Many New Zealanders start their day with a nutritious breakfast and a nutritional supplement or two for good measure.  While multivitamin and mineral tablets are a useful way of covering all the nutritional bases, specific nutrient therapy has  has much to offer in restoring balance to a frayed or depressed nervous system.

It is widespread knowledge that omega-3 essential fatty acids offer health giving benefits to the heart and cardiovascular system.   What is less widely known is their positive therapeutic effect in both the prevention and treatment of anxiety and depression.   EPA and DHA are components of the naturally occurring Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil.  Both EPA and DHA  are essential for healthy function of neurons, and low DHA levels are associated with accentuated stress response in the brain and nervous system, along with low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. This is important as depression is sometimes rather simplistically referred to as a “serotonin deficiency” syndrome. 

Depressed people often have lower than average levels of omega-3 content in their blood, and supplementing with high doses of fish oil frequently reduces depression and anxiety symptoms, even in people already using antidepressants.  Patients unresponsive to treatment with SSRI’s  often respond to the drugs when  omega-3′s and folate (a B vitamin) were added to their drug regime.  Women suffering from aggression and hostility related to Borderline Personality Disorder have been shown to have a marked decrease in mood reactivity when supplemented with 1g of EPA daily.  As little as 1000mg of fish oil a day can reduce symptoms of sadness, anxiety and insomnia in depressed people.

With the obsessive media emphasis on boosting dietary calcium intake, it’s not surprising that one of our most common mineral deficiencies escapes unnoticed. Australian studies found the daily intake of magnesium to be below the RDI for 50% of males tested, and 39% of women. Magnesium is found in grains and vegetables (and dairy products), but only when they are grown in magnesium rich soils.  Depleted soils, combined with food processing and a low intake of leafy green vegetables leads to magnesium deficiency.  Then there’s the magnesium depleting effects of the nightly glasses of wine, sipped to calm jangled nerves.  Stress stimulates the production of stress hormones which increase the amount of magnesium we flush down the toilet every time we pass water.  In a “catch-22” cycle, the resulting magnesium deficiency then causes an exaggerated release of these same stress hormones.   Have you ever sat in front of your computer screen and noticed an annoying rapidly twitching muscles in your eye lid?  Or woken at night with a leg in the vice like grip of cramp?  Other symptoms of low magnesium levels include depression, anxiety, restlessness, irritability, PMS, menstrual cramps and insomnia.

While magnesium supplements have been shown to decrease anxiety and depression, the results are even more dramatic when combined with B complex nutrients, especially vitamins B6 and folate. Boosting B vitamins can have a direct effect on the availability of important neurotransmitters in the brain, such as serotonin, norephinephrine and dopamine – the brain chemicals involved with regulation of mood.

5-HTP and SAM-e are two of the supplements supreme when it comes to the nutritional  treatment of depression and anxiety.  5-HTP is a natural derivative from an amino acid, and is a metabolic precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin, vital for normal mood regulation.  Some studies have shown 50mg a day of 5-HTP to be as effective or better than the SSRI antidepressant Fluoxatine, with no negative side effects.  5-HTP works like SSRI drugs which increase the availability of serotonin in the junctions between brain neurons, by blocking the cell’s re-uptake.  Unlike SSRI’s 5-HTP also increases the availability of norepinephrine, which increases energy and alertness and dopamine, which increases the feelings of wellbeing.

SAM-e or S-adenosylmethionine is a molecule found naturally occurring in the body, but notably lower in people suffering from mood disorders.  There have been 40 mostly European studies involving 1400 depressed patients, that generally show SAM-e to elevate mood within a matter of days, with virtually no side effects.  The typical supplemental dose is 400mg twice daily, which has been increased to 1600mg a day in a number of studies.  A 1994  analysis of existing studies, done at the University of Rome concluded “the efficacy of SAM-e in treating depressive syndromes and disorders is superior to that of placebo and comparable to that of standard tricyclic antidepressants.  Since SAM-e is a naturally occurring compound with relatively few side-effects, it is a potentially important treatment for depression”.

A final note of caution.  If you are already taking antidepressant drugs do not stop or change your medication without medical supervision.  To obtain maximum benefit from clinical nutrition in the treatment of anxiety or depression, work with a health professional trained in clinical nutrition

24 hours a day, 7 days a week our senses are bombarded with images and sounds of  a world  fraught with difficulty.  Twenty four hour a day television, radio and the internet  crash their way relentlessly into our private worlds,  bringing us visions of terror, death and despair from around the globe. It is hardly surprising that depression and anxiety disorders haunt us in ever increasing numbers.  While cancer and diabetes grab the headlines, it is depression which fifteen years from now is projected to become the second most common cause of disability for all ages and both sexes, worldwide.   In any given year, nearly ten percent of the western world suffer from depression, with women at almost double the risk of men.  Between the ages of 18 and 24, depression is our leading cause of premature death and disability.

The treatment of  depression and anxiety disorders invariably centres on pharmaceutical medications such as antidepressants and tranquilisers.  Often, but not always, adjunctive psychotherapy or counselling is used.  While antidepressants are one of the most widely prescribed classes of medication, their efficacy and dangers remain a subject of scientific debate.  Some studies indicate their effectiveness to be no greater than placebo. The most widely prescribed antidepressant, Fluoxetine Hydrochloride (Prozac)  belongs to a group of drugs known as SSRI’s.  Treatment with Fluoxetine has been shown to produce a 50% improvement in symptoms in only 38% of those who start treatment, and in only 56% of those who complete a full course.  Discontinuation rates are high with 27 out of 100 patients receiving a SSRI during a six week trial stopping treatment because of side effects.  Of late debate has centred on research indicating an increased risk of suicide amongst antidepressant users, especially young people and children.

While antidepressants are often credited with potentially lifesaving therapeutic effects, lifestyle and dietary changes and clinical nutrition offer huge therapeutic benefits to  many depressed or anxious people.  Whether your tablet of choice is an antidepressant, a herb or a nutritional supplement, simply swallowing a pill without addressing the bigger picture of your life, is nothing more than a short term “bandaid”. Seventy percent of people who are prescribed antidepressant therapy experience a relapse at a future date  once off their medication.  For most people resolving emotional issues or addressing areas of chronic conflict in their life is an important part of long term recovery.  Daily living practices also need to come under the microscope.  If you’re running on empty, with little sleep, a poor work/life balance, no times of joy and relaxation, few close nurturing personal relationships and friendships, and no time for exercise, you’re a walking prescription for anxiety and depression.  Simply swallowing a pill without also addressing the bigger picture of your life may well prove to be a futile act of self delusion.

Many New Zealanders start their day with a nutritious breakfast and a nutritional supplement or two for good measure.  While multivitamin and mineral tablets are a useful way of covering all the nutritional bases, specific nutrient therapy has  has much to offer in restoring balance to a frayed or depressed nervous system.

(part one of a two part blog)

While supplementing with fish oil often doesn’t produce huge changes in total or LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, it works in a myriad of powerful ways to safeguard cardiovascular health.

In April 2005 the Archives of Internal Medicine published a review looking at the effects of various cholesterol lowering drugs, on overall mortality, and also death from cardiovascular disease in particular.  Researchers looked at 97 different trials, involving almost 140,000 treatment subjects, and just as many controls.  In other words, this was a significant analysis!

Researchers were interested in seeing the individual protective cardiovascular effects of using statins; fibrates or resins (all drugs used to lower cholesterol): dietary change; and supplementation with fish oil.

They found that fibrates showed no protective effect in terms of overall mortality.  Diet, resins and niacin all appeared to provide insignificant benefits (that really surprises me… diet showed no benefit?). It was the statins and the fish oil that came out tops in terms of lowering both overall mortality (from all causes), and the risk of cardiovascular related death.  And which intervention stole the title of most powerful cardiovascular protector?  Contrary to what you may have expected, it was fish oil that came out on top. 

Statin use lowered overall mortality by 13%, while fish oil achieved a 23% decrease.  What about the effect specifically on cardiovascular mortality?  Again, fish oil was the most powerful intervention, with a 32% decrease in mortality, compared with the 23% seen with statin use.

The take home message from this analysis, is that simply seeing lower numbers on a cholesterol test, is not the full picture when it comes to lowering cardiovascular risk.   Fish oil only reduces total cholesterol levels by a puny 2%, compared with a 20% reduction with statin use.  But preventing a heart attack or stroke is a lot more complex than simply lowering cholesterol levels. 

Fish oil, works to protect your cardiovascular health by reducing the likelihood of heart arrhythmias (irregular or rapid beats);  preventing blood clots by making your blood less sticky; and reducing inflammation in the blood vessels.  There are many studies which demonstrate that it’s not so much the presence of cholesterol in the arteries that increases your risk… it’s when that cholesterol becomes oxidized by free radicals, leading to arterial inflammation that your troubles start.  Fish oil works powerfully to preventing this cardiovascular inflammation.  As little as 2000mg a day of high purity fish oil confers these cardiovascular health benefits.

Reflux, indigestion, heartburn… whatever you want to call it, it’s a huge pain in the gullet.  It’s also an incredibly common problem plaguing millions of us.  Rather than cut out the coffee, alcohol, rich foods and overeating that contribute to the problem, it’s so much easier to reach for a pill.  And that’s exactly what millions do each day. 

Proton pump inhibitors (PPI’s) are one of the most widely used class of drugs for reflux and stomach ulcer pain.  They include drugs such as Nexium, Prilosec and Prevacid.  In many western countries PPI’s are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs, and in America alone, 2009 sales reached   $13.6 billion.

When your stomach and chest feel like they’re about to burst into flames, do these drugs work?  Yes… they give fairly rapid relief, and prevent ongoing acute episodes of heartburn.  What many don’t realize though, is that these drugs come with some very real side effects and risks.

PPI’s bring their sweet relief by suppressing your stomach production of hydrochloric acid, needed to digest food. Tinkering with stomach acid can lead to some unexpected outcomes, one of which is an increased risk of a really nasty intestinal infection from the bacteria Clostridium difficile.  For some this hard to treat infection will just cause a major case of diarrhea.  For others the outcome may be the surgical removal the colon, or death.

Then there’s the problem of snapping bones with long term or high dose use of PPI’s.  The FDA have just issued a warning that these drugs increase your risk of fracturing your hip, wrist or spine.  The research behind the warning stretches way back to 2007 when a large study demonstrated that those using PPI’s for a year increased their risk of hip fracture by a whopping 44%.

Why?  Because these drugs reduce hydrochloric acid in the stomach, making it difficult to absorb calcium.

So rather than rely on months or years of these drugs to control your digestive problems, try taking some proactive steps yourself.  Cut out all the foods known to trigger reflux – tomato, citrus, chocolate, tea, coffee, alcohol and spicy foods are top of the list.  Cut down your portion size, and start to actually chew your food before you swallow.  Avoid drinking anything for a half hour before or after your meals.  If you’ve still got a problem try a course of high potency quality probiotics for a month to six weeks, and augment with digestive enzymes if needed. 

Lynda Wharton is a registered acupuncturist and naturopath specializing in woman’s health issues.  She is also a widely published columnist and author.  Her latest book “Wellbeing” is available at www.lyndawharton.com

Now, courtesy of Allergan, we have a new designer drug that could make mascara excess a thing of the past. Why then, am I not jumping for joy at the prospect of an end to the teenage mascara wars? Because, we’re talking a drug… a powerful drug, with side effects (some of them still not know), to grow a thick, luxurious crop of eyelashes. I say, give me the mascara any day.

Allergans drug, Latisse was originally formulated to be a treatment for the eye disease glaucoma. The fact that it causes a thick crop of eyelash hair was observed simply as a side effect to begin with. Allergan quickly twigged to the fact that this side effect could itself allow marketing which could see Latisse stowed in every makeup bag alongside the lip gloss and blusher. With the gorgeous Brook Shields as front person, Latisse has quickly attracted teens and 20 something’s as its biggest fans, despite its $120 a month price tag.

There is no doubt that Latisse works, and very quickly you or your teenage daughter can become the proud new owners of a set of lashes to turn daisy the cow green with envy. Trouble is, all the other stuff that comes along with the lashes to die for. How about hair growing in strange places on your cheeks; or ingrown eyelashes; or eyelashes growing to weird lengths? What about permanently darkened, browned eye lids, or weirder still, how about changing your beautiful blue or green eyes to a permanent shade of brown?
Yes, Latisse actually causes eye colour to change.

Then there’s the “per orbital fat atrophy”. That just means that the fat around your eye sockets simply disappears, giving you a very caved in, or carved out appearance around your eyes. But wait, there’s more…. Lattise can make your eyes red and irritated, cause inflammation (uveitis); swelling of the macular; cataracts and vision problems.

While all of these “side effects” are potentially problematic, the most concerning of all may be the effect of changing eye colour to brown. The truth is that the long term ramifications of this are completely unknown. The pigment granules in the eye that are changed by Latisse, are involved in the routing of the optic nerves, as well as the protection of the eye from free radical damage, protein breakdown.

In common with many other pharmaceutical drugs on the market, Lattise will be purchased and used (long term) by young women who themselves will become the guinea pigs used to discover the long term consequences and side effects of the drug.

So for me and mine, it looks like the mascara wars are here to stay, and Latisse will not be coming to live in a make up bag anywhere near this house.

To your good health

Lynda Wharton
www.lyndawharton.com

Recently a large review looked at the efficacy of flu vaccine trials from around the world. Called the Cochrane review, this study aimed at establishing the efficacy of flu vaccination for healthy people under the age of 60, as well as looking at adverse effects.

They looked at 25 clinical trials (all written up in medical journals) in which healthy people aged 14 to 60 received either the flu vaccine or a placebo. In total the trials involved nearly 60,000 participants. The Cochrane reviewers concluded that flu vaccines are effective in reducing influenza A and B, but they do not work against the overwhelming majority of “Influenza Like Illness” that most people experience in the winter, mistakenly believing that they have “the flu”. In truth the reduction of genuine flu cases amongst the immunised group was a modest 6% compared with the incidence in un-immunised subjects.

They also found that the flu vaccine did not reduce the number of working days lost, or reduce the incidence of flu-related complications, deaths or hospitalisations. In fact, study authors stated

“we could not correlate increasing vaccination coverage after 1980 with declining mortality rates in any age group”.

A 2005 review in the Archives of Internal Medicine, based on 14 high quality trials also concluded:

“we recorded no convincing evidence that vaccines can reduce mortality, hospital admissions, serious complications and community transmission of influenza.. Vaccinated babies suffered no fewer ear infections, bronchitis or hospital admissions when compared with unvaccinated babies.”

So, if that leaves you a little bewildered and unsure of how to reduce your risk of flu this winter, some very new Japanese research offers you an exciting, safe and highly effective alternative.

Doctors at the Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, have just completed trials looking at the effect of vitamin D on children’s resistance to the flu. They discovered that supplementing with vitamin D, also known as the “sunshine vitamin”, reduced a child’s risk of contracting the flu, by an enormous 50%. Only one in ten children aged 6 to 15, taking vitamin D in the trial came down with the flu compared with 1 in 5 children taking a “dummy” or placebo pill. Some children were already taking vitamin D supplements from their parents, outside of the trial. When these children were left out of the comparison between supplemented and unsupplemented children, taking vitamin D was then shown to reduce the risk of flu to a third of what it would otherwise be. Interestingly, vitamin D was found to protect against influenza A virus (such as swine flu, H1N1), but not against the less common Influenza B virus.

The children receiving vitamin D were given 1200iu a day for three months. In the first month of the trial, they were just as likely to contract the flu as the placebo group. By month two, when blood vitamin D levels were rising, the difference between the supplemented and un-supplemented groups became evident.

This research is just one of a growing number of studies showing how vital optimum vitamin D levels are for maintaining a healthy and effective immune system.

While this particular study showed the benefits for children, it’s not just children who reap rewards from supplementing with vitamin D – adults, the elderly and pregnant woman all show similar health benefits with vitamin D supplementation.

If you would like to find out about quality, liquid vitamin D supplements for the health of your family over winter, contact me at

lynda@lyndawharton.com

And what of the 47 deaths in other parts of the world, which have occurred in the days or weeks following Gardasil vaccine? Apparently,  they are coincidental, and impossible to connect with the vaccine. 

 
As a health practitioner, writer and health researcher who has followed the Gardasil campaign with growing concern, I strongly believe women should make an INFORMED choice whether or not to vaccinate themselves or their daughters with this vaccine.  That means knowing a whole lot more than the smooth PR patter dished out in the consent forms finding their way home in backpacks around the land.

Putting aside the issue of whether or not this vaccine will ultimately prove effective in preventing cervical cancer, let’s take a look simply at the safety profile of this drug.

In America the Gardasil campaign has been running much longer than in New Zealand, and much larger numbers of women have been vaccinated, so it’s worth looking at their experience. 

 
Adverse effects from vaccines are reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System or VAERS.   It’s worth noting that it’s estimated that somewhere between 1 and 10% of vaccine adverse reactions are actually reported to VAERS.  To date, VAERS has received over 16,000 Gardasil related reports, including 47 deaths. 

Blood clots seem to figure highly in the post vaccine deaths, over half of them in the first week following vaccination.  While we are assured that these deaths are not associated with Gardasil, and merely coincidental, it’s hard not to question this reassurance when you read the details of the dead women. 

How often do healthy, strong, fit 11 and 12 year olds suddenly die of a blood clot?  These are girls with no pre-existing health conditions… not on the pill, and not smoking…. Suddenly dying from a blood clot?  It’s virtually unheard of…. Until Gardasil arrived on the scene.

 
I have been fascinated with the results of a new study by the National Vaccine Information Centre.  This American organisation accessed all the VAERS data for Gardasil and another vaccine called Menactra (a meningitis vaccine), which is administered to girls (and boys) in the same age bracket as Gardasil, through school vaccination programs.   If, as we are told, the faintings, neurological and cardiovascular symptoms we’re seeing after Gardasil vaccine, are merely coincidental, then it follows that we would see roughly the same incidence of VAERS reports with Menactra, as with Gardasil…. Right? 

 
WRONG. 

 
Compared with reported incidents after Menactra vaccination, Gardasil vaccination resulted in:

*twice as many emergency room visits

*seven times as many “disabled” reports

*five times more “did not recover” reports

*four times more deaths

*twenty three times more blood clots (none associated with Menectra)

*four times as many cardiac arrest reports

*six times as many fainting reports

*fifteen times as many strokes

*thirty three times as many thrombosis reports

 
It is highly unusual for there to be such a big discrepancy between two vaccines used in the same population, involving serious and relatively rare life threatening adverse events.  Based on their research the National Vaccine Information Centre has warned that Gardasil appears to be highly reactive.  They have asked for federal health agencies to inform physicians and parents about serious health problems associated with the new vaccine.

Do not be panicked into believing that cervical cancer will kill your daughter if she doesn’t have this vaccine.  The truth is that the incidence of cervical cancer is greatly in the decline in the west, and even before Gardasil, cervical cancer was a largely preventable disease.  This is usually a very slow growing cancer which can be readily detected and treated at its “pre-cancerous” stage through a standard pap smear. 

In countries which introduced routine pap smears in the 1950’s there has been a 75% reduction in the incidence of cervical cancer up until 1992.  Since then cervical cancer rates have continued to decline by almost 4% annually.  In countries with a high screening rate, cervical cancer accounts for less than 1 to 2% of all diagnosed cancer.

 
In New Zealand around 160 cases are diagnosed annually, with a death rate of around 60 women per year. (that’s about 2.5 cases per 100,000 women).  Most of these women would have lived if their cancer had been caught in the early precancer stages, through regular pap smears.  While it’s true that occasionally extremely aggressive cervical cancer can grow and kill in the two to three year gap between smears, this is rare.  Remember too that we already know the ways in which our daughters can protect themselves from cervical cancer. These include:

 
*having regular pap smears once they become sexually active

*Being a non-smoker

*practicing safe sex using condoms

*limiting the number of sexual partners

*eating a nutritious diet containing plenty of antioxidants, folate and selenium.

So when you open your daughters backpack and the glossy consent form falls out, pause a while… a long while, to consider your options.  This is an important decision.  Why not make it your job to ensure that if you sign on the dotted line, it truly is an INFORMED consent, based not just on the glossy PR schmooze, but a carefully considered look at both sides of the Gardasil debate. 

Remember too, that you have the option of watchful waiting; delaying your decision to vaccinate, while listening a little longer to the growing tide of concern from women, women’s health advocates, scientists, researchers and doctors from around the world.

 
Lynda Wharton is a health researcher, writer and natural health practitioner with a special interest in women’s health.  She is the author of three women’s health books including “Wellbeing” by Harper Collins.

More at www.lyndawharton.com