Vitamin A, Children, and Lung Function

All of my pregnant patients take a prenatal vitamin based on what would be best for the developing fetus. I have even found a prenatal vitamin that I like so much that I put my own private  label on it.

Now a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has  been published showing the importance of vitamin A and its relationship to lung development in the womb.

In this study, that was led by Wiliam Checkley, M.D., over 1600 children in Nepal were evaluated. Some of the mothers were given vitamin A pills during pregnancy and others were given placebo. An additional set of women was given beta-carotene which is a derivative of vitamin A.
Read more

Yet Another Essential Nutrient for Pregnancy

All pregnant women are given a prenatal vitamin by their obstetrician. The implication is that what is in the prenatal is all the extra vitamins that a pregnant mother needs for herself and her fetus.

Recently after an enormous amount of data in the medical literature many prescription prenatal vitamins have start to add an essential fatty acid capsule that is necessary for brain development of the fetus in the uterus.

Integrative medicine doctors have been prescribing this essential fatty acid known as DHA for over 20 years. The information has been in the medical literature but not that literature that is commonly read by obstetricians. More and more studies have shown that DHA during pregnancy and in the first four years of a child's life are necessary to optimize the child's neurological and brain development.

There are other nutrients that the medical literature shows that are essential for pregnancy, and one that has been overlooked by all of the prescription prenatal vitamins that I have seen, is called CHOLINE.

Choline is an essential nutrient and it is usually considered part of the vitamin B complex. It is found in the fat that makes up cell membranes and in certain neurotransmitters. Choline has been found to be essential for the normal functioning of all cells, liver metabolism and the transportation of nutrients throughout the body. Choline can be produced within the body but the amount the body makes is often not sufficient to meet the individuals needs. Therefore choline must be consumed in the diet. Recent research has shown that only 10% or less of older children, men, women, and pregnant women in America are getting sufficient levels of choline on a daily basis.

High amounts of choline is found in foods such as eggs, chicken liver, beef liver, beef steak, cod, broccoli, peanut butter, and milk. I am happy to see that because choline is especially high in egg yokes, the Egg Industry has created a website that talks about choline.

In a pregnant woman choline works with folic acid to help promote brain and memory development in growing fetuses and newborn infants.
Now a new study has been published that shows in mice that a diet low in choline and vitamin B2, during pregnancy influenced the development of the fetus' heart. Specifically the mice that were born to choline deficient mothers had more heart defects, which were specifically ventricular septal defects. The vitamin B2 deficient mothers gave birth to  late embryos and smaller embryos. In addition, vitamin B2 deficiency resulted in decreased thickness of the offsprings' left ventricle in the heart.

The conclusion of the authors of this article were: "Low dietary choline and riboflavin affect embryonic growth and cardiac development in mice. Adequate choline and riboflavin may also play a role in the prevention of these pregnancy complications in women."

Given the increasing preponderance of evidence that choline is essential during pregnancy I have been using a specific prenatal vitamin that is fortified with choline. I believe that choline is the next nutrient that will be found to be essential for all pregnancies. I can only guess how many years it will be until the prescription prenatal vitamins will contain this nutrient. But I am happy to be using one that does contain this nutrient for all my pregnant patients. I like it so much that I have begun to private label it under my name.

Does your prenatal or your family's prenatal's include choline or are you making and sure enough that you are eating enough of the choline containing foods to get enough for the fetus? Let me know if you think I should make my Prenatal vitamin available on my website for the public?

REFERENCE

Other resources and articles:

Egg Nutrition Center

Choline: Critical Role During Fetal Development and Dietary Requirements in Adults

USDA Database for the Choline Content
of Common Foods

 

Acupuncture Improves Heart Disease

Most people believe that acupuncture is just for pain control. In fact it is an active medical modality which I use to treat almost all medical problems.  Now a new study shows that acupuncture can help people with heart disease.

The recent study by Kristin AV and others, has recently been published in the medical journal Heart.

In this specific study they looked at congestive heart failure. This is a condition where the heart, due to illness is unable to pump sufficient blood to the rest of the body. It can vary from very mild, to the extreme that a person is unable to walk without oxygen. 4.8 million Americans have this condition. This includes 10% of people over the age of 70.

In this study the authors took 17 patients who were stable with congestive heart failure. All of them were already receiving an optimized medication program for  their heart failure when they entered the study.

The study is all the more impressive because they did use a control group. One group of patients got real acupuncture in the other group received "sham" acupuncture.

After the series of acupuncture treatments, the group that received the real acupuncture significantly increased their ability to walk with less symptoms,. In addition in this group, they found a significant improvement in their "recovery" in regards to their ability to breathe after the exercise.

Furthermore heart rate variability which is a sign of the health of the heart increased after the real acupuncture but actually decreased after the "sham" acupuncture

In addition the "general health" score and "body pain" score improved after the real acupuncture.

In a press statement the research group noted that heart failure is recognized to be much more complex than had previously been assumed. Specifically it involves an imbalance in the autonomic nervous system, as well as in various neurotransmitters.

In a press release the authors were quoted as saying "This is precisely where acupuncture may intervene, by bringing these processes back into balance — it influences the autonomic sympathetic nervous system (excitation), boosts the parasympathetic nervous system (relaxation), and also has an anti-inflammatory affect,"

Furthermore, Dr.Arnt Kristen, one of the authors of the study stated "The blood level of a certain messenger, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) actually drops after the real acupuncture treatment. Since TNF alpha leads to a reduction of muscle mass and muscle strength among other things, this would explain the positive effect (of acupuncture) on skeletal muscle function"

I've been using acupuncture in my practice on a regular basis for the last 30 years. I've seen remarkable results in almost every medical condition with acupuncture over and over again. It is wonderful that these types of studies are now coming out that objectively show the benefits of acupuncture for much more than just pain control. This will encourage conventional doctors to begin to be open to the use of acupuncture in congestive heart failure.

Let me know — do you have loved ones who have congestive heart failure? Have they tried acupuncture as an adjunct to their medications? I look forward to hearing from you.

REFERENCE

 

My Keynote Address at Medical School Commencement

As most of my readers and friends were aware, I was chosen and honored to give the keynote address at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine & Health Sciences in Phoenix Arizona Commencement Ceremony last weekend.

I was delighted to address the 41 graduating Naturopathic Doctors (ND) as well as their several hundred family members at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Phoenix Arizona.

I worked very hard on my speech, and I am  delighted to say that it was extremely well received. In addition to a standing ovation for my talk, I was welcomed by the graduates as well as their families afterwards with many thanks for the inspiration and encouragement that I gave them.

 The College has made my 20 minute presentation available for everyone to enjoy!  Click  here to view it now.

From the article on the school's website the following summary of my talk was given:

"The graduates were honored to have Dr. Soram Khalsa as their Commencement Speaker. Dr. Khalsa, a well-respected physician, integrates phytotherapeutics, homeopathy, acupuncture and environmental medicine with traditional internal medicine in his private practice. Dr. Khalsa is a member of the Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine Advisory Council for the State of California and serves as Medical Director for the East-West Medical Research Institute. Dr. Khalsa expressed that these men and women could not be graduating at a better, more exciting time."

"You are the leaders of our medical future. Why? Because doctors today all need to be medically multilingual, and that's what you are. I do not refer to holistic, alternative, naturopathic, or integrative medicine as separate divisions of medicine. I regard it as what is best medically for our country.

Only seven percent of graduating medical doctors goes into primary care. In 2020, it is projected that there will be 40,000 too few primary care doctors. This is where NDs are needed.

Three things to remember, however, when it comes to seeing your patients is kindness, compassion, and caring. If you show these three things to them they will enrich your lives and you will love your patients. Be positive and let your presence begin their healing process."

It is my personal belief that Naturopathic (Integrative) Medicine will be growing rapidly in the years ahead and more and more people want a complement of natural modalities and less drugs. Naturopathic medical schools teach all about drugs (pharmacology) as well so their graduates are knowledgeable about both.

I think you'll find my speech both educational and inspiring!

More to come on the School where I teach…..
Let me know what you think!
 

Are There Heavy Metals in Your Seafood?

I have been cautioning my patients for years now about the mercury contained in the sea food they eat. This is especially important for women about to become pregnant or who are pregnant. Health experts for years now have warned children and pregnant women to avoid fish with high mercury levels, such as shark and swordfish.

Now biologist Dr. Roger Payne has released new information about the toxicity that he found in almost 1000 whales from all over the world. Dr. Payne set out on his boat in March 2000 from San Diego to document the health of the ocean. He used a small harmless dart gun to collect specimens from almost 1000 whales over 87,000 miles of the ocean.
Read more

Canned Foods and BPA

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a common environmental toxin which I have mentioned before, that often appears in plastic bottles. BPA can disrupt the way hormones carry signals in our body and for that reason it is known as a "endocrine disruptor." Because we only need a few hormone molecules to send signals in our bodies, endocrine disruptors are able to interrupt healthy signals at very low concentrations — in fact even a few parts per trillion of BPA has been shown to disrupt normal endocrine signaling that can lead to health problems.

The following are health impacts that have been linked to low level exposure to BPA in either animals or humans:
-Obesity
-Low sperm count
-Damage to developing eggs
-Miscarriage
-Placental cell death
-Infertility
-Heart disease
-Diabetes
-Changes in brain development
-Predisposition to breast and prostate cancer.

A new report called No Silver Lining — An Investigation into Bisphenol A in Canned foods has recently been released by the National Workgroup for Safe Markets which is a coalition of US public health and environmental health focused NGOs.

This report reviews the data on BPA. It points out that Canada,Denmark and five US states have already restricted the use of BPA in certain children's products like baby bottles and infant formula can linings.

In this report that Workgroup was looking at the amount of BPA that could be consumed from eating canned food and drinks that are commonly available in the United States and Canada. For this study they collected and tested the food and beverage contents of 50 cans that were collected from 19 United States and Ontario, Canada.
Read more

Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk-The President’s Report

A new report has come out from the President's Cancer Panel which was written by .LaSalle Leffell, Jr.,M.D.,F.A.C.S, and Margaret Kripke Ph.D. The title of the report is Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk — What We Can Do Now.

This report points out that in 2009 approximately 1.5 million American men women and children were diagnosed with cancer and 562,000 died from the disease. Approximately 41% of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives and approximately 21% will die from cancer.

This report was brought about because of the growing body of evidence that links environmental exposures to cancer. The report points out that the" public is becoming increasingly aware of the unacceptable burden of cancer resulting from environmental and occupational exposures they could have been prevented through appropriate national action."

One of the findings of the panel that particularly concerned them was the finding that the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been "grossly underestimated". They point out that nearly 80,000 chemicals are on the market in United States that are being used by millions of Americans in their daily lives. These chemicals have either been understudied or unregulated. They point out that one such chemical, BPA, is still found in many consumer products and remains unregulated in our country.
Read more

Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk-The President’s Report

A new report has come out from the President's Cancer Panel which was written by .LaSalle Leffell, Jr.,M.D.,F.A.C.S, and Margaret Kripke Ph.D. The title of the report is Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk — What We Can Do Now.

This report points out that in 2009 approximately 1.5 million American men women and children were diagnosed with cancer and 562,000 died from the disease. Approximately 41% of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives and approximately 21% will die from cancer.

This report was brought about because of the growing body of evidence that links environmental exposures to cancer. The report points out that the" public is becoming increasingly aware of the unacceptable burden of cancer resulting from environmental and occupational exposures they could have been prevented through appropriate national action."

One of the findings of the panel that particularly concerned them was the finding that the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been "grossly underestimated". They point out that nearly 80,000 chemicals are on the market in United States that are being used by millions of Americans in their daily lives. These chemicals have either been understudied or unregulated. They point out that one such chemical, BPA, is still found in many consumer products and remains unregulated in our country.
Read more

“Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within A Generation”

The White House task force on childhood obesity has just released its report to the President entitled "Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation." This fits in well with Michelle's Obama's cover article in Newsweek recently.

This 120 page report looks at the current epidemic of childhood obesity. Some of the statistics are overwhelming. Currently one in every three child ages to 19 is overweight or obese. Obesity is estimated to cost 112,000 deaths per year in the United States. One third of all children born in the year 2000 are expected to develop diabetes in their lifetime. In addition, a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine has pointed out that for the first time the current generation of children may be on a course of having a shorter life span than their parents.

There has been a consistent increase in the growth of childhood obesity from 1971 until about the year 2000, at which time childhood obesity levels off.

This very thorough report looks at many aspects of the cause of this epidemic and is full of amazing information. A few of these are
1)    Obese adults in current estimated $1429 more in medical expenses than their normal weight years.
2)    Medical spending on adults that was attributed just to obesity was over $40 billion in 1998. But in 2008 this had increased to an estimated $147 billion.
3)    During childhood excess weight costs an estimated $3 billion per year in direct medical costs.
4)    At least $1.6 billion is spent annually on food advertising directed to children and adolescents.
5)    13% of the daily caloric intake for 12 to 19-year-olds now comes from sugar- sweetened beverages.
6)    On average, children consumed only 64% of the recommended level of fruit and 46% of the recommended level of vegetables in 2003 to 2004.
7)    A mother's preconception weight and weight gain during pregnancy are two of the most important prenatal determinants of childhood obesity. Another way to say this is overweight mothers give birth to overweight children.
8)    Maternal smoking girly pregnancy is associated with a 500% greater risk of obesity at age 5.
9)    Research shows that it is possible that exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals during pregnancy play a role in the development of childhood obesity. Scientists have coined the term "obesogins" for chemicals that they believe may promote weight gain and obesity.
10)    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimated that in 2006 the food, beverage, and quick serve restaurant companies spent more than $1.6 billion to promote their products to young people.

The statistics in this article go on and on but it is clear that our entire country must change its direction in eating, exercise and focused in order for us to be first the obesity epidemic that we are living with.

The report focuses on five basic things that we can all do together to help this epidemic:
1) Create a healthy start on life for our children, from pregnancy through early childhood;
2) Empower parents and caregivers to make healthy choices for their families;
3) Serve healthier foods in schools;
4) Ensure access to healthy, affordable food;
5) Increase opportunities for physical activity.

I encourage you to read the whole article which can be gotten at this website.
Let me know what you think. Do you talk to your overweight friends about diet and exercise? What do you think can be done to improve this obesity epidemic?

The Government's Food Pyramid

"Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within A Generation"

The White House task force on childhood obesity has just released its report to the President entitled "Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation." This fits in well with Michelle's Obama's cover article in Newsweek recently.

This 120 page report looks at the current epidemic of childhood obesity. Some of the statistics are overwhelming. Currently one in every three child ages to 19 is overweight or obese. Obesity is estimated to cost 112,000 deaths per year in the United States. One third of all children born in the year 2000 are expected to develop diabetes in their lifetime. In addition, a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine has pointed out that for the first time the current generation of children may be on a course of having a shorter life span than their parents.

There has been a consistent increase in the growth of childhood obesity from 1971 until about the year 2000, at which time childhood obesity levels off.

This very thorough report looks at many aspects of the cause of this epidemic and is full of amazing information. A few of these are
1)    Obese adults in current estimated $1429 more in medical expenses than their normal weight years.
2)    Medical spending on adults that was attributed just to obesity was over $40 billion in 1998. But in 2008 this had increased to an estimated $147 billion.
3)    During childhood excess weight costs an estimated $3 billion per year in direct medical costs.
4)    At least $1.6 billion is spent annually on food advertising directed to children and adolescents.
5)    13% of the daily caloric intake for 12 to 19-year-olds now comes from sugar- sweetened beverages.
6)    On average, children consumed only 64% of the recommended level of fruit and 46% of the recommended level of vegetables in 2003 to 2004.
7)    A mother's preconception weight and weight gain during pregnancy are two of the most important prenatal determinants of childhood obesity. Another way to say this is overweight mothers give birth to overweight children.
8)    Maternal smoking girly pregnancy is associated with a 500% greater risk of obesity at age 5.
9)    Research shows that it is possible that exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals during pregnancy play a role in the development of childhood obesity. Scientists have coined the term "obesogins" for chemicals that they believe may promote weight gain and obesity.
10)    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimated that in 2006 the food, beverage, and quick serve restaurant companies spent more than $1.6 billion to promote their products to young people.

The statistics in this article go on and on but it is clear that our entire country must change its direction in eating, exercise and focused in order for us to be first the obesity epidemic that we are living with.

The report focuses on five basic things that we can all do together to help this epidemic:
1) Create a healthy start on life for our children, from pregnancy through early childhood;
2) Empower parents and caregivers to make healthy choices for their families;
3) Serve healthier foods in schools;
4) Ensure access to healthy, affordable food;
5) Increase opportunities for physical activity.

I encourage you to read the whole article which can be gotten at this website.
Let me know what you think. Do you talk to your overweight friends about diet and exercise? What do you think can be done to improve this obesity epidemic?

The Government's Food Pyramid

« Previous Page — Next Page »