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May 2007
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Feature Article:The New Alpha
Lipoic Acid Supplement Is A Quality And Price Upgrade Of An Already
Outstanding Product, And Is Called Acetyl L-Carnetine & Alpha
Lipoic Acid
Short Article: Millions
Of Women Saved By Stopping Just One Drug
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In this day of environmental toxicity and the resultant increase
in auto-immune diseases and disorders, any micro-nutrient that
facilitates detoxification at the level of the body's major detoxification
organ, the liver, is immeasurably valuable. The World
Health Organization tells us that in the industrialized world
for example; cancer is caused 20% by genetics and 80% by DIET
and ENVIRONMENT. Additionally, this tends to reflect
overall chronic disease cause in the industrialized portion of
the world. Therefore, heart and vascular diseases, respiratory
diseases, neuromuscular diseases, and diseases of the immune system
are mostly modifiable if we are willing to modify our internal
environment by detoxification and diet, by eating organic and
supplementing with vitamins and other antioxidant nutrients. Anything
that improves the detoxification at the liver level (the primary
detoxification organ) is important. ALA plays that role.
We are immersed in a toxic environment. Because petrochemical
toxins are fat-soluble, they permeate all biological membranes,
including human skin and the skins of fruits and vegetables. Toxic
chemicals saturate our food, the newspapers and books we read,
the cars that we drive, and even the computer chips in our office
equipment. Set up a new computer or television set and you can
smell the toxic solvents evaporating off of the equipment for
weeks after you open the box. Poisons are sprayed everywhere -
school, work, and home. Carpeting and wallboard off-gas toxic
chemicals to the point of producing recently recognized diseases,
such as sick building syndrome and sick trailer syndrome.
Unlike vitamins and essential minerals, the body makes ALA. Unfortunately,
as we get older we make progressively less. Less ALA combined
with life long accumulated levels of environmental toxins causes
health problems. The key word here is accumulated. When our storage
capacity for toxic chemicals reaches saturation we begin to get
sick, and any organ system can demonstrate the symptoms. Unfortunately,
the brain is 40% fat by weight and is a prime repository for fat
soluble toxins, resulting in the epidemic of dementia in our industrialized
societies. Ironically, when we need ALA the most we make the least,
and that's the best possible argument for supplementation.
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ALA is a natural anti-oxidant, produced by
plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. Remember that anti-oxidants
are the chemicals that protect us from the poisons and toxins
in our environment and reduce our risk to chronic disease processes.
In fact, ALA is so important to our well being that every cell
in our body manufactures it. We make a lot of it when we are
children, but as with so many life processes, the rate of manufacture
drops appreciably as we age. By the age of forty, our ability
to manufacture ALA has been so severely reduced that we must
rely on food sources for adequacy, which is insufficient in
this age of chemical pollution. The current research continues
to encourage supplementation with ever increasing doses to meet
the needs of the ever increasing toxicity of our society, which
is the reason for the increased levels in our new product.
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ALA facilitates energy production by getting
fuel across the mitochondrial membrane. Mitochondria are the
factories within our cells that actually produce our energy.
This is a complicated chemical cascade; the details of which
are best left to the chemists. Nevertheless, it is important
to understand that in the aging cellular environment of ever
decreasing ALA, energy production must decline. This explains
a good part of why our energy slips away while we age, and provides
a solution to some of the fatigue related to aging. The loss
of energy, fatigue, as we age and decline in health is the number
two complaint of patients in doctor's offices. Because of the
size of the problem, every little piece of the solution is important.
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ALA is a free radical scavenger in a class
by itself. Because of its molecular structure, ALA can act as
both a water soluble and fat-soluble anti-oxidant. That's important
because most anti-oxidants are either water-soluble or fat-soluble.
Vitamin E, for example, is fat-soluble. Therefore it functions
as a powerful anti-oxidant protecting the fatty portions of
the cell, more especially the cellular membrane which has a
fatty middle layer, from free radical damage. Vitamin C is a
powerful water-soluble anti-oxidant, which protects the inner
workings of the cell from free radical damage. These anti-oxidants
protect our cells from the chemical free radicals produced by
our cells as well as from the toxic free radicals that have
become so prevalent in our industrialized society. In fact,
we live in the most toxic period our planet has ever known.
Our bodies have to detoxify chemicals that didn't exist on the
planet 5 0 years ago, plastic being an excellent example. This
toxic chemical soup creates an overwhelming toxic chemical body
burden that correlates well with the increase in chronic degenerative
disease in our older and younger populations.
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ALA protects us from our environment. As
a super free radical scavenger, ALA protects us from: the chemically
adulterated foods that occupy the shelves of our super markets;
tainted tap water; polluted air; and lawn chemicals. Additionally,
it plays an important role in reactivating both vitamins E and
C when they are used up in chemical reactions scavenging free
radicals. The ALA, when present in optimum amounts, allows the
body to use these two important vitamins over and over. So not
only does it act as a super anti-oxidant itself, it reactivates
other critical anti-oxidants.
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ALA is readily absorbed. ALA is considered
by some an ideal anti-oxidant because it is very easily absorbed
by the digestive tract, and becomes readily available when supplemented.
This is not always the case with nutritional supplements. Calcium
and glutathione are good examples of supplements that are particularly
difficult to digest and absorb. It's a plus when your body uses
the supplements you take easily and efficiently.
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ALA recycles glutathione. Glutathione is
thought to be the most important anti-oxidant in the body. Unfortunately,
it too declines as we age, and glutathione is absorbed poorly
as a supplement. In fact, absorption of glutathione is so poor
that many authorities think it is useless to consider supplementation.
The good news is that ALA takes reduced or used up glutathione
and reactivates it. Studies show that supplementing ALA significantly
increases cellular levels of glutathione. Some studies suggest
that those cellular levels are increased by as much as three
fold
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ALA acts as a chelator. Chele in Greek means
claw. In chemistry, a chelating agent acts like a claw. It attaches
to something, inactivates it, and caries it to a place where
it is utilized or excreted. ALA chelates toxic heavy metals
like mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and lead. We have all read about
lead poisoning in the inner cities from the leaded gasoline's
we used years ago. We've also heard about the dangers of lead
in the old oil based paints. Even when the toxic body burden
from these poisons is great, ALA will bind to them and clear
them from the body. Perhaps most importantly, ALA chelates the
mercury that ablates (sloughs off) from the silver/mercury fillings
in teeth. Mercury is a serious health threat, and ALA neutralizes
it and carries it away so it can be excreted safely. Unfortunately,
sometimes silver/mercury fillings ablate so badly the only safe
solution is removal.
Because of its ability to reactivate glutathione, the most important
antioxidant in cancer cases, it plays a key role in both cancer
treatment and prevention.
The liver is the body's major factory organ. It prepares the
food we eat for use in the body. If we need a certain protein
for repair, the liver breaks down existing proteins and rebuilds
the one we need. It stores carbohydrate as long chains of sugar
molecules until needed. It reduces fats to basic units for storage
or immediate energy utilization. It cleanses the blood and detoxifies
numerous toxic chemicals and millions of bacteria every day. It
stores blood and releases it when necessary to maintain blood
pressure. It synthesizes important chemicals like clotting factor,
vitamin K. It is also the storage site for fat-soluble vitamins,
some for long periods of time. It helps break down old red blood
cells, and activates new ones by incorporating hemoglobin. Its
secretion, bile, is necessary for our body to digest fats in the
intestines. Of all these functions, probably the most important,
in our toxic environment, is detoxification. The liver takes toxic
chemicals and through enzymatic intervention turns them into less
toxic chemicals that can be excreted without harming the body.
The damage done to the liver by toxic substances (poison mushrooms,
acetaminophen, alcohol) occurs because of free radical damage.
As a superb free radical scavenger, ALA is the best protector
we have found for the liver to date. In many cases for example,
of acute mushroom poisoning, patients who have been told they
were terminal have survived and gone on to live healthy lives
because of intervention with adequate amounts of supplemental
ALA.
In adult onset diabetics, abnormal glucose metabolism results
in a considerable increase in free radicals, which may cause neurological,
vascular, kidney, and visual problems. The insulin resistance
that is associated with type II diabetes is at the root of most
of these conditions, as well as being a major contributor to most
inflammatory diseases that plague modern society. Remember that
the early warning sign of insulin resistance (impending diabetes)
is abdominal obesity in men (the potbelly), and belly and hip
fat in women. When caught in time, ALA has been demonstrated to
correct all of these side effects. Even after symptoms are well
established, ALA supplementation has produced significant improvement.
Although most of us are preoccupied with worry about cancer,
heart disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the western
world. This disease is often tied to insulin resistance and the
vascular changes that accompany it. Additionally, there are many
theories explaining the cause of CVD, but they all involve various
scenarios that increase free radical damage to the blood vessels.
This free radical component of CVD is why so much research has
confirmed the risk reduction value of antioxidant supplements
in cases of CVD and in people who are at risk.
Carnetine is an interesting metabolite that facilitates healthy
sugar utilization when insulin resistance (syndrome X, hypoglycemia,
pre-diabetes, or diabetes) is present. Because most of the chronic
degenerative diseases of our society have a component in improper
sugar handling, i.e., insulin resistance, anything that helps
insulin do its job more efficiently is invaluable. Carnetine plays
as important a role in these reactions as Alpha Lipoic Acid, so
combining them was an easy decision for the formulating biochemist,
and because the product is being made in much greater quantities
the price gets even better.
The Acetyl L-Carnetine form of Carnetine is favored because it
easily crosses the blood brain barrier, and will carry the Alpha
Lipoic Acid with it. The Acetyl L-Carnetine, then, gets the Alpha
Lipoic Acid to the brain where it can act as a chelating agent
for the heavy metals and fat soluble neurotoxins that are so much
a part of the epidemic of dementia. With the risk of dementia
as high as it is, this product is a must try for everyone over
50 years old.
The replacement product, Acetyl L-Carnetine & Alpha Lipoic
Acid, is considerably more powerful. There's 250 mg of Acetyl
L-Carnetine and 250 mg of Alpha Lipoic Acid per capsule. This
brings the minimum dosage (per capsule) in line with the latest
research on optimum dosage for people over 50, and allows for
fewer supplements to be taken by those with insulin resistance
or diabetes.
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Dosage: I recommend taking 2 Preventics Acetyl
L-Carnetine & Alpha Lipoic Acid supplements (500mg) a day
for 2 or 3 months. If you notice fatigue, cut your dose back.
It means you are detoxifying too quickly. It also means you
have a significant toxic body burden and will be taking this
supplement for a long time. If you have this reaction, call
me on the Health Help Hotline (800-888-4866) during our Ask
Doctor David hours and I will help manage your detoxification.
Many patients experiencing the first symptoms of early memory
loss/dementia will notice a rather immediate improvement and
should not be surprised. Increases in energy and ability to
get to sleep and remain asleep are also common first responses
to supplementation. I take 2 Acetyl L-Carnetine & Alpha
Lipoic Acid supplements a day as a source of protection against
the mental decline of old age resulting from the toxic environment
that we all live in.
If you have followed the above dosage protocol and feel fine
after being on 2 capsules for 2 or 3 months, you can cut back
to 1 a day. If you notice a little worsening of symptoms, go
back to 2 a day.
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Price: Preventics old Alpha Lipoic Acid sold
for $13.00 for a bottle of 90. Retail on this product was over
$25.00 a bottle.
The new product, Acetyl L-Carnetine & Alpha Lipoic Acid
contains 60 capsules. Each capsule contains 250mg of both Acetyl
L-Carnetine and Alpha Lipoic Acid for only $18.00 at your price.
That's a savings of $18.00 over retail, but more importantly,
250mg of the old Alpha Lipoic Acid product would have cost $21.60,
and that's without the Acetyl L-Carnetine, which is not an inexpensive
supplement.
I consider this new product to be so superior that I have eliminated
the old Alpha Lipoic Acid product from the Preventics line of products
as of this newsletter. |
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The numbers are in, and after a significant drop
in breast cancer numbers in 2003 the numbers leveled off in 2004.
We now know that the 2003 drop was definitely due to doctors taking
their patients off Premerin and Prempro, the female estrogen drugs
made from pregnant mare's urine. The huge Womens Health Initiative
study that suggested that the drug was dangerous came after 30 years
of assuming safety, obviously a serious mal-assumption. Estrogen
positive cancers in 2003 fell almost 15% in the age group of 50
to 69, the age group of women most likely to be on these medications.
Over the course of 30 years that amounts to hundreds of thousands
of lives lost because of a pharmaceutical company once again not
doing adequate research to determine safety. Heart, stroke and ovarian
cancer risks also declined, but nothing like the breast cancer risk.
Bio-identical hormones are considered to be safer, but caution is
needed where these types of popular medications are also prescribed
quite cavalierly. |
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If you have questions about your health, NAET,
exercise, diet, or your supplements, Dr. David is available to answer
your questions at 800-888-4866 or 816-753-4866 between 10 and Noon
Central Time, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. |
For information on Professional quality supplements
at wholesale prices
(50% off retail),
go to the Preventics heading. |
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