In the last month I have had two patients comment on energy and CoQ10. One lady was one of my recovered breast cancer patients and the other was a patient that carries a familial risk in that area. They were both on physiological doses of CoQ10, when for various reasons they discontinued it for a period of a few months. In retrospect, they both said that they had noticeably more fatigue in that time frame, and when they restarted their CoQ10 supplementation they noticed revitalization, a very noticeable improvement in overall energy.

Research Confirms A Connection

These patient experiences are important, and in keeping with findings by the Karolinska Institute in breast cancer research. Many years ago they found that when physiological doses of CoQ10 were added to a comprehensive supplemental program for terminal breast cancer patients, an unexpected number of them went into sustained remission, and in the remainder, the cancer progression was appreciably reduced. So now let me tie the two together so it makes sense. Later we can talk about CoQ10′s role in the areas of increased energy, heart health, anti-oxidant activity, skin health, dosage, and some meds that interfere with CoQ10 production.

CoQ10, Cancer Physiology And Energy Production

Healthy cells fulfill their energy requirements via oxidative Phosphorylation, or the use of oxygen. CoQ10, as an electron donor, plays a major role in the process. When cells can’t make sufficient energy using oxygen, they switch to making energy by ‘burning’ sugar. It’s called glycolysis. If a cell makes its energy via glycolysis for a protracted period, that cell becomes confused and begins to function disharmoniously with the surrounding cells. If that continues long enough, the risk of genetic aberration and cancer increases exponentially. This was first published in the early part of the last century by Otto Warburg, M.D., Ph.D., so it isn’t new information. What is new information is the research by Professor Brian Peskin (google Brian Peskin and prepare to get excited) explaining why cells most commonly switch from oxidative energy production to the burning of sugar (glycolysis). Obviously, we want to keep our cells using oxygen, and CoQ10 helps the body do that.

President Nixon’s “War on Cancer” was lost a long time ago, which is why you don’t hear about it any more. With cancer, the obvious approach to reduced the numbers has to be prevention, and anything that reduces cells switching their energy production to glycolysis is a big step in the right direction.

How Do You Know If You Need It?

As we age we make less CoQ10. It starts to decline in our twenties, and many people are functioning at critically low levels by the time they are in their 50′s. I take a bottle of CoQ10 (100mg per pill) every year to see if I can notice an increase in energy, and I haven’t yet. The original research suggested that you should be able to tell the difference if you took a 30 mg pill of CoQ10 a day for a month, but the latest research suggests that the proper test dosage is 100mg a day. The lay literature is suggesting everyone over 30 needs to supplement with CoQ10, but I don’t support that position. I have numerous patients in their 30′s and 40′s who notice energy increases when they take 100mg of CoQ10 every day, but I also have numerous patients who are in their 50′s and 60′s who test themselves regularly and appear to not need it yet, myself included. Of course, as the body ages, needs change, so eventually we will all benefit from supplementing CoQ10, but why spend money supplementing CoQ10 if you don’t need it yet?

Let’s Not Forget CoQ10 And The Heart

Initially, CoQ10 was lauded for its role in cellular respiration, and because the heart uses more energy than other organs the thrust of research was in the cardiovascular direction with emphasis on increased energy production. Use of CoQ10 in heart disease, especially congestive heart failure, has been routine in Japan for over a decade. Most of the CoQ10 research has been done overseas, and American M.D.’s tend to overlook it because it wasn’t done here, however, that seems to be changing with time. My dearest friend, who recently passed away, couldn’t walk from a restaurant to the car without stressing his heart, but after taking CoQ10 he could walk around the block with no problems at all. For those with congestive heart failure it can be a miracle pill.

The Most Recent Findings

The latest truly important research with CoQ10 is the discovery of its neuro-protective role in Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, Freidreich’s ataxia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). A lesser discovery is CoQ10′s ability to protect skin from oxidative damage, and it is now found in many natural skin care products such as wrinkle defense creams and skin toners.

Impaired Production

A big problem with CoQ10 is that its production is hampered by certain medications, most notably the Statin drugs used for lowering cholesterol. It is imperative that everyone taking Statins must additionally supplement CoQ10. A number of cardiologists have written books on this subject but mainline cardiologists have been slow to respond. Birth control pills can also block the production of CoQ10, so young women taking those pills and experiencing fatigue should try supplementing with CoQ10 to see if it makes a difference.

Quality CoQ10

As more supplements are made in Asia, quality becomes a question that should be on every purchasers mind. There is no good cheap CoQ10. That’s unfortunate, but true. Preventics professional quality CoQ10, 100mg, normally sells for $66.00 for 30 capsules. We discount them to $33.00 a bottle to make them more affordable.

Early detection is not prevention, although it is represented as such in this article. Early detection has resulted in women treated for breast cancer living longer after treatment, which is good, but they still tend to die after seven or eight years with an exacerbation of the breast cancer, and unfortunately, or by design, after five years they are listed statistically as a cure… so there’s truth to the old adage, figures lie and liars figure, and the National Cancer Institute is the liar that’s doing the figuring.

The article talked about reducing risk with supplements of Vitamin D and flaxseed oil, exercise and an intelligent diet. That was a good start, brief but good nevertheless. However, it also advocated Tamoxifen and Raloxifene as preventatives in spite of all the horrible side effects of those drugs. It did not, however, discuss iodine/iodide supplements and the connection between iodine intake and the extremely low amount of breast cancer found in Japanese women, which happens to be directly related to their iodine intake. I will discuss this iodine/iodide connection and the flaxseed oil (omega 6, omega 3 balance) connection in a following paragraph, but first a word about Vitamin D.

It was mentioned that promising research is being done on Vitamin D, but it didn’t mention that a great deal of research has already been done. For example, in a paper analyzing combined data from several studies that covered colon, ovary and breast cancer, the authors determined that a 30% reduction of breast cancer could be achieved if one sustained blood levels of greater than or equal too 42 ng/ml, and they projected that a 50% reduction could occur by lifelong maintenance of serum levels of 52 ng/ml or greater. Now there’s a terrific goal for a prevention minded woman, especially one with elevated risk. Combine that with other suggestions in this newsletter and you no longer have a goal, you have a program. That is what prevention should be all about.

Please consider that nothing that medicine offers short of preventive mastectomy can offer these kinds of numbers. I guess we should ask why that wasn’t mentioned in the newspaper, but then the answer is pretty obvious. Because Vitamin D levels decline with aging, increased levels of supplemental Vitamin D may be necessary to reach the necessary 52 ng/ml serum goal. Usually 2000 iu of Vitamin D will produce the desired serum levels, but the elderly, obese, homebound and those with dark skin may need higher dosages. Other studies have found that Vitamin D is especially important in pubescent girls, and that an adequate level of Vitamin D during puberty significantly reduces breast cancer risk in womanhood.

Given this important information, it would seem prudent to rethink our present dermatological position that paints the sun, our primary source of Vitamin D, as such a bad guy. I have written other newsletters on that subject, so I will not belabor this article with repetition. However, I must say that my position that the sunscreen manufacturers have knowingly misinformed the public on the dangers of sunshine and are continuing to do so in the name of profit becomes more obvious with each new year of published Vitamin D research.

Iodine/iodide is cheap and non patentable so you won’t hear much about it from present day assembly line medicine whose patient education information is determined by the pharmaceutical industry. Iodine/iodide reduces fibroids and the research suggests that it reduces cancer risk for breast, uterus, ovary and prostate by occupying estrogen receptor sites, the same sites targeted by drugs like Tamoxifen. Oh, and I might add, without the side effects. Iodine stimulates the metabolism of estrogens that are carcinogenic into Estriol, the anti-cancer estrogen, adding extra protection for those at risk. Iodine can also be applied directly to the breasts (avoid the sensitive areolas) to reduce fibro-cystic breast disease. The iodine used for that is tincture of iodine, usually less than $5.00 a bottle, and it can’t be patented so assembly line medicine has little knowledge of it. Interestingly enough, it has also been reported that women who take thyroid medication, without a supplemental iodine/iodide supplement have twice the risk of cancer as those women who take both thyroid and iodine together.

It discussed other drugs that blocked “estrogens,” but never discussed balancing estrogens (there’s more than one), or the use of Estriol (the anticancer estrogen) to balance the pro cancer estrogen factions. Alternative/complimentary medical doctors who deal in bio-identical hormone therapy have been trying to get the assembly line doctors to pay attention to this for years, so far to no avail. I frequently refer patients to doctors who prefer this more natural approach, especially since when natural, bio-identical hormones are given in balance there appears to be virtually no cancer risk. If you have been determined to be a high risk for any of these estrogen sensitive cancers, the smart decision would be to find an M.D. who is experienced in balancing natural (bio-identical) hormones and have the Lab done to determine the ratio of Estriol to the other estrogens. Once that is determined, natural hormone replacement can be done to create a balance that reduces that risk. If you need the name of an M.D. who specializes in natural hormone balancing/replacement, call the office at 913-432-4477, and Chris, my office manage, will help you with the name of one north and one south of the river.

Overweight, of course, was a major focus because of the associated higher risk in obese women. No one, however, addressed the causes of obesity, and how the foods that cause the biggest problems with weight gain are also the foods that both prepare the path for cancer to begin with, and then feed the very cancer that they helped create. Of course the foods I’m referring to are processed, so the anti-cancer essential (essential means that without them we die) unsaturated fatty acids are made biologically unavailable by hydrogenation and other methods. A good example of a biologically unavailable fat is a trans fatty acid… and we all know how dangerous trans fats are. The second culprit, of course is sugar, which is what cancers eat. Any foods that quickly turn to sugar are food sources for cancer cells, and that includes fruit and grain.

This is probably the time to mention another terrific risk reducer, the vegetables that the first President Bush made famous, the Brassica family. Eating three meals a week with broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, and other cruciferous vegetables helps keep the right balance between pro-cancer and anti-cancer hydroxyl estrogens. How about that for an honest and easy prevention strategy that the paper neglected to mention?

I think that it is important to point out at this time that industry hasn’t been deterred by the ban on trans fatty acids. A major article in the New England Journal, about twenty years ago pointed out the cancer and heart disease dangers of trans fatty acids, but in spite of thousands of deaths contributed to by these adulterated fats, it took until recently for government to start enforcing their elimination from processed foods. During that time, the processed food industry has had time to find other ways to inactivate healthy, essential fatty acids, and any inactivated fatty acid is as dangerous as a trans fatty acid. Once an essential fatty acid is chemically altered so that it will no longer attract oxygen, it is a dangerous rather than a friendly substance, and plays a major role in both cardio-vascular disease and cancer. PROCESSED FOOD IS KILLING US! Naturally, not a word about this was mentioned, and what could be easier than reducing our processed food intake. Now that’s a real preventive measure.

There was also reference to concentrated flaxseed oil and lignins, but no association to the essential omega-6 unsaturated fatty acids. The most important cancer research of the last fifty years, in my opinion, revolves around the importance and adulteration of these essential omega-6 oils. Everyone should Google, “Brian Peskin.” The man has done some brilliant work that will be largely ignored because he is not an M.D. He has taken the work of Otto Warburg, M.D., Ph. D. one step further and explained a major piece of the puzzle of WHY healthy cells become cancer cells, or specifically, why they switch from making their energy from oxygen to making it from sugar. Oh, and this information could easily save your life so don’t put off going to his website. Professor Peskin’s work is so sensational that he is presenting it to the Anti Aging Medical Society in Las Vegas this December. There will be over three thousand doctors present at that convention, so that’s a start.

Those doctors will learn that if we can alter the diet by going back to using unadulterated forms of the Omega-6 essential fatty acids, we can greatly reduce the risk of having our cells go from using oxygen to using sugar for energy. Professor Peskin’s website is very thorough regarding this issue, and it will not serve us here to repeat it. I should add that his work has helped answer some interesting questions about some old research that was done in Sweden.

Many years ago, researchers at the Karolinska Institute worked with women who were considered terminal with breast cancer. These women were all on various programs that utilized high levels of vitamin and mineral supplements in addition to a more organic diet. One group lived longer with fewer side effects from the cancer than would normally be expected, so their quality of remaining life was definitely improved. The second group was given additional Co-enzyme Q 10, in substantial amounts. A significant number of women from this group experienced remission. Co-enzyme Q 10 increases the oxygen uptake of our cells, which makes it so important after a heart muscle is damaged from a heart attack. The same ability to help the cancer patient can now be explained in the light of Peskin’s work. It’s apparently CO-enzyme Q 10′s ability to change cellular respiration from glycolysis (burning sugar) to Oxidative Phosphorylation (burning oxygen) that made the difference, or from keeping cells from switching from Oxidative Phosphorylation to Glycolysis in the first place.

Naturally, the genetic link to cancer was mentioned, but it was also qualified, because only 60% of these genetically susceptible women ever get breast cancer. There was a time when cancer was thought to be mostly caused by genetics, but those days are gone. Now we know better. The study of genes and their contribution to disease is now one more correctly called epigenetics, and the study of epigenetics tells us how our environment, both internal and external, speaks to our genes, turning them on and off. The big question, then, should be “what are the other 40% of women doing that’s different that reduces their risk by obviously turning their cancer genes off.”

Last, but not least, is the use of a key natural hormone, DHEA, that regulates an important enzyme involved in the pathway that feeds energy to cancers. By keeping DHEA at the right level we can make the potential cancer energy pathway less active, thereby reducing risk. Your family doctor can order the necessary testing.

The emphasis of this major newspaper article was on preventive drugs, with all their horrible side effects, preventive mastectomy, and early detection which simply leads to early treatment. Unfortunately, virtually everything mentioned was designed to keep the money in the medical industrial pharmaceutical cancer monopoly.

Preventics carries a superior Iodine/iodide product, Vitamin D, and an organic Omega 6, Omega 3 balanced essential unsaturated fatty acid product called Parent Essential Fatty Acids. I’m available for questions on Tues., Wed., and Thurs. between 10 and 12 at 816-753-4866 or 800-888-4688.

The Omega 3s

These products are the stars of the media circus around the essential fatty acids (EFAs). It seems like everyone is selling a superior fish oil these days. Although these EFAs are especially important in growing children for healthy brain development through the formative years, they are much less important in the adult. If we keep in mind that the brain is 60% fat by weight, having adequate EFAs for brain development is obvious. In infants and children, the brain is in a state of rapid growth and development, whereas in adults, the need for these Omega 3 EFAs decreases enormously. Although all our organs and tissues need the Omega 3 EFAs, compared to the requirements for brain healing and development, the need is small.

The Omega 6s

These EFAs are the real unheralded heros, but they are in such abundance in the diet that they get short shrift in the literature. Unfortunately for us, our FDA has allowed food manufacturers to process these Omega 6 EFAs to eliminate spoilage and increase shelf life. Many manufactured foods that contain processed EFAs can sit on a shelf for years without spoiling: the Twinky is a good example. The Omega 6 family of EFAs are the most abundant in our diet, and now we know that they are also the most important. It’s the adulteration/processing of these Omega 6 EFAs that plays such a huge role in cancer.

The Ratios Tell The Story

What really matters is the ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3, not only in the brain and nervous system, but in all of the body organs and tissues. In the brain and nervous system, the ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 EFAs is one to one. In every other organ and tissue, the Omega 6′s are much more important. In muscle, which makes up about half of our adult solid weight, the necessary healthy ratio is between seven and eight to one, Omega 6 to Omega 3. In lining tissue, that would be skin, sinuses, lungs, stomach, small & large intestines, urogenital system, joints and the lining of the blood vessels, etc., the ratio is one thousand to one, Omega 6 to Omega 3. That’s correct, one thousand to one, Omega 6 to Omega 3.

Where’s The Fat?

Of course we know that fat can be found in adipose tissue, but that’s storage fat, and when was the last time you heard of a cancer in adipose tissue? Exactly! So where are the rest of these EFAs found, and what’s their job?

The cell membrane surrounds the cell and then convolutes about throughout the cell contributing to its shape and size. This cell membrane structure is made up of an outer coating of protein, a middle layer of EFAs, and an inner layer of protein. That’s kind of like a sandwich with fat in the middle and protein on the outside. Fat also plays many other important roles, but for this discussion, the EFAs that make up the middle layer of the cell wall structure are the ones of interest.

These middle layer EFAs are the cells oxygen magnets. Otto Warburg, M.D., Ph.D., researched, discovered and published his findings regarding a major underlying cause of cancer as far back as the 1950s. This work is popular in Germany where he practiced and did his research, but is just coming to the attention of the establishment in this country. Warburg demonstrated unequivocally that lining tissue cells deprived of oxygen eventually begin to create their energy by combusting more sugar than oxygen, by the process of glycolysis. In time, this leads to a cancer cell. Although this sugar-cancer connection was established over half a century ago, most oncologists are still unaware of this research. Simply put, cancer lives on sugar.

Oxygen in the lungs is drawn through the lining of the lungs, the lining of the tiny capillaries in the lungs, and into the hemoglobin molecule within the red blood cell (RBC). It’s safe to say that this hemoglobin molecule has a very powerful attraction for oxygen. When that RBC reaches the lining tissue and again is squeezing through a narrow capillary, something must have a greater attraction for that oxygen molecule than hemoglobin to pull the oxygen from the RBC and into the lining tissue cell. The something that has this tremendous attraction for oxygen is fat. The EFAs that make up the middle layer of the cell wall structure are what pull the oxygen from the RBC, and in this case we’re talking about the Omega 6 EFAs, mostly the parent oil, Linoleic Acid.

The Crux Of The Problem

Once food is processed to keep its shelf life, the fat has been changed into a different form that no longer has an attraction for oxygen. One of the processes, and the most utilized until recently, was the hydrogenation of fat, converting healthy fat into trans fatty acids that have no oxygen attracting ability. Now that the consumer is becoming aware of the damage done by trans fatty acids causing cancer and heart disease, the big food processors have devised other means to preserve shelf life. Unfortunately, anything that interferes with the oxygen attracting ability of fat will be just as dangerous as trans fatty acids/hydrogenated fats.

How Big Is The Problem?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), eighty-five percent (85%) of the cancer found in the industrialized world is lining tissue cancer, or Adenocarcinoma. They make up the bulk of the breast, prostate, lung, sinus, mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine and colon cancers, as well as most cancers of the urogenital system. Before World War II, when consumers ate mostly fresh foods and few processed foods, cancer was a much smaller problem. In fact, before the Second World War, relatively few people died of cancer. By 1971, the government declared a war on cancer, and now cancer has surpassed heart disease as the number one killer in the USA. Obviously, medical science isn’t winning this war, so if we want to protect our families, we will have to take action for ourselves.

What’s The Solution?

Well, there isn’t just one solution to reducing cancer risk, but a big contributor is reducing the processed fat we get in our diets. Given time and a good supplemental dosage of the parent essential oils the body will replace the damaged fat that has been incorporated into our lining tissue cell walls with healthy Omega 6 EFAs that have oxygen attracting capacity. This can take many months but is worth the effort. This is, very possibly, the biggest nutritional breakthrough since I started studying and practicing nutrition over forty years ago.

What’s The Test?

Obviously, we need a test to let us know we have accomplished our goal. Most medical tests are expensive, this one isn’t. Just pay attention to your poop. That’s right, if your stools float, it means a little bit of fat is getting through your gut and therefore not being absorbed. I usually suggest starting at four YES parent essential oil capsules a day for three months. If your stools haven’t begun to float, you increase the dosage to five capsules per day for another month. If they still don’t float you increase the dosage to six capsules per day for another month, etc. Once you get floating stools, you stay at that dosage for a month before cutting the dosage back by one capsule per day for a month. If after a month, your stools are still floating you cut back another capsule per day for another month. If your stools start sinking again, you simply add back one YES parent essential oil capsule until you once again have floaters. This way each person is adjusting his/her dosage to individual need.

Who’s Responsible?

Most of this work is the result of impeccable research by Professor Brian Peskin. Brian Peskin can be Googled. His books are the talk of the alternative/complimentary medical community and can be comprehended by most people with a solid high school education.

Availability

YES parent essential oils are available through Preventics and can be found on our price list, the order order blank and on the online order form – listed as Parent Essential Fatty Acids under Essential Oils & Fatty Acids. This product is still patent protected, so unfortunately Preventics is unable to have it made at a considerable discount. The YES parent essential oil supplement supplies 120 capsules (725 mg each), for $49.95. Hopefully, in time, our purchases will become large enough to get a significant discount from the manufacturer, which we will then be able to pass on to you.

The biggest push for soy consumption comes in regard to its reputed ability to protect against various cancers, breast cancer among them. However, there is no evidence that unfermented soy offers any protection whatsoever, and in fact, the facts point in just the opposite direction. Scientific studies very specifically show that unfermented soy increases cancer risk. In fact, unfermented soy is also linked to heart disease, reproductive disorders, digestive problems, malnutrition, thyroid dysfunction and cognitive decline. Soy is particularly damaging when used in infant formulas.

The powerful companies behind soy have bought and paid for our congressmen with their lobbying dollars and have managed to get some of their employee’s promoted into top positions with the FDA. That is how they have managed to keep the research that is negative to soy from the public, which is exactly how they did it with Aspartame, the artificial sweetener that’s more dangerous than sugar.

In almost every case, fibrocystic disease is curable. Approximately 25 years ago I had the privilege of attending a lecture on a protocol developed by a Dr. John Myers. He had devised an approach for the successful treatment of fibrocystic disease. The first part of his protocol was a basic vitamin program similar to the Basic Self-Help Program that you find in my newsletters. To this you add extra vitamin E, so the dosage goes to 800 units a day (two of Preventics Vitamin E – E-Mixed Tocopherols). To that you must add 100mg of extra vitamin B₆ (two of Preventics Vitamin B6-50), and 400mg of extra Magnesium (one of Preventics Mag Chelate Plus). The final ingredient is iodine.

The best way to determine a deficiency of iodine is to get a bottle of tincture of iodine from the pharmacist and paint a square on your abdomen about the size of an audiocassette case. If you are deficient in iodine, you will absorb this through the skin in less than 8 hours. When you are no longer deficient your body will cease absorbing it and it will remain for 24 hours. Do not be surprised if the iodine patch is gone very quickly. There is a serious iodine deficiency all across our country, which is especially severe in the mid-west. Some people are allergic/sensitive to iodine and should see an NAET practitioner to clear the allergy (if my office in the Kansas City area is not convenient for you, go to the NAET.com website to locate a practitioner near you). About the only side effect from this approach is tender skin. In some individuals, the skin under the iodine application area will become tender or sensitive. If that happens, you simply move the patch to another area or discontinue the treatment for a few days.

When the fibrocystic disease is particularly bad, the application of iodine directly to the breast areas most affected improves results even more, although extra care must be taken not to stain white undergarments. With fibrocystic disease of the uterus and/or ovaries, it helps to paint the iodine patches on the skin directly over the organs. Almost without fail, by the time the iodine patch lasts 24 hours before fading, the fibrocystic disease is gone. Many women have reported back to me that their OB/GYN told them that their uterine and/or ovarian cysts that were bigger than an orange have disappeared.

Once the iodine patch refuses to disappear in the allotted 24 hour period, many of my patients prefer taking Preventics Kelp, because it eliminates the risk of staining clothes.

An additional benefit of this treatment is improved Thyroid function, the main topic of one of our newsletters. It was the increase in the number of calls from that newsletter that prompted this follow up.

The most common comments were those regarding increased energy. It is not unusual when doing the iodine patch test to see a considerable increase in energy because often the Thyroid is marginally under-functioning because of a lack of iodine, and in the presence of the deficient mineral the Thyroid again begins to function optimally.

Still another common comment had to do with weight loss, which takes place sluggishly if at all when the Thyroid is marginally under-functioning. With adequate iodine, and a Thyroid that is working the way it is supposed too, weight loss is much easier to achieve.

Have fun with this test. Check yourself 3 or 4 times a year to be sure your iodine levels are adequate for optimum Thyroid function, and enjoy better health. This is the kind of preventive medicine that keeps you out of the doctor’s office.

During this discourse it will be important to remember that the Governments Food & Nutrition Board is made up of representatives of businesses and organizations that have huge vested interests in our eating habits. These representatives are from cereal companies, agribusiness co-ops, food manufacturers, etc. These same companies and organizations hire marketers to persuade us to eat in such a way as to continue to make them profitable even if their recommendations are based on opinion and often outright misinformation.

Since I was a boy I have watched the heart disease, cancer, and diabetes statistics escalate as we have eaten ourselves into chronic ill health, guided by the businesses and organizations previously mentioned. I hope over the next year these newsletters will show you how to eat your way back to good health and then maintain that state.

I do not mean to suggest that all of our health problems are based on poor diet and lifestyle, just most of them. For example, even the World Health Organization’s research tells us that no more than 15% of all cancer has a genetic link, and that the remaining 85% is a result of a faulty diet and lifestyle, both of which are modifiable. So how big a role does diet play, and where does one start?

Obviously, if the body is to be healthy it must have genuine replacement parts on an ongoing basis. Consider this; your body replaces itself completely every twenty four months. Many tissues replace themselves much more quickly. For example, the intestinal tract replaces itself every two weeks. The brain (nervous system) is the slow poke at every two years. With that in mind we must ask, “What happens if we do not supply the genuine replacement parts for growth and/or repair?” The next question must be, “What are the most important replacement parts?” In the textbooks those replacement parts are called “essential.” Without the “essential” genuine replacement parts we become sick and eventually die.

Now, because the brain and nervous system control and coordinate all the other systems and the brain is sixty percent fat by weight, it might be a good idea to discuss fat next. Just like protein, fat is essential, it is a genuine replacement part. Without the essential fats you become sick and eventually die. Again, you can’t live without fat, it’s essential, and must be considered when we talk about giving the body genuine replacement parts for the healing of illness and the repair of daily wear and tear.

Unfortunately, fat has gotten a bad image over the last forty years while we Americans have been deceived by devious “authorities” promoting the health destroying “low fat diet.” Although the citizenry has by and large figured out this deception, that favors the food manufacturers and big agribusiness, the “authorities” that promoted it are holding on while their ship is obviously sinking. One of the great hero’s who helped educate us to the folly of this “low fat diet” has long since passed away, but his books remain the best selling diet books of all time… because when followed to the letter, they still produce excellent results. Dr. Bob Atkins (Bob Atkins’ Diet Revolution) was a brilliant physician, researcher, and teacher. I must add here that only one in ten of all the patients I have treated who have claimed to have been on the Atkins diet actually were.

The foundation of the Atkins Diet was a diet high in protein, high in quality fat, and moderate to low in carbohydrate with virtually no refined carbohydrate at all. A lot of new science has been discovered since Dr Atkins death, but the new discoveries continue to support the Atkins approach. That’s why virtually every successful diet book since Atkins death could be considered a spin off of the Atkins approach, with some of the new science included to make it different or up to date.

Fat takes many different forms. There are saturated fats like butter and coconut oil; monounsaturated fats like those found in olive oil; and there are polyunsaturated fats like those found in sunflower, evening primrose, canola, and flax oil. There are only two kinds of fat the body can’t make and those are linoleic acid and alpha linolenic acid. These two fatty acids are the essential fatty acids. Linoleic acid is the parent of the Omega-6 family and the body can make all the derivatives if we just get enough of the parent fatty acid. The same is true of the Omega-3 group. The parent of the Omega-3 group is alpha linolenic acid, and likewise, if we get a sufficient amount of the parent the body will make adequate amounts of its derivatives.

Mary Enig, Ph.D., is one of the foremost world authorities on fats and the author of numerous papers and texts on the subject. Her book Know Your Fats is eye opening. Her findings are certainly not what the “authorities” have been telling us over the last forty plus years. That’s what we will be covering next.

Fat is essential to cellular health. Each of your cells is surrounded by a cell membrane, and its insides are configured the same way as that cell membrane. This membrane is made up of an outer protein layer, a middle layer of fat, and an inner protein layer. That means that at least a third of the basic substance of our cells is fat. The exception to this is brain and nervous system tissue which is sixty percent fat by weight. That makes fat very important to your health. The concept that any natural fat is bad is ludicrous.

Nevertheless, some fats are not only bad, but lethal. Man made, unnatural, trans fats, hydrogenated oils, preserved oils, and fats loaded with hormones and antibiotics are deadly when consumed regularly. Processed fats improve ‘shelf life’ and are therefore important to the food manufacturers, but deadly for the consumer. Now that the general public has been made aware of the dangers of trans fats, manufacturers are ever devising new ways to keep fats from going rancid and preserve shelf life, and each one is worse than the last.

Then what should we do to get the quality essential fats that we need? For your family’s sake, use organic cooking oils. The exception would be extra virgin olive oil, which is also good, but remember to use it only for low heat cooking. Heat will ruin olive oil and butter, so for high heat cooking, like frying, use coconut oil, palm oil, grapeseed oil, or even real lard. Remember, all of your great chef’s use lots of fat. Why is simple. Fat, besides being essential, provides healthy flavor and fulfills the appetite. Fat not only tastes good, it’s good for you.

We have been misled. Fat does not cause cancer and the low fat diet will not reduce your cancer risk. The February 8, 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association published research that showed that a low fat diet did not reduce the risk of cancer at all. In fact, fat is the key to keeping cancer risk low. Remember, the middle layer of the cell membrane is fat. Some of that fat is saturated, and does not readily react with or absorb the oxygen that comes in contact with it. The other portion of the fat is unsaturated and it does easily attract or absorb oxygen, and that is its job. The saturated fat acts to protect the unsaturated fat which in turn attracts oxygen into our cells for cellular respiration, the production of energy. This is new science and may very well be the missing key in the cancer puzzle. When cells get adequate oxygen they remain non cancerous. When they are oxygen deprived they begin to produce most of their energy by burning sugar, glycolysis, which is common to the cancer cell. Fat is the oxygen attractor of the healthy cell.

The idea that natural (unadulterated) dietary fat may be the answer to the cancer riddle has been researched and elucidated articulately by a young MIT researcher, Brian Peskin. The information is too voluminous to cover here, but I personally think he has found the missing link where cancer of lining tissue is concerned, and that makes up eighty five percent of all the cancers of the industrialized world. His website for your further perusal is www.brianpeskin.com. I keep recommending his book, The Hidden Story of Cancer to other doctors, and they keep calling me back and thanking me. Don’t be put off by the fact that Professor Peskin is an electrical engineer. Many important discoveries in science come from sources outside the specialties being studied, and I believe his research is an excellent example of that.

Additionally, women’s hormonal health problems have skyrocketed since the processing of fats. Breast tissue is mostly fat and important hormones are made from fat, and when healthy fat is added to the diet many of the hormonal problems women are faced with disappear. Research also reports increased stamina and endurance in men when healthy fats are introduced to the diet in proper amounts. Adequate intake of the “parent essential oils” has been shown to reduce carbohydrate cravings, reduce appetite and increase energy and alertness. Only fats give you natural energy without the corresponding “sugar low” and exhausted feeling afterwards.

Fat is also good for your heart because it is a super source of energy. We have been misled again by the processed food industry, but recent science gives us a different picture. In a research article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it was shown that persons from southern India who eat one tenth as much natural fat as northern Indians had fifteen time more heart disease. Now that’s just the opposite of what we have been taught. In fact we have been taught that fat, especially saturated fat, is bad and clogs the arteries. Yet we can go back to the mid nineteen nineties where an article in the British Medical Journal, Lancet, showed that there was no saturated fat at all in aortic plaque. Let’s repeat that… aortic plaque contains no saturated fat. So what is the primary component of a clogged artery? It was and is the adulterated fats sold by the manufacturers of processed food. Clogged arteries were clogged with trans fatty acids, man made manufactured fat.

Can these cellular changes be reversed? Thank goodness the answer is yes. The adulterated Omega 6 unsaturated fatty acids (trans fats, etc.) in our cell wall structure can be replaced by healthy Omega 6 parent essential fats if we supplement them sufficiently. The supplement can be found under the heading Essential Oils & Fatty Acids as Parent Essential Fatty Acids, which are also referred to as Parent Essential Oils (PEOs). When these PEOs are taken for a sufficient period of time they start to displace the trans fats and other adulterated fats in the arteries, reducing cardiovascular risk. When they displace the adulterated fats in the cell walls of our lining tissue (skin, digestive lining, lung lining, urogenital lining, joint lining), those tissues can begin to properly attract oxygen again, and that reduces the cancer risk for those tissues. Cancer of those tissues makes up 85% of all cancer according to the World Health Organization. So you can see that this new scientific information regarding fats is of enormous importance even though it threatens the food processing industry.

Doesn’t eating fat make us fat? Well, that’s just another piece of misinformation disseminated by the “authorities.” In order to make fat your body must make insulin first. Insulin is a response to carbohydrate intake. Fat intake does not produce an insulin response. Eating fat can’t make you fat. Biochemistry texts tell us what really happens. Glycerol-3 phosphate must be present to convert dietary fat into body fat, and you get your glycerol-3 phosphate from carbohydrates and only carbohydrates. What’s more, Harper’s Illustrated Biochemistry clearly states that a high fat intake inhibits creation of more body fat.

‘Low fat’ and ‘no fat’ products are those in which sugar has been added. For your families sake, do not purchase products with ‘low fat’ or ‘no fat’ on the label.

Remember, the Eskimo’s ate a protein and fat diet from whale, seal, walrus, and the occasional polar bear (if it didn’t eat them first), and had virtually no heart disease or cancer. They ate no vegetables or fruits. Protein and fat are essential, carbohydrate is not.

At the office I have been experimenting with supplementing the parent essential oils (Omega-6 family with Omega-3 in a 2:1 ratio) along with Preventics fish oil Omega-3. Professor Peskin’s research demonstrates that the body needs more Omega-6. In fact, lining tissue, where 85% of all cancer occurs, contains Omega-6 to Omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids at a ratio of 1000 to 1. We may as well say that lining tissue (skin, lung lining, stomach lining, intestinal lining, urogenital lining, joint lining, and blood vessel lining) doesn’t require any Omega-3 at all. Muscle, which makes up half or more of body weight uses Omega-6 to Omega-3 fats at a 7 to 1 ratio. Brain and nervous system requirements are the highest for The Omega-3′s, and the ratio there for Omega-6 to Omega-3 is 1 to 1.

Professor Peskin recommends a blend that provides a ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 at 2 to 1. The work we have done at the office tends to support this recommendation. As more patients have begun the new Parent Essential Oil supplements I have received feedback of more floating stools, much improvement with dry skin, and fewer symptoms of inflammation of all types. Increased stamina is another plus for the new product over the old Omega-3 supplement. Testing so far confirms that the body prefers this blend of Omega-6 to Omega-3′s over products previously recommended. I personally have noticed an improvement in overall energy since starting the program.

Update: Eat Your Way Thin… Here are the four articles which are in the series.

• Part 1 – Protein Is Our Most Misunderstood Food
• Part 2 – The Importance Of Fat… And The Misinformation Surrounding It
• Part 3 – Carbohydrates
• Part 4 – Let’s Talk About Weight Loss

Well, Wyeth Laboratories lost hundreds of millions when this happened, and they have petitioned the FDA to designate compounded bio-identical hormones as a “new drug,” subject to all FDA restrictions and requirements for a new drug. The support for this comes from main line medicine, but the pharmacists are making some good arguments to keep things as they are. Compounding pharmacies are “making hay while the sun shines” since the WHI in 2002, and obviously don’t want to lose that income. Additionally, compounding pharmacies have been around since the turn of the century, and patients depend on them for many items that the big pharmaceutical companies refuse to make because of insufficient profits.

Of course the big issue for all of us is really not about profits, but freedom of choice in what we take, and the ability to choose a product with fewer or no side effects than the synthetics offered by the big pharmaceutical companies. This could have a major impact on women’s health, and we need the FDA to do the right thing. Unfortunately, most of the time the FDA simply caves in to Big Pharma, which is who they were initially created to protect us against.

Ain’t that a fine kettle of fish!

This might be a good time to contact a Senator or Congressman/woman.

I think this is another case where figures lie and liars figure. Consider that just a few years ago we learned that the 30 year experiment with hormones from pregnant mares’ urine, Premarin, was doing more harm (ex., breast cancer) than good. Now let’s look at the projected figures, and we realize that the improvement in breast cancer death is the result of physicians no longer so cavalierly prescribing a very dangerous drug.

To me it simply says once again, the more drugs we take as a society the sicker we will ultimately become. It’s unavoidable.