Post Menopausal Breast Cancer Treatment and Vitamin D

Postmenopausal women who are diagnosed with what is called "estrogen positive" breast cancer are usually given a drug called an Aromatase Inhibitor to take for five years.  Aromatase is the name of an enzyme in the body that converts testosterone to estrogen. In women whose breast cancer had estrogen receptors, doctors try reduce the amount of any estrogen in their bodies. Aromatase Inhibitor drugs block the making of estrogen. Studies have shown that this will reduce the likelihood of a woman's breast cancer coming back. Who would not want that benefit?

The problem with this family of drugs however is that it has side effects. Two of the most common side effects are joint pains almost to the point of being disabled and fatigue. Up to 50% of women treated with these drugs have new or increased joint pain or stiffness. 30% of women taking these drugs complained of fatigue. The degree of joint pain is so significant that one study showed that 22% of women discontinued the drugs because of this side effect.
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Blog Post Comments

My new web address for my blog was moved here some time ago. However some of my friends have been posting to the old blog page as they had my blog in their cache.

All of the comments from the old blog are now moved to THIS blog and I am putting all the most recent comments as comments to THIS blog post so they will be easy for you to find.

I look forward to staying in touch with my readers!     Dr Soram

Food Allergies and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is one of the most frequent diagnoses in any primary care practice in our country and probably around the world. Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a name that has been put on the condition in which the patient has intestinal gas, bloating, burping, diarrhea and/or alternating constipation, with a general unpleasant feeling in the gastrointestinal tract.

In conventional medicine when a patient has these symptoms they may get a stool test, colonoscopy and an upper G.I. endoscopy. If all these tests are normal the patient is then told that he or she has "Irritable Bowel Syndrome", and "nothing to worry about". However the symptoms can be quite bothersome and will often lead the patient to seek out the care of an integrative physician.

Integrative doctors in general and my practice in particular know that this diagnosis is a kind of "wastebasket" diagnosis that people are lumped into. With thorough investigation from an integrative medicine point of view many underlying causes can be found that are completely treatable and symptoms disappear.

One of the most common causes of these symptoms is food allergies. Conventional doctors only will call a food an allergen if when the patient eats that food, they break out in hives and a rash all over their body and require emergency care. Integrative doctors know that more subtle allergic reactions can cause the symptoms of IBS.

An article by PJ Whorwell and colleagues, several years ago looked at an additional way to find food allergies. Specifically this blood test looks for "IgG: antibodies in the blood. I've been doing blood tests for this type of food allergy for several years and have found it to be extremely valuable in helping people with the symptoms of IBS.

This study took a group of patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and did the IgG antibody blood tests on them. They followed the patients over 12 weeks. For those patients who were fully compliant with the diet recommended by the blood tests, there was a 26% reduction in symptoms. In addition other nonspecific symptoms including quality of life and anxiety/depression also improved in these patients.

I was delighted to recently find this study which confirms what integrative doctors have been doing for some time. In my practice, this is just one of several tests that I do to help patients resolve their IBS. And I have seen remarkable results with this.

If you have symptoms of IBS, please ask your doctor to do the IgG antibody blood test to see if you have food allergies. Then follow the diet prescribed by the blood tests and see if your symptoms go away.

Let me know if you have found food allergies to be relative to your symptoms and whether a specific diet has been helpful to you in minimizing intestinal symptoms? Questions? Let me know here

I look forward to hearing from you.

Dr. Soram

Reference

 

Soft Plastic Water Bottles Contain Estrogenic Chemicals

Just when most of us were leaving the hardened plastic bottles we use to carry our sports water and moving towards the softer plastic bottles, which are made with polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a new article showing dangers from PET has been published in the prestigious Environmental Health Perspectives.

PET has until now been generally assumed to not be a source of endocrine disruptors. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals in the environment which can have an effect on human endocrine systems. This is especially relevant for human cancers, including breast cancer and prostate cancer.

Now a new article raises serious doubts about the safety of the soft plastic bottles, containing PET, that we are all so used to.

PET is widely used to make many of the products that we all take for granted.  The soft plastic we are used to for bottled water as well as containers for other beverages, as well as cosmetics products like shampoo, and condiments like vinegar and salad dressings all contain PET.

There is now new concern that chemicals that have estrogen like effects such as phthalates, may be leaching into the contents of these bottles made from PET. This is in spite of the fact that PET is not a phthalate derivative to start with.

In this review article, the authors look at multiple studies that consistently show that water coming from PET bottles has estrogenic activity.

They also review articles that show that the concentration of phthalates from PET bottles was "more than 12 times higher in PET than in glass bottled water".

Another study showed that the longer the water was in contact with the PET bottle and the lower the pH of the liquid, the higher the phthalate levels measured in the water.

The author of the article also points out that Antimony is used in the production of PET. In the article they also point out that antimony has "high estrogenicity". This may be a further issue with this plastic.

The author states that products with a lower pH i.e. more acidic, such as vinegar and salad dressing may warrant particular attention. They point out that one article has shown that using several servings of salad dressing that had been stored in a warm warehouse for a month might result in a dose of phthalates that reaches the reference dose limit of the Environmental Protection Agency.

In summary, it seems that no plastic is entirely safe for us! For a long time now I have recommended my patients drink their sports drinks either out of stainless steel or glass containers. I encourage all my readers to do the same.

Many questions were raised by this article. They are especially important because these plastic bottles are ubiquitous.

Let me know what you think about all this new information that is emerging.

REFERENCE

 

 

Your Plastic Sports Water Bottle and Your Health

Bisphenol A (BPA) is one of the component molecules of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or hardened plastic. We all know that PVC is everywhere. It is in the inner lining of soda cans, baby bottles, cups, microwavable bowls and many other plastic containers that are in our kitchen and cafeterias. Many cans of food contain BPA. When PVC plastic is heated or is in contact with hot liquids or food it then releases BPA.

BPA for a long time has been associated with the progression of some cancers. Now recently BPA has been in the news prominently. One group of researchers found that BPA, even at weak concentrations, such as in the normal usage of a plastic cup that is in contact with a cup of hot tea, is able to block the benefit of several chemotherapy agents on breast cancer cells. Because of this we realize that BPA is a friend to cancer.

In 2008 the National Toxicology Program recommended that BPA no longer be used in baby bottles, as well as recommended that limited quantities of BPA be released into the environment.

For that reason many of us are not using these hard plastic as much as we  used to.

I encourage my patients who use the hard plastic type of water bottles, such as reusable sports bottles, to not let them bake in the sun in the back of their car.

Some doctors have recommended people use the softer plastic type of bottles that are found in mineral and spring waters at the store. These bottles are made of a chemical called polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and do not contain BPA.

However ,new evidence is now showing that PET may not be safe either!

For more information on this please see my next blog post.

REFERENCE

MORE ON BPA

I Will be Giving the Keynote Address at SCNM Commencement

I am delighted to announce then I have been asked and will be giving the keynote address at the commencement service for the graduates of the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (SCNM) summer class in July 2010.

I am  honored to be asked to give this most important address to the new graduates of this wonderful Naturopathic Medical School.

I continue to serve under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointment, on the Committee for Naturopathic Medicine for the State of California. I am delighted that natural medicine, which I have been practicing for over 30 years, is starting to blossom in our country.

I look forward to seeing the graduates in July.

If any of my readers are interested in attending this school at which I am a professor, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Institute for Functional Medicince Cancer Symposium

I am delighted to let my friends and patients know I will be attending the upcoming Institute of Functional Medicine convention entitled "Confronting Cancer as a Chronic Disease" at La Costa Resort in Southern California. we increasingly recognized that cancer must be approached as a chronic disease that is managed similar to heart disease.

This conference will have four days of interaction among integrative physician's on the role that complementary modalities and approaches have in the treatment of a patient with cancer.

I look forward to telling you all about somebody new information that comes out of this conference.

LINK

How Flexible your Body is, Affects How Flexible Your Arteries Are!

The more flexible your body, the more flexible your arteries will be. This is the conclusion of several very interesting studies that were recently published in the medical literature.

I'm delighted to say that my article was featured as the prime post in the Living section of the Huffington Post this past Tuesday, May 11, 2010. In my article I teach you how you can test your own flexibility. If you're not flexible enough hopefully that will inspire you to begin taking some Yoga classes or some Pilates classes to increase your flexibility.

Let me know how you like this article and let me know how you like the flexibility test!

Here is the LINK!

Flame Retardant and Neurological Development in Newborns

A new study in Environmental Health Perspectives written by KS Betts and colleagues looks at the effect of a flame retardant that is used commonly in home and office furnishings as well as electronics and airplanes. The product is called polybrominated diphenyl ether and in this article I will call it PBDE.

Even though products with this chemical, have been banned in Europe, they are still manufactured and used in United States. Most recently manufacturers have agreed to voluntarily discontinue all of these products by the end of 2012. However that is a long time away.

In this study they looked at 150 US children born within 2 miles of the World Trade Center attack in 2001. These women were gathered for the study to look at the effects of exposure to compounds in the dust from the destroyed towers of 911.

PDBE's were measured in the cord blood of over 150 of these children who later participated in at least one session of neuro-developmental testing that was conducted at age 1, 2,3,4,and 6 years of age.

Unfortunately the children who had higher levels of exposures in their cord blood consistently had, on average, lower developmental scores at each of the ages mentioned, compared with those children who were less exposed to the toxic substance.

The relationship was especially strong at age 4 years.

The authors are quick to point out that "it is certain" that sources other than the World Trade Center contributed to the PBDE levels in the children's cord blood.

Of interest is that the cord blood levels observed in these children were indeed similar to those reported in other parts of the United States which suggests that these effects could be widespread. So it is not clear to me if the WTC dust had anything to do with the results of this study.

The authors point out that these findings are consistent with reports of hyperactivity as well as learning and memory deficits found in experiments with mice who were also exposed to PBDE's.

Another recent study has shown that PBDE's may interfere with thyroid hormones as their mechanism of action for interfering with normal brain development.

The authors point out that they are doing more experiments relating to PBDE's developmental effects. Of course in the meantime they recommend that people avoid exposure to these compounds especially pregnant women and newborns.

Unfortunately, these types of exposures are occurring to all women before and during pregnancy. And this is why I advise my patients not to redecorate their house or use nail polish or perfumes with phthalates while they are pregnant.

REFERENCE

 

Book Review: Anti-Cancer A New Way of Life

I am delighted to share with my readers a new book I am reading called Anticancer, A New Way of Life, New Edition by David Servan-Schreiber. Dr. Servan-Schreiber, the author of the book had brain cancer himself and this changed his life dramatically. As a result of his cancer, he studied all possible ways that he could get well including enhancing his body's own natural cancer fighting capabilities. He is now healthy.

Dr. Servan-Schreiber explains how certain foods and environmental toxins  help cancer cells to thrive. He explains what inhibits them as well. Most importantly, he explains many ways to strengthen your immune system to prevent their growth.

He shows how sugar contributes to cancer.  And most importantly, how it is the sugar that obese people eat in excess, and not the obesity itself, that is the contributor to cancer. This occurs through sugar's impact on a molecule called IGF1, which is related to growth hormone.

He reviews diet and cancer fighting foods. I am delighted that he mentions the important role that vitamin D plays in slowing cancer growth. Of course I discuss this extensively in my own book as well.

 He explains why it is important to avoid sugars and bleached flowers.

He has a wonderful chapter on the role of our environment and the toxicity in our household products that contribute to cancer.

In addition he also talks about the optimized mind-body balance to remain positive and healthy.

I am happy to say that this was the book that I would have written if I only I had the time, and was not in full-time practice of medicine.

If you have friends or loved ones who have been affected by cancer, I urge you to share this book with them.

You can get this book by clicking the cover picture below:

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