A few months ago, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force announced new recommendations for mammograms. They based their recommendations on a re-evaluation of the tests’ risks vs. its benefits. These guidelines said that mammograms for women under 40 are unnecessary. They also said breast self-exams have no value in preventing mortality.

As you may have heard, these recommendations set off a firestorm of controversy. In the firestorm, people called mammograms everything from “lifesaving” to “cancer-promoting.” I’m sure they’ve done both. But what may be most important is for all of us to realize that mammograms aren’t the only diagnostic test available — nor even the most accurate.

In fact, I’ve found a simple, affordable test that accurately detects tiny lumps every time researchers have tested it. And it works in the comfort of your home. The manufacturer plans to release the test in this country in just two months, and I wanted you to hear about it here first.

During the recent mammography controversy, I stumbled upon a device that greatly enhances breast self-exams. It was developed in Italy and has been used throughout Europe. This device reduces friction, which in turn magnifies the palpation effect. This means that you can feel lumps as small as the size of a grain of sugar! These lumps are far smaller than those found in the annual breast exams performed by trained doctors and other health care professionals. And it’s more accurate than any self-exams you and I can perform with our bare hands.

I had heard that this device was available on the Internet. But when I researched it, I found this no longer was true — even though it had received FDA approval. So I looked further and spoke with the folks at Advanced Bionutritionals (AB). I asked them if there was any way we could import this device from the Italian company. There wasn’t. The many import requirements were prohibitive.

However, I wasn’t willing to give up. This device sounded like something all women would find helpful in detecting tiny breast lumps. It had several advantages over mammograms. For one thing, it uses no radiation. And we know that all radiation is carcinogenic and cumulative. Also, you can use it over and over for years without replacing it. It’s affordable, so thousands of women who may not be able to afford a mammogram can get it.

But didn’t the task force say self-exams were useless? Yes, they said breast self-exams are not effective enough screening to prevent mortality. But I believe this device changes all of that. Because it can detect tiny lumps long before they grow to a dangerous size, this test has tremendous value as a part of every woman’s breast health program!

How effective is it?

A group of Italian researchers recently tested this device. They divided over 100 women who either suspected or had previously detected breast lumps into two groups. One group used this medical device, while the other group used their bare hands. The women who used the device had a 100% detection rate as confirmed by mammography. The bare hands group detected less than 50% of their lumps.

In fact, the researchers said this device was 100% accurate in finding lumps as small as a grain of sugar! Added to other tests like annual exams from your doctor, mammograms and/or thermograms, this device deserves a place in routine breast-cancer screenings.

This device is available now

Fortunately, a device similar to the Italian model will soon be available in this country. The name of the device is Liv Aid. And I expect you will hear a lot about it. One of its biggest promoters will be the lovely Olivia Newton-John. I want you to be among some of the first women to hear about, and use, it.

Just like the Italian product — known as the Donna Glove — the Liv Aid is a soft, heart-shaped pad made from two layers of a strong, thin polyurethane film. Between two layers of film, this pad contains mineral oil. The mineral oil allows the upper plastic sheet to move easily while the lower sheet stays in place. It magnifies any lump and stops it from moving around while you’re pressing on your breast. The Liv Aid kit includes simple instructions so you don’t have to worry about using it accurately. It’s pretty much fool proof.

With the Liv Aid, you can perform effective breast self-exams at home whenever you like. That way, you can become aware of any minute changes. As you know, early detection is key in beating breast cancer. If you find any changes, report them to your doctor or nurse practitioner immediately.

Hormonal and weight changes are among the many factors that cause our breast tissues to become lumpy and swollen at various times throughout our lives. Most of us don’t know how our normal breast tissue feels. Or whether or not there are changes. This is important information to share with your doctor. So use the Liv Aid along with your annual checkup. And continue with your mammograms and/or thermograms. The Liv Aid is best used in addition to other screening methods, not instead of them.

I’ve discussed the pros and cons of mammograms and thermograms in past articles. You can read them in the articles available on my website: www.womenshealthletter.com.

Meanwhile, there’s nothing I’ve seen or heard of that’s safer and more effective than the Liv Aid. It should play a significant role in your breast health regimen.

How to get a Liv Aid

The Liv Aid will be available on June 1, 2010. To get one, simply go to the U.S. website, www.liv.com and follow its directions. If you don’t use a computer, they’re available — with help — at most libraries. While the Donna Glove can cost up to $60, this device carries a very affordable price tag of only $19.95 plus shipping and handling. And remember, it can last for years.

Meanwhile, if you just can’t wait, you may be able to get an earlier version through www.amazon.com. I understand they have a limited quantity and won’t get more, but you may find one there if you hurry.

As soon as I have information on ordering the Liv Aid by phone I’ll put a notice in this newsletter. Every woman should have access to this device — even if she isn’t computer-savvy.

This Drink Protects You From Stroke and Bone Loss — And You Can Triple Its Effectiveness With a Secret Ingredient

I’m always interested in finding low-cost ways to boost my health. And I’m doubly interested when studies find a dietary solution is effective. As you may know, studies often focus on how consuming high amounts of a single ingredient in a food holds the answer to better health, and it can be impossible to get enough in our diets. That’s when supplements are valuable.

Recently, however, I found three good studies indicating a common beverage can protect our brains and bones. You can get enough of its active ingredients in your diet. And what’s best of all, you can find it in every supermarket in the country.
It’s the most popular beverage in the world, and researchers are constantly discovering more of its healthful benefits. If you’re not already drinking it, I suggest you read this article thoroughly and add this drink to your daily diet. If it’s already part of your diet, I have great news for you. There’s something you can put in your drink that triples its effectiveness.

This valuable beverage is none other than tea.

The first study, conducted at UCLA and published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, followed nearly 200,000 people. They found that drinking tea can significantly reduce your risk for stroke. It didn’t matter whether or not the tea was green or black, but quantity did matter. The more tea a person drank, the greater the protection. This doesn’t mean you need to drink tea day and night. But this study did find that drinking three cups of tea a day can reduce your risk of stroke by 21%.

Just what is it in tea that can prevent strokes? No one knows. It could be the antioxidant EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) or the amino acid theanine. Or both. Some researchers are betting on theanine. Your body can absorb nearly 100% of the nutrient. And it gets through the blood-brain barrier, so it can really help your brain. Time, and science, will tell. Meanwhile, it may be smart to switch from a coffee break to a tea break.

It builds your bones naturally

Another study out of Hong Kong found for the first time that a chemical found in green tea may actually improve your bone health. This chemical, EGC (galllocatechin gallate), stimulated bone growth by up to 79%! It also made bones stronger and slowed down bone breakdown. If you’re doing everything you can think of to protect your bones, it’s time for you to think “green tea.” A few cups a day could reduce your risk for osteoporosis. And since your body constantly breaks down bone and builds it up, drinking green tea may even reverse bone loss.

How you can triple its effectiveness

As I said earlier, many of the studies on the benefits of tea are dose-dependent. To get the desired results you need to drink many cups or buy supplements that may not contain the active ingredients in the right balance.

That’s why I was particularly interested in a study out of Purdue University that discovered it’s possible to triple your absorption of certain chemicals in green tea. These chemicals can fight such diseases as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes — as well as those mentioned in this article. All it takes is to add something to your tea. Something found in almost every kitchen.

When researchers at Purdue added ascorbic acid to green tea, it increased the amount of beneficial antioxidants your body absorbs into the bloodstream. The ascorbic acid could be in the form of lemon juice or some other citrus juice. Or you could drink a glass of orange juice along with your green tea if you prefer. Another approach would be to take your vitamin C supplement at the same time as you sip your morning cup of green tea.

You can already find ready-to-drink bottles of green tea with lemon in health food stores. But why pay the inflated prices of these drinks when you can simply add any form of vitamin C to an inexpensive cup of tea made in your home or office.

Since so many fruits, like pomegranate, are high in this vitamin, the combinations are endless. Instead of buying expensive drinks, just mix your own. It costs pennies, saves dollars, and can have a measurable effect on your health. Personally, I like to start my day with a cup of green tea and find it makes a good pick-me-up mid-afternoon without keeping me awake at night.
If preparing green tea with boosted nutrients just isn’t something you’re likely to do, you can take a few tablets of Green Tea Extract from Advanced Bionutritionals. It’s pure enough and strong enough to help support good bone health. For more information on this supplement, call 800-791-3395 to order.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/140000.php

Chun Hay Ko, Kit Man Lau, Wing Yee Choy, and Ping Chung Leung. “Effects of Tea Catechins, Epigallocatechin, Gallocatechin, and Gallocatechin Gallate, on Bone Metabolism,” J. Agric. Food Chem, 2009, 57 (16), pp 7293-7297.

Publication Date (Web): August 4, 2009.

Purdue University (2009, September 10). “Model Backs Green Tea and Lemon Claim, Lessens Need to Test Animals.” ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 11, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2009/09/090909151919.htm.

Turmeric Is Much More Than an Anti-inflammatory

Everyone’s talking about turmeric, an Indian root that contains a substance called curcumin. Turmeric is no stranger to fans of Indian foods. It’s the major ingredient in curry powder that gives it a distinctive taste and golden color. Herbalists in this country originally used turmeric to aid digestion.

But in India and Europe both turmeric and curcumin are known as anti-inflammatory substances. They use it instead of COX-inhibitor drugs like Celebrex and aspirin — pharmaceuticals with side effects not found in the root. A few companies in this country, including Advanced Bionutritionals, are now making anti-inflammatory supplements with turmeric.

This root, however, does much more.

As useful as they are to reduce inflammation and its accompanying pain, turmeric and curcumin have much wider applications. Now researchers are using curcumin to successfully fight cancer and dementia.

According to the results of these studies, if you are taking it for inflammation, curcumin already could be protecting you from much more than pain and swelling. If you’re concerned about getting cancer or losing your memory, curcumin may be just what you need.

Curcumin kills cancer

Can curcumin really fight cancer? So far, the results are promising. A team of British scientists recently discovered that curcumin not only killed esophageal cancer cells, it accomplished this within just 24 hours! In a recent laboratory study, curcumin both stopped cancer from progressing and also cured the cancer. And it did so through a different pathway than anyone had ever seen before.

Usually, cancer cells send signals to one another that result in their committing suicide. This is called apoptosis and it’s the most common pathway by which faulty cells, like cancer cells, die. In this study, however, cancer cells exposed to curcumin began to digest themselves.

Esophageal cancer rates have risen over the past few decades due to acid reflux, alcohol consumption, and obesity. We desperately need a solution. The next step for researchers is to develop a treatment for esophageal cancer using curcumin. You may not want to wait. Your next step may be to include turmeric or curcumin in your diet and supplements.

Curcumin and the brain

The researchers also wanted to know if curcumin could stop the dementia associated with Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Again, early results are promising.

Researchers at UCLA and UC Riverside found that a combination of curcumin and vitamin D3 caused macrophages, cells in the immune system that eat up waste products, to consume beta amyloid along with other waste products. Beta amyloids are cells that form the plaques that contribute to Alzheimer’s-associated dementia.

Synthetic curcumin was better absorbed and stable than natural curcumin. But the natural substances were effective in destroying beta amyloid in a majority of study participants.

Another team of scientists examined a protein found in our brains called alpha-synuclein. This protein collects in the brains of Parkinson’s disease patients. Researchers believe it contributes to dopamine-producing cells that can lead to the dementia associated with Parkinson’s.

But they found that curcumin blocks this pooling of alpha-synuclein in cell models of Parkinson’s. They tested curcumin on middle-aged fruit flies with alpha-synuclein and found that the flies could learn as well as young, normal flies. Now these researchers intend to test new treatments for dementia-associated symptoms of Parkinson’s.

A highly effective anti-inflammatory

Meanwhile, if you have any inflammatory condition, I suggest you try a formula with turmeric or curcumin, such as Reduloxin (800-791-3395). If you have any condition that ends in “itis,” it could reduce your pain considerably and protect you from more serious conditions as well.

If, on the other hand, you want to try larger doses of curcumin to see how it affects esophageal cancer or dementia, you’ll want to use EuroPharma’s Curamed. This supplement contains the equivalent of 4,000 mg of curcumin 95% extract, or 85,000 mg of turmeric. Two to three capsules is equal to the amount used in a number of these studies. You can order it at www.europharmausa.com or by calling 866 598-5487.

O’Sullivan-Coyne, G., G.C. O’Sullivan, T.R. O’Donovan, K. Piwocka, and S.L. McKenna. “Curcumin induces apoptosis-independent death in oesophageal cancer cells.” British Journal of Cancer, Published 28 October 2009.

Http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/157764.php.

Seugnet, L., J.E. Galvin, Y. Suzuki, L. Gottschalk, and P.J. Shaw. “Persistent short-term memory defects following sleep deprivation in a Drosophila model of Parkinson disease.” Sleep, August 1, 2009.

NUTRITION DETECTIVE

This Osteoporosis Drug Also Stops Breast Cancer — Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Take It

I’ve written before about the harmful jaw-disintegrating effects of bisphosphonates like Fosamax. And many of you have listened to me. Some of you have written thanking me for the information and have found other safer solutions. Not only can bisphosphonates cause jawbones to die, they can destroy bone tissue in other parts of the body.

Now two new studies concluded that bisphosphones may reduce breast cancer by about 30%. What this means is simple: some drugs have both beneficial and harmful effects. Fosamax and other bisphosphonates are in this category.

What should you do if you want to lower your risk for breast cancer and still protect your bones? First, don’t take drugs. You don’t get breast cancer because you have a drug deficiency. But you may have a nutrient or hormone deficiency. And I’ve given you dozens of other solutions in past newsletters, which are available on my website: www.womenshealthletter.com.

Here’s one reason why bisphosphonates lower breast cancer risk and what you can take instead. One of the authors of this suggests that bisphosphonates reduce angiogenesis – the production of blood vessels made by the body to feed cancer cells. This is just what PectaSol modified citrus pectin does. And it does so without the side effects. Modified citrus pectin is one of the ingredients in PectaSol Chelation Complex (PCC). It’s a much safer substance than Fosamax.

Another theory is that bisphosphonates stimulate immune cells that detect tumor cells. So does the mushroom blend, MycoPhyto Complex. Studies show it activates natural killer cells (NK). They are part of your immune system that detects tumor cells and causes them to be destroyed.

So, the news of bisphosphonates’ protective effects on breast cancer is true. But I still wouldn’t take them. PectaSol and Mycophyto are safer and effective.

LETTERS

Q: Why do you allow toxic stearates in your products? I’ve read that they are made by hydrogenating cottonseed oil, which has a high content of pesticide residue. In addition, concentrated doses suppress the action of T-cells and decrease absorption of nutrients. — R.L.S., PhD, e-mail

A: Much of what is being said about magnesium stearate is an unscientific interpretation of the literature. And, unfortunately, it’s rapidly becoming an urban myth. Human research has not demonstrated any adverse effect of magnesium stearate on the immune system, nor have any studies shown that magnesium stearate interferes with the absorption of nutrients.

Stearic acid is a fatty acid found naturally in beef and cocoa butter. This means it’s in the healthful dark chocolate, which is a beneficial food.

The daily consumption of stearic acid in the United States from food alone averages almost 7,000 mg per day. In comparison, a person who daily consumed 20 vitamin tablets or capsules weighing 1,000 mg each and containing a relatively high magnesium stearate concentration of 1.5%, would take in under 300 mg per day of stearic acid (and probably far less given that commercial magnesium stearate typically contains significant quantities of palmitic acid).

Even at this hypothetically very high level of consumption, supplemental intake of stearic acid would represent less than 5% of an average person’s daily consumption from dietary sources. Such a comparatively trivial level of stearic acid would have no adverse impact on immune function.

Q: I have dry eyes. My eye doctor told me to use preservative-free eye drops throughout the day. My eyes are getting more bloodshot over time. Do you have any solutions I can try? — G.H., e-mail

A: Before I can offer a solution, I need to know what’s causing your dry eyes. It could be something as simple as a hormonal imbalance, or it could be a sign of a more serious health problem, such as diabetes and lupus. Begin by getting a hormonal work-up to see whether that’s the cause of your problem. If it is, the right bio-identical hormones could solve your problem.

Dry eyes can also be a reaction from some medications. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about this possibility.

Your condition could also be a sign of inflammation. A natural formula like Reduloxin (800-791-3395) can reduce inflammation throughout your body — including your eyes. It’s worth a three-month trial, since we all tend to have inflammation somewhere in our bodies and the redness in your eyes is a sign of inflammation.

Other possible solutions for inflammation include drinking plenty of water and reducing your intake of sugar and other foods that feed inflammation. You can find more about inflammation in past articles on my website.

Omega-3 fats, such as fish oil and flax oil, help lubricate the mucous membrane in your eyes. And don’t forget vitamin A-rich foods. These include fish, eggs, and red fruits and vegetables.