Question

What is the difference between natural vitamins and synthetic? And how can I tell the difference?

Answer

Natural vitamins come from food. Only food contains real vitamins because a vitamin is not a single substance, but a combination of dozens of ingredients. Unless your vitamin supplement was produced from food, it is almost undoubtedly synthetic. Please download the free chapter from Nutrition and Your Health, this subject is discussed there in some details.

In general, look at the ingredients of your supplement. If the ingredients are "ascorbic acid" or "d-alpha tocopheryl" or "thiamine hydrochloride" then you know they are synthetic. They were made in a laboratory, usually by a pharmaceutical company, from either coal tar, petroleum, or genetically modified corn syrup. If the ingredients are "carrot" and "nutritional yeast" or "wheat germ", this supplement was made from real food. 

It does not matter where you buy your supplement, as long as the ingredients are synthetic, you will not get the benefits you expect.

Question

Why are refined carbohydrates fattening?

Answer

I discuss this subject in details in my book Nutrition and Your Health. In short, refined carbohydrates are quickly digested and turned into sugar, which pours into your blood. You can only use a certain amount of sugar at a time, so your body turns the extra sugar into fat, to be used later when you need more calories. 

Refined carbohydrates are white bread and anything made from white flour, white rice, baked potato, corn chips, most breakfast cereals, cookies, cakes, ice cream, and other sweets, soda, and most fruit juices.

Question

Is atenolol a good drug for high blood pressure?

Answer

There are no good drugs for blood pressure. Even though they all can lower blood pressure, it does not make you any healthier. 

High pressure is not a disease. It is only a symptom, just like high temperature is a symptom. We don't usually treat the fever without treating its cause. Similarly, we need to treat the cause of high blood pressure. There are 2 major (and a few minor) reasons for high blood pressure: obesity and atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). 

High pressure is created when you heart is pushing your blood harder. Your heart was created to support a body of a certain size. If the body is much bigger than it is supposed to be (obesity), the heart will have to work much harder, so your pressure will go up. No drug, including atenolol, is going to correct that.

If you have hardening of the arteries, they become more narrow. Your heart has to work harder to push the blood through narrow arteries. This raises the pressure and the workload of the heart. Atenolol or any other drug will not correct this either. 

That is why people taking blood pressure medications still have much higher risk of heart attack or stroke because the underlying condition is not corrected. If you think that you reduce your risk by taking a drug (or drugs) you are mistaken. You can only reduce the risk if you correct the reason for high blood pressure. What you need to do is lose weight (if you are overweight) and/or correct the hardening of the arteries by improving your diet and taking appropriate nutritional supplements.

Question

can an overabundance of candida yeast lead to alopecia areata?

Answer

Candida yeast, also called candida albicans, is a common yeast that everybody has in their intestine and often in other parts of the body. There are many problems associated with candida overgrowth, but I have not heard or seen anybody who had alopecia areata caused by candida.

Question

i got HPV and i know it 3 months ago.and now my doctor recomend me to vaccine against it and i got 2 injection already.now my question is -am I protected against this virus?and i am safe? thank and regards! arlene

Answer

For a complete discussion of HPV vaccine I would like to refer you to my blog of September 27, 2009. I presume that the vaccine you got was Gardasil, because it is used more than the newly approved Cervarix.

As you know, HPV viruses are linked to both cervical cancer and genital warts. There are over 100 different types of HPV. Types 16 and 18 are responsible for almost 70% of all cases of cervical cancer. The other 30% are caused by types 31, 33, 45 and at least ten others. HPV types 6 and 11 are linked to genital warts.

Gardasil offers protection against HPV types 16 and 18 (can cause cancer) plus 6 and 11 (can cause warts). Cervarix only offers protection against the cancer-related 16 and 18, but the protection lasts longer, 6.4 years instead of 4.

If you get 3 shots of the vaccine, you will be protected against the viruses that are covered by the vaccine, but your protection will last only a few years. You will still be unprotected against all the other HPV viruses that are out there.

Since HPV is transmitted by sexual contact, your best bet would be to avoid the kind of sexual activity that increases your exposure.

Question

WHAT THE BEST IMMUNE BOOSTER?

Answer

You may want to read the blog entry posted on September 13, 2009 where I talk about how to make your immune system stronger. Basically, you want to eat real, wholesome, nutritious food and avoid junk food, especially sugar, which makes your immune system weaker.

As for nutritional supplements, I recommend a basic protocol, especially this time of year (late autumn):

Echinacea. Make sure that it is Echinacea Angustofolia, not any other kind, because only this one is effective.

Immuplex from Standard Process. This is a product that supports the tissues and organs of the immune system, particularly the thymus gland, spleen, liver, bone marrow (where the white cells are made), and the white cells themselves. It is loaded with natural vitamins and minerals, plus the extracts of liver, thymus, bone, and the spleen, which improve the same organs and glands in your body. This type of treatment is called glandular and has been used by naturopathic physicians for many centuries with great results.

Cataplex C, a natural vitamin C, as opposed to synthetic ascorbic acid.

Cataplex D, a natural form of vitamin D.

All the supplements are from Standard Process www.standardprocess.com

There are many other supplements that I use to boost the immune system, but these are the ones I consider the most essential.

Question

Can better nutrition lead to fewer colds?

Answer

Of course it can. The better your nutrition, the stronger your immune system, which makes you less likely to catch a cold or any infection for that matter. Nutrition and Your Health describes in details what I consider a good way to eat your way to better health, so you may want to read it. 

In short, eat foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. Cooked oatmeal is OK, but cereal made from oats that looks like little doughnuts is not. It is a highly processed product that has lost most of its nutritional value. A steak is OK, but not a hot dog or luncheon meat. You get the idea.

You should also take a good nutritional supplement that provides additional vitamins and minerals to fortify your body. I recommend a product called Catalyn from Standard Process (www.standardprocess.com). It is made from 12 types of foods that are dehydrated using a patented low temperature method (heat can destroy vitamins) and mixed together. Catalyn retains all the nutritional value of foods from which it is made, with all the vitamins, trace minerals, enzymes, and other factors and co-factors, sort of like a raisin has all the nutritional value of a grape from which it is made.

Most vitamin supplements that are sold in pharmacies and health food stores are not real vitamins. They are produced synthetically in a laboratory, usually from coal tar or petroleum products. Only real food contains real vitamins, which is why Catalyn is the preferred way of supplementing your diet.

If you are concerned about colds, you should also keep your immune system strong by using supplemental herbs, such as Echinacea, Garlic, and others that can be taken on a long-term basis.

One of the bonuses that comes with the book Nutrition and Your Health is my guide to different nutritional supplements and my health protocols for a variety of health conditions.

Question

My OBGYN gave me a prenatal vitamin to take while I am pregnant. I checked the ingredients and there are some chemicals I can't even pronounce. Is there a better vitamin?

Answer

This is a big problem. Pregnant women and their unborn babies are getting poisoned with prenatal vitamins. These "vitamins" are all synthetic, plus they contain chemicals, such as preservatives and coloring agents. Some even have Aluminum, a toxic metal that can damage your and the babies brain. So what is the alternative?

It is to take a supplement made from food. For my pregnant patients I use exclusive the supplements made by Standard Process because they are completely natural, made from real food, and do not contain any coloring agents or preservatives or any unnatural substances at all.

I use 4 supplements as the basis or the program: Catalyn (multivitamin), Folic acid/B12, Ferrofood (natural form of iron), and MinTran (multimineral). You can learn more about these supplements by going on the Standard Process web site. For more information about pregnancy, please visit my practice site.

Question

I took calcium and D for 5 years for my osteoporosis but my bones are not getting stronger. Why?

Answer

Check the calcium that you are taking. Most calcium supplements are Calcium Carbonate, which is made by grinding limestone. If you eat a piece of rock, it is not likely to be very helpful. Taking calcium carbonate is the same as eating rocks. Other forms of calcium are not much better - calcium from oyster shells, choral calcium, and so on. They are all made from calcium carbonate.

Calcium citrate is somewhat better. The next best thing is Calcium Microcrystalline hydroxyapatite (MCHA). It is the material from which the bone is made. It is usually obtained from bones of young cows.

Finally, the best product is the one made by Standard Process. It is called Calcifood. it is a veal bone with bone marrow that has been ground into powder, mixed with wheat germ, carrots and figs, then dehydrated and formed into tablets. Being a whole bone, it supplies all the nutrients that a bone should have, which includes dozens of different substances, not just calcium.

As to vitamin D, most supplements are synthetic, not real. The real vitamin D is what your body makes when exposed to the sun. The next best thing is eating foods that are naturally high in vitamin D - salmon, tuna, sardines, butter, egg yolks and other fatty foods. There are many articles on this site devoted to vitamin D research. Just put "vitamin D" in the Search area and you will find them all.

I hope this helps.

Question

I had a blood test and it showed low testosterone. I am 37 years old. Is that normal?

Answer

Probably not. As I point out in the book Understanding Your Blood Test Results, before deciding that something is too low or too high, it is a good idea to check it again by doing another blood test.

If your testosterone continues to be low, the most likely cause is decreased level of another hormone called DHEA. Testosterone is made from DHEA in the ovaries and the adrenal glands. DHEA itself is made by the adrenal glands and often becomes decreased in people who have a lot of stress. Have your doctor check DHEA level (the test is called DHEA sulfate).

If the level is low, there are 2 things that can be done. One - you can take DHEA supplement, I use sublingual form, 25 mg a day, which is enough for most people to achieve normal level. Two - you can take a supplement that supports the adrenal glands. I use Drenamin, made by Standard Process. You can get more information by visiting this site. It is actually a good idea to use both initially, and to discontinue DHEA once your adrenals improve. Both DHEA and Drenamin are over-the-counter and do not need a prescription.

Question

Bio Identical Hormones. What is your approach to administering bio-identical hormones?

Answer

I use bio-identical hormone replacement in my practice. For more information please visit my practice site.