How to make your own B complex, whole food supplement.

The B vitamens, B1 B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, folate, choline and inositol, are extremely important for health maintenance and to prevent the illnesses of modern life. For many different reasons most people have to supplement to get enough of these essential vitamens.

B complex supplementation has been shown to reduce the risk of a MI, or  myocardial infarction by 25 %, reduced the risk of depression and Alzeimer's and reduced the risk of cancer both primary and secondary. And they do so much more.

Everyone should take a B complex supplement and for some the cost of supplementation can be a financial hardship.
Paul Fassa writes about making your own B complex.
'(NaturalNews) We are confronted with the prospects of worsening financial conditions for many, and the prospects of supplement suppression grow with new regulatory bills being introduced to hamper health freedom. It has already happened in the EU and Canada. It might be prudent to look into making your own Vitamin B Complex from yeast or simply ordering nutritional yeast products for your Vitamin B.'

He has full instructions and lots of info.

Just to remember, no B complex gives enough B12 to correct B12 deficiency which is usually caused by one or more of 3 reasons: low stomach acid, H. Pylori infection or and autoimmune process where intrinsic factor is disabled and can't deliver B12 that is ingested into the body.

The most common cause of any autoimmune disorder is gluten sensitivity. If you have B12 deficiency it would be wise to find out if you have gluten sensitivity. See my other blog http://www.celiacbrain.blogspot.com/ for more information.




Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/028516_vitamin_B_supplements.html#ixzz1FwBWt0hE

To your health Dr. Barbara

My Favourite Chocolate Cake recipe from Elana's Pantry

Here is my favourite Chocolate Cake recipe from Elana's Pantry called New German Chocolate cake.

The recipe fits the "Specific Carbohydrate diet"," GAPS "diet and the "Paleo" diet. She says it's a little complicated but you can make it in stages: make the cake the day before, make the icing an hour before you plan on serving it as it has to cool and thicken. If you are serving it for dessert at a dinner party, cool the icing just before serving the main course. It should be ready just when you're ready for dessert. I iced the cake infront of everyone after the main course, just before I served it. Everyone needs a little entertainment.

Just a final note: I never use agave because it is almost 100% fructose, instead I use honey and I adjust the amount by using 3/4 of what is asked for in the recipe.

Enjoy!
To your health
Dr. Barbara

Here's a health tip: Increase Your Fibre Intake

Dr Jonathan Whitaker, America's wellness doctor, states it well, we need more fibre than we are getting, and fibre is important for all sorts of aspects of our health.

He writes:


"When it comes to heart health, fiber is extremely important. We have known for decades that high-fiber   diets result in reduced cholesterol levels. And a recent study published in JAMA, which followed the dietary habits of men ages 40 to 75, suggests that adequate fiber also protects against heart disease. The study found a strong relationship between fiber intake and decreased risk of heart attack. My favorite source of fiber is flaxseed.

Flaxseed provides a high amount of soluble and insoluble fiber—one-fourth cup (50 grams) contains 11.7 grams of fiber. Other high-fiber foods such as black beans (7.2 g per cup), prunes (7.4 g per cup), and brown rice (4.8 g per cup) pale in comparison. Flaxseed is also rich in lignans, fibrous plant compounds that not only bind to cholesterol and carry it out of the body but have numerous other health benefits as well.


I suggest incorporating ¼ cup of freshly ground flaxseed into your diet each day. These tiny golden or brown seeds have a rich, nutty flavor and can be mixed into yogurt or soups or sprinkled on salads and other foods."


I too prefer ground flaxseeds to supplement for adequate fibre. We need about 30 grams a day. Ground flaxseeds have also been shown to lower the risk of estrogen induced diseases, such as breast cancer.

So start to get imaginative with the use of ground flaxseed, cook with it, sprinkle it and mix it.

To your Health
Dr.Barbara

Mercury in your teeth? You need to see this video.

In this video, you will see just how much mercury vapours  are continuously being emitted and how easily chewing or grinding your teeth can accelerate the release of mercury vapours. This is important as the mercury vapours are extremely toxic.

For more information on mercury and dentistry and health, there is lots on Dr. Mercola's site. 

There are ways to detoxify from mercury. Dr Mercola states: "If you still have mercury in your teeth, I highly recommend reviewing my Mercury Detoxification Protocol, which details the things you can do, right now, to help detoxify your body to improve your health."

In my experience, not everyone gets toxic from mercury amalgams. It seems to depend on how your body naturally detoxifies. But since one doesn't know if one is a good at detoxifying or not, it is safest to keep one's exposure to mercury as low as possible and to assume one has abnormal mercury or other heavy metal levels in one's system and to detoxify.

Exercise should be a regular part of your day and it detoxifies. As does eating lots of green vegetables, every day!!

If you want to know more, speak to a naturopathic physician, or a physician trained by the American Academy of Environmental Medicine.

 
To your health
Dr. Barbara Powell

Todays Headlines: Folic-acid fortification may increase cancer risk. NOT!

"As a result of a federal program requiring some foods to be fortified with folic acid, nearly half the population now consumes high amounts of the vitamin, which may put some at risk of cancer." So states the Globe and Mail, December 14th, 10. But this is not what the Canadian researchers concluded.

I give credit to the authors of the study published Dec. 13th in the CMAJ. They say:
"The purpose of our study was to investigate the folate status of a nationally representative sample of Canadians, including a subset of women of childbearing age. Read it here:http://www.canadianmedicaljournal.ca/cgi/content/abstract/cmaj.100568v2


They conclude:

• There is virtually no folate deficiency in Canada.
• Young women of child bearing age, even though they had normal levels of RBC folate, were not supplementing enough in their diet and added supplements to get folate levels above 900, the level determined to prevent NTD.
• There should be on going monitoring of folate status and health outcomes.
  

Interesting study, and I fully agree there should be more studies on the relationship of folic acid, folate and health. I would hate it if this study discouraged any one from taking good quality B vitamens with folate( not folic acid) and B12, because I've seen so much benefit from these. Men and boys have benefited too. Folate helps the body produce healthy red blood cells, guards against neural tube defects such as spina bifida and performs a range of other functions including lowering cancer rates.

I find it so frustrating and difficult to assess any original research, when so many use folate and folic acid interchangeably. They are not the same.


This is what I've learned about folic acid and folate.
Folic acid (synthetic) has to be converted by MTHFR enzymes to folate, and folinic acid and folate are what is used in our metabolism.  Folate is what is usually measured to determine folate status. We vary in our genetics in our ability to convert folic acid to folate. If you have MTHFR alleles or variations of these genes, then there is a back log of folic acid waiting to be metabolized, which may be giving high levels of folic acid. How much? Nobody knows. A new study published in the Proceedings on the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) shows that our ability to convert folic acid to folate may be relatively slow, leading to extended exposure to unconverted folic acid. Is unconverted folic acid safe? Studies show that small amounts may be safe and more is not.


Some studies of folic acid supplementation have been linked to slight elevations in cancer rates. They are not considered well done studies. There have been over 30 studies that have shown reduced rates of cancer with the supplementation of folic acid.


Reference 1, the Norway study mentioned by the Globe and Mail on December 14th, found higher rates of lung cancer in older male heart disease patients, and some say the study actually showed the dangers of smoking, not of folic acid supplementation. A Harvard study in 2009, showed that supplements of folic acid helped and reduced the recurrence of colorectal cancer in people with low levels of the nutrient, but not people who already have adequate amounts. There was no elevation of cancer rates. ( Reference 2)


Back to the new study, I disagree with the second line in the "Background " section of their article where they caution "high folate concentrations may be associated with adverse outcomes, including increased risk of colorectal cancer among those with pre-existing neoplasms." in that all the studies that have shown increased cancer rates have been looking at folic acid supplementation and not folate status. The Canadian study published in 2009 linked folic acid supplementation( especially from enriched grains) with higher colon cancer rates. But this can be explained by higher rates of diagnosis of earlier colon cancer because of the major colon cancer screening program started about five years ago. Time will tell if there is actual increases in the incidence of colon cancer.

And, at present there have been no published studies showing that supplementation with "natural identical" folates such as 5-methyltetrahydrofolate or 5-formyltetrahydrofolate enhances the progression of pre-existing neoplasms. That means they are safe. 
 
I also am suspicious of their conclusion that "Folate deficiency is virtually nonexistent in the Canadian population". They use the guideline for folate deficiency as red blood cell folate less than 305 nmol/L but with further studies we could find out that health promotion is accomplished when higher levels are maintained.

We desperately need more studies on the relationship of folic acid, folate and good health. Linus Pauling had strong opinions on the health promoting effects of folate. 

Supplementing with folate has been shown to promote wellness with less cancer, less depression, less cardiac disease. We may find out the artificial folic acid is good in small amounts and not so good in larger amounts and that the amounts fortifying our grain foods now, is safe for the majority of persons and a great benefit to pregnant women to build a better baby.

Everything points to you being better off if you have some folic acid.



You are probably wondering: how much?
If you are going to take more folic acid than what is in your food, then it should come from a natural source folate such as is found in AOR's Advanced B Complex or in Metagenics Folapro. Or speak to your health care professional who may know another source.



To your Health
Dr. Barbara



References:
1.Ebbing M, et al "Cancer incidence and mortality after treatment with folic acid and vitamin B₁₂" JAMA 2009; 302: 2119-26.
2. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Published online ahead of print, doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.28319
“A randomized trial on folic acid supplementation and risk of recurrent colorectal adenoma”
Authors: K. Wu, E.A. Platz, W.C. Willett, C.S. Fuchs, J. Selhub, B.A. Rosner, D.J. Hunter, E. Giovannucc

What to do if weight loss hasn't made a difference in high blood sugar readings.

Perhaps the first recommendation I would make for an adult  with high blood sugars, not responding to weight loss, is finding out if they have LADA. 

1/3 of people with the onset of diabetes after the age of 20, have LADA or Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adulthood, and not type 2 diabetes, and they would not respond well to oral medications.

Diabetes Type 1.5 is another name for LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults). People with LADA do not have insulin resistance and instead have lack of insulin because of autoimmune attacks on the pancreas. Type 1.5 is really a variation of Type 1 and is a little different in that the onset is slower and you may not be insulin dependent at diagnosis.

In diabetes Type 2, elevated blood sugars  are caused initially by insulin resistance. Some persons with Type 2 do lose their functioning cells and become insulin dependent but that does not make them a Type 1 or 1.5.

If it hasn't been done, to find out if you have LADA, ask your doctor to do an antibody panel (GAD, ICA, IAA) and a c-peptide. Here is a check list to help you decide to ask for more testing.      http://api.ning.com/files/9v-anH8d1nSlO0y0NKe0XWKI3CJRRPJ6tTGzyV7sDjbaQO8U*QYRBx6PnFxSCzsm7JmG9iSaSyiFpTuCQ3zTfQ__/LADA_Are_you_at_risk.pdf  

What about diet? Unlike the case with Type 2 diabetes, it is usually not possible to reverse or control LADA with carbohydrate restriction alone. That said, it is much easier to make insulin work when you are eating a lower carbohydrate diet than it is with a high carbohydrate diet. To learn more about how lowering carbs allows you to fine tune your blood sugar control and avoid dangerous hypos and soaring post-meal blood sugars, read Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars. Though many people with LADA are able to eat higher amounts of carbohydrate than those that Dr. Bernstein recommends, the principles he explains hold true for all people with diabetes and reading this book will give you a much better idea of how to use insulin effectively.

One of the reasons people with LADA do better on a carbohydrate restricted diet is that there is a high rate of gluten sensitivity/celiac disease in persons with autoimmune disorders, 12 fold increase in fact. The best testing is to do a genetic test from www.enterolab.com  for $US 150.00.( Anything in Ontario cost the same and is only 50% accurate).

Of course, it goes without saying, that one should exercise 30- 60 minutes a day at a pace that only just takes your breath away.

Yours in health.

Dr .Barbara

Caregiving: 6 Steps to Help You Cope

If you are one of the many who look after an older, sick or disabled family member or friend then you know this care-giving is like a part-time or even a full time job. Not surprisingly , care-giving can be very stressful and the strain can take an emotional and physical toll.

John Hopkins hospital has published some helpful tips to lower that stress if you are a caregiver:

Caregiver Tip 1. Ask for help
Avoid being the sole caregiver, if possible. This may mean asking adult children or siblings to help with groceries or car rides or even hiring a professional caregiver to perform difficult tasks like bathing your loved one. Short-term respite care, programs that send a healthcare professional to your home to provide temporary care for your family member or friend, is also helpful. Some long-term care insurance policies will cover this. Federal and state programs may also provide funding. Check with your local Area Agency on Aging (AAA) for Eldercare options in your area.
Caregiver Tip 2. Let it all out
Talk to a family member, friend, minister, or counselor about what you are experiencing, or seek out a local support group. It’s all too easy for a caregiver to withdraw from family and friends, but research shows that those with emotional outlets report less stress and fewer health ailments than those without such connections.
Caregiver Tip 3. Get up to speed
Specialized health organizations, such as the Alzheimer’s Association or the American Cancer Society, can provide detailed information on the disease your friend or family member is facing.
Caregiver Tip 4. Remember your health needs
Remembering your own doctor appointments and when to take your medicine can be difficult enough without having to juggle someone else’s schedule as well. Keeping a calendar of your appointments, writing yourself reminders, or even setting an alarm when it’s time to take your medications can be cues to help you stay on top of your health issues.

See the rest here: Caregiving: 6 Steps to Help You Cope

If you are a care-giver, remember, "the care-giver must survive"  or nobody does well.

Yours in Health
Dr Barbara