Stress Linked to Cancer

Posted by: Dr. Mercola
February 04 2010 | 22,691 views

Scientists have discovered that everyday emotional stress is a trigger for the growth of tumors. Any sort of trauma, emotional or physical, can act as a "pathway" between cancerous mutations, bringing them together in a potentially deadly mix.

The findings seem to show for the first time that the conditions for developing the disease can be affected by your emotional environment, including everyday work and family stress.

Until now, scientists believed more than one cancer-causing mutation needed to take place in a single cell in order for tumors to grow.

But researchers showed that mutations can promote cancer even when they are located in different cells, because stress opens up "pathways" between them.

Sources:

The Telegraph January 14, 2010

Nature January 13, 2010

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

I have long believed that emotional factors are one of the most important contributing factors for all diseases, especially cancer.

That is why an effective strategy to manage your emotional stress has long been a part of my 12 top cancer-prevention tools, and this is because there is overwhelming evidence that your mind does matter when it comes to preventing, or triggering, disease.

The idea that your emotions impact your health and the development of disease is not new. Even the conservative Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated that 85 percent of all diseases appear to have an emotional element, but the actual percentage is likely to be even higher.

Dr. Hamer’s research, which spans across the last three decades, has produced scientific proof indicating that your current health status is due to your mental and emotional reactions to events that take place during your lifetime.

Bruce Lipton’s “New Biology” is another school of scientific thought that adds to this “new” way of thinking about disease, namely that your emotions can trigger your genes to either express health or disease.

Stress Has Been a Known Cause of Cancer Since 1908

I recently finished a fascinating interview with Donald (“Donnie”) Yance, an internationally known herbalist and nutritionist. During our talk he shared this phenomenal piece of information with me: stress was pinned down as a cause of cancer all the way back in 1908! As Donnie said:

“Eli Jones, the great eclectic physician in cancer, and probably the most brilliant person that ever lived on the face of the planet -- I rarely talk without mentioning his name -- wrote a book in 1908 called Cancer - Its Causes, Symptoms and Treatment.

There isn’t one inaccuracy I can find in that book, written more than a hundred years ago.”

In this book, Dr. Jones revealed his top causes of cancer … and the number one cause he listed was stress.

How Does Stress Cause Cancer?

Emotional stress likely triggers cancer in a multi-faceted way.

For instance, the study by Yale University researchers listed above found that stress, even the “normal” everyday variety, can act as a pathway between cancerous mutations, potentially triggering the growth of tumors.

The National Cancer Institute, meanwhile, has said that research with animal models suggests that “your body’s neuroendocrine response (release of hormones into your blood in response to stimulation of your nervous system) can directly alter important processes in cells that help protect against the formation of cancer, such as DNA repair and the regulation of cell growth.”

Still other research has shown that norepinephrine, a hormone produced during periods of stress, may increase the growth rate of cancer.

Norepinephrine can stimulate tumor cells to produce two compounds (matrix metalloproteinases called MMP-2 and MMP-9) that break down the tissue around the tumor cells and allow the cells to more easily move into your bloodstream.

Once there, they can travel to other organs and tissues and form additional tumors, a process called metastasis.

Norepinephrine may also stimulate the tumor cells to release a chemical (vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF) that can aid in the growth of the blood vessels that feed cancer cells. This can increase the growth and spread of the cancer.

The stress hormone epinephrine has also been found to cause changes in prostate and breast cancer cells in ways that may make them resistant to cell death. This means that emotional stress could both contribute to the development of cancer and reduce the effectiveness of treatments.

Nourishing Your Emotional Health is an Important Cancer Prevention Strategy

If your emotions play such a significant role in your health, and I’m convinced they do, treating your emotions becomes an essential part of optimal health.

But how?

Learning how to use tools such as the Meridian Tapping Technique (MTT), for example, which works on several levels of your collective mind-body-spirit simultaneously, can help you get a better handle on your emotions and buried pain.

Optimal health involves addressing and resolving your emotional traumas as quickly as possible; without letting old emotional wounds contribute to disease.

So in addition to using MTT as your primary stress resolution tool, you may also want to engage in regular exercise to normalized your insulin level, yoga, journaling, breathing techniques and other tools to put your mind at ease.

There are other important cancer-prevention strategies as well, such as optimizing your vitamin D levels and eating fewer processed foods and sugars, and I’ve detailed my complete anti-cancer lifestyle suggestions here.

But it is likely that your emotional health may be a more important factor than all the other physical ones listed there, so make sure this is addressed -- and do so sooner, rather than later -- for the sake of your future health.

One in Five U.S. Teenagers Has High Cholesterol

Posted by: Dr. Mercola
February 13 2010 | 11,988 views

A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found that over 20 percent of teenagers in the U.S. have elevated cholesterol levels.

The national study covered more than 3,000 teens whose blood test results were collected by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

High levels of LDL or triglycerides, and low HDL levels were associated with weight, and the heavier the teenagers were, the more likely they were to have abnormal levels (nearly 43% if they were obese), but even among those with normal body weight over 14% had unhealthy levels.

High cholesterol levels were at first associated with the middle-aged and elderly, but are increasingly beginning to appear in late childhood and the teenage years.

Sources:

Physorg January 25, 2010

CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report January 22, 2010

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

This finding already has researchers urging cholesterol screening for about one-third of teens who are overweight or obese, which will put many of these kids right in the line of fire to be prescribed a dangerous statin drug.

In 2007, the American Heart Association first recommended the use of statin drugs for children with high cholesterol. Then in 2008 the American Academy of Pediatrics followed suit, recommending cholesterol-lowering drugs for children as young as 8!

There is such overwhelming evidence -- nearly 900 studies compiled in this link -- showing the damage statins inflict, that this recommendation should qualify as criminal malpractice.

Some of the possible consequences of taking statins for a lengthy period of time, which many of these kids undoubtedly would do, include:

• Cognitive loss

• Neuropathy

• Anemia

• Acidosis

• Frequent fevers

• Cataracts

• Sexual dysfunction

Then there is the serious risk of potentially permanent muscle damage, and the depletion of Co-Q10, which can harm your heart and muscles alike.

Statin drugs used to lower cholesterol are the best-selling drugs in the United States. In 2008 alone they brought in $14.5 billion in sales!

The odds are very high, greater than 100 to 1, that anyone taking statin drugs does not need them. The ONLY subgroup that MAY benefit are those born with a genetic defect called familial hypercholesterolemia, as this makes them resistant to traditional measures to normalize cholesterol.

And the first step to understanding why lies in understanding the role of cholesterol in your health, not in disease.

Why Cholesterol is Not “Evil”

Cholesterol has been traditionally vilified, when in reality it is essential and crucial for a wide variety of vital functions in your body.

It’s an integral part of your cell membranes, and it’s also the precursor (the raw material) your body uses to make your steroid hormones – one of which is vitamin D. Your skin contains cholesterol, and when UVB rays from the sun hit your skin, it converts that form of cholesterol to vitamin D3, which is then transported to your blood. Your body then further converts it into the active form of vitamin D.

It’s important to realize that there’s a big difference between "average" and "healthy" cholesterol levels. It’s very similar to what we’re now seeing with vitamin D levels.

Please understand that you have not been told the whole truth about cholesterol. Rather, what you’re getting from most conventional health practitioners is little more than cleverly distorted marketing.

Before 2004, a 130 LDL cholesterol level was considered healthy. The updated guidelines, however, recommended levels of less than 100, or even less than 70 for patients at very high risk.

In order to achieve these outrageous and dangerously low targets, you typically need to take multiple cholesterol-lowering drugs. So the guidelines instantly increased the market for these dangerous drugs. Now, with testing children’s cholesterol levels, they’re increasing their market even more.

Total Cholesterol Level is a Virtually Useless Test

If your doctor is urging your child to get a total cholesterol level check, you should know that this test will tell you virtually nothing about his or her risk of heart disease -- unless it is 330 or higher.

And, perhaps more importantly, you need to be aware that cholesterol is not the CAUSE of heart disease.

If you become overly concerned with trying to lower your child’s cholesterol level to some set number, you will be completely missing the real problem.

In fact, I have seen a number of people with levels over 250 who actually were at low heart disease risk due to their elevated HDL levels. Conversely, I have seen even more who had cholesterol levels under 200 that were at a very high risk of heart disease based on the following additional tests:

• Your HDL/Cholesterol ratio

• Your Triglyceride/HDL ratios

HDL percentage is a very potent heart disease risk factor. Just divide your HDL level by your cholesterol. That percentage should ideally be above 24 percent. Below 10 percent, it’s a significant indicator of risk for heart disease.

You can also do the same thing with your triglycerides and HDL ratio. That percentage should be below 2.

How to Get Your Children Healthy

While I don’t believe high cholesterol is typically a concern (again unless it is over 330), many teens are overweight, obese or showing signs of being at risk of heart disease based on the tests I described above.

In this case, you do need to take some steps to help him or her get healthy.

Fortunately, there are simple, basic strategies that can help your teen not only regulate cholesterol in a healthy way, but also build a foundation for a healthy heart and body that will support him throughout his life.

1. Get an appropriate amount of exercise.

2. Reduce, with the plan of eliminating, grains and sugars in your daily diet. Foods like these will increase your insulin levels, which will also contribute to high cholesterol by making your liver produce more of it.

3. Eat the right foods for your nutritional type.

4. Eat a good portion of your food raw.

5. Make sure you’re getting plenty of high-quality, animal-based omega3-fats. I prefer those from krill oil.

6. Avoid smoking and alcohol.

7. Have solid strategies to address your emotional challenges.

Finally, please do make sure your, and your child’s, vitamin D levels are where they need to be. Vitamin D is not “just a vitamin,” but rather the only known substrate for a potent, pleiotropic (meaning it produces multiple effects), repair and maintenance seco-steroid hormone that serves multiple gene-regulatory functions in your body.

Low levels of vitamin D are associated with an increased risk of heart disease, which is what parents of teens with “high” cholesterol are most concerned about.

About 70 percent of U.S. children have low levels of vitamin D, so this should be one of the one of the first issues you address to keep your teen’s heart healthy.

Living for Today

"It's going to be great when (fill in the blank)."

Not true. This common deception has us ignoring the present (the only place where we have any influence) in favor of trying to live in the future. This creates a way of being that either puts us on the sidelines; killing time waiting for the future to arrive, or causes us to rush headlong past unsmelled roses, bulldozing our way into the future.

Just remember that you'll be taking you with you into the future.

Your dissatisfaction with the present will most likely produce an unsatisfying future. So, if you're unhappy, fearful or stressed today, you're likely to be unhappy, fearful or stressed then. That's because everything is first conceived spiritually before it manifests physically.

Once you sow spiritual seeds of gratitude and appreciation for your current circumstances, regardless of what they are, your future will brighten. As will your present.

-Monday, December 14, 2009

William D. Esteb

mmm@patientmedia.com

How many times do we apply this mentality to our daily lives? I'm sure we all 'put off today what can be done tomorrow' but what happens when we do this regarding our health? The effects can be seen all around us in staggering rates: chronic illnesses caused by lifestyle choices such as Type II diabetes, high cholesterol and even many cancers. Exercising, eating a balanced diet, taking time out to meditate/pray, getting enough sleep...I know it can seem overwhelming. But if we challenge ourselves to make more good choices everyday we will reach the goal. This is why regular chiropractic adjustments are beneficial to your overall health. When your body has less stress on the nervous system it is better equipped to handle the daily life stressors we all encounter. So remember, you don't have to have back pain to show up at my office...we are happy to see you when you're feeling good so we can keep you that way!

Best Wishes,

Dr. Kaci

Polio Vaccine Blamed for Outbreaks in Nigeria

Polio is spreading in Nigeria -- and health officials say in some cases it's caused by the very vaccine used to fight the paralyzing disease.

The World Health Organization has issued a warning that this particular virus might extend beyond Africa. More than 120 Nigerian children have been paralyzed this year -- twice the number afflicted in 2008.

Nigeria and many other nations use an oral polio vaccine because it's cheaper, easier, and protects entire communities. But it's made from a live polio virus which carries a risk of causing polio. In even rarer instances, the virus in the vaccine can mutate into a deadlier version that ignites new outbreaks. Genetic analysis has proven that such mutated viruses have caused at least seven separate outbreaks in Nigeria.

Sources:

MSNBC August 14, 2009

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Polio, a contagious disease caused by an intestinal virus, can cause paralysis, difficulty breathing and death in its worst form. However, what is often NOT shared is that in most cases polio is a mild illness, causing flu-like symptoms that disappear in two to 10 days.

Often, polio can occur and show no symptoms at all. Even the Mayo Clinic states:

“The vast majority of people who are infected with the polio virus don't become sick and are never aware they've been infected with polio.”

What else might surprise you is that all cases of polio after the introduction of the vaccine, in the developed world, came from the vaccine itself.

Mayo Clinic continues::

“In the U.S., the last case of wild polio -- polio caused naturally, not by a vaccine containing live virus -- occurred in 1979.”

Nigeria has also been facing outbreaks of polio that are caused by the polio vaccine itself! The nation has faced at least seven separate polio outbreaks caused by a mutated polio virus from the polio vaccine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

How Does the Polio Vaccine Cause Polio?

Nigeria and many other poorer nations use an oral polio vaccine that contains a live polio virus. This live virus can not only cause polio in the vaccine recipient, it can mutate into an even more dangerous version that triggers new outbreaks.

For instance, a polio outbreak that occurred in Haiti and the Dominican Republic in 2002 was traced to a strain of oral polio vaccine (OPV) that mutated back to virulence.

In the United States, every case of polio that’s occurred since 1979 has been the result of the live-virus vaccine.

According to a report by Neil Z. Miller of the Global Vaccine Institute, the live polio virus from the vaccine can remain in your throat for one to two weeks and in your feces for up to two months. So not only is the vaccine recipient at risk, but he or she can potentially spread the disease as long as the virus remains in feces.

In 1999, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended that the United States replace the live-virus vaccine with an inactivated “killed” virus vaccine, which is what remains in use today.

However, the inactivated polio virus vaccine has not been without its share of serious side effects either.

The Polio Vaccine’s Cancer Link

During the 1950s and 1960s, the polio vaccine, which is still given in the United States, typically four times during a child's first 16 months of life, was widely contaminated with the monkey virus, SV40, which had gotten into the vaccine during the manufacturing process (monkey kidney cells, where SV40 thrived, were used to develop polio vaccines).

In lab tests, the virus was found to cause several different types of cancer, including brain cancer, and now SV40 is showing up in a variety of human cancers such as lung, brain, bone and lymphatic.

According to the authors of The Virus and the Vaccine: The True Story of a Cancer-Causing Monkey Virus, Contaminated Polio Vaccine, and the Millions of Americans Exposed, leading scientists and government officials turned their heads to repeated studies showing that SV40 was in the vaccine, and even today some well-known agencies are still dismissing study results.

The virus is even showing up in children too young to have received the contaminated vaccine, and some experts are now suggesting the contaminated virus may have been in the polio vaccine up until as late as 1999.

It is because of risks like this that Barbara Loe Fisher, founder of the National Vaccine Information Center, said:

“With mounting evidence that cross-species transfer of viruses can occur, the United States should no longer be using animal tissues to produce vaccines.”

This is also the same reason why Donald Miller, a cardiac surgeon and professor of surgery at the University of Washington, suggests in his more User-Friendly Vaccination Schedule, that if you choose to get your child vaccinated against polio, you request only an inactivated (dead) virus vaccine that is cultured in human cells, not monkey kidney cells.

How to Lower Your Risk of Polio by Avoiding Sugar

Polio is not common in the United States, but it is still a problem in many countries.

Well, did you know that you can lower your risk of this disease simply by cutting back on sugar? There’s plenty of research showing that consuming refined sugar increases your risk of contracting polio.

According to one such study, a substance produced during the sugar refining process, such as deoxysugars, may be responsible for polio.

Even if the polio virus is present in a population, you’re not likely to get it unless you consume large quantities of refined sugar.

One of the most potent clinical examples I can share that supports this surprising conclusion comes from animal experiments done over 50 years ago.

Researchers repeatedly tried to infect rabbits with polio but were unsuccessful until they lowered the rabbits' blood sugar levels with insulin injections, which likely crippled the rabbits’ immune systems and allowed them to contract polio.

Polio, and other infections, only tend to cause complications when your immune system is weakened, which can easily happen through poor nutrition, stress, and lack of sleep.

The polio vaccine is not the ultimate solution to prevent this disease.

As opposed to loading up on vaccines, limiting your sugar intake is one of the most potent actions you can take to drastically improve your overall health, as it helps keep your immune system strong, which in turn will reduce your risk of any number of diseases, including polio.

Related Links:

SV40, Polio Vaccine, and Cancer: Now Beyond Coincidence?

Polio Linked to Sugar Consumption

Vaccine Confirmed as Source of Polio Outbreak

HOLIDAY SEASON STRESS & Healthy Chiropractic Lifestyle Choices

With the busy Holiday Season, it is important to your
health to take a few simple steps to reduce the stress and
strain of this active time. The added rush of holiday observances
with the ongoing worries so many are experiencing
with economic concerns, weather-generated challenges,
and international conflicts, can pose very real
challenges to people everywhere.
Resolve to make healthier choices as you move through your day: to slow down, breathe
deeply, recognize the need for more patience, get adequate rest, and plan ahead will all help
reduce the stress of overlapping demands and last-minute efforts. Make a special point for
time and space to enjoy and explore these special holiday opportunities to share in meaningful
ways with your friends, colleagues and family members.

STABILIZE TRANSPORT:
Carrying your holiday responsibilities with care—from packages
to people—is vitally important. Both everyday activities and special
holiday travel plans call for healthy choices.

• Lift items with forethought and size up your load;
bend at the knees rather than flexing forward and just bending
at the hips. Holding the object close to your body and
maintaining a slight arch in your lower back helps the strong
leg muscles do the work, also supports loads as you lift.

• Shifting your posture helps offset prolonged
standing. Postural fatigue from shopping, entertaining or
cooking for extended periods—reduce by alternately elevating
1 foot on a chair rung/foot rest, shifting muscle loading.

• Adjust your travel strategies. Placing a pillow or
folded towel behind the small of the back can help maintain
the arch and support the rest of the body properly, relieving
the discs and joints of the spine from unnecessary pressure.
In addition to fastening your seat belt, car trips should include
adjusting the headrest to align with your head, at least
up to ear level.

• Get adjusted. Chiropractic adjustments optimize your
peak potential and help you maintain momentum.

BALANCED CHOICES:
Additional weight in the abdominal region could put 10
pounds or more stress on the lower back, forcing the pelvis
and torso to shift and cause changes in spinal balance,
leading to spinal misalignments (known as subluxations)
and malfunction in body systems.

• Avoid repeated heavy eating during holidays feasts
and avoid extra desserts and snacks, to prevent adding extra
weight. Loading on extra food can stress the digestive
system; carrying extra weight adds strain on supporting
structures of the spine and nervous system.

• What you eat is as important as how much
you eat. More evidence is accumulating that indicates
how including more fresh fruits and vegetables, along with
limiting starches and using low-sodium, low-sugar recipes,
are essential aspects of healthy eating.

• Make a helpful move to work off what you eat.
Taking even a 15-20 minute stroll after a big holiday meal
can help ease post-feast discomfort and burn some calories.
Fitness research findings indicate you can burn up to 100
calories in a 30-minute walk!


A P u b l i c I n f o r m a t i o n S e r v i c e f r o m y o u r
D o c t o r o f C h i r o p r a c t i c
a n d t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l
C h i r o p r a c t o r s A s s o c i a t i o n

Ten Worst Breakfast Cereals

New research confirms what consumers have long known -- most breakfast cereals advertised to children are full of sugar.

Cereals marketed to kids have 85 percent more sugar, 65 percent less fiber and 60 percent more sodium than those aimed at adults. In fact, the least nutritious cereals are often the most heavily marketed to children, such as Reese's Puffs, Corn Pops, Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cap' n Crunch.

Some cereals with the poorest ratings even have health claims on the box.

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has written a letter to the CEO of Kellogg’s, demanding evidence that Cocoa Krispies really "helps support your child's immunity" as it purports to do on the front of the box.

Cocoa Krispies are 40 percent sugar by weight. A Kellogg's company spokesperson, Susanne Norwitz, argued that Kellogg's Krispies cereals provide consumers with 25 percent of their daily value of vitamins A, C, and E.

Kellogg began making the immunity claims about Cocoa Krispies in May, however as of November 4 said they’re pulling the claim from the box.

Meanwhile, the average preschooler sees 642 cereal ads a year on TV. Most are for types with the worst nutrition ratings.

According to Cereal FACTS (Food Advertising to Children and Teens Score), which was developed based on the best available science, in consultation with a steering committee of experts in nutrition, marketing, and public health, the 10 worst breakfast cereals based on nutrition score are:

1. Kellogg - Corn Pops (or Pops) - Chocolate Peanut Butter
2. Quaker - Cap'n Crunch - w/ Crunchberries
3. Kellogg - Special K - Chocolatey Delight
4. Kellogg - Special K - Blueberry
5. General Mills - Reese's Puffs
6. General Mills - Fiber One - Caramel Delight
7. Kellogg - Cocoa Krispies - Choconilla
8. General Mills - Golden Grahams
9. General Mills - Cinnamon Toast Crunch
10. Kellogg - Corn Pops

Posted by: Dr. Mercola
November 14 2009 | 47,196 views

Sources:

USA Today October 25, 2009

Cereal Facts

NutraIngredients October 26, 2009

SF Weekly October 27, 2009

NutraIngredients November 5, 2009

Boston Herald November 5, 2009

ChiroHealth

Hello, everyone! Check out the latest ChiroHealth update for info about holiday survival tips, fighting 'super bugs' this season and much more!


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