Tag Archives: nutrition

To Your Health February, 2014 (Vol. 08, Issue 02) Share |

An Apple a Day Keeps the Statin Drugs at BayBy G. Douglas Andersen, DC, DACBSP, CCN
On the 100th anniversary of the first appearance of the phrase, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” researchers from Oxford published a paper titled “A Statin a Day Keeps the Doctor Away: Comparative Proverb Assessment Modeling Study.” After I read the paper, I felt “An Apple a Day Keeps the Statins at Bay” was a better direction for doctors and their patients.

In their paper, researchers calculated that if everyone over age 50 in the United Kingdom took statin drugs, approximately 9,400 deaths from cardiovascular disease would be prevented every year [if approximately 17 million people over the age of 50 who do not meet the U.K.’s Rx criteria took a statin drug anyway (5 million U.K. adults over age 50 take statins to lower cholesterol.).]
They then applied the same formula, substituting an apple for the drug and an equal number of calories, consumed by 70 percent of 22 million citizens ages 50 and above. (The 95 or so calories provided by the apple were subtracted from other meals so there would not be a daily increase.) Their results revealed that if 70 percent complied, a apple a day would prevent approximately 8,500 deaths a year – almost 1,000 less than the statin drug. However, when researchers estimated side effects, they discovered the stain drug also would cause almost 14,000 serious problems a year:

* Type 2 diabetes: 12,300 cases
* Myopathy (a muscular disease): 1,200 cases
* Rhabdomyolysis (a condition that can lead to kidney failure): 200 cases

When they repeated the exercise using adults ages 30 and older, the researchers estimated that statins would save another 200 lives each year, bringing the adjusted total of prevented deaths to 9,600. But apples would prevent 300 more deaths, reaching 8,800 annually. However, if 30-year-olds all started taking a daily statin, the number of side effects would explode:

* Type 2 diabetes: up 99 percent to 24,400 cases
* Myopathy: up 100 percent to 2,400 cases
* Rhabdomyolysis: up 100 percent to 400 cases

If compliance with the apple regimen (or a second apple, for those who already consumed one a day) was 90 percent instead of the 70 percent, the annual reduction of death from cardiovascular causes would reach 11,000 – a 29 percent increase for a 20 percent higher compliance rate.
At the end of the article is a text box titled “What This Study Adds”: “An apple a day or a statin a day is equally likely to keep the doctor away.” I must respectively disagree: Yes, they may be equally likely to keep the undertaker away, but with 14,000 preventable cases of diabetes and muscle disease every year, “A statin a day guarantees the doctor gets pay.”
Dr. G. Douglas Andersen is a sports chiropractor and certified clinical nutritionist who practices in Brea, Calif. He can be contacted with questions and comments via his Web site: www.andersenchiro.com.

SchluterChiropractic.com

It would be overkill to say that the carrot you eat today has very little nutrition in it—especially compared to some of the other less healthy foods you likely also eat—but it is true that fruits and vegetables grown decades ago were much richer in vitamins and minerals than the varieties most of us get today. The main culprit in this disturbing nutritional trend is soil depletion: Modern intensive agricultural methods have stripped increasing amounts of nutrients from the soil in which the food we eat grows. Sadly, each successive generation of fast-growing, pest-resistant carrot is truly less good for you than the one before.
A landmark study on the topic by Donald Davis and his team of researchers from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry was published in December 2004 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. They studied U.S. Department of Agriculture nutritional data from both 1950 and 1999 for 43 different vegetables and fruits, finding “reliable declines” in the amount of protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and vitamin C over the past half century. Davis and his colleagues chalk up this declining nutritional content to the preponderance of agricultural practices designed to improve traits (size, growth rate, pest resistance) other than nutrition.
“Efforts to breed new varieties of crops that provide greater yield, pest resistance and climate adaptability have allowed crops to grow bigger and more rapidly,” reported Davis, “but their ability to manufacture or uptake nutrients has not kept pace with their rapid growth.” There have likely been declines in other nutrients, too, he said, such as magnesium, zinc and vitamins B-6 and E, but they were not studied in 1950 and more research is needed to find out how much less we are getting of these key vitamins and minerals.
The Organic Consumers Association cites several other studies with similar findings: A Kushi Institute analysis of nutrient data from 1975 to 1997 found that average calcium levels in 12 fresh vegetables dropped 27 percent; iron levels 37 percent; vitamin A levels 21 percent, and vitamin C levels 30 percent. A similar study of British nutrient data from 1930 to 1980, published in the British Food Journal,found that in 20 vegetables the average calcium content had declined 19 percent; iron 22 percent; and potassium 14 percent. Yet another study concluded that one would have to eat eight oranges today to derive the same amount of Vitamin A as our grandparents would have gotten from one.
What can be done? The key to healthier produce is healthier soil. Alternating fields between growing seasons to give land time to restore would be one important step. Also, foregoing pesticides and fertilizers in favor of organic growing methods is good for the soil, the produce and its consumers. Those who want to get the most nutritious fruits and vegetables should buy regularly from local organic farmers.
UT’s Davis warns that just because fruits and vegetables aren’t as healthy as they used to be doesn’t mean we should avoid them. “Vegetables are extraordinarily rich in nutrients and beneficial phytochemicals,” he reported. “They are still there, and vegetables and fruits are our best sources for these.”
CONTACTS: Journal of the American College of Nutrition, www.jacn.org; Kushi Institute, www.kushiinstitute.org; Organic Consumers Association, www.organicconsumers.org.

SchluterChiropractic.com

Fifty years of doctors’ advice and government eating guidelines have been wrong.  Chiropractors were taught this over 20 years ago but no one listened.

http://drhyman.com/blog/2014/02/07/eggs-dont-cause-heart-attacks-sugar/?utm_source=WhatCounts+Publicaster+Edition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter+2-10-14&utm_content=Read+this+week%E2%80%99s+blog