The above link is a very recent review article from an accepted peer-reviewed medical journal. This means that this article was reviewed by a panel of physicians and scientists for both accuracy and truthfulness.

Bio-identicals are safer.

In the very near future we will open a Forum for patients to use both for information and to communicate with each other and with our practice. Lately the demands for better communication have become evident to all of us. Being a very lean practice we have been looking for a way to extend our availability and provide better service to you our patients and those interested in our practice.

We believe the addition of these “Forums” will please both our patients and those interested in our practice.

Stayed tuned. The Forum should be open very soon.

This past weekend I was able to attend an advanced women’s health seminar in Nashville. This seminar was sponsored by ZRT Labs. This company is a cutting edge company who is one of the grandfathers of saliva hormone testing. For about eight hours a day we heard some amazing lecturers talk about the body’s physiology and how things work. We also learned how to look for the root problems and treat it with nutriceuticals and some pharmaceuticals.

I then drove home and worked one day in our office then I was off to Greenville to attend a Primary Care Update for three days. We had some of the brightest guys in traditional medicine explain how to treat everything from hypertension, bird flu and even menopause. During one of the breaks I called my wife and remember commenting that the weekend conference was all about how the body works and this conference was all about how to use the latest pill. Sure we were getting some information on physiology but nothing substantial. Instead it was all about which drug worked better than the next.

Perhaps due to fatigue and lack of sleep I reached an epiphany. Traditional medicine is not “cutting edge”. They are not pushing the envelope to provide patients with true alternatives. The science is very good however it is very limited. Most of the science in traditional medicine at this point is all about how a chemical can change a lab value instead of how we can actually restore a person’s health.

I believe we at LivingWell Integrative Healthcare are uniquely positioned to bring these two disparate worlds together for our patient’s benefit. Sure it is an odd juxtaposition but the two worlds of alternative and traditional medicine need to come together.

1 cup Happy Cow milk

1/2 cup mayo (no soy oil)

1 free-range egg

Sea salt to taste(I used 1/2 tsp)

1 1/2 cups of Happy Cow’s 3 year cheddar cheese

Steam broccoli until soft/firm

Mix milk, mayo, and egg together(and salt if using). Mix in  half of the cheese. Add the broccoli and stir gently. Pour into a casserole dish coated with olive oil. Top with remaining cheese and bake at 350 until firm.

A group of scientists at the University of Japan have found a way of using just 4 chemicals to convert human adult skin cells into pleuripotent stem cells. While these cells are not exact replicas of embryonic stem cells they have most of the capabilities. So what this means is that we can create stem lines of cells that can be used to treat many of the diseases that embryonic stem cells have potential to help. These include MS, Parkinsons Disease, degenerative joint disease and a host of others.

So why “harvest” embryos or create cloned embryos when we can use skin cells as our base cell lines. Hopefully this will end the ethical and moral debate. It makes no sense to insist on such morally heinous practices in the name of research.

1 cup each cut up broccoli and squash (or any two fresh veges you like) -steamed

1 pound of cooked meat (ground meat, chicken or turkey chunks, etc.)

1 cup grated cheese (of course I use Happy Cow sharp cheddar, long horn, farmer’s, etc)

1/2 cup mayo (remember no soy oil)

1/2 cup sour cream

3/4 cup chicken stock (or beef, whichever you happen to have)

Combine rice, veges, and meat.  In a separate bowl combine mayo, sour cream and stock.  Mix these two together and put in a casserole dish and sprinkle cheese over top. Bake at 350 until bubbly and heated through. Delicious!!! (Per my family)

“Vitamin D May Not Reduce Cancer Deaths

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

WASHINGTON (AP) — A large new study found no sign that vitamin D lowers the overall risk of dying from cancer, injecting a note of caution to the latest vitamin craze. The exception: People with more vitamin D in their blood did have a significantly lower risk of death from colorectal cancer, supporting earlier findings.”

The study referenced here was first published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute this week. It has been fodder for many great health headlines of all the major news outlets. Unfortunately no one seems to have read the article. If you read the article you find that just the opposite was found by this study.

This study was a longitudinal prospective study in which the researchers looked at nearly 17000 people and whether or not they were diagnosed with cancer over the years between 1988 to 2003. One of the flaws in this study is that they assume that the initial serum level of Vitamin D will never change because they NEVER retested these people’s Vitamin D level. Whether or not these people become sun worshipers or began to live in a cave for 10 years. Or what if some of these people began taking Vitamin D. These are questions that were not asked.

While these are important questions the real meat of this study revealed that the folks with the highest level of Vitamin D had a 72% reduction of colorectal cancer. In case you missed that. A higher level of Vitamin D REDUCED COLORECTAL CANCER MORTALITY BY 72%. An inverse relationship was found between the Vitamin D level and colorectal cancer mortality.

Just to put this in perspective, an estimated 153,760 people will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year in America and estimated 52,180 Americans will die from this cancer this year. If this is reduced by 72% these numbers become 43,053 and 14,610. In 2003 numbers the estimated overall cost of colorectal cancer was $6.4 Billion dollars. If this was reduced by 72% the cost to a strained healthcare system would be$1.8 Billion instead. Now understand that these figures represent just a quick estimate but they do represent quite a potential reduction in human suffering and monetary expenses.

These findings did not merit a headline. Obviously Vitamin D does not help prevent cancer. (Please forgive my sarcasm. )

Maybe we should read the headlines somewhat more critically.

Link to Pub Med abstract of referenced study.

2 large cucumbers, peeled and grated(I used the food processor grating blade)

2-8 ounce cream cheese

3/4 cup mayo (no soy oil!)

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

Pour vinegar over cucumbers and let sit for 1 hour then drain (do not rinse). Add all ingredients into the food processor and blend together. If you don’t have a food processor, I would try a mixer, but make sure your cream cheese is softened. Chill several hours and serve with your favorite veges.