What are the benefits of probiotics? They've certainly come a long way since I first began writing about them some 30 years ago. Back then, other than a few diehard fermented food proponents, there were just a handful of us in the alternative health community promoting the idea of probiotic supplements beyond eating yogurt, drinking kefir, and trying to figure out what to do with sauerkraut. Now, it's a different story. Everybody's talking about the benefits of probiotics. Probiotics are the "it" girl of the day. And like that supermodel who can be found on every magazine cover in the world--until she's replaced by the next "it" girl--it's hard to find any product that doesn't now have a probiotic enhanced version. There are probiotic: toothpastes1,gum2, flavored waters3, milk4, cookies, candies, and ice creams5, soap6, shampoo7.

You name it and companies are now "probiotisizing" it. How useful any of these products are is open to question; and the FDA, of course, has not approved probiotics for the treatment of any disease or condition. So in fact, most claims for the benefits of "probiotisized" products fall outside the law.8 Then again, just because some claims fall outside the law, doesn't mean they're necessarily untrue. But really, for the most part, isn't that the entire basis of alternative health: factual claims that are ahead of the law? So, despite the lack of support from the FDA and the FTC, it is pretty much known that probiotics offer a number of demonstrable benefits. For example:

Probiotics promote a healthy immune system and decrease the incidence of colds, allergies, and even eczema by boosting your immune system. For years I've been saying that beneficial bacteria in your intestinal tract are responsible for as much as 60-70% of your immune system function. Surprise! According to the latest estimates, I may have been understating the case. Some experts now claim that your beneficial bacteria may account for as much as 80-90% of your immune function. How is this possible? As it turns out, probiotics are multifaceted when it comes to your immune system. By lining every square inch of your intestinal tract, they not only provide a barrier to entry for many microorganisms that arrive with your food,9 they also directly kill many pathogens such as bad bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, and yeast. They also function as immunomodulators and produce a number of immune factors such as lactoferrin that directly boost your immune function as well as a number of B vitamins that offer nutritional support for your immune system. And finally, it is estimated that some 70% of your immune system cells reside within your colon in a layer of lymphoid tissue just below the surface epithelial cells. The net result is that studies have shown, for example, that probiotic supplements can significantly prevent recurrent streptococcal pharyngitis and/or tonsillitis in adults.10 Other studies, conducted in China, found that children aged 3 to 5 who were treated with two kinds of probiotics had a 53 percent lower rate of fevers, a 41 percent decrease in coughs, and a 28 percent decrease in runny noses. And antibiotic use was lowered by 84 percent in the children who were on the probiotics.11

About this Podcast

This week's podcast features an interview with Magdalena Vergeiner, daughter of theoretical meteorologist Dr. Ignaz Vergeiner. Magdalena currently works with the Austrian group AFAZ to translate Fairewinds website. Dr. Vergeiner was instrumental in demonstrating the extent of radiation spread from the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania. "If he had ever been asked, he would have been able to give the warning signs," Magdalena says. "I think industries don't want people to say what could happen and to warn people... they don't want an expert to interfere."


Download Podcast[ 18:37 ]

I have yet to meet a Physician that will sign this form now downloaded by hundreds of parents. The reason they won't sign is two-fold: First, they do not want to place themselves in a vulnerable position of being negligent for not providing informed consent to thousands of other parents; and second, many of them realize after their own extensive research that the risks far outweigh any benefits when it comes to vaccination.
It's been over a year since hundreds of parents have downloaded this form and there are still no reports of any signatures. Many physicians won't even look at the form while they dismiss a parent's anti-vaccination stance as ridiculous. The behavior is a clear indication of a very misinformed Physician who does not have his or her patient's best interests at heart. They are not willing to inform their patients of the risks, only the benefits they feel are acceptable. They are not open-minded to any other side of the debate except their own biased view passed down through the medical system.

Listen

In a letter published today in the nation's two most prestigious scientific journals - Science and Nature - bird flu researchers say they need to perform research on the H7N9 virus that would make it more dangerous.

The researchers say that's necessary in order to prepare for its possible spread between humans, perhaps as early as this winter.

The paper comes on the heels of a new study in the British Medical Journal that shows the first probable transmission between humans of the H7N9 virus.

Over the last year, I have been working on a new documentary called "Weed." The title "Weed" may sound cavalier, but the content is not.

I traveled around the world to interview medical leaders, experts, growers and patients. I spoke candidly to them, asking tough questions. What I found was stunning.

Long before I began this project, I had steadily reviewed the scientific literature on medical marijuana from the United States and thought it was fairly unimpressive. Reading these papers five years ago, it was hard to make a case for medicinal marijuana. I even wrote about this in a TIME magazine article, back in 2009, titled "Why I would Vote No on Pot."

Well, I am here to apologize.

There are many artificial chemicals believed to contribute to obesity. These chemicals are termed "obesogens" - foreign chemical compounds that can disrupt the normal function of the body and cause fat gain (1). They are found in various food containers, baby bottles, toys, plastics, cookware and cosmetics. Many of them are classified as Endocrine Disruptors - chemicals that can interfere with your hormones (2). These chemicals exert their effects by activating estrogen receptors, which can cause harmful effects in both females and males.

The estrogen receptor is "promiscuous" - meaning that it will bind to anything that looks even remotely like an estrogen (3). These substances have not only been linked to obesity, but also to birth defects, premature puberty in girls, demasculinization in men, breast cancer, and various other disorders.

Unfortunately, many of these effects happen in the womb. Pregnant women are exposed to these chemicals, which changes the epigenetic "programming" of the fetus, the child then being at a much greater risk of becoming obese later in life (4).

There are now 20 chemicals that have been identified as obesogens and it is beyond the scope of this article to cover all of them. However, I decided to cover those who I think are the most important. Here are 5 of these "obesogenic" chemicals, which are present in your home at this very moment.

Fort Wayne, Indiana - The Allen County Health Department is offering free school supplies to school-aged kids who receive an immunization at the health department for the rest of this week and next week.

The program, which is part of National Immunization Awareness Month, will provide supplies such as crayons, pencils, highlighters and jump drives, to each child who receives a vaccination.

Indiana requires all children to be current on vaccinations before they enroll in school to protect the health of all students.

So, what got me so into Functional Medicine? About 9 months after the birth of my first daughter, I was 7.5 months back to work at the hospital and in my private practice.

I was long back to my prepregnancy weight and loving motherhood, but I locked myself out of my office on several occasions, and had to, more than once, mail a cab driver a check because of a forgotten wallet (compassionate souls). One day, I stood at an ATM, at a total loss for what my PIN had ever been. I'd gone through an excessive amount of cocoa butter lotion that winter and remember trying to reassure myself about the tremendous and unrelenting hair loss.

On a routine physical, there it was, in black and white: Postpartum thyroiditis or Hashimito's with a TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) of 20 and antibodies in the thousands.

Having been robustly healthy my whole life, I was not about to sign up for lifelong treatment of a chronic disease. I went to a wonderful naturopath who reached out a hand and ushered me into the gentle, hopeful world of self-repair.

Four and a half years and one pregnancy later, I am prescription free with normal antibodies and optimal TSH...I'm allowed to brag because it required persistence and commitment to a new lifestyle, and I've never looked back. Here's a bit of what I've learned:

Abstract

Very-low-carbohydrate diets or ketogenic diets have been in use since the 1920s as a therapy for epilepsy and can, in some cases, completely remove the need for medication. From the 1960s onwards they have become widely known as one of the most common methods for obesity treatment. Recent work over the last decade or so has provided evidence of the therapeutic potential of ketogenic diets in many pathological conditions, such as diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, acne, neurological diseases, cancer and the amelioration of respiratory and cardiovascular disease risk factors. The possibility that modifying food intake can be useful for reducing or eliminating pharmaceutical methods of treatment, which are often lifelong with significant side effects, calls for serious investigation. This review revisits the meaning of physiological ketosis in the light of this evidence and considers possible mechanisms for the therapeutic actions of the ketogenic diet on different diseases. The present review also questions whether there are still some preconceived ideas about ketogenic diets, which may be presenting unnecessary barriers to their use as therapeutic tools in the physician's hand.

Keywords: ketogenic diet; cancer; diabetes; neurological diseases; obesity; cardiovascular diseases

In another sign of undue corporate influence, a new study has found widespread conflicts of interest by the people deciding whether food additives are determined to be "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) over the past 15 years.

The study was published on Wednesday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The team of researchers looked at 451 voluntary notices manufacturers sent the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 1997 and 2012 that vouch for the safety of a specific additive, such as caffeine or a sweetener. A GRAS determination means that there is "a reasonable certainty in the minds of competent scientists that the substance is not harmful under the intended conditions of use."

In none of those cases was the safety assessment made by an outside panel, the researchers report; rather, "financial conflicts of interest were ubiquitous in determinations that an additive to food was GRAS."

The researchers write that

22.4% of the safety assessments were made by an employee of an additive manufacturer, 13.3% by an employee of a consulting firm selected by the manufacturer, and 64.3% by an expert panel selected by either a consulting firm or the manufacturer.

"If the company makes the decisions or picks the people, there are a lot of possibilities for undue influence," said Thomas Neltner, lead author and director of Pew's food additives project.