Traditional Naturopath Podcast #53

The Traditional Naturopath Podcast – 53 – (11/19/11)
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Show Notes:
The unique nutritional properties of Mushrooms, an example: Why Government control of health issues is a recipe for failure: the EU declares water un-healthy! Orthomolecular doses of B vitamins halves the rate of brain srinkage in older people with MCI.

Orthomolecular Nutrition and Dementia

Reuters news service has reported that a study at Oxford University has determined that orthomolecular doses of B vitamins can cut in half the rate of brain srinkage in older people with memory problems. Scientists from Oxford University said their two-year clinical trial was the largest to date into the effect of B vitamins on so-called “mild cognitive impairment” – a major risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

“This is a very dramatic and striking result. It’s much more than we could have predicted,” said David Smith of Oxford’s department of pharmacology, who co-led the trial.

“It is our hope that this simple and safe treatment will delay development of Alzheimer’s in many people who suffer from mild memory problems.”

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) affects around 16 percent of people aged over 70 worldwide and is characterized by slight problems with memory loss, language or other mental functions.

The pills used during the study contained around 300 times the recommended daily intake of B12, four times daily advised folate levels and 15 times the recommended amount of B6.

These “mega-doses” of vitamins are similar to what Dr. Linus Pauling termed “orthomolecular nutrition” with regard to massive does of vitamin C for prevention of heart problems.

Smith and his colleagues conducted a two-year trial with 168 volunteers with MCI who were given either a vitamin pill containing very high doses of folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12, or a placebo dummy pill.

These B vitamins are known to control levels of an amino acid called homocysteine in the blood, and high blood levels of homocysteine are linked to an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

While further study is needed, this is a promising development in orthomolecular nutrition.

An Example: Why Government Control of Health Issues Is a Recipe for Failure

You know that I am all about personal freedom when it comes to healthcare. I stand for YOU being able to determine what is best for YOUR personal health. When a government (any government) steps in and says that they know best, it is always going to end badly! Governmental dictates are subject to lobbyists, and other political pressures, that usually mean that whatever they end up saying makes NO sense. Here’s a PERFECT example from the European Union (EU.) They have determined that, legally, water can no longer be considered a “cure” for dehydration! Say what?!?

EU SAYS WATER IS NOT HEALTHY

“THE EU was ridiculed last night after it took three years to issue a new rule that water cannot be sold as healthy.

In a scarcely believable ­ruling, a panel of experts threw out a claim that regular water consumption is the best way to rehydrate the body.

The bizarre diktat from Brussels has far-reaching implications for member states, including Britain, as no water sold in the EU can now claim to protect against dehydration.

Any producer breaching the order, signed by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, faces being jailed for up to two years. It took the 21 scientists on the panel three years of analysis into the link between water and dehydration to come to their extraordinary conclusion.

Last night the decision of the European Food Safety Authority’s panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies was labelled ‘beyond parody.’ Ukip’s deputy leader Paul Nuttall, who sits on the European Parliament’s Public Health Committee, said: ‘I had to read this four or five times before I believed it.’

‘It is a perfect example of what the EU does best and makes the bendy banana law look positively sane.’

Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: ‘The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are, highly paid, highly pensioned officials trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true.’

‘If ever there were an episode which demonstrates the folly of the great European project then this is it.’

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: ‘Of course water hydrates. While we support the EU in preventing false claims about commercial products, we need to exercise common sense as far as possible.’

German professors Dr. Moritz Hagenmeyer and Dr. Andreas Hahn, of the Institute for Food Science and Human Nutrition at Hanover Leibniz University, applied for approval for the seemingly uncontentious claim that ‘regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce the risk of development of dehydration.’ However, bureaucrats refused to back them.

After a meeting in Italy a delegation of scientists concluded that reduced water content in the body was a symptom of dehydration rather than a risk factor that drinking water could control. Now their verdict has been turned into a regulation that will become UK law by December 6 and is bound to send shockwaves through the soft drinks industry.”

When I first heard this announced on the radio news on the way to work, I thought it was a joke. But no, “serious” politicians and bureaucrats ruled that water was not an aid to dehydration. Can you imagine warning labels to that effect on bottled water? How long will it be before the uS government does the same thing? The bottom line? Do not trust a politician or bureaucrat with YOUR health!