Warning Signs: A New Test to Predict Alzheimer's

By:  ALICE PARK

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and the University of Pittsburgh have developed the first screening tool that can help predict whether elderly patients are at low, moderate or high risk of developing dementia. The new test takes into account characteristic risk factors for dementia, including advanced age and the presence of genes associated with Alzheimer's, but also relies on lesser-known contributors such as patients' body weight and alcohol-drinking habits.

Detecting the earliest signs of memory loss and dementia — the broader category of age-related conditions of mental decline, up to 80% of which are Alzheimer's — has always been a major goal of researchers. While there is no cure for Alzheimer's, the earlier patients are diagnosed, the sooner they can make lifestyle changes that may help slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disorder. But so far, no test has proven dependable enough to help patients predict their true risk; even the presence of genes known to be associated with Alzheimer's does not reliably lead to the disease.

To date, the only other major screening tool for Alzheimer's was developed by Finnish scientists in 2006. However, that screen is targeted toward a younger population and designed to identify the highest-risk individuals in midlife. But considering how many factors may intervene between midlife and the 60s — the decade in which Alzheimer's typically sets in — Deborah Barnes, a professor of psychiatry at UCSF, says she wanted to develop a screen for the older population more likely to be at immediate risk of the disease.

"It's important to figure out who is at high risk and low risk, so that as we develop tools for prevention, we can try to target our prevention efforts at people with the highest risk for developing dementia," says Barnes, lead author of the new report published today in the journal Neurology. 

Barnes and her colleagues studied 3,375 patients age 65 years or older who were enrolled in a study analyzing heart disease and cognition. Researchers recorded which of the patients developed dementia in the six-year study period, then isolated the risk factors that appeared to make dementia more likely. Many factors were considered: age, genetic risk factors, mental health status, depression, physical fitness, alcohol consumption, fine motor skills and social support. In the end, only a handful of factors, arranged on a 15-point scale, emerged as being highly predictive of dementia.

Volunteers who scored eight points or higher on the index — which includes older age, worse cognitive function, some heart disease risk factors and the presence of genes linked to Alzheimer's — were at high risk of developing dementia within six years; 56% of these high scorers showed serious mental decline by the end of the study period. Of those scoring lower on the index, deemed at moderate or low risk, 23% were diagnosed with dementia. 

Many of the risk factors included in the new screen are familiar: advanced age and the presence of Alzheimer's genes (which are associated with the growth of fatty plaques and tangles in the brain that gum up neural connections), for example, have long been clearly linked to dementia. Even heart disease risk factors are somewhat expected, since recent studies show that the same conditions that boost the risk of heart attack, such as high cholesterol, hypertension and atherosclerosis, may also raise the risk of dementia; the theory is that whatever is causing fat deposits in heart vessels may also contribute to fat and protein deposits in the Alzheimer's brain.

Related Resources:

• Sanoviv Medical Center
  
• Big Red Juice

More Related

• Bright Lights May Hold Off Dementia  
  
• Alzheimer’s Research Holds Promise
  

To Succeed at Any Diet, You Must Know Your Metabolic Type: Part 3

By William Wolcott, Founder, The Healthexcel System of Metabolic Typing - Author, The Metabolic Typing Diet (Doubleday)

Part 2 of this series on metabolic typing introduced the idea that whether a given food or a particular diet is good for you or bad for you is a matter of your genes -- not whim, appetite, preference, philosophy, belief or even "expert" opinion.

It is important to realize that the idea of metabolic typing is not new. The roots of the concept of metabolic individuality can be traced to antiquity. The 5,000 year old East Indian system of medicine known as Ayurveda was based on the interaction of the 5 elements and the 7 energy centers in the individual and primary treatment addressed one's dosha (one's metabolic type) before it addressed the symptom or disease.

Similarly, the ancient system of Chinese medicine recognized 5 elemental, constitutional types. Diagnosis and treatment in ancient Egyptian medicine was based on the 7 organ systems in the body. Greek physicians were concerned, as Hippocrates stated, with the patient who has the disease instead of the disease that has the patient, and evaluated the 4 humors (liver-bile metabolic types). The ancient Roman philosopher Lucretius is attributed with the saying, "One man's meat is another man's poison."

The modern background of metabolic typing

In modern times, there have been some well-known and many not so well-known medical researchers who recognized the value of addressing biochemical individuality. In 1919, Frances Pottenger, M.D., published his Symptoms Of Visceral Disease, where he established the autonomic nervous system as the basis of metabolic individuality and correlated the influence of various nutrients on the autonomic nervous system.

Dr. W.H. Sheldon, in the '40's, published his famous Varieties Of Human Physique, providing photographic illustrations of his somatotypes (ectomorph, endomorph and mesomorph metabolic types). In the '50's, Dr. Melvin Page and Dr. Henry Bieler concurrently developed concepts of endocrine types and their relationship to various foods. Dr. George Watson, also in the '50's, in his astounding book, Nutrition And The Mind, published his research on the variable influences of oxidation (glycolysis, beta oxidation, citric acid cycle) in different individuals he classified as fast, mixed or slow oxidizers.

In 1956, the noted biochemist, Dr. Roger Williams, published his genetotrophic theory on biochemical individuality, based on his research which suggested that every human being has, because of his genetic makeup, distinctive nutritional needs that must be met in order to achieve optimum health and well-being. Dr. Royal Lee's extensive writings in the 50's and 60's correlated nutritional influences of the autonomic and endocrine systems.

Dr. Emanuel Revici, in the '60's, recognized the critical necessity to address biochemical individuality and devoted his life's work to the development of an entirely new system of medicine based upon the variances between individuals in their catabolic and anabolic influences.

Dr. James D'Adamo, in the '70's, put forth a system of individual classification based upon ABO blood types. In the mid '70's, Dr. William D. Kelley met Dr. Roger William's call for "metabolic profiling" by becoming the first to apply William's concept of nutritional individuality to computer science in identifying the autonomic types, sympathetic, balanced and parasympathetic.

Further efforts to address metabolic individuality can be seen in current works of numerous other pioneers. Among the more recent who have joined the ranks are Dr. Elliot Abravanel, Dr. Paul Eck, Dr. David Watts, Dr. Rudolph Wiley, and the insightful founder of Nutri-Spec, Dr. Guy Schenker, to name a few.

What exactly is metabolic typing and why is it important?

Metabolic typing is a systematic, testable, repeatable, and verifiable methodology based on research and extensive clinical experience over the last 25 years that combines the wisdom of the ancient systems of medicine with our modern scientific understanding of physiology and biochemistry.

Metabolic typing analyzes, evaluates, and interprets objective physiological and biochemical indicators along with symptomatology in order to define one's metabolic type -- the specific, individualized, genetically-based patterns of biochemical metabolic individuality that dictate one's physiological and neurological "design limits" and requirements for nutritional substances.

The food that we eat is intended as the "fuel" for our body's cells, our engines of metabolism. Our cells in turn convert the fuel to energy to be used in all the life-supporting processes of metabolism that keep us alive and healthy. But like any engine, our body needs a certain kind of fuel to function optimally. A gasoline engine requires gasoline for fuel. A diesel engine is designed to run on diesel for fuel. But try to run a gas engine on diesel or a diesel engine on gas and not only will the energy output be deficient, but using the wrong fuel for the engine will cause real problems for the engine itself.

Similarly, our bodies have genetically-based requirements for specific kinds of foods and balances of nutrients in order to produce optimal energy and function in a state of optimal health. If we meet these "design requirements," we can expect to be healthy, energetic, fit and trim.

Failure to obtain on a regular basis the kinds of foods our body's are designed to utilize will initially produce sub-clinical health complaints such as fatigue, aches and pains, headaches, indigestion, weight gain, constipation, rashes, dry skin, low blood sugar, etc.

But long-term deficiency of the right foods for the metabolic type will lead to degenerative conditions like asthma, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, etc. In other words, it's not just that the Eskimos can eat up to 10 pounds of meat and huge amounts of fat and almost no carbohydrate, they need to eat that way in order to be healthy because that's what their metabolisms are genetically programmed to utilize as fuel. Similarly, each of us has very specific requirements for nutrients that must be met in order to obtain and maintain good health, energy and well-being for a lifetime.

Without metabolic typing, there is no way to discern one's "medicine" from one's "poison." Without metabolic typing, there is no way to know how nutrients behave in one person as opposed to another. In essence, without metabolic typing, no rational basis exists from which to select proper diet and nutritional supplementation because one's metabolic type dictates individual responses to nutrients.

This gets to the heart of some core premises of metabolic typing that have not only great significance for each individual in identification of a proper diet, but also have profound implications for scientific research. Let's look at two of these core premises of our system of metabolic typing. Here's the first one:

• ANY NUTRIENT AND ANY FOOD CAN HAVE VIRTUALLY OPPOSITE BIOCHEMICAL INFLUENCES IN DIFFERENT METABOLIC TYPES.

The metabolic type defines the way in which the body reacts to nutrients. Different metabolic types react differently to the same nutrient. For example, in one metabolic type 100 milligrams of potassium or eating, say, an orange (also high in potassium), will cause the body's pH to shift alkaline and produce a sedating effect. But in a different metabolic type, the same amount of potassium or an orange will produce an acid shift and a stimulating response. This has been observed tens of thousands of times through both objective metabolic type testing as well as through changes in symptomatology.

Now the second core premise:

• ANY ADVERSE SYMPTOM OR DEGENERATIVE CONDITION CAN ARISE DUE TO VIRTUALLY OPPOSITE BIOCHEMICAL IMBALANCES.

This same principle applies to any adverse health complaint, from simple to complex, from cramps to cardiovascular disease (CVD), from rashes to rheumatoid arthritis. For example, we have seen just as many cases of high cholesterol and CVD resolve through a high carbohydrate, low fat, low protein diet as we have seen resolve through the opposite low carb, high protein, high fat diet. Match the diet to the metabolic type and any degenerative condition has a chance to reverse. But eat the wrong foods for the metabolic type, even high quality, organic foods, and degenerative processes will only worsen.

The implications of these premises are staggering.

If they are true, then allopathic nutrition has no rational basis. Seeking a common therapy for all people for every condition is a wild goose chase and is doomed to failure. Any success with that approach has been and will continue to be by chance -- not systematic, reliable predictability.

If any nutrient or food can have totally opposite influences, biochemically speaking, in different people, how can there be a treatment, for any condition, that can work for all people?

The answer is that there can't be only one treatment. This is precisely why what works for one person can worsen the same condition in another person. This is why what makes your friend thin can make you fat. This is why what improves energy and performance for one person can worsen it in another. As it turns out, metabolic typing explains why Lucretius' adage, "One man's food is another man's poison," is literally true.

And, if it is true that two people with the same degenerative disease can have virtually opposite biochemical imbalances, and that when two opposite biochemical protocols are administered the problem resolves, then this clearly means that it's not the diseases that should be treated but the underlying metabolic type imbalances that have caused the diseases that need be addressed.

From this viewpoint, the diseases are not the problems; they are the symptoms, the manifestations, the expressions of the underlying, foundational imbalances. The reality of metabolic individuality demands that the person who has the disease -- not the disease that has the person -- be treated!

These premises of metabolic typing also explain why scientific research on nutrition is usually so inconclusive and produces such inconsistent results. For example, researchers have been confounded why calcium can lower blood pressure in some but raise it in others. Similar findings occurred with the effect of potassium. Until research on the effect of a given nutrient on a given condition is performed on a like metabolic type subject population, you will always see variable results.

In summary:

• Biochemical individuality is responsible for the fact that nutrients behave differently in different metabolic types
• The variable influences of nutrients on different metabolisms along with the same condition arising from totally different biochemical imbalances make it impossible to treat conditions with a standardized treatment protocol
• Successful, predictable, reliable therapy can only be chosen once you know the metabolic type because only then will you know how nutrients behave in that person's metabolism.

Degenerative conditions account for well over 80% of all of the adverse conditions that afflict the peoples of our country. This means that only a little over 1 out of every 10 people that go to doctors has crises or infectious conditions that require and respond to allopathic treatments.

More and more people every year fall prey to degenerative conditions and, sadly, at younger and younger ages. Diseases once viewed as accompaniments to old age are now commonplace in our children. Yet, currently, there is no orthodox cure for nearly any degenerative disease.

So-called alternative practitioners, as a group, fare little better. Even those who meet with "success" often find that when the therapy is stopped, the condition returns and no real, lasting healing has taken place. Or they are baffled by the universal phenomena of failing to help the next patient with the same condition with the very same protocol that worked so well for the former patient.

We find ourselves, practitioners and lay people alike, trying futilely to absorb the avalanche of information and research in nutrition that has descended upon us and only promises to gain speed with ever-increasing volume. We're bombarded with seemingly endless newspaper and magazine articles, health books, interviews on radio and television, internet sites, all touting opposing points of view. What are we to do with the blessing/curse of this information explosion?

The problem is that there hasn't been a reference point or a framework in which to organize and understand the thousands upon thousands of research findings, many of which are outright contradictory in nature. It's like an enormous jigsaw puzzle that arrives without the picture on the box. How do the pieces fit together? How can we possibly make sense and make use of this research? A PDR (Physician's Desk Reference) of nutrition?

Even if it was possible to know the effects of every single vitamin, mineral, fatty acid, herb, etc., and then to organize them item by item, of what practical use would that be? How would we be any further along? We would still have 100's or even 1000's of choices to make for each nutrient. And every day more and more effects are being found for every nutrient known to us.

Even so, it is every practitioner's experience that what works for one patient does not work for another with the same condition. The total body of scientific research is one gigantic pool of randomized information that is only growing in complexity. And yet, this is precisely the path that researchers and practitioners are following. The wrong path was chosen and it is leading us deeper and deeper into the dark forest of confusion. The more that research uncovers, the less clear the picture becomes.

The wrong questions have been and are still being asked. Instead of seeking answers to the effects of biochemical substances on diseases, we need to turn our attention to understanding how nutrients effect individual metabolisms. Instead of thinking in terms of treating disease, we must learn to think in terms of building health and meeting and optimizing genetic functional capacity by addressing the needs of each individual's metabolic type.

The adverse influences in the environment will continue to increase in the years ahead. In order to survive and live a full, productive life in the current millennium, especially if one wants to live a healthy life, it is becoming increasingly important that each individual take responsibility for his own health and address the inescapable requirements of his biochemical individuality, for it is only in so doing that the body will adapt and maintain its defenses against the adversities of the environment and that the joy and exuberance of true good health can be known.

Related Resources and Articles:

• The Metabolic Typing Diet
• Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
• Sanoviv Medical Center
• Big Red Juice - GoChi & Himalayan Goji Juice
• Eating According To Your Nutritional Type – Part 1
• Smear Campaign Aimed Against Anti-Aging Proponents
• Diet Success – Know Your Nutritional Typing – Part 2

Diet Success - Know Your Nutritional Typing - Part 2

By William Wolcott, Founder, The Healthexcel System of Metabolic Typing - Author, The Metabolic Typing Diet (Doubleday)

As a reader of this web site, it is likely that you've reached the point where you think or even know that nutrition is important if you ever want to get well and stay well. It's just common sense, right?

But you may also have come to feel that the field of nutrition is quite baffling. And that even though there is more information available today than ever before, that it's also become harder to find what's really right for you or to decide just what you should do.

In a very real sense, the information explosion over the last 10 years has quite possibly brought more confusion than clarity to your quest for health. As a result, you may have found yourself asking questions like:

• Why is it that my best friend's nutritional supplements work absolute miracles, but make me feel lousy?
• How can one best selling book say one thing about nutrition, and the other bestseller say just the opposite?
• Why will a certain diet give my friend energy and help to lose weight but make me tired and gain weight?
• Why can't I get rid of my candida overgrowth problem, even though I've followed an "anti-candida" diet?
• How can someone eat the best organic foods, take the finest nutritional supplements that money can buy, get plenty of rest, exercise regularly... and still not feel well?

Or maybe your concern is with more serious issues like...

• Why are two thirds of Americans overweight?
• How can so many people be obese when people are more diet-, health- and exercise-conscious than ever before?
• Why is degenerative disease skyrocketing?
• Why are younger and younger people falling prey to diseases of the aged?
• Why are cancer, heart disease and diabetes increasing each year?

And if you're a health professional working with nutrition, you may also be baffled by questions such as...

• Why does a low fat, low protein, high complex carbohydrate diet raise cholesterol in some people instead of lower it like it does in other people?
• Why does taking a nutritional product or protocol help one person with a problem but not another with the same problem?
• If nutrition is so important, why doesn't it work for so many people?

Everywhere you look, there are contradictions. Your friend tells you one thing. You read about just the opposite in a health magazine. And a hot new bestseller at your local book store says something quite different altogether. In fact, that's another problem -- wall-to-wall books on health and nutrition, most of which just contradict each other.

And, maybe you've learned from your own experience that what works for one person, doesn't help a second and can actually make a third person worse! Don't worry, it's not you. Even scientific researchers are confused by their findings because most studies on nutrients conclude that while helpful to a certain percentage of people with a certain condition, the studied nutrients don't help or even worsen the same condition in other test subjects.

So how can there be so much confusion and contradiction about something that is supposed to be so good for you?

The unfortunate reason is that the majority of the people talking about nutrition know just enough to be dangerous. They know that nutrition can be the answer, but they don't know how to use it properly. And, yes, it is a two-edged sword: If you use it properly, it can help make you well. But, make no mistake. If you use it improperly, it can help make you sick or keep you that way.

You know. Take this nutrient for that condition. A magic bullet. One standard nutritional remedy for each problem or a universal diet that is supposed to work for everyone.

But, your own experience and all the contradictory books and articles that you've ever read, aside from making the field of nutrition confusing, frustrating and sometimes downright baffling, have already shown you that this approach doesn't work. And your common sense agrees. You know that you are unique! You know one shoe size doesn't fit all. You know that everyone is as unique as their fingerprints. So, why would anyone ever think that one diet is right for everyone? Or, that what works nutritionally for one person would work for another as well?

The fact is, you really can eat the best organic foods, exercise regularly, drink plenty of fluids, get sufficient rest, take the finest supplements that money can buy... and still not feel well, or even start feeling worse than before!

So, what is the answer? The answer is to find out what is right for you!

Not what some book says. Not what a friend says. Not what the latest fad says is right. You need to find out exactly what is right for YOU! A nutritional program that is tailored specifically for your kind of metabolism and that will meet the special and unique nutritional needs of the one and only you.

Bottom line? Unless you match your nutrition to your metabolism, you'll only be wasting your time and money!

So why is it so hard to find right answers? How do you know who to believe or who to trust?

The answer is to this universal dilemma is that for decades, the wrong questions have been asked. Ask wrong questions and you're bound to get wrong answers to your needs.

The problem is that the quest for the "holy grail" in nutrition has been to find that "right diet," that "healthy diet" that is right for all people. And the quest has been to find the one right nutritional protocol for each condition.

But what has been missed is the undeniable fact that on a biochemical level each of us is as unique as we are in our fingerprints. Actually our uniqueness extends far beyond just our fingerprints and encompasses virtually every aspect of ourselves -- personality, behavior, temperament, external physical traits, internal size, shape, placement and efficiency of all of our organs and glands, and rates of our cellular metabolism. Simply put, our DNA is unique.

Standardized nutritional approaches fail to recognize that, for genetic reasons, people are all very different from one another on a biochemical or metabolic level. Due to widely varying hereditary influences, we all process or utilize foods and nutrients very differently. Thus, the very same nutritional protocol that enables one person to lead a long healthy life full of robust health can cause serious illness in someone else. As the ancient Roman philosopher Lucretius once said, "One man's food is another's poison." It turns out, his statement is quite literally true.

What accounts for all this metabolic individuality?

At any given point in time, there are a number of factors that determine peoples' unique nutritional requirements, but none is more significant than a person's ancestral heritage. It's a matter of classic Darwinian principles of evolution and adaptation, natural selection, genetic mutation and survival of the fittest. Over thousands of years of evolutionary history, people in different parts of the world developed very specific dietary needs as an adaptation mechanism, in response to many unique aspects of their habitats and lifestyles -- including climate, geography, vegetation, and naturally occurring food supplies.

As an example, people from cold northern regions of the world have historically relied very heavily on animal protein, simply because that's the primary food source available in wintry climates. Thus they have radically different nutritional needs than people from tropical regions, where the environment is rich in vegetative diversity year round.

In the early part of the 20th century, a brilliant scientist by the name of Weston Price, DDS, demonstrated this in no uncertain terms. He traveled all over the world and sought out all the indigenous populations to study their diet and their health. His discoveries were remarkable and extremely important. What he discovered was that:

• The diets of all the indigenous peoples were tremendously varied (being dependent on geography, climate and the food stuffs naturally available)
• Yet those indigenous people who followed their ancestral diets were robustly healthy.
• But those who moved away or for other reasons strayed from their ancestral diet developed degenerative processes.

What can we learn from this?

• First and foremost, there is no one diet that is right for everyone, i.e., there never has been and there never will be a universally healthy diet.
• Second, the only healthy diet is the one that meets one's genetically-based requirements -- not what some book or diet expert says is right. Eat a diet that is right for your metabolic type and not only can you stay healthy but you can reverse degenerative conditions as well.
• Third, there are no good foods and there are no bad foods, except in terms of foods that are right or wrong for your genetic makeup. Think meat is bad for you? Then how do you explain the Inuit (Eskimo) who eats up to 10 pounds of meat a day, yet there isn't even a word in their language for cancer or heart disease. Think a high carb diet is bad for you? Then how do you explain the Quetchus of South America or the East Indians who have lived for countless generations on a near vegetarian diet? Think dairy is bad for you? Then how do you explain the Swiss whose ancestral diet was largely based on dairy and rye?

Your body is designed to be healthy. Good health is your birthright. The ability to experience radiant health is part of the genetic code built into every cell in your body. What you need to do in order to reclaim your birthright is to understand what your body needs as opposed to someone else's, in order to function the way it was intended it to. In short, you need to eat right for your metabolic type.

In a previous era, before the age of modern transportation, cultures were isolated and peoples' metabolic makeup and corresponding dietary needs were very clear. But in today's day and age, due to extensive intermingling of cultures, we've become a true "genetic melting pot." In the U.S. in particular, most of us have many different ethnic and hereditary influences. As a result, few of us have a distinct ancestral heritage or readily identifiable dietary needs.

Fortunately, however, through the research that has been done over the past 25 years, there is available a systematic, testable, repeatable and verifiable advanced nutritional technology that enables people to discover their own unique dietary needs with a very high degree of precision. This technology is known as Metabolic Typing. Through metabolic typing those often mysterious, seemingly unanswerable questions become perfectly clear and answerable indeed.

Once you know your metabolic type and you know what foods are right for you and what foods are wrong for you, then you need a simple to follow, step-by-step plan to help you transition into a healthy lifestyle that you can follow for the rest of your life. You'll find none better than Dr. Mercola's Nutrition Plan.

Related Resources and Articles:

• The Metabolic Typing Diet
• Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
• Sanoviv Medical Center
• Big Red Juice - GoChi & Himalayan Goji Juice
• Eating According To Your Nutritional Type – Part 1
• Smear Campaign Aimed Against Anti-Aging Proponents

Eat According To Your Nutritional Type - Part 1

Modify Your Diet So You Feel Terrific

Generally speaking, eating a meal that is right for your Nutritional Type™ should produce marked and lasting improvement in your energy, your mental capacities, your emotional well-being, and leave you feeling well-satisfied for several hours.

If you are already feeling good, eating should, at the very least, help to maintain your energy level. But if you feel worse in some way an hour or so after eating, such as:

• You still feel hungry even though you are physically full
• You develop a sweet craving
• Your energy level drops
• You feel hyper, nervous, angry or irritable
• You feel depressed

... then it might be due to an improper combination of proteins, fats and carbohydrates at your last meal. You might be eating the perfect foods for your metabolism, but having too much of one type of food in place of another can easily produce the symptoms listed above.

Everyone Has Their Own Unique Nutritional Type™

Many people come to my office eating very high-quality nutritious foods and are still quite sick. They haven't touched sugar or junk food in ages and still suffer with many health problems. There are a number of reasons for this, but one of the major physical ones is related to the fact that they are not eating appropriate foods for their Nutritional Type™.

If you are interested in truly optimizing your health, your weight, and your energy -- and in avoiding premature aging -- one of the most important steps you should take is to learn your Nutritional Type™ and eat according to it. What may be very healthy for others is not necessarily as healthy for you, and vice-versa, and eating according to your Nutritional Type™ is really the only way to ascertain what is really good for you.

To get full details on this essential principle and to assess your nutritional type, I highly encourage you to read my new book, Take Control of Your Health book. It is geared toward your nutritional type, the book includes the means to learn and understand your own Nutritional Type™ and gear your diet precisely toward the foods that are right for you (and that also satisfy you!).

You will learn the right (and wrong) foods to fight and prevent disease and improve the way you feel--physically and emotionally -- and that help you prevent disease. To get more of a general idea of Nutritional Typing™, though, consider the following analogy.

Simple Fuel Analogy

Just as food is fuel for our bodies, gas is food for our cars. Imagine for a moment that you have pulled into an exclusive gas station that has secured the highest quality gasoline from one of the world's leading refineries ... gas that has been screened carefully and shown to be free of anything that would possibly harm your car's engine.

It would seem reasonable to believe that your car is going to thrive on that high-quality gas once you put it in your tank. But what if you were driving a diesel-powered vehicle? If that were the case, in a few minutes your car would stop running, and you would have a very expensive repair job ahead of you.

The fact that the car stopped running does not imply that the gas wasn't any good or that your car was defective. It was simply the wrong type of fuel for your car.

Like your car, your body was designed for a certain correct type of fuel ... that is, a certain correct blend of the right food types. The further you deviate from this ideal, the more health problems are likely. That is why some of the sickest people I see in my practice are those who are "designed" to be eating high-proteins foods but have decided to be vegetarians. Conversely, carb types who choose to eat high amounts of meats also don't do very well.

Different Nutritional Types™

You will learn that you belong to one of three general types:

• Protein
• Carb
• Mixed

The The Metabolic Typing Diet^, by one of the pioneers of metabolic typing, William Wolcott. This work served as a basis for our modification for what we now call Nutritional Typing™

We currently use a new version of the Nutritional Typing™ test on nearly all of our patients here at The Optimal Wellness Center. Our staff nutritionists take about one hour to review the results with our patients to help them understand and carefully apply it. The test has been one of the most profoundly effective tools I have ever encountered at helping us accurately establish the optimal foods people were designed to improve their health with.

Different Nutritional Types™

Protein types do better on low-carbohydrate, high-protein and high-fat diets. A typical ratio might be 40 percent protein and 30 percent each of fats and carbohydrates, but the amounts could easily shift to 50 percent fats and as little as 10 percent carbohydrates depending on individual genetic requirements.

Carb types normally feel best when the majority of their food is carbohydrate. However, just as we only have one word for snow while the Eskimos have many more, we only have one word for carbs while there are actually different types. There is a major difference between vegetables and grains and yet they are both referenced as "carbs."

Not All Carbs are Created Equal

While this is technically correct, if one doesn't understand the practical distinction between grains and vegetables, one is likely headed for a health disaster. It is important to remember that over two-thirds of Americans are either obese or overweight, and nearly every one of these individuals needs to lower their insulin levels.
Additionally, most people with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes also struggle with elevated insulin levels that respond quite well to grain restriction.

So what nearly all of these people--likely over 85 percent of the U.S. population--will benefit from is not a low-carb diet (the Atkins Diet), but the grain-free diet outlined in detail in my new book.

So if you are a Carb Nutritional Type™ you will require about 60 percent of your food as carbs, 25 percent protein and 15 percent fat, but this type may need as little as 10 percent fat and as high as 80 percent carbs in exceptional times. If you followed an Atkins Diet you might improve initially but eventually your system would break down because it required far more carbohydrate.

Once a person attains a normal weight and does not struggle with other insulin related disorders, it is actually possible to consume some grains and remain perfectly healthy. Carb types actually can do quite well with grains, but remember this is likely to only be about 15 percent of the population at best.

If your Nutritional Type™ is mixed, your requirements are between the carb and protein types. This is actually the most challenging type to have as ultimately you will have to rely quite heavily on developing your own feedback by answering the questions after every meal.

Don't stress out about the percentages; they are only rough guidelines. Even if they needed to be precise, you wouldn't take the time or make the effort to eat exact percentages of foods every single time you ate, especially for the rest of your life.

Additionally, your activity and stress levels will affect and alter the quantity of food, as well as the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, you need to feel your best.

Last, there is also a circadian rhythm to account for. Your biochemistry moves through various phases throughout the day. These rhythms involve your hormonal output, your acid/alkaline shifts, your waking/sleeping times and many other time-based variables. While some people will have a need for the same ratios of protein, fat and carbs at each meal, others will discover that they need very different ratios at the different meals in order to derive optimum energy, well being and performance.

What is the Solution?

Well, you will find the program, outlined in detail in my new book, is really quite simple and straightforward. In general, you first start by eating the proportions of proteins, fats and carbs according to your taste and appetite.

Next, analyze your reactions to your meal and discover how well you did in selecting the right ratios for yourself. A table to help you do this is provided below so you can take a look, and this table is also included in the book.

Finally, if you did not react optimally to your meal, change the ratios the next time you eat that meal and again analyze your reactions. In this way you can fine-tune each meal to the ratios of proteins, fats and carbs that are just right for you.

As an example of how the ratios can make a difference, I used to have a salad with some meat in it for lunch. However, several hours later I would feel absolutely famished, and I could not make it through the afternoon without strong food cravings. Then I realized I needed far more fat in my diet, in my case about 40 percent. Once I increased my fat intake my cravings disappeared.

Remember that you should feel terrific one hour after you eat. If you are still having food cravings or your energy level is lower, these are giant clues that you are likely not eating appropriately for your Nutritional Type™.

Related Resources:

• To Succeed at Any Diet, You Must Know Your Nutritional Type™
• "I am Eating Healthy Organic Foods, So Why am I Still Feeling Miserable?" Finally, A Solid Answer!
• Native Climate May Influence Your Ability to Burn Calories
• The Metabolic Typing Diet
• Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
• Smear Campaign Aimed Against Anti-Aging Proponents
  

Smear Campaign Aimed Against Anti-Aging Proponents

A groundbreaking paper has exposed for the first time the covert misdeeds and extreme abuse of academic and political power by the gerontological establishment.

For the past 14 years, establishment gerontologists have sought to persecute anti-aging physicians, anti-aging health practitioners, and the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine itself, simply because they defy the prevailing model of disease-based, drug-oriented medicine.

The paper details a complete disregard for truth, academic integrity, and scientific professionalism by some of the most prestigious doctors in the gerontological establishment. They have waged a multi-million-dollar campaign to influence media and exert deliberate control of public information, using selective funding of journalists to deliberately misrepresent the anti-aging movement.

Dr. Imre Zs.-Nagy, a part of the gerontology movement for four decades, and founder and editor-in-chief of the Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, has courageously stepped up to speak the truth. At great professional risk, he has come forth to blow the whistle on 14 years of censorship and repression of the science of anti-aging medicine.

On April 25 I gave a vitamin D presentation at the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) Conference in Orlando, and while I was there I became aware of this story.
For decades, anti-aging physicians have been unfairly persecuted, their research smeared and called quackery. As Dr. Imre Zs.-Nagy, founder and editor-in-chief of the Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, said:

“Quite to my astonishment and shock, I have been amazed to observe in many occasions, the complete disregard by certain individuals bearing some of the most prestigious affiliations in the gerontological establishment, for truth, academic integrity, and scientific professionalism.

Instead, they have waged a wanton effort to sabotage and retard a global movement of clinicians, practicing physicians on the front lines who have embraced that aging is not inevitable and is, indeed, preventable.”

Dr. Zs.-Nagy, MD has put himself at great professional risk to finally blow the whistle on 14 years of censorship and repression of the science of anti-aging medicine, and advanced preventive medicine, by the gerontological establishment.
He continues:

“Rather than investing their time, energies, and financial resources into positive endeavors such as research efforts aimed at elucidating tangible near-term applications for human aging intervention, the gerontological elite has instead sought to obfuscate the facts of the anti-aging medical movement. 

I submit that the reason for this is nothing less than an abject fear by the gerontological elite to avert their loss of control, power, prestige, and position in the multi-billion dollar industry of gerontological medicine.”

This negative spin has been going on for years, and you’ve probably come across such articles in magazines, newspapers or on the news. The New York Times, for instance, even ran a biased story a few years ago that attacked the entire anti-aging field -- which is usually one based on fine-tuning your diet, optimizing exercise and using targeted supplements -- and made it seem like a dangerous, money-hungry venture.

In reality, the NY Times piece was littered with important omissions and biased statements that ended up overwhelmingly supporting the conventional medical model and casting doubt on everything prevention-based.

Dr. Ronald Klatz, MD, DO, a friend and former classmate of mine considered by many to be one of the "Gurus of Anti-Aging Medicine," and also president of A4M, had this to say:

"A decade-long campaign waged by the gerontological elite has severely restricted the freedoms of physicians to administer life enhancing, and potentially life saving, therapeutics … The effect of this calculated campaign has held back the advancement of clinical anti-aging … research, leading to unnecessary morbidity, and, likely -- mortality, for millions of people worldwide.”

Cutting-Edge Anti-Aging Research You Should Know About

Dr. de Grey believes it is typically neglect, not intentional malice, that results in your life ending prematurely.
If this sounds intriguing to you, you might want to set aside 30 minutes to watch this video interview with Biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey, who is one of the leading anti-aging researchers in the world. In the interview he shares his fascinating insights into what the world’s top scientists and anti-aging pioneers are thinking on this subject.

As radical as it sounds, Dr. de Grey believes immortality can be achievable, or at the very least he believes humans could live for several centuries, if only the aging process was approached as an “engineering problem”.

According to de Grey, the following seven causes are responsible for physical aging, and are the basis of his “engineering approach” solutions:

1. Cell loss
2. Death-resistant cells (that overstay their welcome)
3. Nuclear DNA mutations
4. Mitochondrial DNA mutations
5. Intracellular junk
6. Extracellular junk
7. Extracellular crosslinks (which link together molecules that should be kept separated)

Essentially, de Grey’s hypothesis states that if you can keep these seven deadly cell-damaging processes below the threshold of pathology -- the state where processes start to break cells down until your body dies from the cumulative damage -- you will be able to extend your life, perhaps indefinitely.

From a strictly biological standpoint, the maximum lifespan of human beings seems to be set at around 120 years. However, I do believe it might be possible to extend your lifespan beyond this with the regenerative technologies that Dr. de Grey discusses.

What Can You do, Practically, to Slow Down Aging?

Researchers like de Grey are focusing on technologies that actually reverse the damage that aging causes, and he is confident that it will be possible one day to not only reverse the internal tissue damage but the physical external appearance as well (which he believes will be much easier to do).

Adult (not embryonic) stem cell technology is one of these approaches. 

Also, not to be overlooked, are the following mainstays of any anti-aging program, which include:

1. Keeping your insulin levels low -- Elevated insulin levels are one of your key physical influences that contribute to rapid aging, and there is no question that optimizing your insulin levels is an absolute necessity if you want to slow down your aging process.
2. Eating a healthy diet based on your nutritional type -- My nutrition plan, based on natural whole foods, is your first step toward increasing your chances of living a longer, healthier life.
3. Getting plenty of exercise -- Studies repeatedly show that regular, moderate-to-vigorous exercise can help prevent or delay your onset of hypertension, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, and numerous others diseases associated with aging.
4. Maintaining emotional wellness -- Research suggests that your mind determines how quickly and dramatically you age.

You can also get up to speed on how emerging science could someday transform elderly people to better versions of their former young selves -- and learn what other simple steps you can take now to help ensure you will be alive to take advantage of tomorrow’s age-reversing medical miracles -- by visiting the Web site www.MaxLife.org.

Source:  Dr. Mercola

Related Resources:

• Suzanne Somers on the Schwarzbein Principle - Bioidentical Hormone
• Waltz Into Healthy Old Age
• Protect Yourself From Killer Hospitals - Part 4
• The Drug Story
• Western Medicine - Forbidden Cures
• Sanoviv Medical Center
  
• Big Red Juice - GoChi & Himalayan Goji Juice 
  
• Stop Big Pharmaceutical Companies - Attempted Ban of Acai

Don't Get Ticked Off By Lyme Disease

Summer is upon us and for many folks (and their pets) that means spending time outdoors, 

hiking, camping, walking and exploring forests and wooded areas. It also means working and playing in your own backyard.

No matter where you live in the continental United States, you are at risk for the tick-borne illness known as Lyme disease. Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. Deer ticks harbor these bacteria and spread it when feeding on animals and humans. People in the Northeast, Midwest and Northwest are at highest risk, but these ticks can be found in any grassy or heavily wooded area — even your own backyard!

Signs and Symptoms

Most cases of Lyme disease start with a rash that looks like a bump, and then grows into something like a bull's eye, as illustrated below. 

© DermAtlas.

This rash is called erythema migrans, and can start where the tick bite occurred. It happens in 70-80% of Lyme disease cases. Flu-like symptoms can also occur, such as fever, chills, fatigue, body aches and headache. The symptoms and pattern of Lyme disease can vary from person to person because the illness can affect many different body systems.

If you develop a rash and flu-like symptoms and feel that you may have contracted Lyme disease, you should seek medical attention. At this point in time, treatment is easy and can prevent the serious and sometimes severe complications of Lyme disease. Your doctor can fully evaluate and examine you for the illness. There is a blood test that can check to see if you have Lyme disease, but this test does take a few weeks after exposure to show a positive result.

If your doctor feels you have the early stages of Lyme disease, he or she will probably offer you a 10-14 day course of oral antibiotics to kill the bacteria and prevent complications. As the blood test can take some time before it becomes positive, oral antibiotics are recommended as a preventative.

If Not Treated…

What are the complications? It is amazing that a tick-borne illness can produce such serious issues. If not treated, severe joint pain can develop associated with swelling and redness. The knees are the most common joints affected, but the pain and swelling can move from joint to joint, a condition known as migratory arthritis.

People with untreated Lyme disease also can develop neurological problems. These include meningitis, Bell's palsy (facial nerve paralysis), and numbness and weakness in the arms and legs. These problems can persist for months, even years, in an untreated infection, and can be very debilitating. Some people also develop an irregular heartbeat, eye problems, hepatitis and very severe chronic fatigue.

Take Precautions

You may be bitten by a deer tick and not even know it because it doesn't hurt or sting. The tick attaches to your skin and eventually the Lyme disease bacteria will get into your bloodstream. This usually takes 48 hours. Common sense precautions include wearing protective clothing when in wooded/grassy areas and using a tick repellant containing a strong concentration of DEET —10 to 30%. Oil of lemon eucalyptus can also be used as a preventive. Do not use these products on children under the age of 3.

Checking yourself for ticks after possible exposure and removing the tick greatly lessens your chance of getting Lyme disease. Just grasp the tick with tweezers and remove as much of it as possible. Lastly, maintaining your yard by keeping the grass mowed and brush trimmed will keep the tick population down.

Your pets are also at risk for deer tick bites, and they should be checked carefully for ticks and/or a rash after being outdoors. Also, there have been cases of Lyme disease where people weren't in the woods or grassy areas, so be aware of your risk just spending time outdoors.

Using these precautions and preventive strategies, you greatly reduce your chance of getting a deer tick bite and developing Lyme disease. If you are bitten by a tick, you now know what the signs and symptoms of Lyme disease are and can seek early medical attention to prevent the serious complications of the disease.

So, enjoy this summer and the great outdoors to the fullest…and protect yourself against Lyme disease!

By Lisa Forgione, MD

[Ed. Note: Lisa Forgione, MD, is an Emergency Medicine Physician, a Diplomate of ABFM and a Member of AAFP and NCAFP.  She has received several Physicians Recognition Awards for teaching from the AMA and AAFP.  Dr. Forgione was recently selected as one of the Top Family Doctors of 2009 by the Consumers' Research Council of America.]

Posted:  True Health Is True Wealth

Mother’s Day Part 2 – A View From Different Perspectives

A mother 5,580 times over

Sunday, May 10, 2009

“Oh God, I thank you for food, clothes and shelter, love and understanding, and for friends that are necessary for me to grow to be a strong, respectable person. Grant me self-control, self-respect and peace within. Amen.”

Around their forest green dining room, children with voices light as the wind and heavy with bass recite the pre-meal prayer Ollivette Allison penned 40 years ago.

And, with that, pork roast, corn, green beans, rolls, milk and sliced peaches are served to Allison’s 50 “babies.”

Allison, 85, is executive director of the Carrie Steele-Pitts Home in northwest Atlanta, a group home for neglected, abandoned, abused and orphaned children that was founded as an orphanage in 1888.

Allison herself was a resident of Carrie Steele-Pitts, arriving there with her two brothers on Aug. 31, 1936. She lived there through her years at Spelman College and at Atlanta University’s School of Social Work. She’s now worked there for nearly 70 years, nearly half that time as executive director. Today will be the 72nd Mother’s Day she’s spent at the home.

She knows precisely how many children have come under her wing since 1950, when she became the home’s first social worker. As of April 28, the number was 5,580.

Some of them stayed for just an hour or just a day. Some stayed for most or all of their childhood. But they are all Allison’s children.

Mae Frances Bullard, a lieutenant in the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, was dropped off at Carrie Steele-Pitts with her sisters at age 10. She lived there until she left for Morris Brown College.

“I didn’t really get the opportunity to be around my mother a lot because my mother left when I was a baby. But in my mind, I always thought a mother was someone who was always there for the child and who loved and nurtured the child,” said Bullard, 50, of Union City. “That’s what Ollivette has been to me.”

Meaning of mother

On a recent sunny afternoon, Allison mused about Bullard and others she and her staff have cared for.

“The children come from all kinds of hurt and shocks and all kinds of disappointment, things you can’t imagine a young child should have to bear,” she said. “So you do everything the best you can and you do it with consistency, persistence and a lot of patience, love and understanding.”

“Hello ladies, come here. Come in here a minute, please!” she called out from her glass-fronted office, putting aside whatever she was doing to get a little face time with each child who passed by. “You have such pretty colors on today,” she tells a shy girl. “Why did you leave for school so early today?” she asked a boy. As he explained, she inquired about a small sore she noticed on his arm.

Allison said she doesn’t set out to be a substitute mother or grandmother. “I just try to be whatever they want me to be,” she said, “whatever they perceive me to be.”

Though she’s never told Allison, former resident Bullard said “I used to always wish I was her biological child.”

And though she’s never had children of her own, Allison has a strong sense of what motherhood means.

It’s having “a sense of caring and of being thoughtful and a sense of what cleanliness is all about, what sitting down together and eating at a table is all about,” she says. “It’s saying ‘Good morning’ and knowing that school is important, manners are important, and how you treat a child will give you the end results. Children imitate us whether we know it or not.”

Allison never misses a teaching moment, or a chance to praise. And like many mothers, she amazes her charges by seeming to have eyes in the back of her head. Her secret: positioning herself so she can catch kids’ reflections in the glass of doors and picture frames.

Preaching, praising

Dinner is “prime time” at Carrie Steele-Pitts, Allison says. As she firmly quiets the chatter of those at the decorated tables, apron-wearing older teens serve bowls and platters of food.

Dessert is followed by sharing time. One child reads a poem. A staff member offers a thought for the day. Then someone begins talking out of turn, drawing a warning from Allison. “You don’t want Ollivette to get up and do her thing,” she says. “You know I’ll do it.”

Once order is restored, it’s open mike time. A girl tells everyone she and another girl at her table have passed all of their graduation tests. There is wild applause. Another girl is excited that she will take class pictures the next day.

Then it’s Allison’s turn to speak. Naturally, moms get the last word.

“Each day you’re here you’re making a mark on what you’re going to do for the next years to come,” she preaches. “I expect you to grow up to be big strong men and women with grace and dignity, with love for your families and to get a good j-o-b. That way you can do big things for yourself and for your families and for the community.”

Allison has no plans to retire but has told her board of directors to be ready to replace her. She said she can sense that she’s almost ready to leave. But when she does, her legacy will live on.

In 2004, the Ollivette Eugenia Smith Allison Life Learning Center, complete with gym, swimming pool, kitchen and a meeting room, opened on the home’s 26-acre campus. It also holds a small chapel, anchored by a stained-glass window featuring an image of a lamb.

“A little lamb is the most humble thing in the world,” said Allison, who requested the image. “It needs a lot of protection, and that’s what children need. When you love them and pet them, they’re like little lambs.”

The Carrie Steele-Pitts Home can be reached at 404-691-5187.

“Milestones” covers significant events and times in the lives of metro Atlantans. Big or small, hugely celebrated or known only to a few —- tell us of a milestone we should write about. Send an e-mail to milestones@ajc.com or mail to Milestones, c/o Michael Gray, 72 Marietta St. NW, Atlanta GA 30303. Please include your phone number and/or e-mail address.

Not so Happy Mother's Day

I have thought of writing this for every Mother's day for years but somehow never got down to it. So finally, here I am.

I am truly happy for all those who celebrate the miraculous gift of maternal love on this planet. You are truly blessed. There are mothers who are living examples of that amazingly wondrous selfless love who have inspired greatness in this world. Mothers are big hearted; supportive, loving and loyal to their children. Even an animal mother is programmed by nature to nurture and protect. Didn’t someone say God created mothers to take his place when he is not available?

But then, in our zeal to celebrate this great blessing, we sometimes forget the 'less fortunate' among us. Not the handicapped or challenged or poor... but the least fortunate among us the mother-loving who are 'cursed' with the 'bad karma' (it seems) of imperfect mothers... more like really bad mothers, cruel mothers, mothers who messed up our lives and deny it... and those who exist in the cross sections. Yes, THAT now is the reality.

When we are up there preaching and advocating the virtues of respecting and loving mothers, let us not forget (sometimes in our self righteousness) that there are (unfortunate) people out there with valid reasons to 'hate' their mother as well; and that by not joining in the adoration, it does NOT make them lesser beings to those who do. Just as you celebrate, they are hurting equally inside.  I have yet to come across a true and honest admission from those who do belong in this discreet group of people, though they are many, mainly because a fear of disapproval or being judged as an 'unforgiving, ungrateful child'. It can be a vicious circle, to end up with an 'unloving mother'... and being tagged as 'unloving child' in return. I wish for this message to go out to those fortunate people who are so ready to judge... to let it be. Unless you have not experienced a life bereft of a true mother's love, you will never know how it is, and I pray that you never will.

In this unpleasant reality, I decided to believe that no mother chooses to be a bad mother, knowingly or unknowingly, they just are. Some so bad that your whole life will be a sad (cruel) twisted result of her devastatingly damaging effects. Bad mothers are accidents (freaks) of nature, at least that's the only reason to it that I can fathom, that I can take comfort in. Because I am one of the 'unfortunates' though I clearly believe I don’t deserve it, karma or not. In this case, extremely unfortunate because the problem is so deep yet so elusive, a third person would never even realize it or want to as it would shatter all their rosy notions and images of a child cuddled up in a mother's loving embrace.

I knew something was wrong from the day I learned to differentiate right from wrong but went through years of denial. The questions I always asked then were "what did I do to deserve this", "how can I make her happy", "why is it never enough" and finally I just gave up trying which brought me to a rapid decline in self worth and love because I always thought to be a good child you must love your mother no matter what you get back. After all isn't unconditional love a natural bond between a child and mother? Each time I felt I had failed to live up to expectations, another part of me died.

I was subjected to repeated rejections (not good enough), isolation (from any moral support from others) and manipulations (of my feelings) and sabotage (when I did learn to fight). Even as I write, I am troubled, feeling if I use such strong words and there is a lingering of the absence of hope that I was wrong somewhere. Yes, there is one thing I can acknowledge today, is that my greatest tests of endurance and strengths have been through the Lessons of having had that Imperfect Mother. And for what it's worth, “Happy Mother's Day”.

Posted by: ravindranps

For these moms, a dog-day afternoon

Pedro and Princesa, a pair of very well-dressed Chihuahuas, scampered into Unleashed Indoor Dog Park like a couple late for the party.

After all, it was Mother's Day, and Princesa and Pedro were here to celebrate with their "mom," Betty Orellana.

Pedro, one handsome little dude, was decked out in a bright print shirt, khakis, tinted shades and the tiniest sandals imaginable – until you saw the shoes on Princesa, who accented her look with a sparkly frock that exactly matched mom's vivid green blouse.

The oohs and ahhs followed in their wake – "Look, look!" and "Aww, how cute!" in several variations – and Orellana doted on her kids like any proud momma.

"Their father passed away about a year ago in a motorcycle accident," said Orellana, of Mesquite, "and we didn't get to have kids.

"Pedro and Princesa are my children. They're the only kids I have."

So she decided to go out with the kids, to a party with other moms and their "fur babies" to be treated and pampered and, for once, to feel they weren't left out on Mother's Day.

"It's wonderful!" Orellana said. "When one of the ladies here told me they were having a special Mother's Day, I couldn't believe it!"

Kelly Acree, an owner and co-founder of Unleashed in Far East Dallas, said that when she and her partners assembled a business plan for the indoor dog park – the first of what they hope will be many – they noticed an interesting demographic development.

"We saw that young people weren't getting married as early as they used to, and that a lot of single guys and girls have a pet as a 'child,' " Acree said. "There's a real trend in society – more humanization of pets. It used to be they spent their time out in the yard. Now they sleep in the bed with you."

And the pets help meet basic human needs of love and companionship for people who often have no one else.

Call it puppy love.

"I don't know what I would have done without Pedro when my husband died," Orellana said. "He sure filled a void when I lost the man I loved."

Across the room, new arrival Carrie Johnson of Dallas took in the scene – lots and lots of women and men and a whole bunch of dogs romping and wagging and having a great time.

The grown-ups carried gift bags and sipped wine and nibbled candy or cakes, or maybe enjoyed the ministrations of a masseuse. And the dogs were busy being dogs.

"This is so cool," Johnson said, leading in Sebastian, a little fluff ball of a Shi-Tzu.

"Mother's Day can be hard when don't have children. You feel like it isn't a day for you.

"But this is a day for all of us.

By: MICHAEL E.YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News

Happy Mother's Day to the mothers of special needs children

The "perfectly beautiful son" has a son of his own.

Mother’s Day is coming and I thought it would be a good idea to shine the limelight on the very special mothers of the very special children who were born with, or later developed, disabilities. These mothers have to deal with most of the same confusing challenges that mothers of able-bodied children do along with some that can scarcely be imagined by mothers who haven’t “been there.”

Some of you may remember reading in my blog, Children of Disabled Parents Can Be Extra Resilient and Empathetic that my husband, Michael has cerebral palsy. Before we were married, his mother told me a story about Michael coming in the house one day, upset because some children had been making fun of him.

She took him to a full-length mirror and stood in front of it with him. They looked at their reflections together and my mother-in-law said, “Look at yourself. That’s your body and it’s beautiful.”

That story stayed with me and prompted me to write this “gift” for her. My husband, a motivational speaker, often uses it to close his speeches and I have plans to convert it into a book. But I will take it out here, in honor of Mother’s Day, to share with you – especially if you have a child with a disability.

A PERFECTLY BEAUTIFUL SON

A little boy was feeling sad. He had been born with a disability that made him walk, talk, and move differently from other children. The little boy was sad because some of the kids in the neighborhood had been making fun of him. His mother took him by the hand and led him to the full-length mirror she kept in her bedroom.

“I’m crippled and useless. The kids say I am.”

“You’re my perfectly beautiful son.”

“Mommy, how can you say that when you know how I look?”

“You’re my perfectly beautiful son. You look like your daddy. You’re lucky, my pet. He’s handsome and strong. Can’t you see? You belong. Be proud, my beautiful son.”

“My feet drag on the ground. I fall down all the time.”

“You’re my perfectly beautiful son. And when you fall down, you get right back up. You’ve never stayed down and I know you won’t now. Get up, my beautiful son.”

“My hands always shake. I spill everything.”

“You’re my perfectly beautiful son. And when your hands shake, I will hold them in mine. It will steady us both – not just you, but me, too. Hold tight, my beautiful son.”

“My speech comes out funny. People can’t understand.”

“You’re my perfectly beautiful son. And when I hear you speak, I hear magical sounds. The words are so clear and their meanings so dear. Speak out, my beautiful son.”

“People think that I’m weak just because I’m so small.”

“You’re my perfectly beautiful son. And your heart’s grown so strong, how could you be weak? To me you’re so mighty, sometimes I can’t speak. Stand tall, my beautiful son.”

“The kids have been saying I’ll end up alone.”

“You’re my perfectly beautiful son. You have so much to give and a great life to live. And when the day comes that a girl sees this, too, I’ll love her so much – but not like I love you. But I’ll love her to pieces and I’ll shout to the world, “My son’s found his true love! What a perfectly beautiful girl.”

Happy Mother’s Day.

Patricia Aronin - Baltimore Family Examiner

Posted:  Ask Marion – Marion’s Place

Related Articles: 

• Mother's Day
  
• Traditional parenting 'leads to well-adjusted children'
  
• Adoption and Social Styles
  

Newer Antidepressants Not Always Better

New antidepressants might be no more effective than the best existing drugs, according to two new systematic reviews that compared 12 commonly used medications.

"Patients are usually encouraged to take the newest medication," said lead author Andrea Cipriani, M.D., of the University of Verona, in Italy. "But it's better to have an old treatment that has been proved with many patients and many years in the market."

The reviews suggest that sertraline sold under the brand name Zoloft since 1991 could be the best initial choice of antidepressant in people with acute major depression. The generic formulation produced the best balance of effectiveness, tolerability and purchase price, the authors say.

Patients also did well on one of the newest antidepressants, escitalopram (Lexapro), but it is not yet available in lower-cost generic form. The authors note that comprehensive economic studies are necessary to evaluate overall cost-effectiveness of various treatments.

Cipriani said that the review recommendations are for new episodes of depression. "If a patient is taking another drug and doing well, we are not saying he has to change."

The reviews appear in the most recent issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

Depression is the fourth-leading cause of disease burden worldwide and antidepressant drugs are now the mainstay of treatment for moderate to severe cases. The aim of the two reviews was to compare the benefits and side effects of sertraline and escitalopram, respectively, with those of other antidepressants during the first six to 12 weeks of treatment.

Cipriani noted that all of the included studies compared one drug against another not to a placebo so the results reveal not the absolute effect, but rather the relative advantages and disadvantages of various medications.

In addition, these reviews rely on summary data from each study, rather than individual patient data. Future studies that go into greater detail can help identify the best medications for various subgroups of patients such as men vs. women, teens vs. adults and so on.

For sertraline, the reviewers included 59 randomized controlled trials totaling about 10,000 participants. Sertraline proved more effective than fluoxetine (Prozac), but less effective than mirtazapine (Remeron). In terms of side effects, bupropion (Wellbutrin) was easier to tolerate than sertraline, while the latter outscored amitriptyline (Elavil), imipramine (Tofranil), paroxetine (Paxil) and mirtazapine (Remeron).

For escitalopram, the reviewers included 22 randomized controlled trials totaling about 4,000 participants. Few statistically significant differences appeared in this review, although escitalopram was more effective than citalopram (Celexa) and fluoxetine (Prozac) and had fewer side effects than duloxetine (Cymbalta). The drug manufacturer sponsored most of the studies in this review, so there may be biases in favor of escitalopram.

Rather than seeking genuine advances in treatment, the review authors say, some pharmaceutical companies seem to be introducing close chemical cousins of generic medications. By gaining patent protection for the "new" drug, a company can market it as a higher-priced brand name product.

Sponsorship bias is a recurring concern in trials of virtually all new medications. In the Cochrane reviews themselves, one of the co-authors has received research funds and speaking fees from the companies Asahi Kasei, Astellas, Dai-Nippon Sumitomo, Eisai, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Kyowa Hakko, Meiji, Nikken Kagaku, Organon, Otsuka, Pfizer and Yoshitomi. The Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare have also funded some of his research.

However, the co-authors of these Cochrane reviews also published a recent study in The Lancet that was free of any potential funding bias. The study also used a more complex statistical method to analyze data from 117 randomized controlled trials involving 25,928 participants.

The findings support the Cochrane reviews, Cipriani said, with sertraline and escitalopram ranking as the best treatments.

"Such findings have enormous implications," said Sagar Parikh, M.D., of the University of Toronto, in a commentary published along with The Lancet study. "For the clinician, prudent engagement of the patient in treatment ideally involves giving the patient a choice.… A new gold standard of reliable information has been compiled for patients to review."

In early studies, new medical treatments are typically compared to sham treatments. Once the effectiveness of certain approaches is well established, new options must be judged against the best existing treatments.

Cipriani argued that this time has come for antidepressants, and that sertraline is the drug to beat. "We need new treatments in psychiatry, but they have to be proved better than other treatments," he said. "We should be comparing new drugs to the best available existing drugs."

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international nonprofit, independent organization that produces and disseminates systematic reviews of health care interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions.

Cipriani A, La Ferla, et al. Setraline versus other antidepressive agents for depression. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 2.

Cipriani A, Santilli C, et al. Escitalopram versus other antidepressive agents for depression. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 2.

Source: Health Behavior News Service 

Related Rsources:  

• Sanoviv Medical Center
  
• Big Red Juice - FreeLife's Himalayan Goji Juice
  
• Goji Health Stories - Depression

Posted:  True Health Is True Wealth