A “newly discovered chemical” in food called Apigenin ( a type of flavonoid that is high in celery and chamomile) has been demonstrated in lab tests to be “cytotoxic” (cell killing) to Pancreatic and G.I. tract Cancer cells.  The scientists have suggested that Apigenin has a potential protective role against these extremely aggressive forms of Cancer.  After 45yrs of studying health, I am glad to see that health professionals and the scientific community are analyzing foods and their “chemistry” as opposed to only trying to make “chemicals” that have a beneficial affect on our health. It’s my opinion, in the future we will see more “newly discovered chemicals” in our food and how they benefit and protect us.

Remember…”Food is Medicine and Medicine is you Food….”we are what we eat”!!!

Good news…..medical science has added “new evidence” that BERRIES are good for you!  Those of you who were kind enough to attend the health class series dealing with the Immune System became aware of the research that  supports:  “food is our medicine and medicine can be our food”! The latest in the journal  “Phytother Res. 2016; 30(8): 1265-86” Pharmacology and Health Benefits of Anthocyanins (the ‘blue’ of blueberries)  reports the biological effects as: “antimicrobial” (germ fighting), “cell-protective” (antioxidant), “antitumor”, “lipid-lowering” (cholesterol effecting), “neuroprotective” (brain aging protection). Just as our grandparents would say: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”… now science has added another food to keep our bodies strong and resistive to disease. Can’t wait to learn what else they “discover” in our food because there are more than  10,000 food based chemicals identified so far …. I guess “they” will be real busy figuring out all of what that means!! So, add 1-2 cups of mixed berries to your 2-4 servings of fruit per day.

Acid-suppressing drugs called proton pump inhibitors or PPIs are considered so safe that they can now be purchased over the counter as Nexium, Prevacid and Prilosec. House brands include esomeprazole, lansoprazole and omeprazole. But two new studies presented at the annual conference for doctors treating kidney problems indicate that regular use of such medications can increase the likelihood of developing chronic kidney disease. In one study of 10,000 individuals, those taking a PPI were 20 to 50 percent more likely to develop chronic kidney disease over fifteen years. The other study included more than 240,000 people for 17 years. They, too, were more susceptible to chronic kidney disease if they were taking a PPI. (ASN Kidney Week, Nov. 3-8, 2015)……today digestive disturbances plague Americans more than ever before! WHY??…not an easy answer but part of the the solution is the realization that we need to accept the following responsibility: what we eat, how we prepare and or modify what we eat, when we eat it and how much we eat has a tremendous influence  on “how we feel”…..answers to these issues sometimes is a “bitter pill to swallow” because many of us eat based on convenience rather than a way of nourishing ourselves…keep a food diary of  your daily food intake and play ” Sherlock Holmes” to uncover possible food situations that accentuate your symptoms…and if you feel the need for a “Dr. Watson” input,  we are always available for you.

Vascular headaches have long troubled many people, and if you have never had one, you should consider yourself fortunate.  Whether it is once in your life or each week, one migraine is one too many.  Many people subsist in fear of the potential triggers and factors that can bring on a migraine, struggling to try and understand what is happening, why their head hurts so badly.

The questions are why do the vascular mechanisms that supply the brain become abnormal, and then what can be done about it.  The standard of care in the health community seems to focus only on symptom suppressing pain management, which, even at best, is merely a mild palliative in the real management of this malady.  In nutritional practice using foundational measures to bring about balanced body physiology, a great deal of success has been achieved in learning about the underlying cause and supporting the body to prevent headaches from ever developing.

First, let’s review what we know about migraines from experience:  A prodromal phase precedes the pounding pain characterized by hallucinations, visual disturbances with halo effects around objects, photophobia (light sensitivity), impaired thinking and nausea.  A secondary phase follows, characterized by severe pain and pounding, more severe photophobia, and nausea.  In fact, the migraine usually abates after finally throwing up.  This resolution to normal following vomiting may be the greatest insight into the causative mechanisms at work.

There are two stages leading to migraine, both characterized by profound changes in the vascular (blood) supply to the brain.  The first stage (prodromal), is experienced because of an initial vascular constriction or starvation, creating secondary localized hypoxia (loss of oxygen), and this is why the brain hallucinates without the necessary blood/oxygen for proper function.  Then the vasculature, apparently fatigued by the effort of constriction, seems to lose its tone and simply dilate, sagging into the surrounding structures and creating the pounding pressure that is so crippling.  Most drug therapies seek to interrupt this vascular phenomenon.  In fact, in the past, certain drugs called ergotamines, were employed, even though they potentially compromised circulation to the heart at the same time.  Even now very little is offered except to attempt to interrupt the vascular dilation, which, while it provides essential relief, is not a correction to the cause of the condition, and it also costs the person a few days of being mildly drugged.

It seems that the questions that need to be asked are:  Why does this vascular phenomenon occur, and what sets it off?

We will deal with these questions in the next installment in this continuing series on migraine……………

Idiopathic hypertension is the name of elevated blood pressure with no explainable etiology/cause.  The elevation of systolic and diastolic blood pressure represents an increase in vascular tone for the purpose of of increasing blood pressure.

Often, elevated blood pressure is a body response to high levels of inflammation and allergy in the environment, or diet.  The body interprets all stress as a wild animal trying to attack it, and so stress that comes from eating certain foods has a reaction of stress that is similar to societal stress, or stress that comes from truly being in danger.  They both register the same on the endocrine system, making no distinction between psychological stress, biochemical stress and circumstantial stress.

As we reduce the stress of our lifestyle and our diet, we significantly reduce the adrenal responses to stress attempting to elevate its metabolism and prepare itself for fight or flight responses.  A subtle but consistent factor that should be explored in high blood pressure situations is the presence of chronic food allergies.  Most typically corn, soy, milk or wheat can influence the inflammatory levels, creating chronic inflammation resulting in elevation of corticosteroids.  Often, simply by eliminating the food allergies, the blood pressure will be falling within three days, and within two weeks it is within normal range.

It is always best to correct high blood pressure by determining the cause of the elevation, rather than to suppress the symptom only.  When natural interventions fail, reduction of food allergies should always be employed to correct the possible cause of the elevated blood pressure. Blood pressure medication is very difficult to reduce and discontinue once the body has become accustomed to it.  It is always desirable to avoid the need for medication until it is absolutely necessary.  Often blood pressure medication will interrupt other functions of the body such as energy level, ability to respond to stressful situations, and libido, especially in men.

High blood pressure is an intelligent body response to imbalance.  The difficulty is to determine what that imbalance is.  Blood pressure may be naturally balanced, bringing about the elimination of symptoms instead of symptom suppression.  There are many herbal remedies being employed for this purpose.  The only real correction is to assist the body back into balance and eliminate its need to elevate pressure.