I’ve never used a lot of cosmetics or skin care products. That’s probably because my father liked my mother and me to look fresh and natural. I grew up using just soap and water on my face, and occasionally a light lipstick. I would rub some lipstick on my cheeks to give my face a little color. The products I used were among the best quality ones I could find and afford. And they were always marked “natural.”

Now we’re learning that natural skin care products are not necessarily safe, especially for those people who are sensitive to them. In addition, some are downright toxic. That’s what Samantha discovered.

Two years ago, she developed painful blisters on her hands. After repeated trips to the dermatologist, her painful rash was diagnosed as a severe allergic reaction to parabens, a group of “safe” man-made preservatives that your skin readily absorbs. You can find parabens in many lotions, moisturizers, deodorants, shampoos, and cosmetics — even those with a high price tag, and even many that are sold in health food stores.

Samantha had been using the same high-quality moisturizer for decades. It happened to contain parabens. But they had never been a problem. And she had no idea that they might cause any in the future.

Then she started using a body wash that also contained parabens. The combination of these two products was enough to cause her severe reaction. When she stopped all products with parabens, her rash disappeared. And it doesn’t return as long as she stays away from parabens.

But that’s not the end of this story. In fact, it’s just the beginning. Last year, Samantha received bad news from her doctor. She had breast cancer. And a recent study suggests that it could have been caused by her exposure to parabens. That’s right! There may be a correlation between a paraben sensitivity and breast cancer.

This study on parabens came from the University of Reading in the UK. The researchers examined the breast tissues from 40 women who had mastectomies for breast cancer. They found that these tissues were full of parabens.
They looked for five different parabens in four tissue samples from four sites in the breast. All but one sample had at least one type. But get this — 60% of the tissues contained all five!

Now, these scientists are quick to explain that this association doesn’t prove that parabens either cause or contribute to breast cancer. But they can’t rule this possibility out, either. Especially since parabens mimic the action of estrogen. Estrogen, as you know, stimulates the growth of estrogen-dominant breast cancers. So while the dangers of parabens can’t be proven, they can’t be ruled out, either.

The question remains: can parabens accumulate intact in our bodies and, over time, have harmful estrogenic effects? This could include causing cancer or simply encouraging its growth. Since we don’t know, I believe it’s safest to avoid using them, especially over large areas of your body.

Why use preservatives?

Unfortunately, you can’t escape parabens and other man-made preservatives. After water, methyl and ethyl parabens are the most commonly used ingredients in cosmetics. Preservatives prevent body care products from growing fungi and other microbes. Cosmetics and skin care products are designed to have a long shelf life. No one wants to open a jar of moisturizer and find it’s moldy and spoiled. Parabens are among the most widely used preservatives because they’re inexpensive, odorless, and considered to be nontoxic.

There are dozens of chemicals in skin care products, as you can see by reading their labels. Avoid any products with the word “parabens.” You can find them in health food stores. Systemé 41 skin care products are free from parabens and other synthetic chemicals. You can get more information by calling 800-791-3446 or by visiting the website www.systeme41.com. I’ll have more on Systemé 41 in a future issue.

Other toxins in body care products

Recently, researchers have found high amounts of lead, a powerful neurotoxin that affects the brain, in more than 400 different lipsticks. In fact, one lipstick from L’Oreal (Maybelline Color Sensation) has 275 times more lead than the lip balm with the least amount of lead (Wet ‘n Wild Mega Mixers Lip Balm). Many of them contained twice as much lead as previously thought. And no amount of
lead is safe. None!

In spite of this, the FDA sees no harm from the miniscule amounts of lead in lipsticks. The problem is, all they’ve done is report the amount of lead in these products. They haven’t analyzed either lead’s safety or its health consequences.

While the FDA says there’s no problem with the lead in lipsticks, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disagrees. It is particularly concerned with exposure to pregnant women, because lead crosses the placenta and gets into the fetal brain where it can cause serious neurological and behavioral problems. Please tell all the pregnant women you know to avoid lipsticks containing lead.

A major problem with lead is that your body doesn’t excrete it. It accumulates in your tissues. This is why all of us should be using lead-free lipsticks or at least ones with a very low amount. You can check your favorite brands on-line at livelonger.hubpages.com. And you can find lead-free lipsticks on the Internet and in many stores. They may be quite expensive ($20 or more), or priced under $10. The less expensive lead-free lipsticks include Revlon’s Superlustrous Love That Red, The Body Shop’s Garnet, and Wet ‘n Wild lip balms.

Minimize your exposure and detoxify

The first step is to switch to a lipstick that’s lead-free. This is a good opportunity to get rid of old lipsticks that may contain harmful bacteria as well as lead. Next, remove any concentrations of lead from a lifetime of past usage.

Yes, this is possible.

In 2008, a Chinese study showed that 5 grams of modified citrus pectin (PectaSol) taken three times a day for three months reduced blood levels of lead in a group of children with toxic amounts of lead. This was an important study. It proved that you can remove lead safely and effectively with an oral supplement. Prior to this time, most doctors considered intravenous chelation therapy as the only effective means to remove lead. Now we know it’s not.

You can find PectaSol — the only form of modified citrus pectin that has sound scientific studies behind it — in several formulas at many health food stores. I like PectaSol Chelation Complex (PCC) the best because it contains alginates as well as pectin. Both bind to lead. PCC also removes other toxic heavy metals including arsenic and mercury. But it doesn’t remove beneficial metals like calcium and magnesium. You can order PCC by calling 800-791-3395.

Darbre, P.D. et al. “Concentrations of parabens in human breast tumors,” J Appl Toxicol, January-February 2004.

Darbre, P.D., et al. J Appl Toxicol January 2012.

Kearney, Christine. “Lead Levels In Lipstick Much Higher Than Previously Thought.” Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 15 February 2012. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241657.php

If You’re Taking This Supplement, Stop! It Won’t Cure Cancer and It Can Attack Your Brain

Years ago, there was a campaign by some supplement companies to promote shark cartilage pills to prevent and stop cancer. They based their campaign on the book Sharks Don’t Get Cancer. This sounded fishy to me from the start, and I never bought into the hype. There wasn’t good enough science to back up the claims that they were making. Just a good marketing slogan.

But plenty of people wanted to believe that this supplement could cure their cancer … or other diseases … so badly that they believed the allegations. So they started to take shark cartilage supplements. Some people still take them. If you do, stop immediately! They not only don’t stop cancer, it turns out that taking them could lead to Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS).

That’s because the aforementioned book based the alleged value of shark cartilage supplements on a faulty premise. It turns out that sharks do get cancer. What’s more, cancer in sharks is on the rise according to Shark Savers, a non-profit scientific organization. Like with humans, their cancers appear to be linked to environmental toxins and pollutants, which are also on the rise.

There are several reasons why you should avoid all supplements and foods made from sharks. Like other big fish, they are high in mercury. As you may know, this is a known toxin in any amount. But there’s an even more important reason: they contain BMAA, (Beta-Methylamino-L-Alanine) a neurotoxin linked to neurodegenerative diseases in people like ALS and Parkinson’s disease. The bacteria cyanobacteria produce it in water.

The UM Miami Brain Endowment Bank in Florida has one of the world’s largest collections of human brains that have had a wide range of neurological diseases. This organization published a study in 2009 showing that patients with Alzheimer’s disease and ALS had extremely high levels of BMAA in their brains. Healthy people had little to none.

But that’s not all they found. People who ate a particular food also had high quantities of BMAA in their brains. This food was shark fin soup.
Shark fin soup is an Asian delicacy.

It is so popular that fishermen kill or mutilate 70 million sharks each year to provide enough shark fins to meet the demand for this soup. This places sharks on the road to extinction. Instead, they are needed to remain on the top of the food chain to help maintain a balance in oceans around the world.

Recent legislation will change some of this. Many countries have outlawed fishing for shark fins. But it is a delicacy that attracts many around the world.
There are two reasons why I wanted to report this problem to you. First, to make sure you don’t use any products made from shark. And second, to show you the power of advertisements and the importance of reading scientific studies to make sure they’re well researched.

I realize that you may not have the time or interest to plow through scientific articles. That’s why I continue to do this for you. There’s good science and there’s bad science. And the good science behind shark foods and supplements indicates they’re more dangerous than beneficial. So avoid any products with shark, especially shark cartilage.

Kiyo Mondo, Neil Hammerschlag, Margaret Basile, John Pablo, Sandra A. Banack, Deborah C. Mash. “Cyanobacterial Neurotoxin β-N-Methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) in Shark Fins.” Marine Drugs, 2012; 10 (2): 509 DOI: 10.3390/md10020509.

Alzheimer’s Patients Improve With This Common Surgery

What would you say if I told you that there’s a simple surgical procedure that has been found to improve cognition in some people with mild Alzheimer’s
disease (AD)? And that this surgery can reduce or even prevent other early symptoms associated with this form of dementia — even though the medical community says there’s no way to stop Alzheimer’s.

Well, it looks like once again the medical community is wrong — or at the very least behind the times. Researchers have recently found several signs of improvement for a number of people with beginning dementia. All they needed to do was to have a simple surgery. In many cases this surgery also improved their vision, sleep, and mood. I’m talking about cataract surgery.

Even a slight improvement in an Alzheimer’s patient’s cognition is a major feat. And it’s one that a team of French researchers may have solved — at least
for a group of people who are in the early stages of this disease.

Until now, no one has looked at whether or not cataract surgery could be beneficial to people with early Alzheimer’s. For this study, researchers took a group of patients with mild dementia and at least one cataract and performed routine cataract surgery. The surgery involved complete cataract removal and lens implantation. All but one patient had a dramatic improvement in their vision. The researchers expected this.

But these researchers found other unexpected improvements. When the patients with AD had the cataract surgery, other symptoms of AD also improved. This included cognition, for example. Cognition in these study participants improved in 25% of the patients. This is huge!

And there were still other improvements.

Depression is common in people with AD, so a neuropsychologist on the research team evaluated the moods of study participants. He found improvements in their moods along with reduced depression three months after cataract surgery.

The benefits of cataract surgery for patients with AD included an improvement in their sleep patterns. Past studies may explain this phenomenon. They have shown that when they remove cataracts, melatonin — the sleep-regulating hormone — normalizes.

It looks like there are numerous benefits associated with Alzheimer’s patients when they improve their vision. The problem is that not many ophthalmologists are looking at the connection between mild Alzheimer’s and cataract surgery. It’s time they do.

If you, or someone in your life, have signs of early dementia, make an appointment with an ophthalmologist and discuss this connection to vision with him or her. Cataract surgery may not only improve your vision, it could reduce other symptoms of AD.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/236618.php.

Do You Forget Things When You Walk Into Another Room? Here’s Why...

Have you ever walked from one room to another with a very determined purpose in mind — only to completely forget why you came into the room? It happens to us all. And it’s easy to think you’re losing your mind or dementia is setting in. But the truth, according to a new study, is that it’s not dementia at all. In fact, your mind is working just fine.

This new study says there’s a very logical reason for the forgetfulness. Believe it or not, you can blame it on your doorway, not early dementia. You see, your brain works like a filing cabinet. When you walk through a doorway, your brain views the doorway as the door of a filing cabinet. So walking through the doorway causes your brain to file away current memories in compartmentalized folders and shuts the drawer.

This may sound crazy, but this study showed why it’s true. The researchers carried out three different experiments. They used real and virtual environments, with the latter simply giving the subjects an environment with computer simulation. In the experiments, the researchers had college students perform various memory tasks while walking across a room. Then they had them do the same memory tasks while walking through a doorway.

The first experiment used virtual environments. They did this on small screens to reduce how immersed the participants were in the environment. The researchers wanted to see if a smaller environment would affect their memory as much as a larger, real environment.

The researchers had the students move from one virtual room to another. In each room, they would pick up an object on a table. In the next room, they would put that object down and pick up another object on a different table. Then the researchers had them do the same task without walking through a doorway.
Amazingly, the students remembered more when they didn’t go through a doorway.

The researchers conducted the second experiment in a real environment. They had the participants pick objects from a real table and hide them in boxes. Then they had to move across a room or go through a doorway into another room. The distance walked was the same in both cases.

The results? Again, walking through doorways appeared to impair memory.
The results were so clear they suggest a strong association between memories and the environment where the memory originated. So all you have to do to regain the memory is to go back to the room you left, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.

The researchers’ third experiment tested this. They had the participants pick up an object in one room, then walk through several doorways. They would end up back in the same room where they picked up the object. The researchers said they didn’t find any improvement in the students’ memory. They believe this suggests the doorways serve as a filing cabinet door that files away the memory. And it takes more effort to open the cabinet than just returning to the original environment.

While you can’t stop your brain from filing away memories, it’s great to know that you’re not losing your memory when this happens. And, even better, you can reduce the amount of “extra effort” it takes to recall those memories. All you have to do is increase the number of neurotransmitters in your brain.

Neurotransmitters are like the wiring in your brain that enables some parts to communicate with other parts of your brain. If your brain files away a memory and you can’t communicate effectively with that part, that memory may be permanently filed. And, as we age, the number of neurotransmitters in our brain dwindles.

You can help increase the neurotransmitters in your brain with the right supplements. We designed Advanced Memory Formula to do just that.
You can read all about it at www.advancedbionutritionals.com.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/237974.php.

NUTRITION DETECTIVE

When Wine Causes Cancer

We’ve heard for years that one glass of red wine a day protects women from heart disease. Now a compilation of 44 studies with close to one million participants says this isn’t the whole story. Alcohol is not equally protective for everyone. What’s safe for one person may not be for another. Even this low level of consumption can increase your risk for other diseases.

One drink a day, while protective against death from heart disease, increases your risk of getting breast cancer, says Dr. Juergen Rehm. He’s the director at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). And he’s not alone in his observations.

The International Scientific Forum of Alcohol Research confirms Rehm’s findings. It found that women who drink alcohol have an increased risk of developing breast cancer. This is especially true of women who are taking hormones or who eat a diet low in folate. Folate, in the form of folic acid, is a B-vitamin high in green leafy vegetables.

What if you don’t drink daily, but occasionally party with your friends on a weekend? Does this binge drinking protect your heart? No. In fact, it has the opposite effect. If you have more than four drinks in a day — even once a month — it cancels out wine’s protective effects.

Instead of relying on alcohol to keep you healthy, Rehm suggests first looking at other risk factors and addressing them. Pay attention to any family history of cancer or heart disease and make protective lifestyle changes. These include reducing your weight, regular exercise, and stress reduction. Do these before reaching for a daily glass of wine.

Roerecke, Michael and Jürgen Rehm. “The cardioprotective association of average alcohol consumption and ischaemic heart disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” Addiction, 2012; DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03780.x.

LETTERS

Q: My doctor recently diagnosed me with osteoporosis. He then put me on Fosteum, which is supposed to be a natural drug with little or no side effects. I also take your bone support supplement. What do you think of this drug? — A.D., e-mail

A: Fosteum is a prescription drug made from natural nutrients. For instance, it contains genistein, which comes from soy, and zinc. Studies have shown that these ingredients can increase bone density and reduce its breakdown just like the non-prescription Ultimate Bone Support. They also may reduce hot flashes. And there are few side effects unless you’re seriously allergic to soy. That’s the good news.

The negatives begin with its cost. Fosteum is at least twice as expensive as Ultimate Bone Support (800-791-3395), which contains bone-building strontium (the safe form of strontium) along with other proven nutrients. The cheapest Fosteum is around $70/month through Canadian pharmacies. The drug sold in the U.S. is even more expensive.

If you take one bone supplement, I wouldn’t take others at the same time. There could be undesirable interactions between them. Speak with your pharmacist about this. I would begin by taking Ultimate Bone Support twice a day for a year before adding a more expensive product.

I don’t know Fosteum’s reputation, but I have heard from hundreds of women who have found Ultimate Bone Support worked for them. At half the price, I’d take it over Fosteum. In fact, I do.

Q: I have restless leg syndrome (RLS). Is there anything I can take that’s not a drug? — P.K., e-mail

A: RLS causes an uncontrollable urge to move your legs. These symptoms are usually worse at night and when you’re at rest. They are often relieved with movement. There are a couple of nutrient deficiencies that could explain your restless leg. By correcting one or both of them, you may find your RLS disappears.

First, check your iron levels. Most postmenopausal women avoid iron supplements because it produces free radicals, which can lead to heart disease or cancer. But our blood levels of iron drop by 50-60% at night — when RLS symptoms get worse. Studies show that the lower the ferritin, the more severe the RLS symptoms. So get a blood test for ferritin. If your levels are lower than 50 mcg/L, take 200 mg of ferrous sulfate three times a day for two months. A British study found this worked beautifully.

Stress can cause RLS by causing your body to excrete more magnesium. Magnesium causes all muscles to relax, so take magnesium to bowel tolerance (from 100-1000 mg/day). Calcium opposes magnesium. For this reason, you need to be taking more magnesium than calcium both in your diet and supplements. Limit dairy to one serving a day and include magnesium-rich foods, such as whole grains and leafy greens.

RLS can also be the side effect of some antidepressants. If you have RLS and are taking any medications for anxiety or depression, ask your pharmacist whether or not there could be a connection. Make these simple changes and you may not have to look any further for solutions to your restless legs.