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For children whose vaccinations for DPT were all delayed, the risk of developing asthma decreased by 60%.

Comment by Dr. Bill Pawluk
The fact that these immunizations are given at 2, 4, and 6 months of age indicates that if they were delayed by 2 or more months the decrease in the risk of the child developing asthma would decrease significantly. The risk of developing one of these diseases is minimal in the U.S. and the delay would not affect the child’s ability to attend school.

(J Allergy & Clinical Immunology 2008 Mar)

Follow this simple trick and give your sinuses and lungs a break from one of nature’s most allergenic animals. They found that a monthly 10 minute soak in warm distilled water was all it took to decrease the allergy potential of the cat.

To bathe your cat using the proven technique, fill a large pan or sink with 2 inches of warm distilled water. Place a heavy towel on the bottom of the sink or pan to give your cat something to ground herself to so that she does not slip. Put the cat in the tub and while talking to her push down on the center of the back.Soap is not necessary. Rinse well and dry…simple as that.

Comment by Dr. Ray Hinish
Okay, truth be told, I am a dog person but with that said I have many cat-lover friends so I wrote this brief review for them. Cats are considered one of the most allergenic pets and unfortunately sometimes you simple must give the cat away to be able to enjoy a life free of cat allergies. Hopefully, for those people who would rather die of their cat allergies than give their little aloof buddies away, you will gain some benefit from this simple ritual. Other things may help such as:

• Cutting the hair of long haired cats
• Vacuuming often
• Using an air purifier
• Always washing your hands after petting your cat

Raised RBP4 levels were found in people with a condition called insulin resistance, which develops when the body’s tissues lose the ability to respond to the hormone insulin. Because insulin is necessary to enable the body to take up sugar from blood and convert it into energy, this impairment results in a build-up of glucose in the bloodstream. The measurement was tested on both healthy and diabetic populations and seems very reliable. It may become really useful as it will enable people to show their risk of diabetes before the symptoms set in, so they can take preventative measures early, possibly altering their life style to less sedentary and more healthy-diet oriented.

Of course, if RBP4 protein is elevated, there are drugs in place to lower it….but let’s not get there! (Summary by Kasia Kines, MS, CN, CNS, LDN)

Dr. Ray Hinish’s Comments:

This is nice but we already have a number of good markers for insulin resistance and diabetes. Some of these tests include fasting insulin levels, triglycerides, HDL, body fat percentage & blood pressure. Just for the record, I would like to point out that the “person at risk of diabetes” is everyone! We all hold the potential to become diabetic provided that lifestyle conditions are right for the proliferation of this health-state. For simplicity purposes lets just assume that if you eat a lot of refined carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, cake, candy, etc you are a good candidate for insulin resistance and ultimately diabetes. If you do not exercise on a regular basis, you are a candidate. If you are overweight, even a little, you are a candidate. Life is not so complex as to require complicated and expensive tests to determine your health, look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself “Am I healthy?” If the answer is “no” then do something about it. If it is “yes” then reward yourself with a pat on the back and a nice relaxing jog. It the answer is honestly, “I don’t know…” Then look to these tests for clarification.

The double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study found that subjects who took 730 mg of quercetin daily enjoyed blood pressures that were 7 mm/Hg lower for systolic (upper number) and 5 mm/Hg lower for diastolic (lower number) after just 28 days.

Dr. Ray Hinish’s Notes:

Quercetin is a bioflavonoid that is most commonly used in the management of allergies, although it is well known for many other benefits to the body. This appears to be the first study to demonstrate benefit to blood pressure. It is very interesting that blood pressure came down despite the normal blood pressure of the participants of the study. The dose of quercetin used in the study was quite conservative, the dose used in management of allergies is typically 1500 – 2500 mg daily.

(J Nutr. 2007 Nov;137(11):2495-11)

Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, June 22, 2006

The researchers tracked over 3000 non-diabetic study participants through the 70s, 80, and 90s and followed for an additional 8 years for new cases of diabetes. Between the 70s and 80s, the chances of getting diabetes increased by 40% while between 70s and 90s, they doubled. Between the 70s and 90s, women’s incidence of developing diabetes increased 84%, while men’s new cases more than doubled.

The researchers did not assess the effect of exercise or diet in the study, but they did measure BMI (body mass index), which has been increasing steadily in time, with most incidences of diabetes among those with the highest BMI. (Summary by Kasia Kines, MS, CN, CNS, LDN)

Dr. Ray Hinish’s Comments:

So diabetes is increasing in our society, this is certainly not news to us and I assure you that most health care providers do not need a study to alert them to this fact. We could have saved a lot of money and just looked at the sale of diabetes medications. While we are at it we could get an even better idea by looking at the sale of medications for heart disease, hypertension, nerve damage (neuropathy) & antibiotic use. All of these medications will increase with the incidence of diabetes. So now what? Now we need to prescribe a dose of honesty to ourselves and realize that we have more medications to treat diabetes than we ever have and the incidence continues to rise. Medical experts will say, “yeah, but people are getting older…” as if diabetes is perfectly in line with the normal course of aging. We must realize that diabetes is very preventable, it is not a part of normal aging, and we must change our methods of treating it. More importantly we must do more to prevent it in the first place. We can start by removing the blinders! Check our articles section for articles on how to beat diabetes.

The debate is ongoing although studies over the last several years have shown clearly that paying the extra buck is justified.

A recent study of Tarozzi et al, published in European Journal of Nutrition in April 2006, compared organically and commercially grown red oranges in terms of their phyto-chemical contents (phenolics, anthocyanins and ascorbic acid) and their total antioxidant activity in laboratory research. The study showed that all of the above were significantly higher in the organic oranges.
(Summary by Kasia kines, MS, CN, CNS, LDN. Kasia is a licensed nutritionist at Your Prescription for Health)

Dr. Ray Hinish’s Comments:
Chock one more up for the good guys!

The study was done based on observational studies suggesting that plasma homocysteine concentrations are inversely related to cognitive function in elderly people: certain B-vitamins are needed to prevent the level of homocysteine from increasing, and high homocysteine has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and dementia.

This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial with 276 healthy participants, 65 years old or older, with plasma Homocysteine concentrations of at least 13 mcg/L.

The daily supplements the participants received were folate (1000mcg), B12 (500mcg), and B6 (10mg). Cognition tests were performed at baseline, after 1 year, and after 2 years. The decrease in Hcy during the treatment was significant, but there were no significant differences between the vitamin and placebo groups in the cognition tests.

Dr. Ray Hinish’s Comments:

These results do not surprise me. Observational research has shown clear correlations with high homocysteine and an increased risk of cognitive decline, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Homocysteine is certainly not the only cause of cognitive decline, however, it likely does speed the progression. This effect likely occurs from many years of chronically elevated homocysteine and its slow poisoning effect on the body. Lowering homocysteine is not likely to benefit someone’s brain significantly over a 1-2 year period, but likely plays more of a role over 10-20 years. This is why these results do not surprise me. My fear is that the press will get a hold of this research and publish more junk about how B vitamins and lowering homocsyteine has no benefit to the body. Don’t buy into this ignorant view! Homocysteine is likely one important factor in the progression and development of many diseases including heart disease and dementia. It is not the ONLY cause to these conditions. Keep homocysteine in a healthy 5-7 range and score one more point for optimal health.

Could adding more potassium really prolong your life?

This study goes one step further than most studies on potassium salt and focuses on its effect on risk of death due to cardiovascular events. The study included 1981 veteran participants and five veteran retirement home kitchens and lasted about 31 months. Participants were given either regular table salt or potassium-enriched salt. The participants who received potassium-enriched salt lived 0.3-0.9 years longer. Even more exciting is the fact that the veterans that received the potassium salt had better quality of life as represented by significantly less money spent in patient care related to heart health problem. The study effect was most likely due to the increase of potassium and a moderate decrease in sodium intakes. (Summary by: Kasia Kines, MS, CN, CNS, LDN a nutritionist at Your Prescription for Health)

Dr. Ray Hinish’s Comments:
This is a very interesting study because it is one of the first salt intervention studies to look at risk of death due to cardiovascular events after replacement of sodium salt with potassium salt. Here is the interesting point, compared to the sodium we get from prepared, caned and refined foods, table salt makes up the significant minority of sodium intake. This is what leads me to believe that the benefits of these results come from adding extra potassium rather than decrease daily intake of sodium. The Standard American Diet (SAD) contains much more sodium and far less potassium than nature intended. There is no doubt that we have too much sodium in our diet, however, we can not ignore the fact that our diet is also potassium deplete. In addition to using potassium salt, you should also get plenty of fruits and vegetables to help balance out the sodium/potassium levels in our diet. Low sodium tomato juice is a great source of potassium. You can even get a powdered tomato concentrate that mixes with water or juice to make up the difference.

They found out that from 19.5% to 79.9% of the women in the survey used complementary therapy at least once following their diagnoses. Majority of those therapies were used on a daily basis. 73.9% of the women surveyed had low commitment to complementary therapies and those were more likely to be older and less educated compared to the women with a moderate-to-high commitment. The study clearly points to the popularity and need of adding complementary therapies to the medical therapy during breast cancer treatment.(Summary by Kasia Kines, MS, CN, CNS, LDN. Kasia is a licensed nutritionist at Your Prescription for Health. She can be reached atkasia@illnessisoptional.com)

Dr. Ray Hinish’s Comments:

In my opinion this study does not demonstrate popularity of complementary medicine, it just shows that people are scattered in their commitment to whatever therapy they are pursuing. Whenever we speak to people challenged with cancer, we always say to them that whatever therapy you choose you need to be 100% behind it. You need to believe entirely in the treatment or when the going gets tough it will be easy for you to bail emotionally and spiritually. This study says to me that people are not behind either treatment and it is this scattered devotion that causes people to fail the challenge. When it comes to cancer we do not suggest an alternative approach, we suggest a complementary approach. This is only the case if you truly understand natural medicine and agree in the healing properties of natural products. You better believe that there are benefits to natural products in complementing conventional chemotherapy and radiation. The science is there, you just need to decide to learn about it.