(Another) Skip the Supplements

In NY Times Op Ed today, piggybacking off some similar, recent reports...


[www.nytimes.com]

Skip the Supplements
By PAUL A. OFFIT and SARAH ERUSH

PHILADELPHIA — PARENTS whose children are admitted to our hospital occasionally bring along something extra to help with their care: dietary supplements, like St. John’s wort to ameliorate mild depression or probiotics for better health.

Here’s the problem: The Joint Commission, which is responsible for hospital accreditation in the United States, requires that dietary supplements be treated like drugs. It makes sense: Vitamins, amino acids, herbs, minerals and other botanicals have pharmacological effects. So they are drugs.

But the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t regulate dietary supplements as drugs — they aren’t tested for safety and efficacy before they’re sold. Many aren’t made according to minimal standards of manufacturing (the F.D.A. has even found some of the facilities where supplements are made to be contaminated with rodent feces and urine). And many are mislabeled, accidentally or intentionally. They often aren’t what they say they are. For example:

In 2003, researchers tested “ayurvedic” remedies from health food stores throughout Boston. They found that 20 percent contained potentially harmful levels of lead, mercury or arsenic.

In 2008, two products were pulled off the market because they were found to contain around 200 times more selenium (an element that some believe can help prevent cancer) than their labels said. People who ingested these products developed hair loss, muscle cramps, diarrhea, joint pain, fatigue and blisters.

Last summer, vitamins and minerals made by Purity First Health Products in Farmingdale, N.Y., were found to contain two powerful anabolic steroids. Some of the women who took them developed masculinizing symptoms like lower voices and fewer menstrual periods.

Last month, researchers in Ontario found that popular herbal products like those labeled St. John’s wort and ginkgo biloba often contained completely different herbs or contaminants, some of which could be quite dangerous.

The F.D.A. estimates that approximately 50,000 adverse reactions to dietary supplements occur every year. And yet few consumers know this.

Parents of children admitted to our hospital often request that we continue treating their child with dietary supplements because they believe in them, even if that belief isn’t supported by evidence. More disturbing were the times when children were taking these supplements without our knowledge. Doctors always ask parents if their children are taking any medicines. Unfortunately, because most parents don’t consider dietary supplements to be drugs, we often never knew about their use, let alone whether they might react dangerously with the child’s other treatments.

The F.D.A. has the mandate, but not the manpower, to oversee the labeling and manufacture of these supplements. In the meantime, doctors — and consumers — are on their own.

Our hospital has acted to protect the safety of our patients. No longer will we administer dietary supplements unless the manufacturer provides a third-party written guarantee that the product is made under the F.D.A.’s “good manufacturing practice” (G.M.P.) conditions, as well as a Certificate of Analysis (C.O.A.) assuring that what is written on the label is what’s in the bottle.

The good news is that we’ve been able to find some vitamins, amino acids, minerals and a handful of other supplements that meet this standard. For example, melatonin has been shown to affect sleep cycles and has a record of safety, and we identified a product that met manufacturing and labeling standards.

The bad news is that this was a vanishingly small percentage of the total group. Around 90 percent of the companies we reached out to for verification never responded. They didn’t call us back, or their email or manufacturing addresses changed overnight. Of the remainder, many manufacturers refused to provide us with either a statement of G.M.P. or a C.O.A.; in other words, they refused to guarantee that their products were what they said they were. Others lied; they said they met G.M.P. standards, but a call to the F.D.A. revealed they had been fined for violations multiple times. Perhaps most surprising, some manufacturers willingly furnished information that their product didn’t meet standards — like one company that provided a C.O.A. showing that its product contained 47,000 International Units of beta-carotene, when the label stated 25,000.

Now, when parents in our hospital still want to use products whose quality can’t be assured, we ask them to sign a waiver stating that the supplement may be dangerous, and that most have not been studied for their effectiveness. “Use of an agent for which there are no reliable data on toxicity and drug interactions,” the waiver reads, “makes it impossible to adequately monitor the patient’s acute condition or safely administer medications.”

What can other individuals who are concerned about supplement safety do? They can look for “U.S.P. Verified” on the label — this proves the supplement has been inspected and approved under the United States Pharmacopeial Convention. Unfortunately, fewer than 1 percent of the 55,000 or so supplements on the market bear this label. The real answer is that, until the day comes when medical studies prove that these supplements have legitimate benefits, and until the F.D.A. has the political backing and resources to regulate them like drugs, individuals should simply steer clear.

For too long, too many people have believed that dietary supplements can only help and never hurt. Increasingly, it’s clear that this belief is a false one.

Paul A. Offit is chief of the division of infectious diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where Sarah Erush is the clinical manager in the pharmacy department.

The article is definitely food for thought...or should I say supplement for thought.

My own thought on this: there is no question certain supplements are hugely beneficial. There is also no question that some supplements don't contain what or as much as they say they do, or have impurities, or simply have little efficacy.

Absence of evidence for effectiveness is not evidence for absence of effectiveness. I had to chuckle on reading the sentence about "the real answer is that, until the day comes when medical studies prove that these supplements have legitimate benefits..." because that day may never come due to the medical economics involved and disincentive for big pharma to fund such studies.

The article's recommendations that "individuals should steer clear" seems to reflect black and white thinking about a topic that clearly has shades of gray.

Just like with foods at the grocery store, or any consumer product for that matter, the buyer should always be well informed (as possible), shop with caution, and choose wisely. The same applies to supplements. Stick with reputable brands, ask questions of the distributor, and urge manufacturers to provide GMP and COAs on their labels.

The article was of value to me as a reminder to do the foregoing and thanks for posting it. Consumer Reports (Sep 2012) had an article expressing similar concerns. Wouldn't it be great if supplement users as a group could begin to pressure manufacturers to start using and reporting GMPs and providing COAs?

This topic was discussed about 6 months ago. See the following thread.

<[www.afibbers.org];

Hans

After reading this I looked at all my supplements and was disappointed to see that Jarrow and Doctor's Best do not have a USP or GMP stamp on them. Surprisingly, the 2 I get at Costco (Kirkland brand) do have the USP stamp. NOW brand has the GMP. Jarrow and Doctor's Best say "Guaranteed Quality, Laboratory tested" on them, but I'm not sure what that means. It's time for me to reorder some, so I will look more carefully.

Louise

Paul Offit is well-known to downplay or trash the benefits of supplements... he must be on the payroll of Big Pharma.

The stats show that harm or adverse events from using supplements are very low with no fatalities year after year, unlike that of Rx drugs...although he doesn't bother to mention the history of drug adverse effects on an annual basis.

While I'm definitely in favor of monitoring the purity of imported foods and supplements or the raw material components to be made and bottled here as nutritiional supplements, it's clear that the FDA has its hands full just keeping the pharmaceutical imports pure and safe from contamination... ie, the recent uproar over that imported from.... was it India?

Just keep in mind when you purchase supplements to buy from a reputable brand (formulator) who follows the GMP protocols and assays their products...and remember also, cheaper is not necessarily better because if there is barely any of the actual ingredient present in the product, then it's a very costly purchase as it is totally useless. Try to determine where the product is made. These days, much comes direct from China with little quality control and is just re-labeled here... so that's a definite purity/safety concern.

My history is such that I can't imagine where I'd be now if it weren't for intense nutritional therapeutic interventions and the practice of functional/restorative medicine. If Paul Offit were in charge, I'd have been long gone.

Jackie

My EP's are two of the best in the world according to a recent statistical study. I am fortunate to have them. When I see them on a visit I always take or have on me a current list of medications that I am taking INCLUDING SUPPLEMENTS. They always tell me that my supplementation is just fine and the blood work backs up things like Potassium at optimal levels, B12, etc. They are happy, I am happy. The nurses are NOT happy as they do not have control over what I am ingesting.... but having said that, they generally put up with it since the supplements are foodstuffs at best (worst?), and are treated as such.

Murray L

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Tikosyn uptake Dec 2011 500ug b.i.d. NSR since!
Herein lies opinion, not professional advice, which all are well advised to seek.

Well said Jackie and Murray. As someone who has benefitted beyond description from supplementation, we have to be on the lookout for products that are not up to standards and rely on people we trust to make recommendations based on their experience with patient's who have benefitted, such as this site or my functional medicine doctor. The damage caused by supplementation does not even compare to that caused by "properly" prescribed prescription drugs. I have Zero faith in the FDA to tell me what is safe, based on their record with prescription medications. If they get involved in supplements, it's only going to drive costs higher and probably make us settle for low grade supplements that don't reach therapeutic doses.

John

Problem is trust to a company that makes these drugs.....
Today you can grow some weed in your own garden, mix it with garlic and pepper, compress it with something else, label it nice and sell it for $19.99 stating that it cures diabetes, liver cancer and AFIB.... and guess what... yes sir, you will sell it.
So until the FDA does not approve all that multimillion business of making pills, me and everybody so rounding me will not take anything of that..... and no, I'm not on the payroll of Big Pharma.
Good luck taking uncontrolled drugs....

Mauricio

They're not drugs, that's partially the point, they are mostly food. Also there are many reputable companies out there that make great products. I'll take my chances any day trying supplements from good companies before I'll take the junk the drug companies are putting out. Aren't "properly" prescribed drugs the 4th leading cause of death ? I don't remember the exact stat, but it's staggering. If that's what regulation by the FDA gets you, I'll pass. Bottom line, it should be MY choice, and I don't want my supplement companies being driven out of business by regulation, because that's what will happen. Good luck with your "controlled" side effect producing , symptom covering , poisons sanctioned by the FDA.

John

"and guess what... yes sir, you will sell it. "

Not to anyone using consumerlab (as someone earlier mentioned), you won't..

I'm all for making supplements as safe as possible, especially if I'm taking them. I do my best to make sure the ones I'm buying have USP labels. I

The article says good supplements are okay, and bad supplements are worthless. Not much news there.

______________
Lone paroxysmal vagal atrial fibrillation. Age 62, female, no risk factors. Autonomic instability since severe Paxil withdrawal in 2004, including extreme sensitivity to neuro-active drugs, supplements, foods. Monthly tachycardia started 1/11, happened only at night, during sleep, or when waking, bouts of 5-15 hours. Changed to afib about a year ago, same pattern. Frequency increased over last 6 months, apparently with sensitivity to more triggers. Ablation 6/27/13 by Steven Hao.

Do you really want the FDA watching over our suppliments.
Former Monsanto Exec. Appointed to the Head of the F.D.A.!
[www.veteranstoday.com]

Jackie posted about this earlier.
Here's a link to tell your senators what to do with it.
Tell Your Senators to Oppose Sen. Durbin's Dietary Supplement Labeling Act
[secure3.convio.net]

I guess the moral here is not to trust anyone. I sure don't. I don't trust the FDA at all..(a review of their approval of sugar substitutes is mind-blowing), nor do I trust any supplement maker if they are unwilling to have their products approved by a known testing institution. Many supplements are "drugs" by definition, as they are "a substance used as or in medicine". Some supplements are dangerous when not used properly - that should be obvious to anyone who would do some research prior to using.

There is a full blown one way street war going on right now with the deliberate attempt to discredit ALL nutritional supplements ( not just the obvious suspect ones like the relative few quick fat loss formulas that are packed with too high a doses of caffeine and other stimulants as well as some, but not all, body building supplements a few of which have been found to contain unlisted steroids inside causing unwanted side effects. Just being careful to scrutinize this class of supplements very carefully as well as any herbal formulas out of Asia, in particular, will go a long way toward avoiding ANY issues at all with the vast majority of supplements.

However Paul Offit and his Big Pharma colleagues in cohoots with a number of other hard core ' its our way or the highway' advocates of ONLY drugs and surgeries as a form of health care are behind this latest rash of highly misleading and disingenuous reporting. I'm too busy at the moment to go systematically through how this hatch job is being done and the obvious inconsistency's in the various over the top claims from this group of Big Pharma Big Medicine zealots, but their lack if understanding of how these supplemented and the nutrients they are based on even work is do blatantly obvious, it lays bare the deep seated agenda here to try and scare the vast majority of the public who they know will never ever go and actually read what these studies really say and how they were structured And they know full well that just getting an alarmist headline published will confuse and give pause to many millions of people who have never had much of an interest in supplements or proactive health care and that is their prime aim.

Not honest and balanced reporting and discussion on the subject. It is no coincidence this rash of reports and rehashed reports have been flooding the airwaves the last few weeks coinciding very nicely with the publication of Paul Offits diatribe against that he views as 'alternative medicine' which very selective includes only the most crackpot fringe examples that most intelligent people will not be snickered by to begin with.

No doubt this Offit bandwagon will very much help boost sales of his book that stands as a testament to his own ignorance what really does constitute honest and effective 'complimentary' medicine practices and how nutrients and hormones really work in the body and especially it reveals how deliberately and highly selectively he only chose those studies that have been widely panned for their poor structure or concept and deliberately ignored the many other supportive studies that directly contradict the implication from his selective studies used to reinforce only his own bias and narrow-minded .... Utterly closed -minded ....view of this whole issue.

If it isn't patented and sold by a Big Pharma or medical device company It has no business in modern health care is the credo Paul Offit and his band of colleagues out to defend at all cost, and are clearly more than ready to sacrifice truth and fairness, in an effort to paint anything they view as a potential threat to 'standard of care' allopathic model as unworthy and fraudulent.

It's really too bad, there is also a huge push the last few years by Big Pharma to force congress to even more tightly regulate all supplements via their built-in lobbyist Senator Durbin who is in Pharma's hip pocket and these latest articles are all part if the coordinated attack dog approach to try and convince much if the lay public to rely only on them for all their health care needs.

Anyway, it's very easy to avoid lousy and unreliable supplements just subscribe to consumer labs for a year and review all their current and past reports in a vast array of supplements bought right off the store shelves and thoroughly tested tat will show you how many very reliable brands their are .. Such as Life Extension for one, who never have a product that fails ConsumerLabs testing program for purity, potency and effective capsule and tablet disintegration.

Anyway, enough for now I'm no doubt preaching to the choir here for many of us as it is.

Shannon

Summary observations of typical reports on efficacy of nutritional supplements conclude that many of the cheap, generic brands of multi vitamins commonly sold in Big Box and discount stores are formulated with the cheapest ingredients available and usually the form of the nutrient is not only cheap but not nutritionally active or effective. They are then coated with a waxy chemical product that often prevents breakdown in the stomach so they pass through the entire intestinal tract without breakdown or benefit..often seen intact in the toilet bowl.

That doesn't stop the marketing of these products because the majority of people think a One a Day or Multi is a good thing and don't bother to research the details.

It seems clear that the Functional Medicine movement with the utilization of significant neutraceuticals is making an impact on health and Big Pharma is starting to worry that people won't be reliant on drugs so they are bashing vitamins across the board.

However, what most people don’t realize is that drug companies now sell the commonly popular multi-vitamin dietary supplements. In a report by Life Extension August 1012, the following info was offered with the statement that “most health-conscious people may be shocked to learn that most popular supplements are made by not made by people dedicated to keeping you alive.” LEF magazine Editor, William Faloon, offers these observations about pharmaceutical companies who realize they have fallen behind in the curve for utilizing disease preventing properties of nutrients and have come up with primitive formulas such as that used in Centrum and One-a-Day multi vitamins.

• Centrum® dominates supplement sales and is made by a division of Pfizer
• One-a-Day® – Division of Bayer (noting that Bayer does not care about saving your life.. Bayer hid findings about the dangers of an injectible surgical protein Trasylol that killed 22,000 people.)
• New Chapter bought by Proctor and Gamble – the people who make Pringles and Tide laundry detergent
• Alacer maker of Emergen-C bought by Pfizer.. the world’s largest drug company
• Solgar – once a bedrock of nutritional credibility – bought by NBTY (Nature’s Bounty) sold to Carlyle Group for $4 billion.
• GNC grew to become the largest vitamin retain chain in the world; was sold to Dutch company Royal Numico and eventually was sold to Apollo Mgmt and eventually to the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan. In 2011, GNC launched a successful public offering and became a publically traded corporation again.

Source: [www.lef.org]

America's "war on drugs" is clearly directed at the wrong enemy!

Prescription drugs are now killing far more people than illegal drugs, and while most major causes of preventable deaths are declining, those from prescription drug use are increasing, an analysis of recently released data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by the Los Angeles Times revealed.

The Times analysis of 2009 death statistics, the most recent available, showed:

For the first time ever in the US, more people were killed by drugs than motor vehicle accidents
37,485 people died from drugs, a rate fueled by overdoses on prescription pain and anxiety medications, versus 36,284 from traffic accidents
Drug fatalities more than doubled among teens and young adults between 2000 and 2008, and more than tripled among people aged 50 to 69
Again, these drug-induced fatalities are not being driven by illegal street drugs; the analysis found that the most commonly abused prescription drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma now cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.

'Pharmageddon' Is Upon Us

Pharmageddon1 is "the prospect of a world in which medicines and medicine produce more ill-health than health, and when medical progress does more harm than good" -- and it is no longer a prospect but fully upon us. Those most at risk from dying from this new drug crisis are people you would least expect; the analysis revealed the death toll is highest among people in their 40s, but all ages, from teenagers to the elderly, and all walks of life are being affected. In fact, prescription drugs are now the preferred "high" for many, especially teens, as they are typically used legally, which eliminates the stigma of being a "junkie."

And even if you don't have your own prescription, drugs of all kinds can be found in the nearest medicine cabinet in most homes.

Yet, these drugs are also now being sold on the black market and on street corners, where people who have run out of prescriptions are willing to pay upwards of $80 a pill to get their fix.

Many become addicted after using the drugs for headaches or back pain, and teens are increasingly taking the pills from their parents to use recreationally, under the false assumption that they are not dangerous.

As written in the Baltimore Sun:2

"According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, prescription drugs are second to marijuana as the drug of choice for today's teens. In fact, seven of the top 10 drugs used by 12th-graders were prescription drugs.

More than 40 percent of high school seniors reported that painkillers are 'fairly' or 'very' easy to get. They also reported that they believed that if they were to get caught, there was less shame attached to the use of prescription drugs than to street drugs. This mirrors the perceptions of their parents, who when queried said that they felt prescription drugs were a safer alternative to drugs typically sold by a drug dealer."

How Many Are Dying From Prescription Drugs?

Nearly 20 percent of Americans have used prescription drugs for non-medicinal reasons, three-quarters of whom may be abusing them. Legal prescription drug abuse is a silent epidemic, and is part of the reason why the modern American medical system has become the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. Authored in two parts by Gary Null, PhD, Carolyn Dean, MD ND, Martin Feldman, MD, Debora Rasio, MD, and Dorothy Smith, PhD, the comprehensive Death by Medicine article described in excruciating detail how everything from medical errors to adverse drug reactions to unnecessary procedures caused more harm than good.

Seven years after the original article was written, an analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine3 on November 25, 2010 piqued my interest -- the researchers found that, despite efforts to improve patient safety in the past few years, the health care system hasn't changed much at all. So, earlier this year, I updated the original Death by Medicine article, which, unfortunately, shows more of the same:

In a June 2010 report in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, study authors said that in looking over records4 that spanned from 1976 to 2006 (the most recent year available) they found that, of 62 million death certificates, almost a quarter-million deaths were coded as having occurred in a hospital setting due to medication errors.
An estimated 450,000 preventable medication-related adverse events occur in the U.S. every year.
The costs of adverse drug reactions5 to society are more than $136 billion annually -- greater than the total cost of cardiovascular or diabetic care.
Adverse drug reactions cause injuries or death in one of five hospital patients.
The reason there are so many adverse drug events in the U.S.6 is that so many drugs are used and prescribed – and many patients receive multiple prescriptions at varying strengths, some of which may counteract each other or cause more severe reactions when combined.
There are numerous repercussions to a society that eats, breathes, and sleeps prescription medications, not the least of which is its impact on children. Between 2001 and 2008, there was a 36 percent increase in hospital admissions,7 and a 28 percent increase in emergency room visits, among children age five and younger who had accidentally ingested medication. ER visits for ingestion of prescription opioid painkillers, such as Oxycodone, increased 101 percent!

And in 2009, there were nearly 4.6 million drug-related visits to U.S. emergency rooms nationwide,8 with more than half due to adverse reactions to prescription medications – most of which were being taken exactly as prescribed.9 When you add in the growing numbers of people who are using these drugs recreationally or due to addiction, you begin to see the magnitude of the problem that the pharmaceutical industry is propagating

Unfortunately, this problem is now seriously impacting the next generation. When you were a teenager you may have snuck a beer or two at a party… nowadays teens will mix a variety of prescription pills together in a bowl and take a mouthful of them like candy! The kids think this is a safe way to get high, since they see their parents taking the same medications all the time, but it often turns out to be a literal prescription for disaster that can even be deadly.

The Real Thugs of the Drug World

The "war on drugs" has focused nearly exclusively on the illegal trafficking of drugs like cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, while the most powerful drug dealers of all -- the pharmaceutical companies -- are allowed to grow their businesses with the U.S. government's gold seal of approval.

But make no mistake – the leading pharmaceutical companies are also among the largest corporate criminals in the world, and they are really nothing more than white-collar drug dealers.

Although many fail to realize this, prescription drugs can be just as addictive as illegal drugs. In fact, in many cases there's no difference between a street drug and a prescription drug. For example, hydrocodone, a prescription opiate, is synthetic heroin. It's indistinguishable from any other heroine as far as your brain and body is concerned. So, if you're hooked on hydrocodone, you are in fact a good-old-fashioned heroin addict

But aside from the nature of their business, fraud, kickbacks, price-setting, bribery, and illegal sales activities are all par for the course for big-name drug companies. Last year I set out to investigate some of the criminal activities that some of the largest pharmaceutical companies had been convicted of lately, and the amount of gross misconduct, fraud and deceit I found was so insidious, so massive, and so overwhelming that it shocked even me.

You can read the grim details in full on the article, but here is just a sampling of what the top drug companies are up to:

Merck: With a long list of deaths to its credit, and more than $5.5 billion in judgments and fines levied against it, it was five years before Merck made its $30-billion recall of the painkiller Vioxx that I warned my readers that it might be a real killer for some people. After the drug was withdrawn, and 60,000 had already died, Merck picked up the pieces painlessly by getting a new drug fast-tracked and on the market.

That drug is Gardasil, a vaccine that so far has been linked to thousands of adverse events and at least 49 unexplained deaths. It's a situation that the FDA and CDC have been denying repeatedly, keeping their heads buried in the sand even as the adverse reports mount.

Baxter: Dozens of recalls of products that caused deaths and injuries, at least 11 different guilty pleas to fraud and illegal sales activity, more than 200 lawsuits – many of them stemming from selling AIDS-tainted blood to hemophiliacs – and more than $1.3 billion in criminal fines and civil penalties.
Pfizer: In the largest health care fraud settlement in history, Pfizer was ordered to pay $2.3 billion to resolve criminal and civil allegations that the company illegally promoted uses of four of its drugs, including the painkiller Bextra, the antipsychotic Geodon, the antibiotic Zyvox, and the anti-epileptic Lyrica.
How Can You Avoid Being Killed by a Prescription Drug?

There is a risk of side effects every time you take a prescription drug. No one (except for those who intentionally overdose) expects these medications to kill them, but they can do just that, and it happens far more often than you might think! In a study recently released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA),10 officials emphasized that people should not assume there's no risk in prescribed medicines. The truth is, the only way to avoid all risk, including death, from prescription drugs is to not take them at all.

It is your body, not your doctor's and not your pharmacist's, so it is up to you to make the decision of what drugs to take, if any. Be SURE you are aware of the risks of any medication prescribed to you, and weigh them against any possible benefit. Then you can make a well-informed decision of whether it's a risk you're willing to take.

Of course, of paramount importance is also taking control of your health so you can stay well naturally, without the use of drugs or even frequent conventional medical care. If you adhere to a healthy lifestyle, you most likely will never need medications in the first place. This includes:

Proper Food Choices

For a comprehensive guide on which foods to eat and which to avoid, see my nutrition plan. Generally speaking, you should be looking to focus your diet on whole, unprocessed foods (vegetables, meats, raw dairy, nuts, and so forth) that come from healthy, sustainable, local sources, such as a small organic farm not far from your home.

For the best nutrition and health benefits, you will want to eat a good portion of your food raw. Personally, I aim to eat about 80-85 percent of my food raw, including raw eggs and humanely raised organic animal products that have not been raised on a CAFO (confined animal feeding operation).

Nearly as important as knowing which foods to eat more of is knowing which foods to avoid, and topping the list is fructose. Sugar, and fructose in particular, acts as a toxin in and of itself, and as such drive multiple disease processes in your body, not the least of which is insulin resistance, a major cause of accelerated aging.

Comprehensive Exercise Program, including High-Intensity Exercise like Peak Fitness

Even if you're eating the healthiest diet in the world, you still need to exercise to reach the highest levels of health, and you need to be exercising effectively, which means including not only core-strengthening exercises, strength training, and stretching but also high-intensity activities into your rotation. High-intensity interval-type training boosts human growth hormone (HGH) production, which is essential for optimal health, strength and vigor. I've discussed the importance of Peak Fitness for your health on numerous occasions.

Stress Reduction and Positive Thinking

You cannot be optimally healthy if you avoid addressing the emotional component of your health and longevity, as your emotional state plays a role in nearly every physical disease -- from heart disease and depression, to arthritis and cancer. Effective coping mechanisms are a major longevity-promoting factor in part because stress has a direct impact on inflammation, which in turn underlies many of the chronic diseases that kill people prematurely every day. Meditation, prayer, social support, and exercise are all viable options that can help you maintain emotional and mental equilibrium.

Proper Sun Exposure to Optimize Vitamin D

We have long known that it is best to get your vitamin D from sun exposure, and if at all possible, I strongly urge you to make sure you're getting out in the sun on a daily basis. There is preliminary evidence suggesting that oral vitamin D may not provide the identical benefits, although it's still better than none at all.

Just keep in mind that it's really best to get ALL your vitamin D from the sun. It appears that vitamin D plays a crucial role in sulfur metabolism11 and when you swallow it orally it may not have the same benefit as getting it from the sun.

Take High-Quality Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats

Animal-based omega-3 fat is a strong factor in helping people live longer, and many experts believe that it is likely the predominant reason why the Japanese are the longest-lived race on the planet.

Avoid as Many Chemicals, Toxins, and Pollutants as Possible

This includes tossing out your toxic household cleaners, soaps, personal hygiene products, air fresheners, bug sprays, lawn pesticides, and insecticides, just to name a few, and replacing them with non-toxic alternatives.

More on the bad press about vitamins...

Here’s a refreshing report assessing anti-vitamin scare tactics… published last year in Townsend Letter and on the website of the author Andrew W. Saul, PhD, Editor of Orthomolecular Medicine News Service … titled

How to Make People Believe Any Anti-Vitamin Scare……It Just Takes Lots of Pharmaceutical Industry Cash
Informative and referenced.

Note especially the reference to increased risk of pancreatic cancer with daily aspirin intake.

Continue [www.doctoryourself.com]

Then check out Andrew Saul’s website.. [www.doctoryourself.com]

Jackie