the early 1970’s by a group of very distinguished scientists.  As the questions mounted a gathering of 100 or so of the leading experts met in Chicago to reach some consensus.  Included in the group was Fred Kummerow, Ph.D. of the University of Illinois, who argued against supplementing beyond 5,000 IU’s.  In pig studies, for instance, which serves as the best animal model of our human disease, Dr. Kummerow had shown that higher levels tended to result in changes that were consistent with what is seen in various stages of arterial disease.  Now, studies that again support his findings are beginning to resurface. [Ngo, D.T., et al., Vitamin D2 supplementation induces the development of aortic stenosis in rabbits: Interactions with endothelial function and thioredoxin-interacting protein; Eur J Pharmacol, June 12, 2008.]

So, for those of you who are as interested as I, an interview with Dr. Kummerow has been scheduled for about mid August to get his latest findings on this topic.  Yes, I know, he’s nearly 94, but he’s still kicking, still going to his research lab every day, and has just published his latest book on the trans fats….a health risk that he first reported in the early 1950’s but which took 40 years to catch on.

One interesting note on the forthcoming interview:  Dr. Kummerow was one of the 106 scientists that met that fateful day in Chicago to discuss this issue back in the early 70’s.  Several attendees were Nobel Laureates. Interestingly, of all those who attended, most of which were advocating high levels of vitamin D, he is the only one who dissented and the only one who’s still living.  Tune in later in August and I’ll report my findings.  Should prove to be interesting.

 Sam

Just a quick note to let you know we just updated our WordPress to the latest version.  New features coming soon, including PodCasts!  –FRT Team

Charlie Brown, legal attache for Consumer’s For Dental Choice,has just reported that the FDA has agreed to Classify Dental Amalgam Fillings, effective August of 2009. So what does this mean?  Well, dental amalgam fillings, which contain 50% mercury, had until the FDA’s action been allowed to exist without evidence of safety.  It has flown under the “assumed to be safe” umbrella.  Now, the FDA has come around to the realization that sufficient evidence exists to warrant this new Class II status.  While you may not see a lot in the press for a few more months on this, especially while the American Dental Association is given a little time to think about how to announce the transition, it essentially serves as the death knell for the continued use of mercury fillings among dentists.  Problems that are certain to arise in the coming months will involve the following:  1) The training of dentists on the placement of alternative materials.  2) The need to train dentists on the safest means of removing old fillings.  3) What alternative materials are to be used for indigent patients, especially children.  Certainly, we don’t want mercury, but the cost to the government for placing alternative materials is cetain to rise.  Too, there are many dentists currently placing amalgam fillings who may find it difficult to develop the technical skills required for placing the alternative materials.  AT THE INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH REALITIES, and for followers of Free Radical Therapy, it is recognized that the indiscriminate removal of amalgam without consideration of risky factors identified in the chemistry has the potential of potentiating a person’s current health problem(s).   So, the advice from here is to not gloat over this victory, but rather to put on your head your wisest of the wise thinking caps.  There is no victory if a plan is not put into place to address all of the challenges listed here, and the additional challenges that dentistry is already trying hard to solve.

It is really quite ironic that after dealing for 150 + years with the potential health risk from adding mercury to dental fillings, there is now a threat of lead poisoning due to the ever-increasing tendency to outsource our dental laboratory work to China and other countries where our own FDA has little to no control.  To get the full story from the Chicago Tribune go to the following web site:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-dental-lead-webmar05,1,3943982.story.      The lead story is just one more example of our ongoing saga of “Poisoning from China”.  If your dentist doesn’t know where the materials come from, you had best shop your dental work around.  There’s really no end to the creative ways that unscrupulous individuals will employ to exploit the trust and assumptions of well meaning dentists and the American consumer.   Someone once said, if you don’t know the formula then your health depends upon you getting to know the philosophy of your dentist and his supplier.   In all matters we never outgrow our need to know.

The thinking of doctors, researchers, and patients alike is so tightly wired to the disease model concept of health that they can’t see the true value of genetic testing.  They are mired in the belief that the outcome should always be a new drug tailored to fit the needs of your genetic makeup.  Ho hum.  Such thinking is at times a real bore.  For the latest “poor us, nothing can be done” attitude I refer you to the February 22, 2008 issue of Science (319), where they announce the forthcoming availability of APOE genetic testing.  The reality, is that KNOWING YOUR APO E genotype can result in a better outcome than depression and anxiety.  It gives you an appropriate strategy for altering your diet and lifestyle to reduce your risk, while providing great benefit towards better health.   A few years ago I contributed a chapter in a book on Egg Nutrition, edited by Ron Watson, Ph.D., and published by Iowa State University Press.  The chapter title was something like “Whole Eggs:  The Magic Bullet”.   A second version was published in our own Health Realities Journal.  In both of those instances references were given of foods that could upregulate or downregulate the expression of this gene.    Depending upon your phenotype, the four key purposes of Apo E is:  (1) to redistribute cholesterol in the body from areas of high concentration to where it is most needed; (2) to provide a means of transporting mercury and other heavy metals out of the body (via. cysteine residues); (3) to provide the arginine residue necessary for the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO) to bring about control of smooth muscle and to kill bacteria; (4) to repair nerve myelin.  Eggs and butter are know to be most effective in upregulating the gene, while no eggs and butter may be the best way to downregulate its expression.   People with Apo E 4/4 should certainly be given this information.  Dr. Robert Mahley of the Gladstone Foundation in San Francisco was first to report this, references for which are in the publications mentioned.  So, while it is the person with the Apo E 4/4 who must be most careful about avoiding eggs and butter, most people benefit from eggs and butter.  These people who express Apo E 2/3, and Apo E 2/2, can not only eat eggs and butter as often as they’d like, but could also expect to control the onset and progression of arterial disease by doing so (as long as they have followed the standard rules for eating eggs).  For people who have the Apo E 2/2 reading they should know that the excess arginine leaves them at higher risk for Type II diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, which should give them incentives to really work on this.  For people who find they have the Apo E 4/4, Apo E 4/3, or Apl E 4/2 phenotype they are likely to benefit greatly from following FRT and improving glutathione status in the process.  Remember, free radicals that lead to Alzheimer’s are most likely to occur when you are acid.    Addressing this is most important for the person with Apo E 4/4, as they will have an abundance of the nitric oxide-producing arginine.  So, when a bump occurs on the head and inflammation results in the making of excess nitric oxide in the brain you can see how the excess acid from this event could result in the enormous amount of free radicals from mercury (for instance) in causing the initial damage.  OK, so you can keep on listening to the poor souls who cannot see beyond the disease model, who are afraid that the testing will cause people to go commit suicide or develop deep depression, or you can get with it and realize that THE HUMAN BODY IS DESIGNED TO WIN, NOT TO LOSE.  Knowing allows you to develop a winning strategy.  Incidentally, my forthcoming book on FRT will carry that very title, Designed To Win.

FRT requires that you deal with the acid/base balance and the other four common denominators of health before tackling the sixth of these events, oxidative stress.  Where oxidative stress is due to a fat-soluble toxin, proper regulation of the CyP450 is required.   To satisfy Phase II of biotransformation, cartilage and chondroitin can become the source of glucuronidation.    If the body chooses to derive its glucuronidation through this route you are in the midst of connective tissue breakdown, which is the fifth of our common denominators of health.   Cartilage and chondroitin sulfate contain uronic acid residues that are linked to D-glucosamine.  Heparin, a natural component of connective tissue, is similarly constructed.   As the body disassembles itself (a common event when protein status is inadequate) oxidation of circulating glucose with uronic acid results in the glucuronic acid that is required for the conjugation seen in the Phase II of the biotransformation of fat-soluble toxins to a water-soluble forms, which can be excreted through the urine or gut.    So, FRT helps you avoid making your source of glucuronidation your healthy joints.  You would otherwise expect joint pain, where (yes), you could reach for chondroitin sulfate, and likely get some relief.  Yet, through FRT you get at the broader cause while you avoid becoming another statistic of potential product contamination.

As China becomes a more common source of pharmaceuticals the risk of death and disability rises from contaminated products.  In an article that recently appeared in Chemical and Engineering News (March 24, 2008),  science writer Jyllian Kemsley informed that the FDA has uncovered the cause of the recent deaths from Heparin (a drug commonly used in hospitals).  It was due to an unnatural form of Chondroitin Sulfate, which like heparin is a a variably sulfated glycosaminoglycan.   While Chrondroitin sulfate used in food supplements is generally derived from a natural source, cartilage, the form used in the deadly heparin was chemically modified with additiona sulfate groups.  Hypersulfated chondroitin sulfate does not appear in nature, and so it had to have been intentionally synthesized by someone who wanted to do much harm, which happened.   Such occurrences are not new.  Just a year ago pet food from China was busy causing the death of pets, due to the addition of the chemical, melamine.  Melamine, a product of plastics, caused the assessment of protein in pet foods to look really high, but in reality it was a toxin that possessed no protein properties.  So, these days we have more problems with the question, what do I do for this or that, than simply following a disease model.  We must also make certain that our health and food products undergo reliable testing.  To help with this our government is now insisting that the Chinese government allow our own FDA inspectors to become part of the inspection process of what goes into the goods shipped to the rest of the world.  Bottom line:  FRT is the answer to most every health question.   Too, if you don’t know the formula you had best get acquainted with just where your suppliers are getting their products.  

People are always calling to ask what do I do for arthritis or some other disease condition.  Such questions arise from being far too familiar with the disease model system of health.  It’s the approach that doctors are taught, and it’s the language that they’ve trained their patients to ask.    Not surprising, most nutrition-based programs are carried out the same way.   People who think they are into health look for the answer they want in a disease-based manner.  Yet, it can really get you into trouble.  If your answer to the arthritis question is “chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine”, you certainly would be providing a useful disease-model based answer where your answer is aimed at dealing with the symptom.  Yet, if you really want to get at the root cause and then perhaps improve many other areas of health with the same brush stroke then FRT will be your answer.

I hope everyone uses this blog to communicate and post ideas and questions about how to incorporate FRT into your clinical practice.  FRT allows you to tailor a health program based on a health model through use of objective markers in chemistry.  To assist you on how to apply FRT to your personal health or to your health practice, ongoing discussions of reports on health appearing in the popular media will provide for you the FRT slant.  As per reports that appear in the scientific literature, applying the FRT slant to the findings helps you fit those findings into the larger picture.   Information will also be supplied here on how and where to receive a health model-based consultation either from a staff consultant at IHR or a certified FRT practitioner within your city, state, or country.