Dr. Arturo M. Volpe

Gluten is a protein found in commonly eaten grains, including wheat, rye, barley and oats (however, the gluten in oats is different and can be tolerated by some gluten-sensitive individuals).

Gluten sensitivity has been found to cause celiac disease, a severe developmental disorder. The association between gluten and celiac disease was discovered by pure coincidence during World War II when some children with the disorder “miraculously” recovered when deprived of wheat, only to relapse when wheat was reintroduced in their diet.
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A recent Duke University study looked at the effects of a very low carbohydrate diet on weight and metabolic parameters. 51 overweight or obese individuals were put on a diet consisting of unlimited meat and eggs plus two cups of salad and one cup of a low-carbohydrate vegetable, such as broccoli, every day.

It should not come as a surprise that these people lost weight. After all, Dr. Atkins has been promoting this very diet for more than two decades. If anything, the extent of their weight loss is disappointing, as it only averaged 10% of body weight. For example, an individual weighing 300 lbs., with a target body weight of 150 lbs., would have weighed 270 lbs. after six months and, considering that weight loss tends to taper off over time, would probably never have reached his or her goal without also restricting the intake of calories.

The real surprise of this study is what happened to cholesterol levels of the study participants. Total cholesterol decreased an average of 26 points. LDL cholesterol (the kind generally considered “bad”) decreased 25 points, while HDL cholesterol (considered “good”) increased 8 points. And yes, you read correctly: these people were actually consuming unlimited amounts of eggs and red meat!

Previous studies had already shown that the consumption of eggs does not raise cholesterol, but do eggs actually lower it? Or – more likely – is it that the excess sugar and carbohydrates in the average American’s everyday diet affect metabolism, causing the body to produce unhealthy levels of cholesterol?

The journal reference for this study is Am J Med, 2002;113(1)30-36.

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In a nutshell, commercial beef and poultry products are a disaster. They contain significant amounts of hormone, antibiotic and pesticide residues. In addition, the fat they contain is altered and harmful to our health. Cows should eat only grass, because when they are fed corn and other feeds, their bodies produce arachidonic acid, a fat that can cause heart disease and other degenerative and inflammatory disorders when consumed by humans.

In contrast, pastured (or grass-fed) beef has many health-enhancing properties. First of all, it is approximately 50% lower in fat and therefore it is lower in calories, a benefit for those trying to manage their weight. It also contains significant amounts of omega-3 oil, commonly associated with fish – though today’s farm-raised fish, including all Atlantic salmon on the market, do not contain omega-3 oil, just as commercial beef does not contain it.

Omega-3 oils, and especially the EPA and DHA forms found in wild cold-water fish and pastured cattle, have been found to protect against inflammation, depression, attention deficit disorder (ADD) and cancer. The average American’s diet is profoundly deficient in these oils. Pastured beef also contains another “good” fat, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), that has been found in recent research to help protect against cancer. For more information about the health benefits of grass-fed beef, visit www.eatwild.com. This website also provides a list of suppliers of pastured beef and organic poultry and eggs from around the country.

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About ten years ago, the United States government recommended – and most states mandated – that infants should be vaccinated against hepatitis B before being discharged from the hospital after birth. Apparently, little consideration was given to the fact that this vaccine contained mercury as a preservative, or to the fact that infants may not have a sufficiently mature immune system for the vaccine to work appropriately. Hepatitis B is primarily a sexually transmitted disease, most common in promiscuous adults, and is also found in users of intravenous drugs. Historically, this disease has been rare among American children, with the highest incidence found among newborns whose mothers were infected.

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) recently released an independent analysis of government statistics on reported cases of serious adverse reactions to the hepatitis B vaccine and cases of the disease in children. Looking at children under the age of 14, 872 serious adverse reactions to the hepatitis B vaccine were reported in 1996 alone, including 48 deaths. By contrast, only 279 cases of hepatitis B were reported nationwide in that age group in the same year. Considering children under the age of 5 from only 8 states, there were 106 serious adverse reactions in 1997, including 10 deaths, versus 25 cases of the disease.
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A large new population study published in the November 7 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine was designed to look for a link between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. The study looked at all the children born in Denmark between 1991 and 1998, a total of 537,303 children, of whom 82% received the vaccine.

Of particular interest is the fact that 738 of these children were diagnosed with autism or other disorders in the autistic spectrum. This equates to one child in 728, a rate that, according to the authors of the study, represents a greater than five-fold increase over rates reported in the 1980’s, but is only about half the rate currently estimated in the U.S. How can we explain this disparity? One suggestion may come from comments released by Dawn Richardson of Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education (PROVE). According to Ms.
Richardson, the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal had been removed from Danish vaccines before this study was initiated.

If this is true, it is possible that thimerosal may account for about half the cases of autism in the U.S. On the other hand, the high rate of autism in Denmark clearly suggests that other environmental factors, aside from thimerosal, must also be contributing to this epidemic. The researchers concluded that no relationship could be established between the MMR vaccine and autism, either in terms of the total number of children with the diagnosis or timing of the diagnosis. However, no information is provided about other vaccines administered to Danish children. In many European countries the immunization schedule is partly voluntary and lighter overall than here. It should be kept in mind that in this country the MMR is given at more or less the same time as the third hepatitis B vaccine, the fourth DTaP, the fourth HiB, the third IPV, the varicella and the fourth PCV, in addition to the first yearly flu shot! Could this huge pileup explain the association of the MMR with autism?

The other day I noticed that, at least on one national news program, this study was portrayed as definitive proof that there is no link between autism and vaccines. This is a complete misrepresentation of the study, which only looked at the relationship between one vaccine, the MMR, and autism and did not address the possibility that other vaccines – or the
cumulative effect of all vaccines – could cause autism either in Denmark or elsewhere. The study reference is N Engl J Med, 2002;347(19):1477-1482 and it can be found at www.nejm.org. For more in-depth comments on this study also see www.safeminds.org and vaccineinfo.net.

In addition to this study, both The New York Times and the Houston Chronicle featured articles on autism earlier this month. These articles reflect a heightened public interest in the topic of autism and an acknowledgment of the current epidemic and its possible causes. Until just recently, suggestions of an epidemic were met mostly with dismissal and the official position that there is no epidemic at all, just better identification of the condition as a result of improved diagnostic skills. Mothering Magazine also dedicated a large portion of its November/December issue to autism and its possible causes. This included an excellent article on mercury toxicity, an interview with Dr. Stephanie Cave and excerpts from the congressional testimony by Dr. Bradstreet. I strongly recommend you obtain a copy of this magazine and/or visit the website www.altcorp.com/testfoundation.htm to learn more about the toxic effects of mercury from vaccines and dental amalgams.

The New York Times Magazine article was published on November 10 and was entitled “The Not-So-Crackpot Theory of Autism.” It tells the story of a prominent researcher and staunch supporter of the immunization program, Dr. Neal Halsey, an MD who recently reversed his position when he realized how much mercury children were getting through vaccinations. Dr. Halsey is quoted as saying: “In most vaccine containers, thimerosal is listed as a mercury derivative, a hundredth of a percent. And what I believed, and what everybody else believed, was that it was truly a trace, a biologically insignificant amount. My honest belief is that if the labels had had the mercury content in micrograms, this would have been uncovered years ago. But the fact is, no one did the calculation.” Aside from the fact that groups like the Autism Research Institute did do the calculation and tried unsuccessfully to draw attention to it for years, my question is: shouldn’t these scientists know how to count?

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Vitamin K comes in two forms, vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) found primarily in green vegetables, and vitamin K2 (menaquinone) found in fermented foods. Two recent review articles focus on the considerable roles that both forms of vitamin K play in preventing, and even reversing, osteoporosis.

Human studies have shown that vitamin K supplements can increase bone mineral density and reduce fracture rates in osteoporotic individuals. Other studies have shown that vitamin K and vitamin D work synergistically on bone density.

Although most studies used vitamin K2 at pharmacological doses ranging from 45 to 90 mg per day, there is consistent evidence to suggest that much lower doses of vitamin K1 (80 to 1,000 mcg per day) may achieve similar results, especially if combined with vitamin D (Curr Opin Nutr Metab Care, 2001;4:483-7 and Nutrition, 2001;17(10):880-7).

If you are concerned about osteoporosis, it may be worthwhile to have a blood test to evaluate your vitamin K status. Testing directly for vitamin K in blood is expensive and may not be entirely accurate; however, a blood test for osteocalcin levels is simple, inexpensive and provides an indirect measure of vitamin K status.

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It is well known that inflammation is associated with the pain of arthritis and the swelling and redness that follow a sprain. In recent years, research has revealed that chronic inflammation can also cause heart disease, independent of traditional risk factors such as cholesterol, and it has been linked with an increased occurrence of degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s.

Though in the past it was difficult to measure low-grade chronic inflammation, a new test called high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), can easily identify this condition. This test is now often included in blood panels designed to screen for heart disease risk factors.

But what causes chronic inflammation? A study designed to help answer this question measured the hs-CRP of 244 apparently healthy women, and then analyzed various factors of their diets and lifestyles. Researchers found a strong association between diets with high glycemic loads and increased inflammation (Am J Clin Nutr 2002;75(3):492-8).

Glycemic load measures the impact of diet on blood sugar. The higher the glycemic load, the more likely a diet is to raise one’s blood sugar. A high glycemic diet can lead to obesity, diabetes or other blood sugar imbalances. This study shows that such diets can also lead to higher levels of inflammation.

To estimate glycemic load, foods are assigned a number, called a glycemic index, reflecting the extent to which they affect blood sugar. White bread has an index of 100% and is considered the glycemic standard. All other foods are ranked in relation to it. Many carbohydrates, even some that are often considered healthy, have very elevated glycemic indexes. By contrast, protein affects blood sugar consistently less and fat has no effect at all. If you’d like to get an idea of your diet’s glycemic load, a good reference is the list at the end of Dr. Barry Sears’ book Mastering The Zone. However, remember that while glycemic index is an important consideration, it is not the only factor that determines whether a food is healthy.

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The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) is not known for being friendly to alternative medicine. However, a recently published article (JAMA 2001;286(8):905-6), describes something many have known or suspected for a long time: that Ritalin acts a lot like cocaine.

The article states that, although Ritalin has been prescribed to treat ADHD for forty years, “psychiatrists and pharmacologists have never known how it worked.” Quite a shocking admission, considering that an estimated 6 million American children are on the drug, some as young as four.

Through advanced imaging techniques, researchers found what the article calls “startling results”: that “instead of being a less potent transport inhibitor than cocaine, methylphenidate (Ritalin) was more potent,” and that “the data clearly show that the notion that Ritalin is a weak stimulant is completely incorrect.” The only significant difference between the two drugs is that Ritalin ìtakes about an hour to raise dopamine levels, whereas inhaled or injected cocaine hits the brain in seconds.

Finally, the author states that “the long-term dopamine effects of taking methylphenidate (Ritalin) for years, as many do, are unknown.” You may draw your own conclusions.

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The journal Cancer (March 15, 2002;94(6):1-9) published a study analyzing patterns of sun exposure and cancer rates in a large segment of the U.S. population over a 24-year period spanning 1970 to 1994. The study confirmed prior research showing that moderate exposure to the sun protects from several deadly cancers. These include cancer of the breast, colon, ovary, prostate, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Dietary differences among population subgroups were minimal and could not account for the difference in cancer rates.

It is believed that ultraviolet radiation from the sun – the same type of radiation linked to skin cancer – protects from other cancers by promoting vitamin D synthesis in the body.

Researchers concluded that: “many lives could be extended through careful exposure to solar UV-B radiation, and vitamin D3 supplementation, especially in the non-summer months.”

Another study also confirmed that vitamin D protects against cancer. Looking at individuals with a prior diagnosis of adenomas who were consequently at increased risk for colorectal cancer, it concluded that vitamin D supplementation has a strong protective effect. In fact, for every 10 ng/ml increase in blood levels of vitamin D within the normal range, the risk of contracting cancer was reduced by 26% (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev, Dec 2001;10:1267-1274). It should be noted that vitamin D from sources other than the sun can be toxic, and supplementation beyond a typical multi-vitamin dosage requires professional supervision.

In addition to its cancer-protecting benefits, vitamin D also plays important roles in preventing osteoporosis and preserving muscle function. A recent study showed that elderly people taking vitamin D supplements have a lower occurrence of falls and hip fractures (Am J Clin Nutr, 2002;75:611-615).

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Everybody’s heard about this study and it’s really old news by now, but after seeing a TV ad by a local doctor promoting “natural” hormones I decided to put in my own two cents. Could it be that menopause is really the only natural way to go?

Here’s the background: one of the largest and best-designed studies on hormone replacement therapy was halted when it was found that the women who were on the hormones had a higher rate of breast cancer, heart attack, stroke and blood clots than those on placebo (JAMA 2002;288:321-333). The hormones in the study were Premarin, a horse-derived estrogen, and Progestin, a synthetic analog of progesterone.

In fact, there was nothing so surprising about this study other than the enormous news coverage it received. Previous studies, some of them covered in earlier issues of this newsletter, had reached similar conclusions but received little public attention.

So should women take “natural” hormones instead? So-called natural hormones are actually synthetically reacted from a common plant steroid. The plant material is not itself a hormone in humans, but it can be manipulated in the laboratory to make any sex hormone. These plant-derived hormones are actually best defined as “bio-identical” in that they are exactly the same as hormones produced naturally in humans.

As strange as it may seem, bio-identical hormones have never been adopted in medicine as the standard for hormone replacement therapy. Instead, some hormones were taken from horses (and the horses were treated very inhumanely in the process) and others were manufactured from chemicals. The reason is that natural, or bio-identical, hormones cannot be patented and pharmaceutical companies have no interest in promoting them.

But the question remains: are natural hormones safe? Unfortunately, there is not a single study evaluating their safety, primarily due to lack of funding. These substances have been approved for use simply because they are natural and, consequently, presumed to be safe.

Some experts hold that they are safe because they are from a natural source, plants, and are identical to those made by the human body. This type of reasoning never completely satisfies my curiosity – is menopause then a mistake? A well-known fact among researchers is that early menarche and late menopause are themselves risk factors for breast cancer. Actually, for every year that menopause is delayed, the risk of cancer goes up (see Lancet Oncol 2001;2(3):133-40 and Breast Cancer Res Treat 2002;72(2):107-15 among others).

This does not imply that women’s sex hormones are unhealthy. It means that if exposure to these hormones becomes excessive or goes beyond a certain natural term, they may endanger a woman’s health. In this respect, menopause could be understood as a protective mechanism of nature.

Of course, the symptoms of menopause can be incapacitating. In most cases I have found herbal medicines to be very effective, especially if they are expertly selected and combined. Herbs are the only true natural solution for the symptoms of menopause, and they are a solution that has been used for thousands of years. For women who do not respond to herbal remedies, I would suggest using natural hormones until the symptoms subside.

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Food allergies can be difficult to understand and to explain, and yet they cannot be ignored as they play a major role in children’s health. A wide array of symptoms, from chronic ear infections to hyperactivity, bedwetting or even grinding teeth can often be resolved when one or a few offending foods are identified and removed from the diet.

Some of the confusion may originate from the very word “allergy” because it immediately evokes images of sneezing, congestion or hives – yet these symptoms are rarely seen with what are known as “hidden” food allergies.

When foods do cause reactions such as sneezing or hives, they do so through the same mechanism as allergies to mold, dust or pollen. Sometimes smelling a food is enough to set off the reaction and, in extreme cases, we may hear of a child who went into life-threatening anaphylactic shock after smelling a peanut. Reactions to these substances tend to be immediate, and as a result the allergies are easy to identify. They can also be confirmed by skin testing, a process whereby a tiny amount of allergen is injected beneath the skin.
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An article published last year in the journal NeuroToxicology (2001;22:691-697) reviews the evidence linking exposure to mercury from immunizations and developmental disorders in children. The authors of the article also have a website at http://www.safeminds.org where related information can be found.

Daily exposure to low levels of mercury was shown to have neurodevelopmental effects in infants, particularly in the domains of language, attention and memory. As a result, the EPA established reference exposure limits considered acceptable, recently adjusting them to 0.1 micrograms per kilogram (2.2 lbs) of weight per day. For example, the EPA limits would result in a maximum daily exposure of 0.9 micrograms of mercury for a twenty-pound child.

Thimerosal is a preservative utilized in the production of biological and pharmaceutical products, including vaccines, that contains roughly 50% mercury. Each dose of vaccine containing this preservative delivers 12.5 to 25 micrograms of mercury directly into an infant’s body. Since several vaccines are typically administered at once, it is possible for infants to have a bolus exposure of 50 to 62.5 micrograms at 2, 4, and 6 months of age with a cumulative maximum exposure of 187.5 micrograms in the first 6 months of life.

Little is known regarding the capability of infants’ bodies to excrete mercury, and several studies suggest that neonates up to 6 months of age do not excrete mercury at all due to immature liver function. Other factors may also determine the degree of mercury toxicity at a given level of exposure. For example, one study found a synergistic effect between low doses of mercury and “stress” caused by concurrent viral infections, other environmental factors and internal physiological states.

The article concludes that there is sufficient evidence to support the likelihood that mercury in vaccines may affect nervous system development in children. “These concerns are heightened by a recent report that found statistically significant associations between cumulative exposure to mercury-containing vaccines at 2 months of age and unspecified developmental delay; cumulative exposure at three months of age and tics; cumulative exposure at 1, 3 and 6 months of age and neurodevelopmental delays in general; and cumulative exposure at 6 months of age and attention deficit disorder.”

While mercury in vaccines has not been banned, it is gradually being phased out.

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The Center for Children’s Health and the Environment, founded by a group of physicians and scientists from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York City), recently began running full-page ads in The New York Times addressing the current crisis in children’s mental and physical health and its possible underlying causes. Ad themes and related information, including lengthy scientific papers on which the ads are based, can be found on the authors’ website at http://www.childenvironment.org.

The authors and sponsors of the ads, all listed on the website, belong to conventional medical and research communities and have the highest credentials. Every statement contained in the ads is supported by extensive scientific data, although this information is generally not reported in the media and most of us are not aware of it.
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In this small pilot study (Am J Clin Psychiatry 2001 Dec;62(12):936-44) 11 patients with severe bipolar disorder, some of whom did not respond to standard medical treatment, were given a single high-dose multiple vitamin and mineral supplement on a daily basis. After six months on this regimen, researchers found that average symptom reduction ranged from 55% to 66% and the need for medication decreased by more than 50%. In some cases the supplement replaced psychotropic medications and the patients remained well.

According to researchers there are two possible explanations for the effectiveness of the supplement. One is that bipolar disorder stems from an inborn error of metabolism that leads to a critical need for high doses of vitamins and minerals, and the other is that a certain group of people may be especially vulnerable to vitamin and mineral deficiencies in the food supply and may develop the condition as a result of inadequate nutrient intake.

This small study is now being followed by a large-scale randomized, placebo-controlled study.

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Dr. Leo Galland is a board-certified gastroenterologist and the author of an outstanding book entitled Power Healing (ISBN 0-375-75139-4). In it, he outlines a brief history of measles and some of the critical policy choices that modern medicine has faced as well as the decisions that have been made.

According to Dr. Galland, measles was the leading killer of children in nineteenth-century England. During the twentieth century – and long before the measles vaccine had become available – the severity of measles in the West began to decline. By mid-century most children contracted this disease, but very few died. It is now a well-known fact that the declining measles mortality rate in the West was due to an increased standard of living, which made fruits, vegetables and high-quality protein more widely available thereby increasing the amount of Vitamin A in the diet. As Dr. Galland points out, it has been known for over sixty years that Vitamin A deficiency is the main cause of mortality from measles.

In Africa, where malnutrition in children is widespread, measles remains a major killer even today. When aid programs introduced the measles vaccine in an effort to control this tragedy, mortality among children actually increased. This is believed to be a result of immune suppression induced by the vaccine and amplified by malnutrition. On the other hand, simply administering Vitamin A to African children, with no other changes, quickly reduced fatalities from measles by 50%. Measles can therefore be considered a relatively benign disease among well-nourished children that becomes fatal to those lacking a single nutrient. Dr. John Sommer of the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health estimates that “improving the Vitamin A status of all deficient children worldwide would prevent as many as three million childhood deaths a year.” The choice facing medical policy makers is between ensuring adequate Vitamin A intake in the overall population and promoting a vaccine as the only solution to the risks associated with measles.

Promoting the vaccine may someday be proven to be an unfortunate one for many children since the vaccine has been linked with the autism epidemic. The extent to which it may be a cause of autism has not been fully established; however, research by Andrew Wakefield, MD (Autism Research Review International, 2002;16:1-3, reprinted from a pre-publication copy of Molecular Pathology, 2002) reveals that autistic individuals have high counts of measles antibodies in their intestinal tracts. The only exposure to measles for these children is through vaccines. These elevated measles antibodies counts are not found in children who do not have autism or intestinal disorders. This study elicited many responses stressing that it failed to prove any causal link between the measles vaccine and autism (BMJ, 2002;324:315), but the search for answers continues.

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Dr. Bernard Rimland is the founder of the Autism Research Institute. In an article he wrote for the Autism Research Review International [2001;15(3):3], he gives an account of his 45-year endeavor to find a cure for autism ñ an endeavor that began when his son was diagnosed in 1956. Although he held a PhD in experimental psychology, Dr. Rimland had never heard of autism at the time of his son’s diagnosis. His son’s pediatrician, with 35 years experience in practice at the time, had never heard of it either. As incredible as it may sound today, Dr. Rimland reminds us that autism was once a rare occurrence.

Dr. Rimland first turned to mainstream medicine, but did not receive much help. At the time, it was believed that autism was caused by mothers who could not express their love for their children. Today, medicine has fortunately discarded that opinion but still denies that there is any biological basis in autism, embracing instead an unlikely genetic theory. Since by definition there cannot be an epidemic of a genetic illness, medicine holds that there is no epidemic here, only increased awareness leading to more frequent diagnosis. Although autism was said to affect only one in several thousand children just a few decades ago, recent estimates place it at one in 150 children.

Dr. Rimland first became interested in studying diet modification and nutritional supplementation for children with autism after hearing of the work that nutritionally oriented “orthomolecular” psychiatrists were doing with other developmental disorders, including childhood schizophrenia (see Brain Allergies, by William Philpott, MD, ISBN 0-658-00398-4 and Mental and Elemental Nutrients by Carl Pfeiffer, Ph.D, MD, ISBN 0-87983-114-6). After extensive research, Dr. Rimland and his associates found that supplemental amounts of Vitamin B6 and magnesium were helpful to many autistic children. As of this year, 18 studies conducted in six countries show the effectiveness and safety of this nutrient combination and yet medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, have not endorsed it.

Additional research has shown that dietary avoidance of dairy products and gluten (a protein found in wheat and some other grains) is also beneficial for many autistic children.

Although there are numerous studies today confirming the effectiveness of this therapeutic approach, it continues to lack official endorsement as well.

Vaccines have consistently been implicated as a possible cause of the autism epidemic. Even though this is a very controversial topic and research has never found a definite link between vaccines and autism, there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence suggesting that there is a connection. Dr. Rimland points out that, in the past ten years, the number of vaccines required for a child in the United States before the age of two has risen from eight to 22 and that a majority of parents can trace the onset of their child’s symptoms to a specific vaccination. As Dr. Rimland also notes, many vaccines contain thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative. This leads to the direct injection of mercury, “one of the most poisonous substances on earth” in his words, into infants’ bodies.

For more information, visit http://www.autismresearchinstitute.com.

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This large study, conducted in Shanghai, China (Cancer Res, 2001;61:7136-7141) looked at 1,321 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer and compared them with 1,382 healthy subjects between the ages of 25 and 64. The study found a direct inverse relationship between the amount of folic acid women consumed and the incidence of breast cancer.

Folic acid is a B vitamin found mainly in liver, wheat germ and green leafy vegetables. Researchers found an even more pronounced inverse relationship when considering women who consumed folic acid in addition to other nutrients that work synergistically with this vitamin. These nutrients include the amino acid methionine, and the vitamins B12 and B6.

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A study published in the International Journal of Vitamin Nutrition Research (2001;71(4):217-221) reveals that an increase in the consumption of total carbohydrates to 55%, 65% and 75% of total calories induces a progressive deficiency of vitamin B1. The deficiency is directly proportional to the percentage of total calories derived from carbohydrates. This study does not imply that all carbohydrates should be avoided, only that high-carbohydrate diets trigger this vitamin deficiency. The reason is that thiamin is used up in the body to break down carbohydrates and it is not adequately replenished by any amounts of this vitamin, whether the vitamin occurs naturally or whether it has been added to “enriched” carbohydrate products. This study is particularly interesting for several reasons. First, our diet has been progressively shifting towards higher carbohydrate consumption, and this is especially true in children’s diets. In addition, thiamin deficiency is associated with high anxiety and many of the symptoms of ADHD. Derrick Lonsdale, MD, a proponent of natural treatments for
ADHD, recently published a paper in which he describes successful treatment of many children with ADHD using significant doses of thiamin in addition to dietary management
(Clinical Practice of Alternative Medicine; Volume 2, Number 3, Fall 2001; pages 196-203).

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Two new studies published in major medical journals evaluated the effects of essential fatty acids. The first of these studies (Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2002;26(2):233-9) looked at forty-one children diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia over a 12-week period. Some of the children received a place bo (olive oil), while others received a mix of essential fatty acids containing EPA, DHA and AA from fish oil, and GLA from evening primrose oil. At the end of the trial period, children treated with essential fatty acids experienced significant improvements while the children taking the olive oil did not improve at all. So are dyslexia and ADHD nothing other than symptoms of fatty acid deficiency? B. Jacqueline Stordy, Ph.D. makes a compelling case for this in her interesting book, The LCP Solution (ISBN 0-345-43872-8). The second study (Am J Psychiatry 2002;159(3):477-9) focused on twenty people diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Some of them received a placebo and others fish oil in addition to their antidepressant medication. In the words of the researchers “highly significant benefits of the addition of the omega-3 fatty acid (fish oil) compared with placebo were found by week three of treatment”.

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A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (February 13 2002;287 (6):734-41) found a clear association between long-term hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in women and an increased risk of breast cancer.

The study looked at 705 women who had been diagnosed with breast cancers of all types between 1990 and 1995 as well another 692 randomly selected age-matched women.

Researchers concluded that those who had been on long-term HRT, both on estrogen alone and estrogen plus progestin, had a risk of contracting breast cancer of any type that was 60% to 85% higher than that of women who had not been on long-term HRT. When considering only the lobular type of breast cancer, the risk was more than three times higher for the HRT group.

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