Perlmutter Health Center

A Quarterly Health Update • Summer/Fall 1999 • Vol. 4 No. 3

David Perlmutter, MD, FACN

Quotations

"Several excuses are always less convincing than one" Aldous Huxley

"There are maladies we must not seek to cure because they alone protect us from others that are more serious." Marcel Proust

"Once a word has been allowed to escape, it can never be recalled." Horace

"Plain living and high thinking are no more." William Wordsworth (1802)

"Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex. You thought of nothing else if you didn’t have it and thought of other things if you did." James Baldwin

"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed." Francis Bacon

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Geneticaly Modified Foods - Cause for Concern

In January of this year, the United States Food and Drug administration announced, “FDA has not found it necessary to conduct comprehensive scientific reviews of foods derived from bioengineer plants….consistent with its 1992 policy”. This was a statement issued by the FDA in response to a growing concern regarding the potential risks of various food crops which have been genetically modified to reduce their susceptibility to various pests.

There has been a profound increase over the past several years in the production and availability of genetically modified plant foods. The major manufacturers of these products have publicly announced that this new form of a crop is being developed to allow an increased production of food yields in underdeveloped countries. But helping feed the hungry in third world countries may not be the ultimate motivating factor for the development of genetically modified foods by large multinational corporations.

While it is true that the new genetically modified grains are more resistant to pests, the grain that is produced by these crops is sterile. This requires that farmers return year after year to the supplier for more. It is hard to imagine how this is going to be beneficial for financially strapped developing countries.

Genetic modification may have a direct effect on food quality. The recent development of a genetically modified potato caused the production of a specific protein which clearly reduced the susceptibility of the potato plant to insects. In research published from England in April of 1998, it was discovered that significant intestinal changes were noted in rats eating these potatoes. This prompted one researcher to announce on television that it was “very, very unfair to use our fellow citizens and guinea pigs. Shortly after his announcement, the researcher found himself unemployed.

This spring, the prestigious British Medical Association called for a halt to the planting of genetically modified crops. This prompted the British government to begin proposing formal research in looking at the possible health risks of these foods.

In other countries, the concern and response has been more dramatic. Across Europe, various supermarket chains have been boycotted until they announced that they would not sell genetically modified foods. In India, activists against the use of genetically modified foods have destroyed large fields of crops, thought to be harboring these types of grains.

In the US, however, it has been estimated that up to 60% of our processed foods contain some form of genetically modified ingredients. Yet, most Americans seem relatively unconcerned about the potential health risks of these new foods.

In a recent issue of the Lancet (May 29, 1999), the authors of an editorial on the topic stated “Governments should never have allowed these products into the food chain without insisting on rigorous testing for effects on health. The company should have paid greater attention to the possible risks to health and of the publics perception of this risk; they are now paying the price of this neglect. Scientists involved in research into the risks of genetically modified foods should have published the results in the scientific press, not through the popular media; their colleagues, meanwhile, should also have avoided passing judgements on the issue without the full facts before them.

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Garlic and Chemotherapy

One of the most widely used chemotherapeutic drugs in the treatment of various forms of cancer is Doxorubicin (Adriamycin). This powerful medicine has been shown to be effective in various forms of leukemia and cancer of the bone, breast, ovary, bladder, and thyroid. It is also useful in treating both Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma as well as certain lung cancers.

However, one of the most significant dangers of Doxorubicin is an irreversible destruction of the heart muscle which may ultimately lead to fatal congestive heart failure.

The mechanism by which Doxorubicin destroys cancer cells is thought to involve the formation of free radicals. It is this activity, however, which has been described as causing the damage to the heart muscle. In an effort to reduce this potentially fatal side effect, researchers have evaluated the effectiveness of aged garlic extract (Kyolic garlic) in experimental mice. In a study presented at the 67th scientific sessions of the annual meeting of the American Heart Association, Japanese researchers described the results of their study in which one group of mice received Kyolic garlic before receiving chemotherapy with Doxorubicin. A similar group of experimental mice received the Doxorubicin, but were not pre-treated with Kyolic garlic.

The results were very impressive. Seven of the ten mice treated with Doxorubicin alone died within the first 40 days of the study. All ten of the mice treated, having received Doxorubicin, but being pre-treated with garlic, survived for the entire 40 day experiment. In addition, microscopic evaluation of the heart muscle tissue showed dramatic destructive changes following exposure to Doxorubicin alone. In the mice pre-treated with Kyolic garlic however, no such changes occurred. As the researchers reported, In summary, we have demonstrated that an aged garlic extract (Kyolic garlic) was effective in inhibiting cardiotoxicity of Doxorubicin in mice. The extract improved the electrocardiogram, reduced lipid pyroxidation (free radical cell damage), of the heart tissue, inhibited cardiac cell injury, and prevented weight loss in mice.

Unfortunately, as we approach the year 2000, the best medicines available for the treatment of various forms of cancer often have potentially devastating side effects. Research like that described above, may allow those individuals exposed to these powerful drugs the chance of reducing the likelihood of serious side effects.

While many garlic preparations are now available in health food stores, the most widely researched garlic product is Kyolic garlic, manufactured by Waukenauga of America.

If you would like to learn more about the health benefits of Kyolic garlic, contact Wakaunaga of America at 1-800-421-2998.

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Attention to Hypertension Fading

Over the past several decades there has been a progressive decline in deaths related to stoke and coronary heart disease in the United States. While there has been increased utilization of various risk screening programs, including stress testing and ultrasound evaluation of the carotid arteries, most medical literature has ascribed this dramatic reduction in both heart attack and stroke rates to better identification and treatment of hypertension. Unfortunately, the rates of detection and treatment of hypertension have declined dramatically over the past 10 years according to a recent report issued by the Mayo Clinic.

This study, published in the August 28, 1999 issue of the Lancet, evaluated the blood pressure of a randomly selected group of adults living in Minnesota and compared these results to a similar evaluation which took place in 1986. The researchers found “compared with a similar study in Rochester in 1986, the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure is now higher by 6.6 and 3.6 mm of mercury, respectively. The researchers found that more than half of the individuals randomly evaluated had hypertension, but only 16.6% of them were receiving any effective therapy. More than a third were unaware of their hypertension and approximately 10% knew they had high blood pressure, but were not controlling it.

Commenting on these results, Claude Lenfant, director of The National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute stated, “the biomedical community should be embarrassed, if not ashamed of this decline. Many new drugs have been developed to treat hypertension over the past 10 to 15 years giving us the opportunity to do a much better job. We need to look carefully at what is going wrong.

The rate of detection and treatment of hypertension in the United States falls short of other developed countries. In England, for example, the past 10 years have demonstrated a significant increase in the rate of detection and treatment of this disease.

The implications of untreated hypertension are certainly profound, especially coupled with other risk factors for vascular disease including obesity, diabetes, cigarette smoking, and elevated homocysteine. Screening for hypertension is completely non-invasive and requires nothing more than a trained healthcare provider with a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff in hand. In the United States these days, we seem to be paying more attention to the smoke and less to the fire. That is, we seem to be more focused on treating the end stage manifestations of blood pressure elevation by doing surgery to unblock carotid arteries and employing the wide variety of new techniques to open clogged coronary arteries.

It is certainly time to get back to basics and pay more attention to simple blood pressure monitoring.

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Multiple Sclerosis - Cause Identified?

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a fairly common and generally progressive disease of the central nervous system affecting some 350,000 Americans. While typically regarded as simply a cause of morbidity, more than 3,000 Americans die each year as direct consequence of MS - a disease in which the cause has remained stubbornly elusive.

Over a century ago, French physician Pierre Marie, published a monograph in which he indicated that multiple sclerosis was likely caused by some form of infection. Indeed by 1998, at least 16 infectious agents had been identified as possibly causing multiple sclerosis. Under strict scientific scrutiny, none of these infectious agents has been found to specifically induce the disease.

But recently, the most convincing data ever presented relating infection with a specific organism to multiple sclerosis has been reported from the department of neurology and pathology, Vanderbilt School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Subramaniam Sriram and co-workers, publishing their results in the July 1999 issue of Annals of Neurology, have demonstrated the presence of a specific type of bacteria in 100% of the 37 multiple sclerosis patients they studied. As the authors reported, “the evidence of Chlamydia pneumoniae in both progressive MS and relapsing - remitting patients suggests that the infection of the central nervous system with Chlamydia pneumoniae occurs early and persists perhaps throughout the course of the disease and does not differentiate between different clinical subtypes of the disease.

This organism, Chlamydia pneumoniae, is a fairly recent addition to the list of bacteria known to affect humans. It is now recognized as a cause of pneumonia, pharyngitis, bronchitis, and several chronic diseases. More importantly, Chlamydia pneumoniae has now been recognized as playing at least some positive role in reactive arthritis and coronary artery disease - medical conditions which, like MS, are characterized by ongoing inflammation.

An interesting observation supporting the relationship between Chlamydia pneumoniae and multiple sclerosis is based on the discovery that two commonly used medications for multiple sclerosis, interferon-beta and methotrexate profoundly inhibit the growth of the Chlamydia bacteria. This is interesting and provocative information as we do not yet fully understand why these drugs are sometimes effective in MS treatment.

Over the past several years, the medical literature has published various articles describing specific viruses thought to be the causative agent for multiple sclerosis, only to have these reports subsequently refuted. But this new research describing the possible relationship between Chlamydia pneumoniae and multiple sclerosis is most compelling. And the good news is that unlike viruses, specific antimicrobial medicines are available to treat Chlamydia pneumoniae.

Based upon this research, it is not unreasonable for patients with multiple sclerosis to consider an empiric treatment for Chlamydia pneumoniae. As this discovery is so new, no specific treatment protocols have as yet been created and it will likely be several years until clinical trials have been designed, approved, funded, completed, and ultimately published, until we know for sure that MS patients should be treated. But in light of the present evidence, empirically treating MS patients for Chlamydia pneumoniae seems reasonable. Obviously this decision should be discussed with treating physician. Antibiotics generally quite effective in treating Chlamydia pneumoniae infections include doxycycline and tetracycline. Doxycycline may be the more effective treatment since it is more able to penetrate the blood - brain barrier to enter the brain.

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Book Review

7 Day Detox Miracle By Peter Bennett, MD. and Stephen Barrie, M.D.
PRIMA PUBLISHING, ISBN 0-7615-1422-8

The 7 Day Detox Miracle begins by asking the question, "Why do we lose our health?" The authors provide a very compelling answer which simply stated, indicates that many of the health issues challenging us stem from an inability to detoxify the various potentially dangerous toxins we are exposed to in medications, food, water, and air. Breakdown of our detoxification ability is caused by genetic predisposition, lifestyle stresses, nutritional inadequacies, and even some of the very medications we are given in an attempt to preserve our health.

The book begins with a description of the impact of toxic agents on our health. The 6 steps of detoxification are described in great detail with an interesting review of not only the role of the liver in detoxification, but also how this important task is carried out by other tissues in the body including the gut. Various specific laboratory tests are then described which can provide valuable information by assessing the effectiveness of an individuals detoxification ability to various agents. The utility of these tests is described in the context of re-testing following the detoxification program.

Following this overview, the actual program is presented in great detail. What is most intriguing about the presentation is how the authors have crafted the program in such a way that it is something that almost everyone can utilize.

At the end of the book is a very interesting "detoxification questionnaire. This allows the reader to assess his or her risk for a toxic exposure as well as the adequacy of detoxification function.

I strongly recommend reading The 7 Day Detoxification Miracle. As Dr. Michael T. Murray stated on the book cover "similar to an oil change for your car, the 7 day detox miracle can clean and improve the filtering of your internal fluids in a way that prevents your bodies engine from breaking down and produces immediate benefits in fighting existing disease.

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