Healthy Life Newsletter January 2021

 

 
Why You Should Be Making Periodic Visits to Your Chiropractor
 
When you experience back pain, chiropractic care can help relieve the pain and identify the underlying cause. But your care shouldn't stop once the pain stops (or comes back, which can frequently happen).

A new study suggests maintenance chiropractic care (defined by the researchers as "treatment at regular intervals regardless of symptoms") is more effective than symptomatic treatment (receiving chiropractic treatment only when you're experiencing pain).
 
In the study, patients with recurrent / persistent low back pain who received maintenance care (scheduled every 1-3 months) after their initial treatment reported an average of 19.3 less days of "bothersome" low back pain over a 12-month period compared to patients who received only symptomatic chiropractic care. Overall, during the 12-month period, maintenance care patients made seven visits, on average, to their chiropractor, versus five visits, on average, for symptomatic patients.
 
So, if you're suffering low back pain and your chiropractor suggests you come in periodically for treatment, you may want to heed his/her advice. It's a research-supported suggestion that could dramatically reduce the amount of time you spend in pain.

 

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Yoga and meditation reduce chronic pain
 
Participants in an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course reported significant improvement in levels of pain, depression and disability.

A mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course was found to benefit patients with chronic pain and depression, leading to significant improvement in participant perceptions of pain, mood and functional capacity, according to a study in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. Most of the study respondents (89%) reported the program helped them find ways to better cope with their pain while 11% remained neutral.
 


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Impact of Chiropractic Care on Use of Prescription Opioids in Patients with Spinal Pain

Pain Medicine, pnaa014, doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnaa014   06 March 2020

Objective

Utilization of nonpharmacological pain management may prevent unnecessary use of opioids. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of chiropractic utilization upon use of prescription opioids among patients with spinal pain.

Conclusions

Patients with spinal pain who saw a chiropractor had half the risk of filling an opioid prescription. Among those who saw a chiropractor within 30 days of diagnosis, the reduction in risk was greater as compared with those with their first visit after the acute phase.

To read the full abstract of this study click here

 

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Note from Dr. Mha Atma: The following article by Dr. David Seaman, author of The Anti-Inflammation Diet, lays out the strange situation that the media and the public health establishment is ignoring the elephant: Obesity caused by a pro-inflammatory diet (too much sugar, flour and processed foods and not enough vegies and fruit) and insufficient nutrients like vitamin D, magnesium and zinc.  This definitely also applies to folks who are not obese but eat the same "American" diet.  As of early November (and things have changed a lot since then!!) Japan had 1/10 the deaths as California but three times more people...and the obesity rate in California is 25% while in Japan less than 4%!....

 
Addressing the Elephant in the COVID Living Room

By David Seaman, DC, MS, DABCN

Ever since the coronavirus emerged and the severity of COVID-19 became obvious, various preventive measures have been promoted, including hand washing, social distancing and mask wearing. It should be understood that sanitary/hygienic measures, such as hand washing and social distancing, have always been utilized as a means to prevent viral infection transmission in private homes. When I was very young, my mother taught me to cover my mouth whenever I sneezed and then wash my hands. She also told me and my siblings to avoid the person in the house who was sick, a form of social distancing. Mask wearing is really the only new addition to the regimen.

To my surprise, mask wearing became a contentious issue and a huge amount of time has been spent on mask debating in the news and on social media. More than anything else, people believe mask wearing is the key to controlling COVID-19 until a vaccine comes along. Missing in the public conversation is a discussion about how the health of the human body influences viral infections. This has been surprising to me, as this issue was settled in the latter part of the 19th century.

The Key Determining Factor During an Infection

In the mid-to-late 1880s, both Claude Bernard and Antoine Bechamp argued that the health of the body (the terrain) was the key determining factor during an infection. Up until the end of his life, Louis Pasteur maintained that the germ itself was the determining factor with infectious disease. However, in the end, Pasteur stated, "Bechamp was right, the microbe is nothing. The terrain is everything."1

This should take you a bit by surprise, as nothing we have been told during the COVID era would lead us to a similar conclusion made by Pasteur. Instead, we have been treated to the notion that the virus is all-powerful and should be feared, to the point that politicians have enforced a lockdown to varying degrees in America and abroad. Note that absolutely no authority has urged Americans to get healthy during lockdown so as to be more resilient if one does get infected with the coronavirus.

What We Should Have Been Told

For more than 100 years, scientists have known that obesity is a key determining factor for the severity of a viral infection. Indeed, this relationship was first identified during the Spanish Flu of 1918.2 Then, during the "Asian" and "Hong Kong" influenzas of the 1960s, scientists confirmed that obesity and diabetes lead to more deaths, and a prolonged duration of illness.2

This relationship was again confirmed in 2009 during the H1N1 flu (swine flu).2 Not surprisingly, the same holds true for COVID-19, as outlined on the CDC's website:3
 
  • Obesity increases the risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
  • Obesity may triple the risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19.
  • Obesity is linked to impaired immune function.
  • As BMI increases, the risk of death from COVID-19 increases.
  • Obesity has been linked to lower vaccine responses, such as the seasonal flu, hepatitis B and tetanus.

We also know that infected obese people are more contagious because the inflammatory state of obesity reduces the ability of the body to eliminate viruses, such that obese people shed viruses up to 100 percent longer than lean people.2 The inflammatory obese body also produces viral mutations that are more virulent.2 In other words, obese people are the primary COVID vectors.

With the above in mind, there should be no doubt that Americans should have been told to lose weight and normalize blood glucose levels while locked down. But this did not happen, even though it is well-known that stressed-out people overeat and gain weight.4
So, not surprisingly, many people gained weight during lockdown, which is potentially catastrophic for America, as 42 percent of the population was obese before the coronavirus emerged at the end of 2019.5 This means lockdowns have created an even fatter population that is far more likely to spread viral infections during this fall / winter season. And unfortunately, this means these same people are likely to die needlessly because the coronavirus will join the flu virus this season.

The Elephant in the Living Room - And What We Can Do About It

Clearly, obesity is the elephant in the COVID living room that authorities and news outlets are not talking about. Perhaps such silence exists because obesity is an important part of the multi-trillion-dollar disease industry. Without obesity, people would need fewer medications, medical visits, and medical interventions, which would mean less income for the disease industry and its funding banks. (With this in mind, you should know that leading international investment banks, such as Goldman Sachs, have questioned whether curing patients is a sustainable business model.)6

Here is a COVID fact that everyone should know about. As of Nov. 4, 2020, when I wrote this article, there were about 1,700 COVID deaths in Japan, which has a population of 126 million and obesity rate of just 3.6 percent. For perspective, the state of California has a land mass smaller than Japan and a population of 39.5 million, with an obesity rate of 25 percent and 17,500 COVID deaths as of Nov. 4.

Consider these numbers carefully. Japan has more than three times the population of California and has 10 times fewer deaths. This outcome illustrates what we have known for over 100 years: Lean populations are minimally compromised by viral infections compared to populations that are obese, like America.

To save America from COVID-19 and future novel viruses, we need to immediately reduce obesity and hyperglycemia. This can be achieved with a vegan or omnivore diet, or even the more extreme carnivore diet.7 Refined food calories need to be replaced with whole foods, the most important being vegetation, as it is low in calories and nutrient dense.

Key immune-supporting supplements should also be considered, including vitamin D, vitamin C and zinc, which all offer anti-inflammatory benefits.8 Additional supplements to consider include fish oil, magnesium, ginger/turmeric, iodine, and coenzyme Q10, which also promote an anti-inflammatory state.7-8

Go here to read this article on line and to see the references.

 

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An Unhealthy Night at the Movies
 
We all know movie theater food is severely lacking when it comes to health: buttered popcorn, candy, soft drinks and more, all generally provided in ridiculously sized containers. (After all, who doesn't want more of a bad thing?) But that's not what we're talking about this time.
 
Perhaps when it comes to laying blame for movie-watchers' nutritional woes, the movie theaters aren't the problem - the movie makers themselves are.
Here's why: An analysis of the top-grossing movies over the past 25 years (1994-2018), with specific focus on the food and beverages depicted in those movies, has found that "popular US movies depict an unhealthy diet; depicting unhealthy foods and beverages in media is a sociocultural problem that extends beyond advertisements."
 
Specifically, the study revealed that of 9,198 foods and 5,748 beverages featured in the top-grossing movies, snacks and sweets, and alcoholic beverages, were most commonly depicted. In many cases, food / beverage nutrition depicted in movies was bad even by U.S. standards; in other words, the characters in the movies ate worse than the movie-watchers themselves generally do.
 
So, let's recap. 1) The standard American diet is woefully lacking in nutrition to begin with, and woefully overindulgent when it comes to saturated fat, sugar and empty-calorie foods (sweet, refined-flour foods: chips, cookies, snacks, etc.). 2) Popular movies are only making the problem worse by depicting dietary choices that, by comparison, are as poor or even poorer than the average movie-goer's diet. 3) Substandard nutrition, perpetuated by movies, advertisements, etc., only sinks our society deeper into the throes of obesity and its consequences - type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and chronic disease.  (Note from Dr. Mha Atma:  AND worse Covid-19 outcomes!)

 

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When It Comes to Weight Loss, Age Is Not a Barrier

Convinced you can't lose weight because you're too old? Think again. Research suggests seniors – even obese ones – can lose weight as successfully as their younger peers.
 
A recent study compared two groups of obese patients who were grouped based on age: younger than 60 or ages 60 and older. All patients received the same exercise and lifestyle interventions tailored toward achieving weight loss; and spent approximately the same amount of time in the weight-loss program. Lifestyle interventions designed to promote weight loss included advice on dietary changes, psychological support and encouragement of physical activity.

When the two groups were compared post-intervention, they were statistically equivalent in terms of weight loss, with patients ages 60 and older reducing body weight by 7.3 percent, on average, compared to 6.9 percent in patients younger than age 60. Reductions in body-mass index (BMI) were also similar between the two groups: 8.1 percent for members of the younger group vs. 7.8 percent for members of the older group. Study findings appear in a recent issue of the peer-reviewed research journal Clinical Endocrinology.
 
What's the moral to the story? It's never too late to lose weight!

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Cinnamon, Spice and Everything Nice
 
Spices and seasonings can add another dimension to your food without adding calories or fat. For example, new research suggests cinnamon can aid in controlling blood sugar, lowering cholesterol and relieving arthritis pain. It's also a great source of manganese, fiber, iron and calcium.
 
Researchers at Malmo University Hospital in Sweden conducted a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which indicated that adding about one teaspoon of cinnamon to a bowl of rice pudding lowered the usual increase in post-meal blood sugar. In a separate study of people with type 2 diabetes, researchers found that one gram a day of cinnamon significantly lowered blood sugar, triglycerides, LDL or "bad" cholesterol, and total cholesterol.
 
According to scientists, cinnamon appears to slow the rate in which food passes from the stomach to the intestines, and the active ingredient, proanthocyanidin, activates insulin receptors inside cells allowing the cells to use energy from sugar.
 
Of course, it is possible to get too much of a good thing. In high doses, cinnamon may be toxic, and you certainly don't want to load up on cinnamon rolls, muffins or other cinnamon-laden, high-fat treats. For a healthy treat, try half a teaspoon of cinnamon with a spoonful of honey every morning before breakfast.

 

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Vitamin D Supplements Can Help You Fight Cancer

We've heard  great deal lately (although not nearly enough) about the power of vitamin D for strengthening the immune system. After all, with COVID-19 still racing around the globe, immune health is a key prevention tool that has been shown to help the body fight colds, viruses and foreign invaders of all varieties.
 
But the news about vitamin D gets even better: higher levels may help you avoid suffering advanced cancer; yes, the dreaded C word. According to a new study, among adults without a cancer diagnosis at baseline, people who supplement with vitamin D3 are less likely to experience advanced cancer than people who do not supplement with D3.
 
The study involved more than 25,000 adults who were randomly selected to receive either vitamin D3 supplements (cholecalciferol, 2,000 IU/day) or a placebo (an inactive "supplement" participants thought was D3). After more than five years of follow-up, adults in both groups were equally likely to develop cancer; however, D3-supplemented patients were significantly less likely to experience metastatic or fatal cancer than non-supplemented patients. The strongest risk reduction was seen among patients without weight issues.

Do you know if you're getting enough vitamin D every day? Have you had your blood levels checked? Do you know the best sources of vitamin D ... and whether you should take a D3 supplement? Talk to your doctor to get the answers to all your vitamin D questions.

(Note from Dr. Mha Atma:  Other studies have shown a more marked reduction of cancer risk when they evaluated actual blood levels of vitamin D instead of just giving everyone 2,000 IU/day.  Most people need more than that (5 to 10,000/day) to achieve optimal anti-cancer levels, and overweight folks especially need more since D is stored in fatty tissue.)

 

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You can read another article, "More Vitamin D, Lower Risk of Severe COVID-19?" on WebMD, about vitamin D and Covid-19, at https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200518/more-vitamin-d-lower-risk-of-severe-covid-19