NOBEL PRIZE WINNER AND SEVEN OTHER GIANTS OF MEDICINE INDUCTED INTO THE ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE HALL OF FAME

(Toronto, May 14, 2005) Eight giants in the field of medicine, who were advocates of the use of nutrition in the treatment of cancer, were inducted in the Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame on May 14, 2005 at a special reception held at the Fairmont Château Laurier in Ottawa, Canada.

The annual induction ceremony is one of the highlights at The International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine (ISOM) 34th Annual International Conference, Nutritional Medicine Today, which this year met in Canada's capital and at which leading physicians and scientists from around the world gather to discuss ground-breaking studies in nutritional medicine, cardiovascular disease, oncology and mental health.

All inductees, whose seminal work has been influential in the medical and scientific worlds, are pioneers in their respective fields and include the Nobel Prize winner who discovered vitamin C, and numerous advocates of Vitamin C Therapy especially with respect to cancer treatment. The 2005 inductees are: Emanuel Cheraskin, MD, DMD; Max Gerson, MD; David Horrobin, MD, PhD; Josef Issels, MD; Frederick Klenner, MD; Cornelius Moerman, MD; Hugh Desaix Riordan, MD and Nobel Prize Winner Albert Szent-Gyorgi, PhD.

Although they have now passed away, their contributions to the betterment of mankind have been significant and will live long after them. Members of their families and colleagues were on hand to join in the acknowledgment and celebration of their life's work.

Dr. Cheraskin, who, for decades, headed the Department of Oral Medicine at the School of Dentistry at the University of Alabama was among the very first to recognize and demonstrate that oral health indicates total body health.

Dr. Horrobin was Medical Adviser and President of the Schizophrenia Association of Great Britain and his study of human physiology lead him to investigate the role of fatty acids and their derivatives in human disease and to investigate the therapeutic potential of lipids in medicine.

Dr. Max Gerson, began observing that cancer could be cured with nutrition in tandem with systemic detoxification. Albert Schweitzer stated that Dr. Gerson was one of the most eminent geniuses in medical history, while Prince Charles who knew of a terminally ill patient who had undergone Gerson Therapy and is alive and well remarked that "rather than dismissing such experiences, we should further investigate the beneficial nature of these treatments."

Dr. Issels also believed that good nutrition and a clean environment were central to his cancer therapy and felt that cancer was the ultimate symptom of a lifetime of immune system damage which had created an environment for a tumor to grow while conventional therapy just looked at the tumor without recognizing this longtime preconditioning period.

Dr. Klenner asserted that vitamin C is the safest substance available to the physician and was the first doctor to emphasize that small amounts of ascorbic acid do not work and that only adequate uses and huge doses of vitamin C will provide results.

Dr. Moerman's name remains symbolic in the Netherlands as a leader in nutritional therapy for the treatment of cancer as he also believed that strengthening the immune system by proper nutrition was the answer to this disease.

Dr. Hugh Riordan was the first to demonstrate how large doses of vitamin C are chemotherapeutic for cancer patients and his vitamin C intravenous chemotherapy studies are being continued at the University of Kansas and at McGill University in Montreal.

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, PhD, won the 1937 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of vitamin C. In fact, it was he who named the vitamin ascorbic acid and first predicted its use in cancer treatment.

Last year, the first inductees to the Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame included double Nobel Prize laureate LINUS PAULING, PhD; WILLIAM KAUFMAN, MD, PhD; WILLIAM J. McCORMICK, MD; EVAN SHUTE MD and WILFRID SHUTE, MD; ALAN COTT, MD; HUMPHRY OSMOND, MD; CARL PFEIFFER, MD, PhD; IRWIN STONE and ROGER J. WILLIAMS, PhD. Continue Reading >>

MOST DIETS NEED SUPPLEMENTATION - Even "Good" Ones

Most illness is due fundamentally to malnutrition. This not only includes the chronic diseases, but also viral and bacterial acute illnesses, which are greatly aggravated by inadequate nutrition. The usual US diet provides an insufficient amount of vitamins to maintain optimal health. And the evidence base for the clinical effects of vitamins is increasing rapidly.

Only 3 percent of a large sampling of U.S. adults practices what is commonly considered a healthy lifestyle. An American Medical Association survey of 153,000 men and women between the ages of 18 and 74 found that only 23.3 percent reported consuming five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. [1] New federal nutritional guidelines specify a minimum of nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day. [2] Many Americans find that consuming the minimum quantities of fruits and vegetables each day is impractical, and appear unable to provide the needed nutrition for themselves and their families. An alternative is to eat all the fruits and vegetables possible, and supplement with a multivitamin/multi-mineral, 400 IU of vitamin E and 1000 mg of vitamin C. [3] A better alternative is to supplement twice a day after meals.

The usual U.S. diet provides an insufficient amount of vitamins. [4] Yet decades of scientific evidence has shown that vitamins, especially vitamin C and vitamin E, are of the utmost importance to human health.

Two-time Nobel Prize winner Dr. Linus Pauling was among the first to realize vitamin C's crucial importance in the maintenance of a healthy immune system. In 1970 he proposed that regular intake of vitamin-C in amounts far higher than the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) could help prevent and shorten the duration of the common cold. Although the medical establishment immediately voiced their strong opposition to this idea, many ordinary people believed Dr. Pauling and began taking large amounts of vitamin-C. Most people immediately noticed a great decrease in the frequency and severity of their colds. [5] Continue Reading >>

Vitamin C Fights Heart Disease

Millions die each year from heart disease and stroke, and the overwhelming evidence is that vitamin C supplementation would save many lives.

Two-time Nobel Prize winner Dr. Linus Pauling estimated that the rate of heart disease would be reduced by 80 per cent if adults in the US supplemented with 2,000 to 3,000 mg of vitamin C each day. According to Dr. Pauling, "Since vitamin C deficiency is the common cause of human heart disease, vitamin C supplementation is the universal treatment for this disease."[1] Heart disease is the number one killer in the US. For those with existing heart disease Dr. Pauling said that blockage of heart arteries could actually be reversed by supplementing with 6,000 of vitamin C and 6,000 of lysine (a common amino acid) taken in divided doses throughout the day. Vitamin C supplementation both lowers serum cholesterol levels and repairs lesions of arterial walls. 1998 Nobel Prize winner Dr. Louis J. Ignarro found that supplementing with vitamin C and vitamin E significantly reduces the risk of developing arteriosclerosis.[2]

A study examined vitamin E and vitamin C supplement use in relation to mortality risk in 11,178 persons aged 67-105 who participated in the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly over a nine year period.[3] Simultaneous use of vitamins E and C was associated with a lower risk of total mortality and coronary mortality after adjusting for alcohol use, smoking history, aspirin use, and medical conditions.

A landmark study following over 85,000 nurses over a 16-year period for a total of 1,240,000 person-years found that vitamin C supplementation significantly reduced the risk of heart disease.[4] Intake of vitamin C from foods alone was insufficient to significantly effect the rate of heart disease. High quantities of vitamin C from supplements was essential to provide the protective effects. The study adjusted for age, smoking, and a variety of other coronary risk factors.

An international team pooled data from nine prospective studies of 293,000 people that included information on intakes of vitamin E, carotenoids, and vitamin C, with a 10-year follow-up to check for major incident coronary heart disease events in people without disease when the study began. Dietary intake of antioxidant vitamins was only weakly related to a reduced coronary heart disease risk. However, subjects who took as little as 700 mg of vitamin C daily in supplement form reduced their risk of heart disease events by 25 per cent compared to those who took no supplements. [5] Read the full story>>

Vitamin E: Safe, Effective, and Heart-Healthy

Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States, and the evidence supporting vitamin E's efficacy in preventing and reversing heart disease is overwhelming.

Two landmark studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine [1][2] followed a total of 125,000 men and women health care professionals for a total of 839,000 person study-years. It was found that those who supplement with at least 100 IU of vitamin E daily reduced their risk of heart disease by 59 to 66%.

The studies were adjusted for life-style differences (smoking, physical activity, dietary fiber intake, aspirin use) in order to determine the heart effect of vitamin E supplementation alone. Because a diet high in foods containing vitamin E as compared to the average diet further showed only a slight heart-protective effect, the authors emphasized the necessity of vitamin E supplementation.

Researchers at Cambridge University [3] in England reported that patients who had been diagnosed with coronary arteriosclerosis could lower their risk of having a heart attack by 77% by supplementing with 400 IU to 800 IU per day of the natural (d-alpha tocopherol) form of vitamin E.

Pioneer vitamin E researchers and clinicians Drs. Wilfrid and Evan Shute treated some 30,000 patients over several decades and found that people in average health received maximum benefit from 800 IU of the d-alpha tocopherol form of vitamin E. Vitamin E has been proven effective in the prevention and treatment of many heart conditions. "The complete or nearly complete prevention of angina attacks is the usual and expected result of treatment with alpha tocopherol" according to Wilfrid Shute, M. D., a cardiologist. Shute prescribed up to 1,600 IU of vitamin E daily and successfully treated patients for acute coronary thrombosis, acute rheumatic fever, chronic rheumatic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, diabetes mellitus, acute and chronic nephritis, and even burns, plastic surgery and mazoplasia. Read the full story>>

Study Shows Vitamin "Pill-Poppers" Are Healthier

(OMNS November 2, 2007) New research indicates that NOT taking supplements may be harmful to your health, and that a single daily multi-vitamin is inadequate.

A study of hundreds of persons who take a number of different dietary supplements has found that the more supplements they take, the better their health is.

The study authors reported that a "greater degree of supplement use was associated with more favorable concentrations of serum homocysteine, C-reactive protein, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides, as well as lower risk of prevalent elevated blood pressure and diabetes." Supplement use results in higher levels of nutrients in the blood serum, and produces "optimal concentrations of chronic disease-related biomarkers." [1] Read the full story>>

Topical Vitamin C Stops Basal Cell Carcinoma

(OMNS Nov 9 2007) The most common form of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma, often responds to a remarkably simple, safe, at-home treatment: vitamin C. Physicians and patients report that vitamin C, applied directly to basal cell skin cancers, causes them to scab over and drop off. [1]

Successful use involves a highly-concentrated vitamin C solution, directly applied to the blemish two or three times a day. Vitamin C is selectively toxic to cancer cells, but does not harm healthy skin cells. This is also the basis for high-dose intravenous vitamin therapy for cancer. [2] Even higher concentrations of vitamin C can be obtained by direct application. The use of topical vitamin C to kill basal cell carcinoma has been known at least since 1971. Frederick R. Klenner, MD, wrote: "We have removed several small basal cell epithelioma with a 30 percent ointment" of vitamin C. [3]

One person, who reported that a 2mm diameter spot on the nose would not heal for months, had it disappear within a week with twice-daily concentrated vitamin C applications. Another patient reported that after dermatologist-diagnosed multiple spots of basal cell carcinoma were coated with vitamin C, the spots fell off within two weeks. [4]

Basal cell carcinomas are slow growing and it is rare for them to metastasize. This provides an opportunity for a therapeutic trial of vitamin C, provided one has proper medical diagnosis and follow-up. Read the full story >>

Antibiotics and Vitamins Work Together

(OMNS Dec 3, 2007) The benefits of using vitamin C together with antibiotics are considerable. In a controlled trial with dairy cows with infected udders, high dose vitamin C has been shown to have synergistic effects when used with antibiotics. [1]

The cows were divided into two groups. One group was treated with antibiotics alone, and the other group was treated with antibiotics and the human equivalent of 10,000 mg/day injections of vitamin C. The vitamin C group got well much sooner: in just over half the time.

In humans, an astoundingly high 120,000 mg/day (nearly 2,000 times the RDA) of vitamin C delivered intravenously has been demonstrated to accelerate healing of burned skin in a blinded clinical trial. [2] 1,000 to 3,000 mg/day (100 times the RDA) of niacin is a standard treatment for controlling cholesterol. [3] Similar doses of niacin have been demonstrated to reduce inflammation [4] and to reduce injury to the brain after strokes. [5]

Extensive evidence shows that vitamin D serves as an important regulator of immune system responses. [6] Many of these regulatory pathways are optimized when vitamin D is present in the bloodstream at levels considerably higher than average values in the American population. Regular vitamin D supplementation, by taking a daily multivitamin and an additional daily 1,000 IU of vitamin D, is recommended. In addition, a one-time dose of up to 5,000 IU of vitamin D at the onset of a serious bacterial infection should be considered. Physicians now have access to routine tests of vitamin D status. Periodic blood testing is recommended for anyone regularly taking very large amounts of vitamin D. Read the full story >>

Vitamins Cure Skin Conditions

(OMNS Jan 23, 2008) Skin troubles are a common, often painful problem. Topical applications of vitamin E, and/or vitamin C and niacin provide rapid relief. The first reports indicating that vitamin E, and concentrated topical and IV solutions of vitamin C were a highly effective treatment for burns surfaced over 50 years ago. Vitamins may be used to treat both thermal burns and sun burns, as well as wrinkles, pigmentation, scrapes, bug bites, and even bed sores.

Foods alone do not provide sufficient vitamins to provide maximum healing. Vitamins also provide protection against skin-aging damage caused by exposure to the sun. The benefits of vitamin C and niacin have been proven in numerous controlled clinical trials using high potency vitamin C and niacin creams. [1-9] The scientific literature contains at least 29 reports published since 2003 using niacin creams and 8 using vitamin C creams. Even before the Korean War, orthomolecular physicians were reporting topical vitamin E to be a superior treatment for burns. [10] Recent research conforms this. [11, 12] Read the full story >>

Vitamins Reduce the Duration and Severity of Influenza

(OMNS, March 19, 2008) Vitamins fight the flu by boosting the body’s own immune response and by accelerating healing. Individuals can be better prepared for an influenza epidemic by learning how to use vitamin supplements to fight off ordinary respiratory infections. The most important vitamins are vitamins C, D, niacin, and thiamine.

Vitamin D Vitamin D has known anti-viral properties [1] and has been directly associated with fighting influenza in a recent scientific review. [2] Extensive evidence now shows that vitamin D serves as an important regulator of immune system responses. [3] The most dramatic evidence is a recent double-blind trial proving that vitamin D prevents cancers [4], supported by two recent epidemiological studies. [5,6] Vitamin D has been part of a supplement combination proven effective against HIV in a recent double-blind trial. [7]

During a viral infection, the body can draw on vitamin D stored in the body to supply the increased needs of the immune system. The withdrawn supplies of vitamin D are quickly replenished with 4,000 to 10,000 IU/day doses for a few days. Due to biochemical individuality, we recommend vitamin D blood testing as a routine part of a yearly physical exam.

Niacin Niacin has known anti-viral properties. The most persuasive evidence comes from recent work with HIV patients.[8-12] Niacin is required for cells to generate the energy they use to perform virtually all biological functions.

Niacin’s effectiveness fighting viruses may have to do with accelerating wound healing as well as improving immunity. Accelerating tissue repair limits collateral damage and minimizes the risk of secondary infection. Niacin has been proven to promote healing of damaged skin in double-blind trials. [13] Other recent findings (niacin reduces injury to the brain after strokes and reduces inflammation in general) also provide evidence of healing. [14,15] Read the full story >>

JOURNAL OF ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE NOW ONLINE

(OMNS February 29, 2008) The archives of the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine are now posted online. Past issues from 1967 through 2002 are available for downloading, at no charge, at http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/index.shtml

"36 years of important material is now freely available to everyone," said Steven J. Carter, Executive Director of the Toronto-based International Schizophrenia Foundation, which publishes the Journal.

The Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine has led the way in presenting, in advance of other medical journals, new health concerns and treatments including niacin therapy for schizophrenia and coronary disease; vitamin C for cancer; and the nutritional treatment of behavioral disorders, and drug and alcohol abuse. The JOM was also the first medical journal to publish papers on the nutritional treatment of allergies, autism, and AIDS. JOM published pioneering research on candiasis in 1978, mercury amalgam toxicity in 1982, and chronic fatigue syndrome in 1988. The Journal has published over 100 papers on nutritional medicine and cancer, and over 400 articles on schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses. JOM is peer-reviewed.

The Journal was founded in 1967 as the Journal of Schizophrenia, and subsequently titled the Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry until 1986. Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling authored 9 papers in the Journal from 1970-1992. It was Pauling that gave nutritional medicine the name "orthomolecular." Says JOM Editor-in Chief Abram Hoffer, MD, PhD: "In 1968, Dr. Pauling proposed the term orthomolecular (1,2) which we recognized as the correct word to define the total interest in nutrition, clinical ecology, and the use of vitamin and mineral supplements. All the pioneers in orthomolecular medicine have reported their findings in this journal. It thus represents a unique source for these earlier and current studies which provide a basis for the increasing growth of nutritional medicine." Continue the full article >>

Vitamin Supplementation Prevents Anorexia

(OMNS February 9, 2008) Anorexia is primarily due to vitamin deficiency. Approximately one in twenty teenage girls in America is struggling with an eating disorder. Parents can help eliminate the risk of anorexia by providing their children with vitamin supplements.

Anorexia is an acknowledged clinical marker of beriberi, the disease specifically caused by a deficiency of vitamin B1 (thiamine). [1] Anorexia is also commonly observed as an early symptom of pellagra (niacin deficiency) [2] and is a known complication of scurvy, vitamin C deficiency. [3] Prevention is especially important, because beriberi/anorexia often does not respond well even to treatment with high doses of thiamine for months, and sometimes does not respond at all. [1] But as a rule, high potency vitamin supplements are an effective cure for the loss of muscle mass caused by beriberi and the skin lesions caused by pellagra.

The vitamin B1 in almost every multivitamin and B-complex vitamin pill is either thiamine mononitrate or thiamine hydrochloride. The body’s ability to absorb these two forms of thiamine is limited [4] by the maximum amount that can be handled by the body’s two specialized thiamine transport proteins. [5]. This means many doses per day of oral thiamine are necessary for effective treatment. Another class of thiamine molecules, called allithiamines, are much better absorbed. [6] Since allithiamines are not included in standard multivitamin preparations, we recommend their reformulation to include this specific form of B1.

The conventional medical approach to eating disorders such as anorexia typically includes psychological/behavioral treatment, medication, and food-groups dietetics. It is surprisingly rare for physicians to link eating disorders with vitamin deficiency, and few doctors recommend vitamin supplements for prevention. Continue the full article

Prenatal vitamins shown to reduce children's risk of cancer

M.T. Whitney Key concepts: folic acid, vitamins and prenatal vitamins

(NaturalNews) Taking folic acid and multivitamins while pregnant can nearly halve the chance of a child getting a common cancer before the age of 18, new evidence from a Toronto children's hospital shows.

The study, from Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, was spurred when officials at the hospital noticed a drop in neuroblastomas five years ago, after the Canadian government started requiring flour manufacturers to add folic acid to their product in 1998.

What you need to know
• Folic acid and multivitamins were shown to lower the chance of leukemia in children by 39 percent.

• The same one-two punch can lower the risk of a child developing a brain tumor by 27 percent.

• The risk of a child getting a neuroblastoma, which attacks the nervous system, was lowered by 49 percent.

• For spina bifida, a spinal condition, the risk is lowered by 80 percent with folic acid supplements.

• Most folic acid supplements, easily found for just pennies a day, will give you between 600 and 1,000 milligrams for the day, more than the government-recommended 400 milligrams.

• Only 40 percent of Canadian mothers take the right amount of folic acid supplements during pregnancy, Dr. Gideon Koren, the study's principal investigator, told The Toronto Star.

• The study was published in the journal Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (February, 2007).

• "To our amazement and surprise, all available studies today from different parts of the world ... showed a similar trend (to the one in Ontario)," Koren told the Toronto Star.

Sadly, most doctors and hospitals still don't teach nutrition to patients, and expectant mothers are rarely told about the multitude of health benefits derived from nutrients like folic acid or vitamin D. The current message on folic acid supplementation focuses solely on spina bifida and fails to mention the vitamin's anti-cancer effects.


Bottom line
• Mothers who take folic acid and prenatal vitamins may reduce risk of cancer in their children.

Vitamin C and dairy linked to less abdominal weight

An increased intake of vitamin C and dairy could reduce the accumulation of weight around the abdomen, reported to increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease, suggests a new study.

Over 900 Iranian women aged between 40 and 60 years were found to have more central fat accumulation if their intakes of vitamin C, calcium, and dairy are low.

Indeed, low vitamin C intake was associated with a 131 per cent increase in probability of central fat accumulation, while low calcium increased the probability by 30 per cent.

The study, published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, looks set to continue the debate about whether dairy foods can promote weight loss, and what the mechanism behind such an effect could be.

Leila Azadbakht and Ahmad Esmaillzadeh from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences used a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to evaluate dietary intakes.

They report that the possibility of being centrally obese was increased in women with low vitamin C intakes (less than 56 milligrams), low calcium intakes (less than 398 mg), and low dairy consumption.

Others factors found to adversely affect weight around the waist were depression, smoking and menopausal state.

In terms of the mechanism or mechanisms behind the apparent benefits of the nutrients, the researchers state that both the vitamin and calcium have been reported to reduce fat absorption and may reduce abdominal adiposity.

"The mechanism by which milk consumption affects obesity indices is not accurately known. Most studies have cited calcium as a responsible factor. So, an inverse relationship has been suggested between calcium intake and body weight and body fat mass in various ways. Its simple effect is the inhibition of fat and fatty acid absorption," they stated.


"However, this is not the major cause; it seems that the major effect of calcium on body weight is mediated by its effects on controlling intracellular calcium," they added.

A previous study from Purdue University claimed that young women could burn more calories if they ate three or four dairy servings per day. However another report, also from Purdue, reported that increased dairy consumption had no effect on weight gain or loss.

On the other hand, Dr. Michael Zemel from the University of Tennessee told attendees at last year's Paris Anti-Obesity Therapies 2006 conference that dairy can help reduce body fat and that calcium only accounts for about 40 per cent of the effect.

Dairy industries in Europe and the US have been promoting milk-based products for consumers who want to slim for some time but the new findings underline that further work needs to be done to support such claims.

A diet low in dairy foods has been linked to an increased risk of accumulating fat

Indeed, the results have been welcomed by the UK-based Dairy Council. The council's director Dr. Judith Bryans said: "These results are exciting, as a number of other scientific studies have also suggested a possible link between regular consumption of low fat dairy foods and weight loss, particularly from the waist area.

"This study simply highlights the importance of a healthy lifestyle including plenty of physical and mental activity, and a diet that incorporates a good balance of all food groups, including dairy," she said.

Source: Public Health Nutrition
Doi: 10.1017/S1368980007000882
"Dietary and non-dietary determinants of central adiposity among Tehrani women"
Authors: L. Azadbakht and A. Esmaillzadeh

How Vitamin C Stops Cancer

ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2007) — Nearly 30 years after Nobel laureate Linus Pauling famously and controversially suggested that vitamin C supplements can prevent cancer, a team of Johns Hopkins scientists have shown that in mice at least, vitamin C - and potentially other antioxidants - can indeed inhibit the growth of some tumors ¯ just not in the manner suggested by years of investigation.

The conventional wisdom of how antioxidants such as vitamin C help prevent cancer growth is that they grab up volatile oxygen free radical molecules and prevent the damage they are known to do to our delicate DNA. The Hopkins study, led by Chi Dang, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and oncology and Johns Hopkins Family Professor in Oncology Research, unexpectedly found that the antioxidants' actual role may be to destabilize a tumor's ability to grow under oxygen-starved conditions. Their work is detailed this week in Cancer Cell.

"The potential anticancer benefits of antioxidants have been the driving force for many clinical and preclinical studies," says Dang. "By uncovering the mechanism behind antioxidants, we are now better suited to maximize their therapeutic use."

"Once again, this work demonstrates the irreplaceable value of letting researchers follow their scientific noses wherever it leads them," Dang adds.

The authors do caution that while vitamin C is still essential for good health, this study is preliminary and people should not rush out and buy bulk supplies of antioxidants as a means of cancer prevention.
The Johns Hopkins investigators discovered the surprise antioxidant mechanism while looking at mice implanted with either human lymphoma (a blood cancer) or human liver cancer cells. Both of these cancers produce high levels of free radicals that can be suppressed by feeding the mice supplements of antioxidants, either vitamin C or N-acetylcysteine (NAC).

However, when the Hopkins team examined cancer cells from cancer-implanted mice not fed the antioxidants, they noticed the absence of any significant DNA damage. "Clearly, if DNA damage was not in play as a cause of the cancer, then whatever the antioxidants were doing to help was also not related to DNA damage," says Ping Gao, Ph.D, lead author of the paper.

That conclusion led Gao and Dang to suspect that some other mechanism was involved, such as a protein known to be dependent on free radicals called HIF-1 (hypoxia-induced factor), which was discovered over a decade ago by Hopkins researcher and co-author Gregg Semenza, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Program in Vascular Cell Engineering. Indeed, they found that while this protein was abundant in untreated cancer cells taken from the mice, it disappeared in vitamin C-treated cells taken from similar animals.

"When a cell lacks oxygen, HIF-1 helps it compensate," explains Dang. "HIF-1 helps an oxygen-starved cell convert sugar to energy without using oxygen and also initiates the construction of new blood vessels to bring in a fresh oxygen supply."

Some rapidly growing tumors consume enough energy to easily suck out the available oxygen in their vicinity, making HIF-1 absolutely critical for their continued survival. But HIF-1 can only operate if it has a supply of free radicals. Antioxidants remove these free radicals and stop HIF-1, and the tumor, in its tracks.

The authors confirmed the importance of this "hypoxia protein" by creating cancer cells with a genetic variant of HIF-1 that did not require free radicals to be stable. In these cells, antioxidants no longer had any cancer-fighting power.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Authors on the paper are Dean Felsher of Stanford; and Gao, Huafeng Zhang, Ramani Dinavahi, Feng Li, Yan Xiang, Venu Raman, Zaver Bhujwalla, Linzhao Cheng, Jonathan Pevsner, Linda Lee, Gregg Semenza and Dang of Johns Hopkins.

Adapted from materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

How to Practice Medicine Without A License

New Book: The Vitamin C Foundation's Co-Founder has written

Copyright 2008 by Owen Fonorow. Press ReleaseBook Web Site Forum Discussion... The book covers the fifty-plus year history of the vitamin C theory of heart disease as well as the 12-year history of the so-called Pauling-therapy®.

Heart patients who decided to follow Linus Pauling's advice recovered in about 30 days. Many experienced significant relief in as little as ten days. These recoveries only occur after these former patients adopted the Pauling-therapy®, usually without their doctor's knowledge or consent. The book contains Pauling's specific detailed vitamin C and lysine dosage recommendations.

These recommendations that have helped thousands of heart patients overcome their disease. The reasons that the therapy may not work for everyone are also explored. The book could have been appropriately titled Chronic Scurvy, which is a more accurate description of the cardiovascular disease process. Look for details [Here] when this First-ever Vitamin C Foundation Book becomes available.

Treatment Protocol for Alcoholism

A Message from Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.:

"Ever since I met Bill W, the cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous and we became close friends, I have had a personal interest in the treatment of alcoholism. Bill taught that there were three components to the treatment of alcoholism: spiritual, mental and medical. AA provided a spiritual home for alcoholics that many could not find anywhere else and helped them sustain abstinence.

But for many AA alone was not enough; not everyone in AA had achieved a comfortable sobriety. Bill recognized that the other two components were important. When he heard of our use of niacin for treating alcoholics, he became very enthusiastic about it because niacin gave these unfortunate patients immense relief from their chronic depression and other physical and mental complaints.

"Niacin is the most important single treatment for alcoholism, and it is one of the most reliable treatments. And it is safe, much safer than any of the modern psychiatric drugs. Niacin does not work as well when alcoholics are still drinking but in a few cases it has decreased the intake of alcohol until they were abstinent. This conclusion is based on the work my colleagues and I have done since 1953.

"I know of many alcoholics who did not want to stop drinking, but did agree to take niacin. Over the years, they gradually were able to reduce their intake until they brought it under control. Some alcoholics can even become social drinkers on a very small scale. I have not found many who could. But I think that if started on the program very early, many more could achieve normalcy. I suspect that treatment centers using those ideas will be made available one day, and will be much more successful than the standard treatment today. This all too often still consists of dumping them into hospitals and letting them dry out, with severe pain and suffering. When they are discharged, most go right back to the alcohol, the most dangerous and widely used street drug available without a prescription.

"Orthomolecular treatment is the treatment of choice. The following protocol for alcoholism outlines the importance of the nutritional factors that have been shown to be very successful on treating this condition. The treatment can be used alone but is best combined with dietary advice and additional nutrients."

The late Dr. Roger Williams, a chemistry professor at the University of Texas and former president of the American Chemical Society, also wrote extensively on the alcoholism.[1] Dr. Williams recommended large doses of vitamins and an amino acid called L-glutamine.
What should the alcoholic do to help stop drinking and return his or her body to normal functioning? Supply the following nutrients to the body:

* Vitamin C to saturation (on the order of 10,000 to 20,000 mg per day and more). High doses of vitamin C chemically neutralize the toxic breakdown products of alcohol metabolism. Vitamin C also increases the liver's ability to reverse the fatty build-up so common in alcoholics.

* To titrate to saturation, take 1000 mg of vitamin C every hour. When saturation is reached, there will be a single episode of diarrhea; then reduce the dosage to 1000 mg every four hours.
* A B50-complex tablet (comprising 50 mg of each of the major B-vitamins, 6 times daily).

* L-Glutamine (2000 or 3000 mg). L-Glutamine is an amino acid that decreases physiological cravings for alcohol. It is one the two primary energy providers that burn glycogen to provide fuel to the brain and stimulates many neurofunctions. L- Glutamine is naturally produced in the liver and kidneys. Alcohol harms the kidneys and liver, thus supplementation is vital (concurrently reducing cravings for sugar and alcohol).

* Lecithin (2 to 4 tablespoons daily). Provides inositol and choline, related to the B-complex. Lecithin also helps mobilize fats out of the liver.

* Chromium (at least 200 to perhaps 400 mcg chromium polynicotinate daily). Chromium greatly reduces carbohydrate mis-metabolism, and greatly helps control blood sugar levels. Many, if not most, alcoholics are hypoglycemic.

* A good high-potency multi-vitamin, multi-mineral supplement as well, containing magnesium (400 mg) and the antioxidants carotene and d-alpha tocopherol.

In summary, the alcoholic’s body needs the proper nutrients in adequate quantities to return to normal metabolic functioning. The above nutrients are safe, effective, inexpensive and available from discount stores or health food stores without prescription. There is not even one death per year from vitamins. Pharmaceutical drugs, properly prescribed and taken as directed, kill over 100,000 Americans annually. Hospital errors kill still more. Most illness is due fundamentally to malnutrition. This not only includes the chronic diseases, but also viral and bacterial acute illness, which are greatly aggravated by inadequate nutrition. Supplements are not the problem; they are the solution. Malnutrition is the problem.

Editorial Review Board:
Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D. Harold D. Foster, Ph.D. Bradford Weeks, M.D. Carolyn Dean, M.D. N.D. Eric Patterson, M.D.Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D.

References;
1, Williams, RJ, Roach, MK, "Impaired and inadequate glucose metabolism in the brain as an underlying cause of alcoholism--an hypothesis.", Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1966 August; 56(2): 566-571.

ACT FOR HEALTH FREEDOM NOW: Go to http://www.friendsoffreedominternational.org/ and purchase "Death by Modern Medicine" and view and purchase the new movie on Codex and Free Trade called "We Become Silent" by Kevin Miller. Proceeds from the sale of these products are crucial to help fund our health freedom action. For state action go to:

http://www.nationalhealthfreedom.org/ . To support HR 4282, the new Health Freedom Protection Act bill that we talked about in our November 7, 2005 article in News With Views “A Call to Action to Protect Free Speech” go to: www.stopfdacensorship.org and send a letter to Congress.

Orthomolecular treatment of anxiety disorders

Anxiety disorders are life altering psychiatric conditions that severely impair the quality of life of those suffering from them. They are the most common psychiatric disorders in the United States, (1) and are characterized by numerous somatic symptoms, such as facial flushing, hyperhydrosis (excessive sweating), muscle tension, paresthesias (numbness and tingling), shallow breathing, syncope (fainting), and tachycardia (rapid heart rate).

The emotional symptoms of anxiety disorders occur simultaneously with the somatic ones and include agitation, derealization (feelings of unreality), fearfulness, feelings of impending doom, irritability, nervousness, and shyness. Patients with anxiety disorders often report escape and avoidance behaviors that merely reinforce and perpetuate their ongoing anxiety.

They also tend to engage in catastrophic thinking by over-predicting the negative consequences of events. (2) Patients tend to misinterpret benign bodily sensations as warning signals for more serious conditions. For example, heart palpitations are common among the anxiety sufferers, yet this symptom is often misinterpreted as being a heart attack.

Anxiety sufferers desperately want their anxiety to go away, but they cannot control it. What these patients suffer from is a heightened autonomic nervous system (ANS) reaction to a perceived threat. There might even be some link between the anxiety of modern times and the lifesaving mechanism that was required of our prehistoric ancestors. (3)

For example, when the early hominids had to hunt and kill to feed themselves, they had to mobilize and react to real threats to their survival. By contrast, the anxiety sufferer of today manifests the same mobilization as if fleeing from a predator, but this mobilization is out of proportion to the actual threat. In some of us, anxiety might actually be built into our genes.

Evolution might favor those who have anxiety because it makes sense to have a built-in system that ensures survival. (3) Is it better to have a system that gives more false positives then false negatives? The advantage might be survival, but at a tremendous cost to the sufferer due to a lifetime of discomfort (Table 1).

Even with the unfortunate reality that anxiety might "live in" the genes of those susceptible to it, patients do not have to endure a lifetime of suffering. Anxiety sufferers want viable treatment options that can lessen their anxiety and improve their quality of life. An orthomolecular approach does just that--it is simple, effective, reduces the somatic and emotional symptoms of anxiety, and dramatically improves quality of life. The first part of this report will focus on the diagnosis of anxiety disorders. The second part will examine orthomolecular treatment strategies and will include case reports demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach.

Diagnosing Anxiety Disorders

To diagnose anxiety disorders it is necessary to first rule out organic causes before a psychiatric diagnosis can be made. Certain questions should be posed during the history when evaluating the anxious patient for organic causes (Table 2).

Once a thorough history has been obtained the diagnostic work-up involves various tests depending on the nature of the anxiety. (8) If the anxiety was found to be intermittent, it might be necessary to perform a wake-and-sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) and possibly a computed tomography (CT) scan to rule out a cerebral tumor. In addition, the work-up might require a 24-hour urine collection for catecholamines (to rule-out pheochromocytoma) or a 24-hour Holter monitor (to rule-out paroxysmal cardiac arrhythmia). If the anxiety is more constant than intermittent, the work-up involves other tests such as a thyroid panel (to rule-out hyperthyroidism), a drug screen, and an EEG. In cases of chronic anxiety, a 24-hour Holter monitor might also be helpful.

When the work-up does not reveal an organic cause, or when the history strongly indicates a non-organic cause of anxiety, a psychiatric diagnosis needs to be considered. Anxiety disorders are classified into various categories such as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder (PD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and social phobia/social anxiety disorder (SAD). (9) See Table 3 for a brief description of the main types of anxiety disorders. To make an appropriate psychiatric diagnosis, it is necessary that certain criteria be met for the anxiety disorder being considered.

Orthomolecular Treatment Strategy #1: Niacinamide (Nicotinamide)
The main treatment approach for anxiety disorders is to use a high enough dose of certain nutrients to diminish the ANS reaction, eliminate the fear of anxiety symptoms, decrease the cycle of avoidance and anxiety, and improve quality of life. One of the most effective ways to accomplish this is through the use of the amide of niacin (nicotinic acid) known as niacinamide (nicotinamide).

This B-vitamin has remarkable therapeutic benefits for those suffering from anxiety. In a recent report, a review of the literature was undertaken to determine the biological mechanism for niacinamide's anxiolytic effects. (10) It appears that niacinamide has therapeutic effects comparable to the benzodiazepines, a class of medications commonly used for GAD, PD, and SAD. (11) Benzodiazepine medications bind to a macromolecular complex that is found within the central nervous system (CNS), referred to as the GABA (gammaaminobutyric acid) benzodiazepine receptor-chloride ion channel complex. (12) When benzodiazepines bind onto or near this macromolecular complex they potentiate GABA-ergic synaptic inhibition through membrane hyperpolarization, thus enhancing the conductance of the chloride ion by increasing the frequency of channel-opening events. (12)

The net result is the reduction of anxiety and related symptoms via the diminution of neurotransmission (e.g., neuronal firing) among many brain regions such as the spinal cord, hypothalamus, hippocampus, substantia nigra, cerebellar cortex, and cerebral cortex. (12)

more information:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_259-260/ai_n12417487

ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE NEWS SERVICE

"It is a matter of common knowledge that any processing that foods undergo serves to make them more harmful than unprocessed foods." (McDonald's Corporation legal statement, shown in the documentary "Supersize Me")

The DOCTOR YOURSELF NEWSLETTER (Vol. 5, No. 2 for January 5, 2005)

"Free of charge, free of advertising, and free of the A.M.A." Written and copyright 2004 by Andrew W. Saul of http://www.doctoryourself.com/ , which welcomes 1.5 million visitors
annually. Commercial use of the website or the contents of this Newsletter is strictly prohibited.

ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE NEWS SERVICE

My long-time readers have likely taken notice that the DOCTOR YOURSELF Newsletter is now a monthly. Yes, after five years of twice- monthly publication, I am giving a nod to the reality of some 30,000 hits a day at the http://www.doctoryourself.com/ website. There is only so much
time in a day.

The good news: I will continue to assail your ears about every four weeks or so with my edifying editorials and health hints. And, there is still NO CHARGE for the Newsletter. (To subscribe to the Doctor Yourself Newsletter:

newsletter-subscribe@doctoryourself.com )
Here's the really good news: With my copious new free time, I am beginning another project: the ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE NEWS SERVICE. Like the Associated Press or Reuters, OMNS is a wire-service style news feed directed to members of the press, radio and TV news
media.

We have authoritative scientific clout and plan to use it. The OMNS editorial board consists of:

Abram Hoffer, M.D.
Hugh D. Riordan, M.D.
Harold Foster, Ph.D.
Bradford Weeks, M.D.

I see the creation of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service as an increasingly necessary step to counter the pharmaceutically-biased factoids and vitamin misinformation that the media seem ever so ready to accept uncritically. The recent allegedly-negative E and C studies bear this out. (http://www.doctoryourself.com/safety.html/ )

Now with many hundreds of media email addresses, both newspaper and TV, we will shortly go ahead with a mass e-mail press release and inaugural announcement.

YES, YOU TOO MAY SUBSCRIBE TO THE ORTHOMOLECULAR NEWS SERVICE, free of charge. To do so, you will need to promptly send a blank email to omns-subscribe@doctoryourself.com . (Requests to other addresses, such as my regular email address, will not be processed.)

ASCORBATE: THE SCIENCE OF VITAMIN C
"It's not what we don't know that harms us, but what we do know that ain't so." (Eubie Blake, 1883-1983)

What is it about a little left-handed molecule of six carbons, six oxygens, and eight hydrogens that ticks off so many in the medical community? Maybe it's cases like this one: Ray, a health professional I know, had an 11-month old son who was very sick for over a week. No one, and I mean no one, in their family had had any sleep in a long time.

They were up night after night with this child, who had a high fever, glazed watery eyes, tons of thick watery mucus and labored breathing. The child would not sleep, and did little else but cry. The baby was under the care of a pediatrician, who, in the infant's eleven months on earth, had already prescribed twelve rounds of some very serious antibiotics. That they clearly were not working was all too apparent to Ray, who out of desperation decided to try something he previously had been taught to not try: bowel tolerance quantities of oral ascorbate.

Ray and his wife gave their baby some vitamin C about every 15 minutes. As a result, the baby
was noticeably improved in a matter of hours, and slept through the night. With frequent doses continuing, the child was completely well in 48 hours. Ray calculated that the baby had received just over 2,000 mg vitamin C per kilogram body weight per day. This is even more than what Dr. Frederick Robert Klenner customarily ordered for sick patients. Remarkably, at 20,000 milligrams of vitamin C/day, that 20-pound baby never had diarrhea. With such a little body, you have to marvel at where all of it was going. Of course, it is the opinion of those who promulgate the US RDA and related nutritional mythology that almost all of that baby's vitamin C went uselessly into the toilet. Ray and his wife would tell you differently. They would say
that their sick child soaked it up like a sponge, and then promptly got better.

For the layman unable to obtain intravenous vitamin C, one of the most important parts of Hickey and Roberts' new book, Ascorbate: The Science of Vitamin C, is its attention to oral administration, divided dosing, absorption, and vitamin C retention time in the bloodstream. With simple graphs and uncomplicated language, the authors illustrate 1) how high oral
doses of vitamin C yield higher blood levels of the vitamin, and 2) how dividing the oral doses maintains those higher levels. Although initially seeming almost too obvious to mention, these are not self-evident concepts. Government-based intake standards such as the RDA hinge on
ignoring them.

Hickey and Roberts zero in on this serious public health error. Their critical analysis of research studies purporting to justify a mere 100 or 200 mg/day ascorbate dose is worthy of Linus Pauling himself. Dr. Roberts says: "Stressed and even mildly ill people can tolerate 1,000 times more vitamin C, implying a change in biochemistry that was ignored in creating the
RDA. The RDA concept does not differentiate between short and long- term effects of deprivation.

The possibility that sub-clinical scurvy causes chronic disease has enormous implications for health. In setting the RDA, unsubstantiated risks of taking too much vitamin C have been accorded great importance, whereas the risks of not taking enough have been ignored. Real scientists understand that 'no scientific proof' is a fancy way of saying 'we don’t like this idea.' Furthermore, there is no clear mechanism for the RDA to be modified when new scientific evidence emerges."

Ascorbate: The Science of Vitamin C is a compellingly written, fast-paced inspection of belief-based bias that permeates the scientific method. It is not a tirade; Hickey and Roberts simply tell it the way it is. They are well qualified to do so. Steve Hickey has a PhD in Medical Biophysics from the University of Manchester, and spent about ten years in research at the
Manchester Medical School and associated hospitals. Interestingly, he had initially trained as a biologist specializing in pharmacology, later switching to biomechanics and medical physics. In addition to degrees in physiology and computer science, Hilary Roberts' University of Manchester PhD was on the effects of early life malnutrition. She spent ten years in research
and teaching at the university.

When asked how he and his coauthor came to write the book, Dr. Hickey said: "Since Linus Pauling's death, there seemed to be a great deal of misinformation. The NIH had performed some questionable experiments and were making the apparently ridiculous statement that blood plasma and tissues became saturated with low doses of vitamin C. There was no mainstream research on high doses and the establishment was making wild extrapolations from their low dose data. We could not see how a clinical trial with 200 mg of vitamin C, for example, could be used to suggest that higher doses were not effective. The work of physicians like Robert Cathcart, Archie Kalokerinos and Abram Hoffer intrigued us. The reported effects, especially of intravenous vitamin C, were astounding. It was difficult to find any reason to explain the lack of scientific follow-up. We had friends and relatives that were sick or dying from diseases that
high dose vitamin C was claimed to cure. Eventually we felt we had no choice but to write the book."

Dr. Roberts adds: "Most RDA standards are based on data which was not measured in actual experiments on real people. Even the small amount of data from the 19–30 year old subjects, who were measured, is based on neutrophils, a white blood cell type that is known to have unusual vitamin C biochemistry, along with an exceptional ability to pump the vitamin into
itself. Neutrophils have ascorbate levels from 25-60 times that of the surrounding plasma. This cell type is not a reliable model for the whole body."

Additional topics discussed in Ascorbate: The Science of Vitamin C include infectious disease, oxidation and illness, the safety of vitamin C, and a presentation of the authors' dynamic flow model of continual vitamin C-mediated tissue reduction. The book contains substantial sections
devoted to cardiovascular disease, with the welcome inclusion of an efficient discussion of the roles of vitamin E and lysine. Two excellent chapters on cancer take the starch right out of the Mayo Clinic "refutations" of the Pauling/Cameron vitamin C studies. The authors state that Dr.
Charles "Moertel's switch to oral does would clearly have biased the results" even though Pauling "stated clearly that intravenous doses are more effective than oral doses and explained the reasons for the difference."

Ascorbate: The Science of Vitamin C contains 575 references, and especially good ones. Though not alphabetized, all are keyed to the text with numbered footnotes. For a book this important, the index could be and should be more detailed. A glossary is included for the general reader.
All will enjoy the well-selected epigrams that form the chapter lead-in quotes.

The authors expert command of their topic has enabled them to successfully encompass an enormous, and enormously important, subject. To make a 216-page book this comprehensive, and also so exceptionally comprehensible as well, is no small achievement.

I wish I'd had a book of this caliber back in the 1970's when my kids were infants. I raised my children all the way into college without a single dose of any antiviral, antihistamine, or antibiotic. What they did get were megadoses of vitamin C. We, like so many other parents, learned the
principles of vitamin C therapy (quantity, frequency, and duration) at our kids' bedsides at three in the morning. Now, the pioneering work of megascorbate orthomolecular physicians has been concisely summarized and very skillfully explained in Ascorbate: The Science of Vitamin C. It is a thorough, up to date and very readable analysis of what, to some, may still appear to be a controversial topic.

Those who use it know that taking enough C results in three C's: patient comfort, low cost, and parental control. Without necessitating the use of invasive technology, nor the trauma of hospitalization, parents can regain confidence and mastery over illness to a degree that they might never have thought possible. For this reason, vitamin C therapy will, at least in
some quarters, continue be decried and denounced as irresponsible. It takes some real ego strength for a parent to stand firm and say, "This is what I am going to do: I am going to follow the Klenner/Pauling/Cathcart vitamin C protocol." Hickey and Roberts' review of vitamin C research is a solid buttress that makes such a stance possible. No bias or belief system
can withstand their first-rate presentation of the safety and effectiveness of megadoses of ascorbate.

Hickey S and Roberts H. Ascorbate: The science of vitamin C. 2004. ISBN 1-4116-0724-4. Morrisville, NC: Lulu.com. www.lulu.com/ascorbate NEW REVIEW of DOCTOR YOURSELF: Natural Healing that Works "Take Charge of Your Own Health"

Review by Beatrice Trum Hunter, in the Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients

Several recently published books deal with subjects that emphasize the importance of an individual taking charge of health practices and decisions. . . The illnesses and health problems discussed in Doctor Yourself: Natural Healing that Works are presented in alphabetical order,
and include acid reflux, allergies, hemorrhoids, sleep disorders, and vaccinations, among many others. According to Andrew Saul, many diseases can be treated with safe, inexpensive, and drugless approaches. He writes conversationally, interspersing protocols with personal
experiences and case stories. Take psoriasis, an intractable condition. Try a complete change of diet, with fresh foods, vegetable juices, lecithin, and vitamins including extra vitamin D, instead of the palliative ointments and lotions. For additional information on the scientific studies supporting the protocols. Dr. Saul refers readers to DoctorYourself.com website with
more than 4000 references.

Doctor Yourself: Natural Healing that Works, by Andrew, Saul, PhD.

(oversized quality paperback, 241 pages, bibliography, index, 2003) [from the Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, #253-254, May 2004, p 132. http://www.townsendletter.com/ / Telephone (360)385-6021.] Editor's Note: This particular review was a special treat for me. Beatrice Trum Hunter's NATURAL FOODS COOKBOOK (New York: Pyramid, 1961) was one of the very first health books I read. (It is reviewed at http://www.hoboes.com/html/Diner/revue/naturalfoods.shtml) I was therefore most honored to have made her list of recommended books. Incidentally, the Townsend Letter also very favorably reviewed Doctor Yourself in the Aug-Sept 2004 issue. The review is posted at
http://www.doctoryourself.com/townsend.html . Additional reviews of my book are posted at http://www.doctoryourself.com/saulbooks.html/

TO ORDER AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY of DOCTOR YOURSELF:
Natural Healing that Works, please go to http://www.doctoryourself.com/order.html/

FREE ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE
There is no longer any excuse to not have the latest and most recent, and
I mean this morning's, antivirus protection. With AVG Free Edition
Antivirus software, such protection is free and updates are, too. I have
used this excellent, downloadable, and totally free of charge program for
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http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/
(You can also go to http://www.grisoft.com )

FIRM FLUORIDE FACTS
Please especially note the sources of these statements.
"THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT FLUORIDE IS AN ESSENTIAL
NUTRIENT FOR HUMANS." (Physicians' Desk Reference)
http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/nmdrugprofiles/nutsupdrugs/flu_0109.shtml

FLUORIDE IS NOT APPROVED BY THE U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION http://www.cm-life.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/12/06/41b3e6ab68a3c

("CITY REMOVES FLUORIDE FROM WATER. The City of Mount Pleasant (Michigan) followed the will of its resident-voters and began removing fluoride from its water supply. . . (City) ordinance states anything added to the city water must be approved by the Food and Drug
Administration, and fluoride is not.")

FLUORIDE DOES NOT WORK
California is 28% fluoridated; Hawaii is 9% fluoridated. These states are tied for the lowest rate of tooth loss in the USA. On the other hand, Kentucky is 100% fluoridated and has the highest toothless population of older adults.

(http://www.latimes.com/features/health/medicine/la-me-health2jan02,1,2990789.story?coll=la-health-medicine)

CORRECTION: My review of Pottenger's Cats, in the December, 2004 Newsletter (posted at http://www.doctoryourself.com/news/v5n1.txt ) omitted rightful mention of the Selene River Press (http://www.seleneriverpress.com/), publisher and distributor of health books.
They kindly provided me with the review copy of Pottenger's Cats.

VITAMIN E WITCH HUNT
by Michael Fumento
http://www.fumento.com/nutr/vitamine.html
Less than two months ago I debunked a report in the Lancet medical journal claiming antioxidants slightly increase your chance of dying, rather than reducing it as most researchers believe. Now I'm writing about a report that says the same thing about a specific antioxidant, vitamin E. Why are these pills being persecuted? Among the similarities of the earlier report and this one, authored by researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, is that the mainstream media accepted both without question. Both times the researchers smugly declared their work to be the final word on the subject, though both reports were, as the vitamin E one
admitted, 'a qualitative departure from previous findings.'

Since a good scientist knows no single report ever proves anything, we know these weren't good scientists. In fact, they have less in common with Johns Hopkins than Matthew Hopkins - England's infamous 'Witch-finder General.'
Consider the vitamin E paper, published in The Annals of Internal Medicine (full citation at http://www.doctoryourself.com/safety.html ). It analyzed 19 clinical trials between 1993 and 2004, involving 136,000 people in all. These were combined into what's called a 'meta-analysis,'
which showed no overall increase in deaths. But at high levels, defined as above 400 international units (IUs) per day, the researchers insisted 'vitamin E supplements may increase (deaths) and should be avoided.'
A glaring problem with the report is that there have been far more than 19 vitamin E trials since 1993, and one way the pack was whittled down was by excluding all studies reporting fewer than 10 deaths. The witch-hunters weren't about to interrogate witnesses who might keep the accused from a visit to the gallows.
Also, if 'more is worse,' why did the two studies that used the highest dose, 2,000 IUs per day, indicate fewer deaths among vitamin E users? Another problem with declaring this report to be the final word on vitamin E is that while clinical trials are important, epidemiological studies cannot be ignored. Yet ignored they were.

Thus there was no reference to the 1996 one from the National Institute of Aging that followed 11,000 elderly persons for seven years and found that the death rate for vitamin E users was a third that of non-users. Adding another antioxidant, vitamin C, cut fatalities even more.

A 1993 Harvard study of 40,000 male health professionals found those who took at least 100 IUs daily for two years had a third fewer cases of heart disease than those receiving no vitamin E supplements.
A Harvard study of 87,000 nurses that year found an even greater reduction in heart disease when comparing women who took the highest amount of vitamin E vs. those taking the lowest amount. Does this have you running in terror at the sight of a vitamin E capsule?

But what's with the supplement witch-hunt? Why the reports of vitamin E flying on broomsticks, and beta carotene casting hexes? "Unfortunately, there are some doctors who are biased against dietary supplements," says John Hathcock, vice president of Scientific & International Affairs at the D.C.-based Council for Responsible Nutrition. To an extent, this is understandable. For one, some supplements are worthless while a few have proved harmful. But you just can't lump 'eye of newt' in together with vitamin E or other antioxidants.
Mainstream medicine is also biased toward that which has formal FDA approval. You know, like Vioxx. And never mind the many supplements such as iron and iodine that have tacit FDA support but no formal approval.

Some doctors also fret that people will try to substitute supplements for good eating habits. 'We don't think that people need to take vitamin E supplements, that they get enough from the diet,' said the lead vitamin E prosecutor, associate professor Edgar Miller.
Yet the average American gets only about 10 IU daily. With some studies showing 2,000 IUs to be beneficial, dietary intake leaves us a bit shy of the mark. Anyway, those taking vitamins and other supplements also have the best diets.
The final explanation for vitamin-pill persecution is that medical journals are becoming increasingly sensationalist. Publishing articles contrary to popular wisdom is a cheap and easy way to get headlines. But there's no excuse for throwing a noose around the neck of good
science and healthful products.
[Reprinted with the kind permission of the author. Michael Fumento http://www.fumento.com/) is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, syndicated columnist with Scripps Howard News Service and author of BioEvolution: How Biotechnology is Changing our World.]

The GERSON THERAPY MOVIE IS NOW ONLINE!
If you've been wanting to watch THE GERSON MIRACLE ever since I reviewed it the July 20 Doctor Yourself Newsletter (http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersontherapy2.html or http://www.doctoryourself.com/news/v4n16.txt), you are in luck. The entire movie, or any specific chapter you like, can now be viewed FREE OF CHARGE at www.gersonmiracle.org/movie.html . Grab some unsalted popcorn and pull up a chair.

BOOK REVIEW:
FAST FOOD NATION: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, by Eric
Schlosser.

Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2001. ISBN: 0395977894
Why, why, why are so many, many, many people so sick, sick, sick? The main reason is staring right back at them from their dinner. It's the junk food, people. An ever-increasing proportion of our food is fast food. "In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food; in 2000, they spent more than $110 billion," writes Eric Schlosser in his book Fast Food Nation. "They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music - combined. . . On any given day in the United States, about one-quarter of the adult population visits a fast food restaurant." (p 3)

What does this mean to our health? Everything. Fast food is a high- additive, high-fat, high-meat, high-sugar, and high-salt diet. And what's just as bad, it's a low-fiber, low vitamin, low mineral diet to boot. Fast food is exactly the wrong way to eat.

And we are teaching our kids just how to do it . . .wrong. Chapter 2 discusses how the fast-food industry sells to kids, especially in schools. This is the last thing we need; a typical teenage boy already drinks 20 oz of soda a day. Indoctrination starts early: page 30 of Fast Food Nation shows a superb photo of Ronald McDonald speaking to a large room full of enraptured elementary schoolchildren. How can this be?
Because the cafeterias in so many of our school districts are for sale for the right price. The actual franchise income that any school district may get pales when compared to what fast food industry takes in. After all, says Schlosser, "A medium Coke that sells for $1.29 contains roughly 9 cents' worth of syrup."

Adults are to blame. We, not our kids, are the ones who allowed fast food in our schools. We are the ones who let Harlem Memorial Hospital contain its very own McDonald's. It is our money that enables McDonald's to open FIVE new restaurants every DAY. It is our U.S. Federal Communications Commission and our U.S. Federal Trade Commission that permit every American child to watch 10,000 television food ads every year. Are these ads for carrots? Not according to Yale professor Kelly Brownell, PhD., who says that 95% of TV food commercials promote candy, soft drinks and fast food.

Fast Food Nation is much more than a history of soda pop and the flipped burger. In Chapter 3, Schlosser takes us "Behind the Counter" to examine labor issues in the fast food biz. "No other industry in the United States has a workforce so dominated by adolescents," he writes. And teenagers work hard and they work cheap. Too cheap. "Increasing the federal minimum wage by a dollar (an hour) would add about two cents to the cost of a fast food hamburger." Fast Food Nations also explores "Why the Fries Taste Good" in Chapter 5, as well as the very real dangers for those who work at meat packing factories.

Your making a point to read the exceptionally well-written Fast Food Nation would be the perfect New Year's resolution. Here is some video encouragement to help you on your way as you change your lifestyle and fight to eat right:

DIET WARS
"Nobody ever got rich marketing self-control." That is my favorite quote from "Diet Wars," a recent PBS' Frontline presentation. If you missed this truly excellent program, you can still watch it online, for free, at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/diet/view/

Privacy Statement:
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AN IMPORTANT NOTE: This newsletter is not in any way offered as prescription, diagnosis nor treatment for any disease, illness, infirmity or physical condition. Any form of self-treatment or alternative health program
necessarily must involve an individual's acceptance of some risk, and no one should assume otherwise. Persons needing medical care should obtain it from a physician. Consult your doctor before making any health decision.

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Copyright c 2005 and prior years Andrew W. Saul drsaul@doctoryourself.com . Permission to reproduce single copies of this newsletter FOR NON-COMMERCIAL, PERSONAL USE ONLY is hereby granted providing no alteration of content is made and authorship credit is
given.

HIGH DOSES OF INTRAVENOUS VITAMIN C FIGHT CANCER

Kathleen Doheny, The New York Times, Tues, Sept.13, 2005
"High doses of vitamin C administered intravenously can fight cancer -- at least in the laboratory, researchers report.

"(The study) examined the body's absorption of the nutrient and found that while oral intake does reach a saturation point, when you give doses intravenously they go through the roof in the blood and then they are cleared, said lead researcher Dr. Mark Levine (chief of the molecular and clinical nutrition section and senior staff physician, National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases). According to Levine, a 10 gram dose (10,000 milligrams) of vitamin C given intravenously produces bloodstream concentrations more than 25-fold higher than concentrations achieved from the same oral dose.

"Some antibiotics are poorly absorbed when given orally but fight infections effectively when given intravenously, and Levine and his team thought that might be the case with vitamin C and cancer. Working with cell lines in the laboratory, they used high doses of vitamin C that could only be achieved by IV administration.

At the highest concentration of ascorbic acid, if given intravenously, they don't touch normal cells and they kill lots of cancer cells. We don't know why, Levine said."

(Editor’s note: Yes, this is certainly good news, although it is not really "news" to most Doctor Yourself Newsletter readers. It is rather an official confirmation, one that has, finally, gotten the attention of the media. Even FOX news picked it up. As Gomer Pyle said, "Goll-y!")

WHY THE DELAY?
Commentary by Bill Sardi
"With a growing body of evidence mounting, National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers recently conceded that intravenous vitamin C may be an effective treatment for cancer. Last year the same researchers reported a similar study but the news media failed to publish it.
"The latest study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, confirms the work of Nobel-Prize winner Linus Pauling who conducted cancer research in the 1970s with vitamin C. Dr. Pauling's studies were discredited at the time by poorly conducted research studies at the Mayo Clinic.

"NIH researchers made no mention of their earlier study in 2004 which showed that oral-dose vitamin C can achieve three times greater blood concentration than previously thought possible, a fact which negates the current Recommended Dietary Allowance for vitamin C. NIH researchers refuse to issue a retraction of their earlier flawed research which mistakenly claimed humans cannot benefit from high-dose oral vitamin C supplements."

More at http://www.knowledgeofhealth.com/
Also see: http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/09/13/cancer_intravenous_vitamin_c_effective_treatment.htm
Full citation:
Qi Chen, Michael Graham Espey , Murali C. Krishna, James B. Mitchell, Christopher P. Corpe, Garry R. Buettner, Emily Shacter, and Mark Levine. Pharmacologic ascorbic acid concentrations selectively kill cancer cells: Action as a pro-drug to deliver hydrogen peroxide to tissues. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.0506390102
"Extracellular but not intracellular ascorbate mediated cell death, which occurred by apoptosis and pyknosis/necrosis . . . (T)hese data indicate that ascorbate at concentrations achieved only by i.v. administration may be a pro-drug for formation of H2O2, and that blood can be a delivery system of the pro-drug to tissues. These findings give plausibility to i.v. ascorbic acid in cancer treatment..."
This News release was provided by DOCTOR YOURSELF News (Vol. 5 , No. 13 for October, 2005)

Schizophrenia and Orthomolecular Medicine

For 30 years the Canadian Schizophrenia Foundation has provided vital information, support and hope for effectively treating schizophrenia and related disorders.

What is Schizophrenia? Schizophrenia is not a split personality. It refers to a group of biochemical diseases which can affect a person physically, mentally and emotionally.

Schizophrenia can change the way a person hears, sees, tastes, think
and feels. Some studies have shown that the predisposition to schizophrenia is inherited. It affects one to three percent of the population and strikes mainly young people in all walks of life.

What Causes Schizophrenia? Some professionals blame fathers, mothers, society or environment. However, scientific evidence indicates that schizophrenia is caused by errors in body chemistry.

What are the Danger Signals? Schizophrenia can have symptoms which are similar to other illnesses and disorders. It is therefore necessary to see a competent physician if schizophrenia is suspected. The following are some of the most common complaints that persons with schizophrenia have:

• Extreme fatigue and feeling of weakness
• Dffficulty in concentrating and getting organized
• Loss of interest, withdrawal
• Depression unrelated to life circumstances
• Vague fears and anxieties
• Changes in sight, hearing, touch, taste or smell
• Change in character or behaviour
• Headaches
• Insomnia

How is it Diagnosed?

There is a great difference of opinion as to what constitutes schizophrenia and considerable variety in its diagnosis. Persons with schizophrenia or their relatives are often told the patient is emotionally disturbed, has had a nervous breakdown, has an immature personality, or is retarded. Unfortunately, no matter what terms are used, the majority do not get well on conventional treatments.

The principal method "used in diagnosing is clinical observation by the doctor. Avery useful psychological test, the Hoffer Osmond Diagnostic Tbst, which can be administered easily and quickly, has been developed to help in diagnosis.

How in Schizophrenia Treated? If left untreated, there is a natural recovery rate of about 35%. The usual forms of treatment are tranquilizers, psychotherapy or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). There are many schools of thought and many opinions regarding the treatment of schizophrenia. It has been shown, however, that psychotherapy alone is not an effective treatment. ECT and tranquilizers may be useful as part of a good treatment program but cannot produce lasting benefits alone.

Orthomolecular treatment is reported to be effective in 80% or more of the cases and is the best treatment developed so far. This treatment usually includes a special diet, vitamins and minerals in accordance with the individual needs of the patient, and other therapeutic aids such as tranquilizers, supportive psychotherapy, and other treatments which the doctor thinks will be useful. Many persons with schizophrenia have low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and allergies which are treated.

How Does Schizophrenia Affect Society? Schizophrenia is a frightening disease which can bring about a great deal of suffering to the patients and the family and severe problems to society. Schizophrenia is an important factor in social aid and welfare costs, health care costs, employment inefficiency, impaired learning ability, alcoholism, broken homes and suicide. The average person with schizophrenia will cost one to two million dollars to society, directly and indirectly, in his/her lifetime.

What Can be Done to Control Schizophrenia? Schizophrenia will only be conquered with effective diagnosis and treatment. The aim of the Canadian Schizophrenia Foundation is to conquer schizophrenia by:

• Informing the public about schizophrenia, its danger signals and what can be done about it.
• Helping the person with schizophrenia and the family to learn how to deal with this illness.
• Ensuring that effective diagnostic and treatment methods are instituted, and that people with schizophrenia are given a better chance of getting well than they have at present.
• Promoting research.
• Improving mental hospitals and treatment centres.

Orthomolecular Treatment
What is it? Orthomolecular treatment is defined as providing the brain and the body with the best possible biochemical environment, especially with those substances normally found in the body such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other essential molecules.

What are the Principal Components of the Treatment? Vitamins and minerals are administered according to the individual needs of patients. A good diet is considered to be an important part of the therapy. Treatment for such disorders as low blood sugar, allergies, and thyroid problems are included when necessary. Sometimes tranquilizers are used for brief periods, and other treatments and supportive therapy are included.

For Which Disorders is it Used? The orthomolecular treatment can be used for a wide variety of disorders such as schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, behaviour and learning disorders in children, problems of aging, alcoholism and addiction, arthritis, heart and circulatory problems and many other diseases.

How Can a Person Receive Orthomolecular Therapy? A physician sh6uld be consulted for all medical problems. The vitamin dosages and diet and other therapies should be regulated to suit the needs of the individual patient. If the physician is not familiar with the therapy, he can consult other physicians who are. In addition, the CSF can provide literature. Manuals for physicians are available, as well as a wealth of publications.

Are there anyAdverse Effects? The orthomolecular treatment is generally a very safe one. A small percentage of people experience some discomfort when taking vitamins, but the doctor can prescribe other forms ofthese vitamins or adjust the dose.

How Effective is Orthomolecular Treatment? In the treatment of schizophrenia, the American Schizophrenia Association Committee on Therapy reported 80% recoveries based on a follow up of 1,500 patients. Other physicians report a recovery rate of more than 75% and considerably higher in children. The orthomolecular treatment has been found to be highly effective in treating many other disorders including depression, behaviour and learning problems in children, alcoholism and problems associated with aging.

For additional information: http://www.orthomed.org/