'Good' Fat Is A New Weapon in the Obesity Fight

A new understanding of brown fat cells -- the "good" kind of fat that burns energy and keeps you warm -- could lead to new treatments for obesity. Researchers managed to use a single molecular switch to turn immature muscle cells into brown fat cells in the lab, suggesting that brown fat may be more akin to muscle cells than conventional white fat cells. Another team has discovered that a protein important for bone growth helped promote the development of brown fat tissue in mice. Both teams said their new findings lend understanding about the origins of brown fat, which releases energy, in contrast to conventional white fat, which stores energy. Researchers believe that if they can coax the body into making more calorie-burning brown fat, this might help obese people lose weight. Sources: Reuters August 20, 2008 Nature August 21, 2008; 454(7207):961-7

Red Wine -- It's Like the New Green Vegetable

Red wine seems to be the new “green vegetable”… good for practically everything. New research points to a surprising and counterintuitive connection between moderate wine consumption and the lower risk of a certain kind of liver disease... plus, I recently saw another study that suggests serving red wine with steaks can help diminish the harmful effects associated with eating red meat. Once again it appears that modern science is confirming age-old wisdom, in this case those who revered the “nectar of the Gods.”

SHALL WE DRINK TO THAT?

Of course, experts are quick to point out that wine is beneficial to your health in moderation only. That said, following are a sample of the many benefits that moderate wine consumption may confer upon your health…

• Lowers risk of liver disease.  Considered by some to be an emerging epidemic, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common chronic liver disease in the United States today, due in large part to our Western lifestyle and obesity, notes study author Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, MD, at the University of California, San Diego. He and his colleagues found that moderate wine drinkers are significantly less likely to develop NAFLD than nondrinkers, even after controlling for other possible contributing factors.

• Healthier heart. Wine in particular possesses potent heart-healthy benefits, according to a large-scale study, published in 2000, which included Copenhagen City Heart Study data. Researchers found the risk of death significantly lower than for people who did not drink wine and believe it’s due to ethanol and the substances in wine. Other research shows that the high polyphenol content in red wine protects the linings of cardiovascular blood vessels and may inhibit plaque formation.

• Prostate cancer protection. Men who drink four to seven glasses of red wine weekly are half as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as men who do not drink red wine, according to research from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Doctors speculate that healthful antioxidant compounds such as flavonoids and resveratrol are responsible for this effect. White wine was helpful too, but not as much as red wine, which is a richer source of these health-promoting compounds.

• Kidney care.  Drinking at least two glasses of red wine a week may lower the risk of kidney cancer, say doctors at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. Beneficial effects were also found with white wine and strong beer, but not liquor. Other research, conducted in part at Harvard Medical School, suggests that men who consume seven or more drinks weekly have a 29% lower risk of developing kidney problems.

• Longer life.  One day resveratrol may prove to be the key to unlocking the secret of lasting youth. Laboratory tests demonstrate that this antioxidant compound in red wine prevents early death in mice that were fed high-fat diets.  (For more on the health benefits of resveratrol, see Daily Health News, August 2007.) Yet so far no human research has taken place, so further study is needed.

TO YOUR HEALTH

So it seems there’s some merit to such toasts as “salud” (health) and “l’chaim” (to life).  Enjoying a glass of red wine with your evening meal may indeed improve your health and extend your life -- but do so with restraint, and drink at mealtime, since food slows alcohol absorption. Most experts suggest that an intake of one to two glasses of wine a day for men and one for women is optimal for health benefits. More, however, may increase the risk of some of the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption. Red wines have more polyphenols than white (which, as noted above, can also be beneficial) but not all red wines offer equal potency of this health-promoting compound. A study in the scientific journal Nature reported that the most powerful heart-healthy polyphenols are procyanidins, which is the main source of the vascular health benefits in red wine. Wines from Southern France and Sardinia were found to have higher concentrations, due to production methods. Other research shows that the darker the wine, in general, the healthier.

However none of this is meant to suggest you ought to cultivate a wine habit if you don’t want to or don’t particularly enjoy it.  Immoderate alcohol consumption has a greater negative effect than the positive beneficial effects. Dr. Schwimmer takes cautionary advice a step further, warning that people at risk for alcohol abuse or alcoholism (for example, those with a personal or family history) should not consume wine or other alcoholic beverages.  Fortunately for teetotalers, there’s an excellent alternative -- red grape juice and grapes themselves are rich sources of many of the same beneficial compounds as red wine. Other antioxidant-packed options include blueberries, cranberries, elderberries and pomegranates. If you’re worried about the consequences of imbibing too much nectar of the Gods, just reach for a bunch of grapes.

Source(s):

Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, MD, director, Fatty Liver Clinic, associate professor of pediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, California

OCD Drives Man To Mac Attack - 23.000 Times

updated 7:37 a.m. PT, Tues., Sept. 9, 2008

54-year-old says OCD drove him to eat a burger nearly every day since 1972

FOND DU LAC, Wis. - A 54-year-old man says his obsessive-compulsive disorder drove him to eat 

Fifty-four-year-old Don Gorske says he hit the milestone last month, continuing a pleasurable obsession that began May 17, 1972 when he got his first car.

Gorske has kept every burger receipt in a box. He says he was always fascinated with numbers, and watching McDonald's track its number of customers motivated him to track his own consumption.

The only day he skipped a Big Mac was the day his mother died, to respect her request. 

The correctional-institution employee says he doesn't care when people call his Big Mac obsession crazy. He says he's in love with the burgers, which are the highlights of his days.

Hospitals - The 8th Leading Cause of Death

What You Need to Know to Get Out Alive...

Odds are high that at some point in your life, you'll need to go to the hospital.

You could be struck down by an illness or an injury — or perhaps just require some complicated elective surgery.

Whatever the case may be, a hospital visit should not be taken lightly. Why? See for yourself why you must avoid their hazards — if you want to get out alive.

Hospitals — the 8^th Leading Cause of Death

Russell Blaylock M.D.

Beyond the potentially life-threatening reasons you might enter the hospital, many new perils and pitfalls await you once you're admitted.

Here are just a few facts that hospitals don't want you to know:

FACT: Hospital complications and errors comprise the 8th leading cause of death in the U.S. (exceeding even motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer and AIDS)...

FACT: Hospital-acquired infections account for 100,000 American deaths each year...

FACT: Medical complications kill 30,000 more people a year (and cost us over $9.3 billion)...

FACT: Medication errors lead to 7,000 deaths annually...

Source:  NewsMax

Protect Yourself From Killer Hospitals - Part 4

The greatest protection from killer hospitals or in any situation is knowledge!  Be aware.  Do your homework. Checkout the alternatives to surgery and prescription drugs!

There are a growing number of alternative health clinics around the world.  One I can recommend personally is Sanoviv Medical Center in Rosarito, Mexico... founded by Dr. Myron Wentz.

 

Alternative Healthcare:

Sanoviv Medical Institute 
"I invite you to experience the innovative medical diagnostics and therapies, detoxification, nutrition and serenity that Sanoviv offers - and to partner with us in helping you achieve true health." …Myron Wentz, Sanoviv Founder, Ph.D., Microbiology and Immunology

Other protective means are:

• Taking high quality nutritionals and other proven natural health products
  
• Get enough sleep
• Exercise regularly
• Drink lots of water
• Try alternative health treatments before surgery and drugs like:  acupuncture, chiropractic care, reflexology, natural herbs, etc
• Cut out or down on red meat, sugar and white flower products
• Don't smoke
• Limit alcohol intake
• Colonics and Colon Cleansing
• Learn and practice relaxation exercises
• Think positively

USANA Nutritionals
Himalayan Goji Juice
FreeLife Nutritionals
CanineCare by FreeLife for Dogs

ACT Natural Energy Drink

"When the well is dry, we know the worth of water."  ...Benjamin Franklin

Don't Wait Until You're Thirsty...

Water is so important for life that we can survive days, weeks, maybe even months without food but only days without water. The human body is about 55 to 70 percent water, and no bodily function takes place without water. Water is the most important and most abundant natural resource, yet it is also the one we take for granted the most.

Vilified Vittles Reconsidered

 Some foods with a bad rap not as bad as we thought

Maybe you think nutritionists flip flop as often as political candidates seem to do. Eggs are bad, no eggs are OK. Switch to margarine, no go back to butter. Drink eight glasses of water each day, no never mind.

What appears to be conflicting news about nutrition is due to the ever-evolving nature of science, said Linda Van Horn, a professor of preventive medicine and nutrition researcher at Northwestern University.

New discoveries about the composition of foods are often behind these seeming nutrition flip-flops, said Van Horn, who serves as editor of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association and is charged daily with the task of translating emerging science.

Sometimes new research reveals that certain foods fail to live up to their early hype. Yet, often we learn that foods have hidden qualities not previously recognized.

Even lard doesn't look quite as bad these days compared to the trans-fat-laden hydrogenated oil that replaced it.

We'll never get to the fantasy in Woody Allen's movie "Sleeper" where he wakes up in the future to discover that junk food is actually good for you. However, some demonized foods turn out to be better for you than you think.

Here are five often-vilified foods that deserve a second chance.

White bread Why the bad rap? Viewed as fattening and devoid of nutrients compared to its whole-grain cousins, white bread got kicked to the curb.

Reasons to reconsider: White breads are far from empty calories. They're actually enriched with several essential nutrients that many of us lack, including folic acid, iron and B-vitamins. Half our grains should be whole, but the other half can be white--primarily so we don't miss out on these vital nutrients.

Best ways to enjoy: Choose whole-grain bread for your morning toast and sandwiches, but don't feel bad eating a sourdough roll, crunchy baguette or crispy flatbread at dinner time.

Frozen and canned vegetables Why the bad rap? With the emphasis on locally-grown fresh produce, frozen and canned vegetables have gotten a rotten reputation that's been hard to shake.

Reasons to reconsider: Frozen and canned vegetables are picked and processed at their peak of freshness so nutrients are not lost. Studies have shown that the nutrient level is comparable to fresh produce. Plus, it's hard to beat the convenience of having vegetables stashed in your freezer or pantry.

Best ways to enjoy: Buy the varieties without sauces and give canned veggies a quick rinse to reduce the sodium content.

Potatoes Why the bad rap? Spuds became synonymous with starch and were dismissed for their perceived waist-thickening carbs and high glycemic index.

Reasons to reconsider: An average potato is only 100 calories and packs in several key nutrients, including potassium and vitamin C. Recent studies indicate that potatoes contain resistant starch, a type of dietary fiber that "resists" digestion and may help boost your calorie burn and keep you feeling full.

Best ways to enjoy: Keep whole and out of the deep fryer. Watch out for the high-fat toppings that are more to blame than the potato itself. Serving potatoes cold in salads helps to amp up the resistant starch.

Red meat Why the bad rap? It has become almost fashionable to say you avoid red meat, which has taken a hit due to its saturated fat, especially in well-marbled steaks and juicy hamburgers.

Reasons to reconsider: Beef is an excellent source of protein and vitamin B-12, and is one of the richest suppliers of iron, zinc and selenium--a trio of important minerals. Portion size and cut of beef are what you need to keep in mind. Many lean cuts have less fat than a skinless chicken thigh.

Best ways to enjoy: Choose the leanest cuts with "loin" or "round" in the name, such as tenderloin, sirloin or top round. Rather than a huge slab on your plate, aim for a portion about the size of deck of cards or combine it with vegetables in stir-fries and kebabs.

Cheese Why the bad rap? There is no denying that many cheeses are high in calories and fat, especially saturated fat.

Reasons to reconsider: Cheese is a good source of calcium and protein. Newer studies indicate that cheese contains conjugated linoleic acid or CLA, a "good" fat that may help reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Best ways to enjoy: Go for the real stuff. Nonfat cheeses don't fully cut it. Try strong-flavored cheeses that require only a sliver for satisfaction.

By Janet Helm is a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant in Chicago & contributor to the Chicago Tribune

"Life-Critical Nutrient"

Here's How You'll Beat Those Odds ...

 Each and every cell in your body calls out for this unique nutrient ...

You see, it's responsible for the production of all of your body's hormones. You also need it for your immune system to work properly.

With insufficient amounts, you could end up with cancer, multiple sclerosis, or a host of other diseases.

Your government tells you not to worry ... they say you get an adequate supply of it in your diet, because of a policy they instituted in the 1920's.

But do you?

Consider this — over the last 30 years, body levels of this life-saving nutrient have dropped by nearly 50% in the United States — despite the government's best efforts.

Our new Newsmax medical editor, Dr. David Brownstein, has tested over 4,000 patients in his clinic. His findings have been shocking — 96.5% tested low for this critical substance.

This nutrient is the missing link to your good health. Yet it's something you probably never give a thought to.

It's the most misunderstood nutrient out there ...

It's iodine.

Special 2008 Health Update
by Christopher Ruddy, Newsmax CEO

A Fun Way To Sharpen Your Memory...

Put down that irksome, unsolvable crossword puzzle, and cut yourself some slack for blanking on the final round of Jeopardy. 

There may be a simpler way to hone your mind. Try calling a friend. Staying in touch with friends and loved ones could slow the pace at which your memory dwindles with age. 

Strong Connections
In a study of 16,638 older adults, people who were married, active in volunteer groups, and in regular contact with friends, family, and neighbors had slower declines in memory than their less social counterparts. In fact, declines in the most socially active types were about half of those in the least social group.

Nurture Your Ties
How do social ties bolster a waning memory? Researchers aren’t exactly sure, but it’s possible the greater sense of meaning and emotional acceptance that social connections foster may support healthy brain chemistry.

RealAge Tip

Protect Yourself From Killer Hospitals... Part 3

"The main value of transparency is not necessarily to enable easier consumer choice or to give a hospital a competitive edge. It is to provide creative tension within hospitals so that they hold themselves accountable. This accountability is what will drive doctors, nurses, and administrators to seek constant improvements in the quality and safety of patient care. So, even if we can't compare hospital to hospital on several types of surgical procedures, we can still commend hospitals that publish their results as a sign that they are serious about self-improvement.” ...Brian Klepper

Precautions to Consider…

DO YOUR HOMEWORK AND RESEARCH HOSPITAL OPTIONS

Take a little time to research the hospitals in your area, or hospitals that are part of your medical coverage, before you need to go to one.  Sometimes just talking to people in your neighborhood or people where you work that have the same coverage will give you a lot of insight.  And always get a second opinion before having voluntary surgery and sometimes even a third opinion is a good idea.

And before having surgery of any kind, educate yourself about your condition and know your options, including alternative medical care.

MAKE NURSES AND DOCTORS WASH THEIR HANDS

Washing your hands is one of the best (and easiest) ways to prevent the spread of germs. Still, not enough doctors and nurses wash their hands when going from one patient to the next. I know you might feel uncomfortably asking this, but it's wise to ask whoever is going to touch you to wash their hands before they do so - in front of you, if necessary.  Or make sure you watched them put on new gloves in front of you.

BE SURE YOU'RE GETTING A FRESH NEEDLE

Again, one would assume that every hospital would follow what's really Rule #1 when it comes to syringes: that needles get used once and only once. But sadly, this is something you can't always assume. I told you recently about a Nevada clinic that routinely reused needles, which led to a hepatitis outbreak. 50,000 patients were notified and had to be tested for the disease. Don't be afraid to ask the obvious question: has that needle been used? Ask that the doctor to unwrap a fresh syringe in front of you.

BE READY FOR SURGERY

This is the big one. When you're opening up your body, all kinds of unwanted things can get in. Before the surgery, you should ask your doctor if you should prepare your skin with daily disinfectant washes. You should also request a skin or nasal swab test for the MRSA super bug - and if that test is positive, be sure that you're treated with antibiotics before your procedure. Don't let a nurse shave you - any small nicks are merely open access for bacteria to enter the bloodstream; be sure your hair is only clipped back. Double check that the doctor has ordered IV antibiotics on the day of the surgery (shockingly, this step is often forgotten).  

Giving your own blood for voluntary surgeries or giving blood regularly in case of  involuntary surgeries is also a great precaution.

STAY WARM

It's true: keeping warm can actually fight infection. If you're getting a hospital procedure in the winter, be sure you're dressing in warm clothes before and after the surgery, and riding around in a well-heated car.  Also, ask for plenty of blankets while you're in the hospital waiting for surgery - if necessary, bring some of your own. Your life is more in your own hands than you realize when you enter those so-called safe havens called hospitals. Victoria Nahum has learned the hard way that passivity can kill. "People need to start participating instead of just being spectators when it comes to their medical care," she said. At the end of the day, you've got to remember this common sense warning: steer clear of the hospital unless absolutely necessary. Shedding some light on not-so-hospitable hospitals, William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

ALTERNATIVE HEALTHCARE OPTIONS:

There are many alternative healthcare options as well as preventative measures that I will cover in part 4 of this Protect Yourself From Killer Hospitals series, including non-traditional alternative medical centers.  One that I can recommend from personal knowledge as well as reputation is  Sanoviv Medical Institute, which I will also cover in more detail in part 4.

"I invite you to experience the innovative medical diagnostics and therapies, detoxification, nutrition and serenity that Sanoviv offers -and to partner with us in helping you achieve true health." …Myron Wentz, Sanoviv Founder, Ph.D., Microbiology and Immunology

Protect Yourself From Killer Hospitals... Part 2

Emergency Rooms

In June many of us witnessed (after the fact and via hospital surveilance camera footage) Esmin Green, a 49-year-old mother of six, tumble off her chair onto the floor of the Kings County psychiatric E.R. waiting room in New York City. Members of the hospital staff saw her lying there but did nothing for about an hour. When Green was finally brought into the E.R., she was dead. An autopsy revealed that she died from a pulmonary embolism, which occurs when a blood clot forms in the leg, breaks off, and travels to one or both lungs. This can also occur and kill long-haul airplane passengers who sit in one spot for hours: The blood sits stagnant in their legs for so long that it clots. Green had been on her own plane ride of sorts. She'd waited for a psychiatric-unit bed to open up for more than 24 hours, roughly the same flight time as a trip from New York to Tanzania.

The surveillance video of Green collapsing and lying untended, as hospital staff at Kings County fail to respond to her collapse, is inexcusable by any stretch of the imagination, causing Nancy Grace, for one, to focus on the negligence. But what's largely missing from this story is the likely cause of Green's pulmonary embolism. The answer lies in a far more systematic and widespread danger in hospital care: E.R. waits. Why was Green sitting and waiting while blood pooled in her legs? Despite increasing evidence that crowded E.R.s can be hazardous to your health, hospitals have incentives to keep their E.R. patients waiting. As a result, there has been an explosion in E.R. wait times over the past few years, even for those who are the sickest.

A major cause for E.R. crowding is the hospital practice of boarding inpatients in emergency departments. This happens when patients who come to the E.R. need to be admitted overnight. If there are no inpatient beds in the hospital (or no extra inpatient nurses on duty that day) then the patient stays in the E.R. long past the completion of the initial emergency work. This is what happened to Green, and it has become widespread and common. The problem is that boarding shifts E.R. resources away from the new patients in the waiting room. While E.R. patients wait for inpatient beds, new patients wait longer to see a doctor. As more new patients come, the waits grow. And an E.R. filled with boarding patients and a full waiting room is an unhappy E.R.:

The atmosphere is at once static and chaotic. If you or a loved one has waited for hours in an E.R., you know what we mean. The environment can be unsafe and even deadly.

This practice of "bed-hiding" is also becoming a common practice.

Emergency Room Germs

And then of course we know that Emergency Rooms, like doctor's offices only multiplied, are virtual peetrie dishes of every type of germ imaginable. So even though a trip to the E.R. is sometimes unavoidble, avoiding one if it is not imperative, is vital to your health.

• If at all possible go to your family doctor or an urgent care, unless it is a true emergency.


• If it is a true emergency call an ambulance; ambulance patients are attended first.


• If at all possible, do not take well children or infants to the E.R.


• Take hand-sanitizers with you and use them throughout your stay.


• Try not to eat in the E.R.


• If you are not the patient and have a long E.R. stay, take regular fresh air breaks outside.


• If you or someone you love is left sitting or lying in the E.R. for hours, complain!

A recent study found that critically ill patients who spend more than six hours in the E.R. are 4 percent more likely to die.

Part 3 Continued Tomorrow

Source: Zachary F. Meisel and Jesse M/Posted on Slate.com

Protect Yourself From Killer Hospitals... Part I

“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not.” …Mark Twain ;-)

(Although this is not 100% true, we are at least in part the authors to our own health or disease based on our choices.)

But, There's no place more deadly than a hospital...

This is a universal and unspoken truth in the health care community: hospitals can be lethal. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 99,000 people die every year from hospital-acquired infections; and not just the sick, the elderly, or the very young.

Case in point: 27-year-old Joshua Nahum was injured during a skydiving accident. Considering he voluntarily jumped out of a perfectly good airplane, Nahum was probably considered very lucky to have escaped the incident with only fractures to his skull and femur. And over six weeks in a Colorado intensive care unit, Nahum slowly improved. Doctors declared that with a complete course of rehab, Nahum would be fully recovered in just two years. Yet just two weeks after the doctors gave him the good news, Nahum was dead. A bacterial infection he developed while in the hospital had killed him. In the wake of this devastating (and, if you ask me, needless) tragedy, Victoria Nahum, Josh's stepmother, founded the Safe Care Campaign, the goal of which is to stop health-care- and community-acquired infections.

According to the Safe Care Campaign's Web site, the organization seeks to "instigate a crucial culture change within the American health care environment with regard to comprehensive infection prevention and hand-hygiene compliance practices." It's shocking, but true - one of the biggest and most dangerous myths around is the sterility of hospitals. The places are awash in all manner of germs that can be devastating to people whose immune systems are compromised because they are recovering from illnesses or surgeries. Contrary to their squeaky-clean image, hospitals are far from sterile places. In fact, they're among the most hazardous with regard to infections. Remember, hospitals are where all the sick people are, which means they're where all the GERMS are.

But what's even more disturbing than this is the fact that hospitals can expose you to different germs than what you'd come into contact with in the outside world. Because bacteria can mutate so quickly, those that linger in hospitals can develop into distinct variants that can have a strong resistance to antibiotics. That makes them much more lethal than the garden-variety microbes you're exposed to every day out in the world.

Thanks to people like the Nahums and other concerned patient advocate groups, the word is getting out about the potential dangers that lie within hospitals. In addition to the Safe Care Campaign, there's also the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (CRID), which was begun by former lieutenant governor of New York, Betsy McCaughey. "You don't often come across such a big problem that you can prevent," McCaughey said.

These groups have a steep hill to climb. In addition to noncompliance to hygiene standards by hospital staffs and the bacteriological soup that's contained in hospitals, the dangers are not going away. So the Safe Care Campaign and the CRID have come up with a list of advice that patients can follow to help protect themselves when they head to the hospital.

Part II Continued Tomorrow....

Doggie ‘doctors’ diagnose their owners’ ills

,

Canines’ keen sense of smell & intuition helps them detect people’s disease

Morgan, a Yorkshire terrier, jumped at owner Pamela Plante’s leg so incessantly that she that she finally inspected it in the mirror, and realized it was red up to her knee. She was diagnosed with an infection that had spread throughout her body and she spent a week in the hospital.“After she jumped on my leg, she would sit and look at me and shake or shiver,” says the Smithfield, R.I., woman. (Photo by Pamela Plante)

“From past experience, I knew she would shake like that when she was in pain, so I picked her up and checked her all over trying to find out what was wrong and couldn’t find anything. When I put her down she would jump on my leg again.”

Finally, Plante inspected her leg in a mirror and discovered it was red up to the knee.

Plante called her doctor who told her to get checked immediately. She was diagnosed with sepsis and spent a week in the hospital recovering from the infection that started in her leg and spread through her body.

Sensitive dogs, such as Morgan, are proving that besides being man’s best friend, some canines also have a lifesaving sixth sense. Dogs’ keen ability to differentiate smells enables some of them to know we’re sick long before we might ourselves. Combine that with their 24/7 observation of us and some pets have proven to be skilled diagnosticians, even if we’re not always sure what they’re trying to tell us.

In the past few years, studies have shown that dogs can sniff out both early and late stage lung and breast cancers. The Pine Street Foundation, a non-profit cancer education and research organization, in San Anselmo, Calif., is even training dogs to recognize ovarian cancer.

Some dogs have also been shown capable of detecting skin cancer.

Riker, a 9-year-old Australian Shepherd who lives with Liz and Paul Palika in Oceanside, Calif., poked insistently at Liz’s father’s chest. “Dad, did you leave some of your dinner on your shirt?” Liz teased him. But Riker wouldn’t stop. To satisfy him, Liz and her mother took a closer look. There was a lump on her father’s chest. A trip to the doctor revealed a melanoma that had spread beneath the skin.

Other dogs have been taught to catch when diabetics’ blood sugar levels drop. And for about the past 20 years, “seizure dogs” have been used to alert their owners to a pending seizure and assist them to a safe place until it’s over.

Lifesaving cat
It’s not just dogs who have proven to have life-saving noses. Ardis Matson of Brookings, S.D., credits a gray tomcat named Tuffy with keeping her mother alive and able to live on her own for several years. “My mother was elderly and had insulin-dependent diabetes,” Matson says. “Often, her blood sugar would go dangerously low during the night and if left unchecked it could have caused her to go into a coma and die. Tuffy always slept with her, and when her blood sugar started slipping really low during the night, he would nudge her and walk across her body and keep aggravating her until she would get up and take glucose to make her blood sugar levels rise. When she was in control again, Tuffy would go back to sleep.”

And then there’s Oscar, a cat who lives at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, R.I. He alerts staff to the impending death of patients, a gift that allows families to be notified in time to say their good-byes.

The answer to how animals know something is wrong may be up in the air — literally. Dogs and cats have a keener sense of smell than humans, and that may enable them to detect subtle changes in body odor caused by such things as cancer cells or lowered blood sugar.

In the case of Oscar, for instance, veterinarian Margie Scherk, president of the American Association of Feline Practitioners, notes that he may be picking up a variety of clues that people are too busy to notice or don’t have the sensory capacity to detect.

“Cats live in a world of smells; their olfactory sense is a lot more acute than that of a human,” Scherk says. “People who are dying, as well as those who aren’t eating, emit ketotic odors, which might be one cue that cats like Oscar detect. There could easily be other odors that a dying individual produces that our noses are unable to note.”

In addition to being able to pick up certain odors, dogs and cats also seem to be able to recognize that it means there’s a problem their owners need to know about.

“There is reason to believe that some odors do have an ‘intrinsic’ value to the animal, that evolution has led to the development of neural pathways that specialize in detecting and processing relevant categories of smell,” says Timothy E. Holy, assistant professor of anatomy and neurobiology at Washington University in St. Louis. “Experience, too, plays a big role. You can train a dog to react in particular ways to relatively arbitrary smells.”

Those smells might include the breath of a person with lung cancer or the urine of a person with bladder cancer.

So the next time your dog or cat is nagging you, don’t ignore him. He might have something important to say. Just ask Joan Beck of Cottage Grove, Minn.

“One morning I woke up in the throes of a severe asthma attack. My husband was already awake and taking a shower. I was having so much trouble breathing that I couldn’t call for help. Our English springer spaniel, Sam, suddenly appeared, nosed me for a moment, then turned around and left the room. My husband said later that Sam pushed the bathroom door open and insisted that he follow Sam back to our bedroom. ‘Who needs Lassie when we have Sam?’ my husband says.”

By: Kim Campbell Thornton is an award-winning author who has written many articles and more than a dozen books about dogs and cats. She belongs to the Dog Writers Association of America and is past president of the Cat Writers Association. She shares her home in California with three Cavalier King Charles spaniels and one African ringneck parakeet.

© 2008 MSNBC Interactive

Related Articles:

• Can Dogs Diagnose Cancer?  
• Stroke Heroes and Their Pets  
• Pet Therapy

Animals Helping the Ailing, the Elderly, and the Young

Researchers are finding that animals, especially small ones, have shown promise in helping with many conditions, both social and physical:

A Naples Community Hospital has volunteers who bring their pets to visit patients. The animals are specially trained to remain calm and must pass a “Good Citizen” test before they are certified for hospital visits.

Here is a short list of conditions being helped by enlisting cats and dogs

• Pets help Alzheimer’s patients by bringing them back to the present. Specially trained pups can also help alert others that an Alzheimer’s patient has wandered into harm’s way. “Pets can provide a measure of safety to people with the disease,” says Thomas Kirk, a vice president of a chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
• Children who suffer from attention deficit disorder (ADD) are able to focus on a pet, which helps them learn to concentrate.
• Mentally ill patients, or those with emotional problems, share a common bond when a cat or dog enters the room. Instead of reacting negatively to one another, it boosts morale and fosters a positive environment.
• Pets are an antidote to depression. Life in a care facility can be boring. A visit from a therapy cat or dog breaks the daily routine and stimulates interest in the world outside.
• Pets provide social interaction. In a health care facility, people come out of their rooms to socialize with the animals and with each other.
• Everyone has the need to touch. Many humans are uncomfortable hugging or touching strangers, even those close to them. Some people are alone and have no hands to hold, no bodies to hug. But rubbing the fur of a cat or dog can provide a stimulation that is sorely lacking. The nonverbal connection is invaluable in the healing process.

Lice Lice Lice

Every year parents everywhere get notes from school that there is an outbreak of head lice. There are packaged remedies, but hands down the best product for getting rid of lice is Petroleum Jelly. Get a big jar and apply freely. Wear gloves and apply the petroleum jelly through the hair and scalp. Then cover the head with a shower cap, plastic cap, or plastic wrap overnight. The lice will suffocate under the petroleum jelly.

Then the trick is removing the petroleum jelly from the hair. From personal experience, working at a children's home, there is nothing that does the trick like Dawn Dishwashing Liquid.

Eat Right And Look Good

Five foods that fight the effects of aging.

If you plan to have great sex for the rest of your life, you want to look good doing it, right? Add a couple of servings a week of these fountain-of-youth foods.

Sunflower Seeds

These salty wonders have the highest natural vitamin E content of any food around. "Vitamin E is one of the most important nutrients around for looking younger," says Barry Swanson, Ph.D., a professor of food science at Washington State University. "No antioxidant is more effective at fighting the aging effects of free radicals."

Spinach and Beans

Researchers in Australia, Indonesia and Sweden studied the diets of 400 elderly men and women, and found that those who ate the most leafy green vegetables and beans had the fewest wrinkles. The reason? Spinach and beans are full of compounds that help prevent and repair wear and tear on your skin cells as you get older.

Grape Juice

Besides providing protection from heart attack and stroke, grape juice can also help keep your middle-aged skin from sagging. "Grapes are filled with antioxidant polyphenols that help to keep your skin flexible and elastic," says Swanson.

Sweet Potatoes

Overexposure to the sun is one of the primary reasons men age prematurely. But sweet potatoes may help to fight sun damage. European researchers recently found that pigments from beta-carotene-rich foods—like sweet potatoes and carrots—can build up in your skin, helping to prevent damage from ultraviolet rays.

Cheese



No wonder rats always look so young. "Cheese is one of the best foods you can eat for your teeth," says Matthew Messina, D.D.S., an American Dental Association spokesman. "It's a good source of calcium, to keep your teeth strong. Plus, eating cheese can lower the levels of bacteria in your mouth and keep your teeth clean and cavity-free," he says. Dr. Messina recommends eating at least two servings of block cheese every week.

Source: By Brian Good, Men's Health

Suzanne Somers on the Schwarzbein Principle - Bioidentical Hormones

For any of you who have read any of my books on Somersizing, you know the important role Dr. Schwarzbein plays in my life. She is an awesome doctor, cutting-edge, and the first doctor I met who truly understands menopause and its ramifications. As an endocrinologist, her specialty is the chemical makeup of the body. As I struggled to find a doctor who really understood what my body was going through in menopause (before I found the wonderful doctors I have interviewed for this book), it was Dr. Schwarzbein who was finally able to help me find relief. She understands the importance of replacing the hormones lost in the aging process with natural hormones that are exact replicas (bioidentical) of the ones we make in our own bodies. Because of Dr. Schwarzbein, I am enjoying my menopause more than any other passage so far. Here is our conversation.

SS (Suzanne Somers): First of all, I appreciate your giving me time to do this. I know how swamped you are at the office.

Every woman is looking for answers during this confusing passage, and you have made menopause a specialty. So let me first ask you: Because menopause is confusing not only to women but also to most doctors, how did you figure it out?

DS (Dr. Diana Schwarzbein): Most of what I know about hormone replacement therapy in menopause I did not learn in medical school, or in medical training. It was when I was in private practice. I had four years of medical school, three years of internal medicine, then two years of endocrinology, but in nine years of training no one said, This is menopause, this is what you need to be doing.

SS: What made you pay attention?

DS: I started treating diabetic patients back in 1991, and I was noticing that a subset of my diabetic patients who happened to be menopausal women, who were following the exact same diet and exercise program as all the other diabetic patients, were not responding with the same good results. In other words, their sugars were not budging. It was startling. They were eating the same way, doing the same kinds of exercises, but their blood sugars were staying at 300, whereas the men and the premenopausal women had blood sugar levels that were coming down.

SS: What were you missing?

DS: It started to dawn on me that maybe the sex hormones were playing a role in their problem. But initially I made a lot of mistakes.

SS: For instance?

DS: If someone said to you, you can have all the benefits of hormone replacement therapy with or without a period, everyone would probably say, "Oh, without a period, please."

SS: Very understandable. I mean, who wants to have a period if they don't have to?

DS: I agree, and at that point I bought into the current standard of care that believed you could have the benefits of hormones without a period. But I found that when you give hormones that way [continuously combining an estrogen with a progestin on a daily basis], you make the patient more insulin resistant.

SS: But isn't a woman her healthiest when she is pregnant, because her body is making estrogen and progesterone simultaneously?

DS: Actually, no. Pregnancy is not the healthiest state for a woman to be in. In fact, pregnancy is one of the times when you are more insulin resistant. If you are pregnant back to back and you have many children, I guarantee you're going to end up with type 2 diabetes or another form of insulin resistance such as obesity, abnormal cholesterol levels, and/or high blood pressure. Also, we now realize that pregnant women have a higher risk of breast cancer.

SS: Why is that?

DS: I am not sure that anybody really knows, but I'm going to say I think it's because of insulin resistance. Because high insulin levels have been linked to breast cancer. For instance, women with type 2 diabetes have one of the highest risks of developing breast cancer. So do women with metabolic syndrome [an insulin-resistant problem].

SS: Okay, but why would pregnancy make you insulin resistant?

DS: It's complex, but to simplify, physiologically you have many hormonal changes in pregnancy that block the action of insulin. One of them is the high progesterone levels.

SS: But people always think of pregnancy as a high estrogen state.

DS: Actually, pregnancy produces high estrogen levels but much higher daily progesterone levels, and the progesterone blocks the action of estrogen every day. The result of this is a low estrogen effect in the body.

SS: So let's get back to how you started treating your diabetic menopausal patients.

DS: I started treating women with diabetes in 1991, and I prescribed Prempro to those who were in menopause. Luckily, I noticed right away that their blood sugar control worsened. This was a group of patients who were not improving despite how hard they were working at eating well and exercising. In fact, some of them were getting worse. That's when I realized Prempro was the problem. Then I switched these women to estradiol and progesterone, thinking the bioidentical hormones would be the answer. However, I still prescribed them in a continuous combined way (no periods), and their blood sugars remained elevated.

Then I thought about the four rules that I use for the replacement of any missing hormone:

1. Don't take a hormone that's not low or missing.
2. Take only bioidentical hormones.
3. Mimic normal physiology as much as possible.
4. Track the hormone levels and their effects.

Starting with rule number one-in menopause you are low in estradiol and progesterone. Rule number two, give back the same hormone in its bioidentical form. I realized that Premarin was being substituted for estradiol, and Provera was being substituted for progesterone, and this was not the right thing to do. So I prescribed bioidentical estradiol for estradiol and bioidentical progesterone for progesterone.

Then, because of rule number three, I realized that continuous combined therapy was not the way the body made these hormones. To mimic normal physiology as much as possible, these hormones would have to be taken in a cyclical manner, and then women would have to have withdrawal menses [monthly period] again.

Then, rule number four, I followed my patients by tracking their hormone levels through blood work and the effects of these bioidentical hormones.

When I followed my four rules of hormone replacement that I used in treating all types of hormone deficiencies, the blood sugars of the women with diabetes improved and their hormone levels came back into balance. Finally, these women felt well again.

I realized the mistake I was making [ten years ago] treating menopausal women with type 2 diabetes was in giving them continuous combined HRT. Remember, as diabetics they were already insulin resistant, and they became more insulin resistant on continuous combined HRT. Unfortunately, many doctors today still don't understand the link between continuous combined therapy and insulin resistance and are still making the same mistake today that I did all those years ago.

In my opinion, the harm of continuous combined therapy was confirmed in July 2002, when the first results of the Women's Health Initiative was published. There were three groups of women in this study:

1. The observational group. These women were in menopause but were given only a placebo. They were "observed" to check for heart disease, breast cancer, stroke, blood clots, type 2 diabetes, and so forth.

2. Two treatment groups: subdivided by whether the woman had a uterus or did not because of a hysterectomy.

If the woman had a uterus, she was given Prempro, a synthetic drug hormone comprising an estrogen, Premarin, and a progestin, Provera. Progestins block the effect of estrogen, so the women on Prempro did not get a period. In other words, if you take an estrogen and then block the action of it with a progestin, you end up with a low estrogen effect in the body. Hence, no bleeding.

If she didn't have a uterus, she was given Premarin alone. [Premarin is a drug that contains many different estrogens, most of which are not found or made in the human body.] Taking Premarin alone would lead to a higher estrogen effect in the body.

SS: Interesting. And when you have a low estrogen effect because of continuous combined HRT [no period], are you subject to disease?

DS: That's what the WHI study showed. It was going to be an eight-plus-year study. They wanted to compare the outcome of the treatment groups with those of the observational group.

But at 5.2 years, the Prempro study was stopped early.

SS: Why?

DS: They started noticing that the women on Prempro [continuous combined therapy-no period] were having more heart attacks, more strokes, more blood clots, and more breast cancer than the group taking the placebo.

SS: What about the women who were taking Premarin?

DS: They haven't found the same kind of increased risk for disease with Premarin alone; therefore, that part of the WHI study is still ongoing. It is slated to be finished and reported in 2005 after eight years plus.

Last year when the news broke out about Prempro, the initial reaction was to get all women off all HRT, and to this day that is what most physicians are recommending.

SS: Why was the Women's Health Initiative done in the first place?

DS: The idea was to do a long-term prospective study on the possible benefits versus risks of the most commonly used HRT. They studied Premarin and Prempro because these are the most commonly prescribed therapies.

SS: So, when a woman takes these drug hormones, is she getting any good out of it at all, or would she be better off not taking anything?

DS: The WHI concluded that Prempro is worse than not taking anything, and I agree with the conclusion.

SS: That's a pretty strong statement.

DS: Yes, but that's what the study concluded.

As far as Premarin goes, I do not like it because it is not a bioidentical estrogen. However, it hasn't been shown to be more harmful than not taking anything at all. But this part of the study is still ongoing. It's important to know that Premarin has not yet been shown to be of much benefit, either. When it first came on the market, it was only supposed to be used in the short term to treat hot flashes, but then its use got extended (without any studies, I might add) to long-term hormone replacement therapy for menopause. As far as I am concerned, one of the uses of HRT after menopause should be for protection against heart disease. Premarin does not protect against heart disease.

SS: Well, all I know is I am feeling so wonderful that I am going to take bioidentical [natural] hormones for life, or as long as I choose to do so.

DS: And I believe it is safe for you to take bioidentical hormones for the rest of your life as long as we keep monitoring the effects of these hormones and we keep adjusting the amount to match your ever-changing lifestyle.

SS: Now what about Prempro or Premarin? Would a gynecologist put a woman on these drugs for life?

DS: I know many women who have been on these drugs for too long. There are two paralleling concepts going on: One is don't substitute a drug for a hormone; they do not do the same thing in the body. Two, do not think that you are going to come up with a better way to give these drugs than to match the physiology that already exists, as in natural bioidentical hormones.

I learned from my own studies and my treatment of menopausal women that you can approach menopause in two ways: symptomatic relief therapy or bioidentical HRT following the four rules mentioned earlier. Most gynecologists have been approaching it from the symptomatic side. They feel that as long as a woman is not having hot flashes, she is being treated properly. That is not true.

Furthermore, in my experience most gynecologists treat the uterus as the most important organ in the human body. As such, they feel their role is to keep harm from coming to your uterus. The medical literature in gynecology is filled with studies on the amount of progestin needed to protect the uterus from developing cancer. In trying to save the uterus and prescribing continuous combined therapy, gynecologists have increased the risk of breast cancer, heart attacks, and strokes in once-healthy women! Unfortunately, by messing with Mother Nature and giving drug hormones without restoring menstrual bleeding, we have done more harm than good.

SS: Okay, here we are again at having a period.

DS: You have to have a period, because this mimics normal! The normal state is not pregnancy! Prempro mimics pregnancy, so continuous combined therapy is not normal. Having a monthly period is normal. At one point gynecologists understood this concept. Prior to the last ten to fifteen years, most doctors did prescribe Premarin and Provera in a cycling way. That was the standard of care for quite some time.

SS: Then what happened?

DS: Primarily, women weren't feeling good on Premarin and Provera. They were complaining of bloating and irritability and on top of it were getting their period again! Then many women stopped taking HRT because they felt so poorly on it. Instead of treating women with bioidentical hormones, gynecologists tried different ways to give Provera to protect against uterine cancer and came up with continuous combined therapy without thinking about or studying the long-term consequences.

SS: Quite a dilemma. So if rule number three is to mimic normal physiology as much as possible, that would mean having a period, but is having a period all your life normal?

DS: Medically we are altering natural phenomena everywhere. There is nothing natural about immunizations, or open heart surgery, or hip replacement surgery. We have to decide as a society whether we are all going to honor aging or not. If we are, then I would say don't give hormone replacement therapy. But if as a society we choose to alter natural phenomena medically, we have to be consistent. Taking HRT after menopause is not natural, but neither is performing open heart surgery.

SS: Let's talk more about rule number four-tracking.

DS: Tracking means monitoring the effect of the hormone a woman is taking. It is done through assessing hormone levels, assessing how the woman feels on hormones, when and how much bleeding she has on a monthly basis, assessing bones and cholesterol, and evaluating her uterine lining with yearly ultrasounds. It also entails following specific issues pertinent to the woman's personal health history such as blood pressure, insulin, and blood sugar levels.

Menopause is a serious condition. In other words, I don't just prescribe hormones and say, "Have a nice life, call me if you get a hot flash." Menopause needs to be followed just like any other hormone replacement therapy. Dosages of hormones may need to be continuously adjusted around a woman's aging and her changing lifestyle.

SS: What about self-medicating, as in today my breasts are a little more tender, I think I'll take a little more estrogen cream?

DS: I don't feel very comfortable with women self-medicating around symptoms. For instance, let's take breast tenderness . . . it could be from too little estrogen or too much estrogen. So how would a woman know what to do?

I'll tell you something else about estrogen: It can act like an antidepressant, and women can end up taking too much of it if left to determine how much they should be on in relation to how they feel. Then you get into the complications of high hormone effect in the system.

And then there is progesterone. Women cannot tell if they're taking too much progesterone because it is a stimulant and can initially make one feel better. It isn't until later that they can start feeling depressed or gain weight from too much progesterone, and by then they may not realize it's the progesterone because of how long it took before the symptoms occurred.

SS: Oh, so that is why you don't like women to self-adjust their hormones.

DS: Right, you have to be very careful. You do not want too much or too little. It has to be just right, and the only way to do that is through tracking.

SS: Should women and men go only to an endocrinologist who specializes in bioidentical HRT to get their sex hormones balanced?

DS: As an endocrinologist, I have chosen to specialize in sex hormones. But not every endocrinologist has the same training. I wish I could say, "Go to your local endocrinologist and everything will be okay." Unfortunately each person must find the right endocrinologist or doctor for him- or herself. It will require interviewing the doctor to see if he or she has made sex hormones a specialty.

SS: When you do get your hormones in balance (as you have helped me balance mine), life is blissful. It's worth a trip or a drive to another city to get on track. After all, it is a three-hour drive for me to see you, but you are worth it.

DS: Well, thank you. Now that you and I have worked together for all these years, you know that hormone replacement therapy can be complex.

SS: And this is where the concept of synthetic pharmaceutical hormones is screwy to me. How can one pill fit all?

DS: Exactly. Even though we all share the same physiology, we don't all share the same metabolism rate of different hormones. I mean, you and I have completely different body types. Let's look in the mirror at ourselves: Who has more estrogen . . . you or me?

SS: Old friendly me. Curvy body . . . you get to have a long, lean body and slim hips (I hate you, by the way). But I get your point. Every "body" has different needs.

DS: It's also genetics. It's about ratios among different hormones.

SS: Right now the ratio, the match, you have prescribed for me feels good. I'm feeling fantastic.

DS: Great. But it's sometimes a very difficult thing to find the perfect match for women. It takes patience and focus.

SS: How difficult?

DS: Well, it depends on their lifestyle and what is going on.

SS: So if a woman lived by a river and didn't work and didn't have a telephone or a television set and wasn't constantly thinking, Oh, my God, I have to juggle a million things . . .

DS: It would be easier to find a match for that woman. She could probably get away with much less estrogen, because estrogen is the multitasking hormone. But if this same woman smoked, it would make the body rid itself of the estradiol faster.

Another example is you, Suzanne, when you were going through that period where you were so stressed. Your hormone needs kept going up, so I had to keep changing your doses, yet your hormone levels stayed the same, because you were using it up so much. And then abruptly your stress stopped and the dose of your hormones was too much for you. All of a sudden you had a high estrogen effect.

SS: Right, and that was excessive bleeding . . .

DS: Yes, you called me and I decreased your doses and things got on track and in balance again.

SS: What's interesting to me as the patient who has been doing this for several years is that I have become very sensitive to when the doses are not correct. I find this an incredible way to work with you as my doctor. We are doing this in concert together, and it helps me to feel that I am in control of my health and my body.

DS: Yes, and as you recall when we first started working together, I was very clear about the fact that this is a pain in the butt. A "one pill fits all" would be a lot easier, but the rewards of doing it this way, from a health standpoint, a quality-of-life standpoint, and a longevity standpoint, are indisputable.

And it's not just about the hormones. It's about eating well and stress management, and tapering off sugar and other chemicals, and doing the right kinds of exercise. All hormones talk to one another. So you can't take estradiol and progesterone and expect to find balance if your insulin and adrenaline levels are going crazy from poor nutrition and lifestyle habits. Every hormone has to be in balance with the other hormones.

SS: That makes a lot of sense. A woman has to have better habits after menopause to keep her hormones in balance to help keep her prescribed hormones in balance, too. How do you feel about gynecologists giving antidepressants to quell menopausal symptoms?

DS: I think it's a tragedy. We are one of the first generations of women to fully experience this passage. We have much higher stress levels and more anxiety in our lives than ever before, and we are seeing menopause at earlier ages. And all this accelerated aging is due to bad lifestyle and dietary habits! Giving a woman an antidepressant to deal with the suffering of menopause does nothing to replace the hormones she has lost in the aging process. Antidepressants take away the vibration of living and create a host of other problems. Menopause is natural, but dying is natural also! Today we have ways of dealing effectively with menopause or delaying death; why wouldn't we want to take correct advantage of that? Antidepressants are not the answer.

SS: So what is the answer?

DS: Remember this concept . . . she who keeps her hormone levels highest the longest wins. That's the race, dear!

It's got to start with good nutrition. People don't realize that if they want to be busy and run around like a crazy person, and they don't eat well, then they will literally eat themselves!

If a woman of childbearing age wants to make a baby but is under any type of stress, she can end up dealing with infertility. Eggs are dispensable. This is not the time to make a baby, because she needs to use whatever she would use to make an egg for energy instead to fight off the stress.

We have advanced medically so that women no longer need to die prematurely from childbirth or from infectious diseases as they did before we had antibiotics. Women also used to die in perimenopause from infections before proper medicine was available, because we are more susceptible to infections during this phase. Women are their healthiest and strongest during their childbearing years, when they are making a full complement of hormones. The loss of hormones makes you weak.

SS: So the theory is that if I keep my hormones balanced and I continue to eat right, I can expect to stay strong and most likely avoid the diseases of aging?

DS: Right, and we now know that it's not just about menopause. It's about nutrition and stress management and sleep and exercise, and hormone replacement, if needed.

SS: Are we baby boomers the guinea pigs?

DS: I think the women who have been given the chemicals are the bigger guinea pigs. Come on, giving drugs to replace a hormone? These chemicals will cause you to lose the hormones that protect you from heart disease, namely estradiol. Real hormones provide protection from heart disease if given in bioidentical form [exact replicas of the hormones we make in our own bodies]. This was confirmed by the Howard Hodis study at theUniversity of Southern California. He showed that estradiol-not Premarin, not synthetic hormones, not drugs, but the bioidentical estradiol found in human ovaries-will protect a woman against heart disease.

SS: Okay, Dr. Schwarzbein, we're sold, but where am I going to send women to find this kind of excellence and understanding relative to this passage? Women are barraged with bad medical advice and are highly influenced by the drug companies, so where do they go, and what should they ask their own doctor? For instance, the woman says, "I am in menopause, I am having hot flashes, I am irritable, and I am bloating."

DS: First thing to ask your doctor is to get baseline hormone levels through lab work. You want to have your estradiol, progesterone, and follicle-stimulating-hormone levels tested. If you are in menopause, you proceed to rule two.

Tell your doctor that you want to be prescribed bioidentical estradiol and progesterone. You can get the best form of these hormones from a good compounding pharmacy. Next, ask your doctor if he or she knows or works with a good compounding pharmacy. If not, or if you don't have one in your area, have them check the reference guide you have provided in the back of this book. However, some doctors won't know how to use the compounding pharmacy, so ask them to prescribe an estradiol preparation such as Estrace or Gynodiol found in the local pharmacies. There is also a noncompounded form of bioidentical progesterone known as Prometrium.

SS: How would someone know how much to take?

DS: You always want to take the lowest dose and taper up slowly.

SS: And see how you feel?

DS: Yes, and take the estradiol hormone twice a day. Estradiol is in and out of the body very quickly, so you really need to take smaller amounts more frequently to achieve the best balance. Take it twice a day about twelve hours apart, because you want to mimic a steady stream, as if your own body is still making it. The progesterone may be taken once a day or sometimes twice a day if needed.

SS: Okay, they have their estradiol and progesterone preparations. Now what?

DS: They will need to take them in a cycling manner. Take the estradiol every day of the month twice a day and add in one pill of progesterone for fourteen days out of each month. The easiest way to do this is on calendar days one through fourteen of every month.

SS: What dosage should they take?

DS: Start with about 0.5 mg of estradiol twice a day and with 100 mg of progesterone a day, and then track symptoms and levels to determine if a higher or lower dose is needed.

SS: What happens after the fourteenth day of progesterone? Is that when a woman should expect to have her period?

DS: Yes, they are supposed to be having a regular menstrual flow around the end of the progesterone or just after it is finished. . . . If they break through early [bleeding], then they are taking either too much progesterone or not enough estradiol.

SS: How will they know?

DS: They will need to have their blood levels checked to see which one it is.

Now, we are not taking into account that some people would like to be on progesterone 50 mg twice a day, not 100 mg once a day. Unfortunately, we don't have a 50 mg at every drugstore. We only have 100 mg. You have to try to work with it. But if you are able to work with a compounding pharmacy, they will be able to work it out to fit your needs more specifically.

SS: This will be a big help to women who are frustrated and do not live in an area that has an informed endocrinologist or gynecologist. As women, we have to be proactive about our health and our hormonal needs, because there is so much misinformation and lack of understanding about this passage. That is the point of this book, to empower women and men (and believe me, they also lose their hormones) to find quality health care and information about hormones for themselves.

DS: We are in a crisis as far as menopause is concerned. Doctors are going to have to learn something new, because we can't keep allowing women to suffer and become ill due to the lack of understanding that exists.

SS: So what is the future? I agree with you that menopause is a crisis at this time with this lack of understanding among women and doctors, but another generation is coming up right after us, and everyone is still in a state of confusion and frustration. Women my age are suffering, their marriages are falling apart, the divorce rate is going up, men are remarrying young girls to get the fun back in their lives, so what is going to happen? What are your hopes?

DS: Menopausal women have to demand answers. We also have to get them over their fear of breast cancer and of estrogen. One of my hopes is that the right information gets out. Women have to know that the risk of breast cancer is much less than the risk of dying from not taking hormones, or the risk of getting a heart attack or a debilitating stroke.

Let me state that insulin is a much bigger hormone relative to breast cancer than estrogen will ever be, because insulin is a major growth hormone. Insulin is a major growth hormone and estradiol is a minor growth hormone. Breast cancer is not caused because you took estradiol. Breast cancer comes from damage to DNA from the environment and damage caused by unhealthy lifestyle and dietary habits.

SS: Like . . .

DS: Stress, smoking, too much caffeine, high daily doses of progestins, lots of artificial sugar, anything that you put in your body that shouldn't be there. If you damage an area of the DNA that promotes a tumor, then that tumor is going to start to grow. Estradiol is a growth factor for normal breast tissue. So if you have normal breast tissue, but now the DNA of that normal breast tissue gets damaged, estradiol is still going to make it grow, but it didn't cause the damage.

In fact, I am going to stick my neck out and say that when we finally get around to studying bioidentical estradiol, it is going to be shown to be protective against cancers because it is an antioxidant in the human body.

Again, though, it is not about too much or too little of a hormone. The balance has to be just right.

SS: Thank you so much.