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Medical Frontier's News Frontier Medical E-News November 1, 2004 |
In this Issue
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Welcome to Frontier Medical E-News
by Ardis Boyd – Practice Manager, Frontier Medical Inst -
Study: Tumor may be linked to cell phone use
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Acupuncture Helps Migraines Without Side Effects of Drugs
by Karen Kurtak – Licensed Acupuncturist -
Splenda - Here We Go Again
by Dr. Janet Starr Hull -
Women's Health Initiative Memory Study
by Espeland MA, Rapp SR, Shumaker SA, Brunn -
FDA Issues Public Health Advisory on Vioxx
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Dr Grossman's New Book a Best Seller
by Terry Grossman M.D. – Medical Director, Frontier Medical Inst
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Welcome to Frontier Medical E-News
Dear patients, customers and friends of Frontier Medical Institute and/or liv4evr.com, This is the first edition of Frontier Medical News. You are receiving this e-mail either at your request, or because you provided your e-mail address on our patient forms. At any point, you may remove your name from our e-mail list, per the instructions at the end of each newsletter. We hope you will enjoy receiving the latest and greatest news on the medical front. We will include articles taken from the latest medical research that we feel will be of interest to a majority of our patients and readers. It is truly a fascinating medical era which we are entering. We have designed our newsletters so that they contain a quick summary of each article followed by hyperlinks to more extensive discussions or original articles. You can scan the thumbnails of the articles in each newsletter in a matter of seconds and decide which of them are of interest to you and you would like to read by clicking on the “Read More” link. Thanks to all of you, for your continued support of the nutritionally based, latest and greatest, medicine/therapies we offer. If you know of any medical news you feel should be included in our newsletters, please send us a note with the internet address of the article to us at info@fmiclinic.com. Enjoy our newsletter!! Sincerely, Ardis Boyd Practice Manager
Study: Tumor may be linked to cell phone use
CNN News 10/14/04: A Swedish study suggests that people who use a cell phone for at least 10 years might increase their risk of developing a rare benign tumor (acoustic neuroma)along a nerve on the side of the head where they hold the phone. DR. GROSSMAN'S COMMENTS: Your body is constantly bombarded with a wide array of manmade forms of electromagnetic (EM) radiation. Some occurs in your immediate environment, such as from computer displays, cell phones, hair dryers, shavers, water bed heaters, and electric blankets. Other exposure comes from remote sources, such as cell-phone towers, television and radio signals, satellite transmitters, radar signals, etc. It's impossible to completely avoid the electromagnetic smog you live in, but there are steps you can take to reduce your exposure and reduce dangers. Minimize exposure to computer monitors, hair dryers, electric shavers, and other high-power electrical devices. Make sure that you (and particularly your children) sit at least ten feet away from big screen TVs. Do not sleep under electric blankets or on a heated waterbed. Cell phones can cause significant EM exposure. Holding a radio transmitter (which is what a cell phone really is) next to your head for hundreds of hours a year may have long-term health effects. You should try to limit your cell phone use. Since many people may find this impractical, there are still steps you can take to reduce EM exposure while using your cell phone. Some people try to reduce exposure by using “hands free” sets with a wire with a built-in microphone and “ear bud.” This allows the cellular phone to be located a few feet from the head, so people think (erroneously) that they are reducing exposure to the radiation coming from the phone. However, the wire traveling to your ear can actually act as an antenna, so your ear (and brain) may receive an even more concentrated dose of radiation under some conditions. A safer solution is to use a hands-free connection to the ear based on an air tube instead of a wire and passing the wire portion of that device through a “ferrite choke” to block some of the radiation from reaching your head. You can further reduce radiation by moving its source away from your body, by using an external antenna (available for some phones that have "car kits").
Acupuncture Helps Migraines Without Side Effects of Drugs
According to the National Headache Foundation, over 28 million Americans suffer from migraine headaches each year. Four billion dollars is spent annually on pain medications for headaches that only mask an underlying condition or do not work as needed. In one of the largest studies of its kind, a team of investigators in Italy examined the effectiveness of acupuncture versus a variety of pharmacological therapies in 120 migraine sufferers. The study revealed that patients given acupuncture:
Even more amazing was that in the group receiving pharmaceuticals, 75% of them reported side effects ranging from nausea and diarrhea to weight gain and flatulence. The group receiving acupuncture reported ZERO side effects. Liguori A, Petti F, Bangrazi A, Camaioni D, Guccione G, Pitari GM, Bianchi A, Nicoletti WE. Comparison of pharmacological treatment versus acupuncture treatment for migraine without aura - analysis of sociomedical parameters. J Tradit Chin Med 2000;20(3):231-40.
Splenda - Here We Go Again
JANET HULL'S NEWSLETTER: Sucralose (SplendaŽ) is a chlorocarbon and is more accurately compared to ingesting tiny amounts of chlorinated pesticides. The chlorocarbons have long been known for causing organ, genetic, and reproductive damage. It should be no surprise then, that the testing of sucralose reveals it causes up to 40% shrinkage of the thymus: a gland that is the very foundation of our immune system. Sucralose also causes swelling of the liver and kidneys, calcification of the kidney, fertility issues in male rats, and gastrointestinal problems in pregnant rats. If you xperience kidney pain, cramping, swelling, an irritated bladder, or blood in your urine after using sucralose in Splenda, stop use immediately. DR. GROSSMAN'S COMMENT: It would be ideal if we were able to find a non-caloric sweetner safe to use. It could allow us to eat sweeet foods we enjoy without suffering the adverse consequences of sugar consumption such as weight gain, and increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Perhaps Splenda (sucralose) is such a sweetener. I don't think we have enough research evidence yet to support widespread consumption of chlorinated sugar, which is what Splenda really is. Only time will tell. In the meantime, I suggest you limit your consumption of Splenda-sweetened foods and drinks until more is known about the long-term consequences. In the meantime, an herbal sweetener, stevia, is quite safe and I recommend it without reservation.
Women's Health Initiative Memory Study
For women aged 65 years or older, hormone therapy adversely affected mental function. This effect was more pronounced for women with worse mental function to begin with. DR. GROSSMAN'S COMMENT: The negative findings from this large study on the use of Prematin +/- Provera on the health of menopausal women led to the relative disappearnce of these artificial hormones from modern medical practice. These hormones were initially found to cause a higher incidence of heart attack, blood clots and certain forms of cancer. Now researchers found they also diminish mental function. CONCLUSION: Menopausal woman should avoid artifical hormones like Premarin and Provera and utilize bio-identical hormones (hormones identical to those found a woman's body naturally.
FDA Issues Public Health Advisory on Vioxx
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today acknowledged the voluntary withdrawal from the market of Vioxx, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) manufactured by Merck & Co. FDA today also issued a Public Health Advisory to inform patients of this action and to advise them to consult with a physician about alternative medications. Merck is withdrawing Vioxx from the market after the data safety monitoring board overseeing a long-term study of the drug recommended that the study be halted because of an increased risk of serious cardiovascular events, including heart attacks and strokes, among study patients taking Vioxx compared to patients receiving placebo. The study was being done in patients at risk of developing recurrent colon polypsDR. PARCELL'S COMMENTS: I first read about these adverse effects in the medical literature years ago. Vioxx is an arthritis drug that works by inhibiting an enzyme (COX-2) responsible for promoting inflammation and resultant pain. The main advantage of COX-2 inhibitors over traditional NSAIDs, like aspirin and ibuprofen, is that they have fewer toxic effects on the gastrointestinal tract. In 2000, 2 large randomized controlled trials were published on these selective COX-2 inhibitors. In the Celecoxib Long-term Arthritis Safety Study (CLASS) and the Vioxx Gastrointestinal Outcomes Research (VIGOR) study, Celebrex (celecoxib) and Vioxx (rofecoxib) respectively were compared with regular NSAIDs. These well-designed trials claimed to prove the safety of these agents, but the results became controversial when more complete data from the trials became available from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Vioxx Gastrointestinal Outcomes Research Trial (VIGOR), for example demonstrated an increased incidence of cardiovascular events in patients receiving rofecoxib. Drugs that preferentially inhibit COX-2 may lead theoretically to problems with blood clotting, salt and water retention (causing elevated blood pressure), and healing. Increased tendency to form blood clots and high blood pressure are both risk factors for stroke and heart disease. Safe, natural/nutritional treatments for arthritis are numerous. Some of the most clinically effective are Glucosamine sulfate, chondroitin sulfate, omega 3 fats (fish, flax), boswellia, niacinamide, SAMe, ginger, topical cayenne extract creams containing 0.025 to 0.075% capsaicin (from red peppers), topical DMSO, and cetyl myristoleate. All of these treatments work by decreasing inflammation but do not selectively inhibit the COX-2 enzyme as strongly as prescription drugs like Vioxx.
Dr Grossman's New Book a Best Seller
Dr. Grossman's latest book, Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever, coauthored with Ray Kurzweil, achieved "best seller" status the first day it became available on Amazon.com. The book explores the possibility of radical increases in human longevity that may be available within our lifetimes. It rose to being the 70th best selling book on Amazon on October 9, 2004 on its very first day and rose to #9 a few days later. Any book in the “top 100” is considered a “best seller.” Books are available at www.amazon.com, at most bookstores and at Frontier Medical Institute. The book has its own website www.Fantastic-Voyage.net. |
 Terry Grossman, MD |
 Michael Catalano, MD |
 Karen Kurtak, LAc |
 Diane Henry | ||
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