Issue 1 | January 2008 |

"True friendship can be described as the immense comfort of feeling totally and completely safe with a person having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but being able to pour them out just as they are—chaff and grain together—with absolute certainty that a dependable, gracious hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping and, with a breath of comfort, blow the rest away—never to be remembered again. Blessed is the person who has found friends such as this."
-- Dr. Loretta Lanphier, ND, CN, HHP, CH

We invite you to visit Dr. Lanphier's Oasis of Health & Wellness Blog.
New articles and commentary posted daily!

Current topics include:

Cancer Continues To Expand Worldwide
Fighting Prostate Cancer A Different Way
Caffeine Use Can Double Miscarriage Risk
Tainted Food Can Result in Chronic Health Concerns...
FDA Gives Green Light to Cloned Food Despite Public Concern

BREAKING NEWS – WYETH PHARMACEUTICAL IS AT IT, AGAIN!
Click here for more information

Bau-biologie - Building Biology – Going Beyond Green

Bau-Biologie is literally translated from the German as "building biology." Read more about actually “Going BEYOND Green”...
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Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Sooner Than Expected

AT 8 or 9 years old, the typical American schoolgirl is perfecting her cursive handwriting style, picking out nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in sentences, memorizing multiplication tables and learning to read. However, much more may be happening, at a much earlier age...
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The FDA Stamps Out 2,500 Deformed Babies Like This Every Year

Professor Emeritus Philip Rudnick PhD, Chemistry, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, has created a time line of the preventable tragedy that strikes American families an estimated 2500 times a year.
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No Sleep Means No New Brain Cells

Missing out on sleep may cause the brain to stop producing new cells, a study has suggested. The work on rats, by a team from Princeton University found a lack of sleep affected the hippocampus, a brain region involved in forming memories.
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How to Avoid the Hidden Danger Lurking in Your Shower

When you step into your hot shower, you may be surprised at “what” is sharing your shower with you!
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Sex, Touch and Immune System Strength

Some researchers have found that the average victim of breast or prostate cancer was unable to express such basic drives as anger, aggressiveness, or sexual impulses and suffered from an inner turmoil "covered over by a facade of pleasantness."
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A New View of Cancer -- German New Medicine

German New Medicine (GNM), developed by Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer, M.D., operates under the premise that every disease, including cancer, originates from an unexpected shock experience.
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January Healthy Recipes

Super Bowl Party - Bruschetta
Traditional Tomato Bruschetta Spread
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Almond Pasteurization - The fight continues against the fumigation of 600,000,000 pounds of almonds with a carcinogen and military explosive. There will be a public meeting of the Fruit and Vegetable Advisory Committee of the USDA on Feb 7 and 8 in Washington, DC. This meeting will be primarily for the "fruit and vegetable" industry, but as a consumer you can write in to say that you believe the almond "pasteurization" rule is wrongful and unjust. At the very least, organic almonds should be exempted. E-mail Mr. Andrew Hatch at: andrew.hatch@usda.gov or fax to (202) 720-0016. This should be done by January 31.

Ginger may be useful for treating and preventing ovarian cancer, according to a new study. The study found that the ginger component gingerol exerts anti-inflammatory effects by mediating NF-KB, a protein complex that regulates the immune system’s response to infection. In the study of cultured ovarian cancer cells, ginger inhibited growth and modulated secretion of angiogenic factors, which is a fundamental step in the transition of tumors from a dormant state to a malignant state. Ginger also inhibited vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and interleukin-8 (IL-8), two compounds that are related to cancer growth.

An analysis by University of Hawaii researchers of food groups and consumption of dairy products found that drinking low-fat or nonfat milk increased the risk of localized tumors or non-aggressive tumors, while whole milk decreased this risk. A second study by researchers from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health investigated the relationship of calcium, vitamin D and prostate cancer in nearly 300,000 men. After the average six-year follow-up period, skim milk was linked to advanced prostate cancer, while calcium from non-dairy food was linked to a reduced risk of non-advanced prostate cancer.

Overweight men and those with lower levels of testosterone often have increased levels of estradiol. A recent study reports that men with the highest levels of estradiol have over double the risk of strokes and thromboembolic problems. Both obesity and andropause are associated with higher levels of estradiol. It pays to treat andropause with respect—and to get rid of that excess fat in your body! NEUROLOGY, 68: 563-568, 2007

In a study published in the journal Epidemiology, a team compared the dietary habits of 465 people with chronic kidney disease and 467 healthy people. After controlling for various factors, the team found that drinking two or more colas a day — whether artificially sweetened or regular — was linked to a twofold risk of chronic kidney disease. Their findings support the long-held notion that something about cola — the phosphoric acid, for example, or the ability of cola to pull calcium from bones — seems to increase the risk of kidney stones, renal failure and other conditions affecting the kidneys.

The great majority of negative studies about popular antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Effexor were never published according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, as reported in the New York Times. 37 studies the FDA considered positive were published, whereas only 3 negative studies were published. 33 studies the FDA considered negative or questionable were either not published (22) or published with spin to look positive when they were not (11). This made antidepressant studies appear 96% positive in the literature, when in fact the studies were only 51% positive. –Byron Richards, CCN

Increased intake of vitamin B6 from dietary and supplements may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer by over 20 per cent, suggests a large Scottish study. Almost 5,000 people took part in the study, which reported a dose-dependent link between intake of the vitamin and the risk of colorectal cancer, report the researchers in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. The study, by researchers from the University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital (Edinburgh) and the University of Aberdeen, adds to an ever growing body of science supporting the potential colorectal benefits of higher intake of the B vitamins.

A higher intake of the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, as well as vitamin E, could reduce the risk of developing cataracts by about 15 per cent, suggests a new study. Over 35,000 women took part in the study, which showed that a high intake of the two carotenoids reduced the risk of cataracts by 18 per cent, while vitamin E was associated with a 14 per cent reduction, reports the study in the Archives of Ophthalmology.

Combined HRT increases risk of lobular breast cancer fourfold after just 3 years of use - Postmenopausal women who take combined estrogen/progestin hormone-replacement therapy for three years or more face a fourfold increased risk of developing various forms of lobular breast cancer, according to new findings by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Drug Has No Benefit in Trial, Makers Say - A clinical trial of Zetia, a cholesterol-lowering drug prescribed to about 1 million people a week, failed to show that the drug has any medical benefits, Merck and Schering-Plough said on Monday. Read article in the New York Times (USA) Comment: Disturbingly, not only did Zetia fail to slow the accumulation of fatty plaque in the arteries, it actually seemed to contribute to plaque formation.

We all need a little dose of sunshine, says scientist who sounded alert on skin cancer - Enjoying a little sunshine may not be as bad for you as people think. Research from the scientist who alerted the world to its role in skin cancer has suggested that its health benefits may outweigh the risks. The hazards of moderate sunbathing have probably been exaggerated, according to a study that shows how sunlight's effect of boosting vitamin D production may actually protect the body against cancer. Read article in The Times (UK) Comment: Remember the cigarette brand that "more doctors smoke"? The advice to avoid the sun that we have all been subjected to in recent years is increasingly looking to have been just as unwise.

Government Estimates 83,000 Excess Heart Attacks Caused By Avandia - According to a November 2007 report by the Senate Finance Committee, an analysis by FDA scientists presented at a July 30, 2007, safety panel meeting estimates that Avandia has caused approximately 83,000 excess heart attacks since coming on the market.

In an intriguing new book - Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer - award-winning journalist and science writer Shannon Brownlee states that our collective infatuation with medical intervention traces its origins back to the mid-nineteenth century, when some of the most astonishing advances in medicine were made. She cites a survey conducted by a group of Harvard researchers that found that over a third of respondents believed that American medicine "can cure almost any illness for people who have access to the most advanced technologies and treatments." One of the physicians that Brownlee cites in her book sums it up thus: "We are the new priesthood, and the myth we are peddling is not everlasting life in heaven, but everlasting life here on earth."

In addition to improving the diets of Alzheimer’s patients, supplementation with sage extract and lemon balm may also be beneficial in controlling the advance of Alzheimer’s, according to research. A team of scientists at the Medical Plant Research Centre (MPRC) in the UK have shown that sage inhibits an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase (AChE), which breaks down acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter chemical that's typically deficient in Alzheimer's patients.