Last month, I talked about the effects of melatonin on your sleep patterns and health. I explained how exposure to artificial light at night from your TV, computer, or iPad could put you at an increased risk for diabetes, cancer, and obesity. And I told you of some ways you can safely use these electronic devices without lowering your levels of melatonin.

This information about electronic devices and melatonin is relatively new. But melatonin has a healing ability that might surprise you. Researchers are discovering that specific amounts of this hormone can reduce the pain and anxiety that often accompanies abdominal surgery. You can speak with your doctor and anesthesiologist and ask them to replace drugs that have side effects with melatonin, which is safer and works just as well.

The key is to take the right amount of melatonin at the right times.

You may want to begin by reading last month’s article to make sure you’re not inadvertently depleting your body of melatonin by exposing yourself to artificial light at night. Next, look at some of melatonin’s many uses and see if it might be an appropriate natural solution if you’re about to go under the knife.

Melatonin is a natural hormone produced in the pineal gland and intestines. It’s a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, and relaxes the small muscles in the GI tract.

There are three ways that melatonin can be useful for anyone having abdominal surgery like an appendectomy, C-section, hernia, gallbladder surgery, or hysterectomy. Melatonin reduces anxiety, lessens pain, and prevents cognitive impairment. It also helps reduce the feelings of being disoriented and not knowing where you are that often occurs after surgery, especially as you age.
Who isn’t anxious the night before a major surgery? I certainly would be. But that doesn’t mean you need to take an anti-anxiolytic drug. You don’t have to feel anxious or risk the side effects from drugs like benzodiazepines. Instead of taking an anti-anxiety medication like Versed, you could take oral melatonin the night before your surgery – and again one hour before your surgery. The amount used in most of the studies is 6 mg twice a day. By comparison, the amount of melatonin used for sleep disorders is from 1 to 3 mg before bed.

Versed and other pharmaceutical medications have another disadvantage. They can cause excessive sedation, making you groggy and unstable. This puts you at an added risk for a fall. Melatonin, on the other hand, increases the amount of time you are able to sleep and gives you a deeper, more restful sleep. Studies showed that the drugs left patients more sedated than necessary and less stable than melatonin even days after surgery.

But that’s not all.

A number of drugs commonly used in anesthesia have been found to lower melatonin secretion. In addition to benzodiazepines, these drugs include anti-inflammatory NSAIDS, steroids, and beta-blockers. The difference between melatonin and benzodiazepines is that melatonin doesn’t cause the side effects that can occur with these drugs. This includes aggressive behavior and uncontrollable crying. If you’re taking any pharmaceuticals, check with your pharmacist to make sure they have no negative interactions.

There’s plenty of good research to support the use of melatonin before and after abdominal surgery. In one, researchers tested melatonin against clonidine, a drug used to lower blood pressure. It is known that anxiety makes it more difficult to control pain after surgery. So these researchers conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study with 59 women prior to having a hysterectomy to see which worked best to reduce pain:
melatonin, clonidine, or morphine. Both melatonin and clonidine were effective. Both reduced the necessity for morphine use by 30%. So why take a drug that
can have side effects if a safer substitute is available?

One of the problems with anesthetics is that they can cause postoperative delirium, especially in older patients. I’ve experienced this, and so have some of my patients. This state of confusion can last for a day or two or for weeks. In one study, melatonin was found to eliminate this mental fog in 58% of patients.
PectaSol Detox Formula (800-791-3395) can also remove this fuzziness if you didn’t use melatonin before your surgery. Two capsules taken twice a day is usually enough to restore mental clarity.

The bottom line is that when you take melatonin before and after abdominal surgery, it can make a painful, frightening event more bearable. The key is to take the amount used in studies at the right times. And don’t forget to drink lots of water to flush out the toxins.

Caumo W1, Levandovski R, Hidalgo MP. “Preoperative anxiolytic effect of melatonin and clonidine on postoperative pain and morphine consumption in patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomy: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study,” J Pain. 2009 January;10(1):100-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2008.08.007. Epub 2008 November 17.

“The role of melatonin in anesthesia and critical care,” Indian J Anaesth. 2013 March;57(2):137-44. doi: 10.4103/0019-5049.111837.

How Much Protein Should You Eat to Live Longer and Healthier?

There’s a great deal of confusion surrounding the composition of our diets. Experts constantly argue which is best for health and longevity. Among these is a high protein diet vs a low protein diet. It may surprise you to learn that the best amount of protein you should eat for maximum benefits depends on your age.

New research from Purdue University found that older people need fewer calories than they did when they were younger. The problem is that this is when they also need more protein. The added protein is to retain muscle, and we all lose some muscle as we age. When we do, we become weaker and less able to live as independently as we have in the past. We also become more vulnerable to falls. Eating enough of the right kind of protein in our later years without eating a high-caloric diet is the key.

But what’s enough?

For the past 50 years, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has recommended that we eat 0.36 grams of protein for each pound of body weight. This means that women who weigh around 130 pounds should have a baseline of 46 grams of protein a day. But current research suggests that this isn’t enough. We need more as we get older. Fewer total calories and more protein.

How much more? This study out of Purdue University suggests that older women – women over the age of 70 – would benefit from eating 29% more protein than we’ve been told in the past. That formula may work for us most of our lives. But when we reach the age of 70, it’s time to increase our protein intake. That’s when we would benefit from eating protein at each meal – a simpler approach than counting every gram of protein you eat.

Why you need more protein

I’ve always said, “You are not what you eat. You’re what you eat, digest, and absorb.” This is particularly true with proteins. As we age, it becomes more difficult for us to break down and absorb protein. There are two primary ways to get sufficient protein: increase your dietary intake, and take digestive enzymes and/or hydrochloric acid to help break them down.

If you have intestinal gas, constipation, diarrhea, or any other signs of poor digestion, your first step is to heal your intestines. Begin by chewing your food well. You’ll digest more nutrients including protein and reduce inflammation at the same time.

Next, take supplemental probiotics and enzymes for three to six months, because you’re not getting all of the nutrients out of your foods. You can get digestive enzymes in any health food store or on the Internet. My personal favorite products, which I’ve seen work well to improve digestion are Advanced Probiotic Formula, which contains several strains of beneficial bacteria, and Integrative Digestive Formula, which contain nutrients that repair the intestines. You can get both through Advanced Bionutritionals (800-791-3395).

What’s the best kind of protein?

Here again, “it all depends.” Studies found that eating animal protein doubles your risk for breast cancer. Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations found that diets high in animal products had the strongest association with breast and other cancers. What’s more, this association was twice as significant in women as in men.

Does this mean you should be a vegetarian? Not necessarily, although a vegetarian or vegan diet may reduce your risk for breast cancer and other diseases. It means that you may want to limit animal protein to one serving a day and add soy protein, rice and beans, or a whey protein smoothie with your other meals.

What about seafood? It has many health benefits, like the omega-3 fats they contain. But due to the nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan and the radiation that’s getting into all of our waters, it may not be as safe as we’re being told. Read my article warning you of the dangers of seafood and my recommendations on how to safely eat fish in the June newsletter.

I’m not suggesting you eliminate all seafood. Just limit it to one or two servings a week. And to make sure that you don’t get too much mercury or pesticides from your dietary proteins, take a supplement containing modified citrus pectin (MCP), such as PectaSol Detox Formula (800-791-3395). It binds to heavy metals and environmental toxins and carries them out of your body.

The worst kind of protein

If you like to barbecue, I have some bad news for you. Eating grilled or broiled meats can increase your risk for diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Heat-processed meats contain compounds called AGEs (advanced glycation endproducts). Research suggests that high amounts of these chemicals can lead to a number of degenerative diseases, including poor cognition and insulin resistance.

Broiled meats are most dangerous when you eat them frequently, and when your diet is also high in refined carbohydrates and low in nutritious foods like seafood, whole grains, and fresh fruits and vegetables. A safer and healthier approach would be to cook animal proteins using lower heat. Or to simply grill or broil meats less frequently. This should be easy if you’re eating less animal proteins.

How to Prevent Stress From Leading to Cancer

We have known for years that stress increases your risk for cancer. Now we are learning more about this connection. It looks like the spread of breast cancer is associated with turning on a stress gene called ATF3 (Activating Transcription Factor 3). This can occur in all cells, but immune cells are particularly vulnerable.
Activating this stress gene may, in fact, be the major cause of death from breast cancer. Normally, when stressors like radiation and inflammation irreversibly damage cells, turning on this gene causes normal cells to self-destruct.

But recent research out of Ohio State University, led by Tsonwin Hai, Ph.D. and her team, found that ATF3 triggers immune cells to act erratically. This gives cancer cells a way out and the ability to escape. Instead of being encapsulated in tumors, they are able to migrate to other parts of the body. What we don’t want is for any cancer to spread.

Hai initially discovered worse outcomes in a group of nearly 300 breast cancer patients where the ATF3 gene had been turned on. Then she followed this with animal studies and found fewer breast cancer cells that had migrated to the lungs of mice than in normal mice. And the normal mice could turn on the ATF3 gene. The mice that were missing the ATF3 gene in their immune system cells had worse outcomes. Hai explains, “If the body is in perfect balance, there isn’t much of a problem. When the body gets stressed, that changes the immune system.”

Usually, the immune system recognizes cancer cells as foreign invaders and rushes to destroy them. But when cancer cells grow inside a tumor, they send out signals to promote a wound-healing response. Cancer cells use this process to help themselves spread.

Turning on the ATF3 gene is all about stopping the spread of cancer. While Hai’s research is important, it doesn’t solve a problem as much as it identifies it. One solution to stopping the spread of cancer can be found in a supplement I’ve talked about for years: modified citrus pectin (MCP). It binds to heavy metals and environmental toxins, and strengthens immune cells. And it removes excessive amounts of Galectin-3 molecules – which promote metastasis and inflammation. In my opinion, MCP is a must in any anti-cancer or cancer prevention program.

Not just any MCP will do, however. It needs to be the right molecular size and weight to get into the blood stream. PectaSol-C is the only MCP used in studies that has been found to work. It attaches to Galectin-3 molecules, which are found on cancer cells, and carries them out of the body. High amounts of Galectin-3 put an enormous stress on the body and promote the spread of cancer.

You can find PectaSol-C in several MCP supplements, but the one I recommend is available through EcoNugenics. It contains the amount of MCP needed to fight cancer: 5 grams a day (800-308-5518).

MCP is beneficial for other chronic conditions as well, like heart attacks, stroke, and kidney diseases. And it’s one of the main ingredients in PectaSol Detox Formula, which is my favorite detoxification formula (800-791-3395). One big reason for this is that it has studies to back up its effectiveness.

Wolford, Chris C., Stephen J. McConoughey, Swati P. Jalgaonkar, Marino Leon, Anand S. Merchant, Johnna L. Dominick, Xin Yin, Yiseok Chang, Erik J. Zmuda, Sandra A. O’Toole, Ewan K.A. Millar, Stephanie L. Roller, Charles L. Shapiro, Michael C. Ostrowski, Robert L. Sutherland, and Tsonwin Hai. “Transcription factor ATF3 links host adaptive response to breast cancer metastasis.” Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2013; 123 (7): 2893 DOI: 10.1172/JCI64410.

Reduce Your Stress and Become More Powerful in Just Two Minutes

Are you powerful? A risk-taker? Most successful people are. Powerful people are optimistic and are more likely to look for challenging situations. They’re also less affected by stress and better at handling stressful conditions. If you’re not as powerful as you’d like to be, psychologist Amy Cuddy, a professor at the Harvard Business School, has a solution: Fake it until you become it.

There’s a good reason to do this. As I’ve said in previous articles, your posture affects your health. When you change your stance, you actually change your hormone levels. This can reduce your risk for various cancers. I know. It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Your body produces more testosterone – the dominance hormone — and less cortisol — the stress-associated hormone, when you have an open stance. Simply changing your posture can lower your risk for diseases. When you take over the alpha (dominant) role, your testosterone rises and your cortisol drops.

Chronic stress with high cortisol affects almost every area of your health. It increases weight gain and osteoporosis, lowers immunity, increases heart disease, and triggers mental illness. What you need to do instead is to become more powerful.

Cuddy’s research found that when you pretend to be powerful you become more powerful. All you have to do is to be expansive and occupy more space.

She suggests that you make yourself bigger, rather than smaller than people around you. Stand like you would if you were Wonder Woman with your arms up in a “V” or your hands on your hips. Open your posture, pull back your shoulders, and stretch your arms and legs. Don’t hunch over your mobile phone or hug yourself. Uncross your legs and ankles. Your hormone levels will change in just two minutes!

Add meditation

But that’s not all you can do. Meditation helps as well. There are numerous types of meditation, and all work if you do them. What’s important to realize is that your meditation doesn’t have to be lengthy. You just need to do it daily. One of the simplest meditations is to watch your breathing for 10 to 15 minutes. If that’s too much, you can reduce anxiety and lower your cortisol by taking a few deep breaths. These tell your Vagus nerve, which runs from the brain to the stomach, to slow your heart rate, lower your blood pressure, and lower your cortisol. It really is this simple to change your life. Small changes can lead to big health benefits.

Are Statins to Blame for the Epidemic Rate of Diabetes?

If you have high cholesterol, your doctor will tell you that statins can decrease your risk of heart disease by lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol and raising HDL (healthy) cholesterol. But he may not tell you that they also will increase your risk for diabetes. In fact, this is now on the warning labels of statins.

Statins carry a risk of increased blood sugar levels, and this can lead to the development of type-2 diabetes. Of course, the drug companies have a solution for this. Just take Glyburide along with your statin. Glyburide suppresses the immune response that keeps insulin from working properly.

In the meantime, researchers will examine how statins affect the pancreas, the organ that secretes insulin. They aren’t sure yet why the statins advance diabetes, but they want you to keep taking their product while they work to minimize its side effects.

Oh, and those side effects also can include muscle pain and weakness. But don’t worry. There will probably soon be another drug or two for that as well.

Nearly 13 million people will take a statin drug at some point in their lives. And at this rate, they’ll probably be prescribed several other drugs to protect
them from the side effects this “wonder drug”carries with it.

Statins work by interfering with your liver’s production of cholesterol. Instead of taking a drug for that and then getting caught in a cycle of more and more prescriptions, why not make your liver healthier the natural way?

You can do that with a good diet and a supplement like Advanced Liver Support (800-791-3395). This plan won’t increase your risk of diabetes or cause muscle pain or weakness. In fact, it will do the opposite. You’ll reap all of the rewards of statins and none of the risks.

“Study uncovers why statins increase diabetes risk and offers solution,” Medical News Today, 12 June 2014.

NUTRITION DETECTIVE

he Cause of Asthma You’ve Probably Never Heard About

Do you have asthma? If so, do certain odors like perfumes and cleaning supplies trigger an attack? Researchers say it may not be the odors that are causing an inflammatory reaction leading to an asthma attack. It could just be your fear that the odor will harm you.

A study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research took 17 people with moderate asthma and had them smell a pure odor with no physiological irritating properties for 15 minutes.

They told some of them that the odor could have therapeutic benefits. They told other people that this same odor could cause harm. All of the study participants who were told the odor could be harmful had an immediate negative reaction, which surprised researchers by lasting 24 hours. The others experienced nothing.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease where the airways become narrow and sensitive to various triggers like chemicals, dust, and allergens. This causes wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, and tightness in the chest.

Some odors, like perfumes and hairspray, can trigger an asthma attack. When this occurs, asthma patients worry that their condition will cause a flare up.
“It’s not just what you smell, but also what you think you smell,” say the researchers. If you expect to have an asthma attack after smelling a particular odor, you will. So pay attention to your beliefs. They can cause a beneficial reaction or one that’s unwanted.

LETTERS

Q: I’ve bought the supplements and just wanted to know how long do I need to be on it if I no longer have obvious symptoms? My case is not severe, being in my mid-40s. Will 30 days suffice? Do you know when to stop taking the supplements? — B.C., Dublin, CA

A: You’re asking me a question that’s not possible for me to answer. Which supplements are you talking about? What is going on with your health and how long have you had your symptoms? What “obvious symptoms” have you had?
Unfortunately, your question is typical of many I receive. And it’s impossible to answer. There are so many variables, many of which depend on your personal health history and lifestyle (including diet and exercise) as well as your family’s health histories. This is why I suggest you work with an integrative doctor. You can find some at www.acam.org. But let me make a few comments that may help you find at least some of the answers you’re seeking.

You may be deficient in some nutrients and feel just fine. Don’t make a decision such as how long to take a supplement based on symptoms alone. But your age gives me a clue. If you’re in your mid-40s, you probably haven’t had your condition for decades. You may need only nutritional support for a few months.
I’ve found that taking supplements for one or two months is usually not enough. I suggest my patients take them for at least three to six months. After all, you’re asking a vitamin, mineral, or herb to change the way your body functions. This doesn’t happen overnight.

If you have a chronic condition – and this means one that you’ve had for three months or more – I’d double the amount of time to take corrective nutrients. Or take them consistently. When you stop taking them, you may want to do so gradually.

Q: I have had systemic candidiasis for many years. Almost everything I eat causes indigestion. One time I ate a mushroom that actually made me feel much better. All the literature indicates that people with candida should never eat any mushrooms. — M.M., Greenville, SC

A: As you may know, candida is a fungus. Sugar feeds fungi. It’s their primary food. Other fungi, like mushrooms, do not feed candida. I researched this question for my patients many years ago, and I also asked my friend and colleague Janet Zand, OMD, LAc for her input. Dr. Zand has formulated numerous herbal supplements, many containing mushrooms, and she has practiced Oriental medicine for decades.

Dr. Zand told me that not only were mushrooms safe for people with candida to eat, many of her patients’ health improved by eating them. I began giving medicinal mushrooms to my candida patients. The results were far better than I had expected. Ultimately, I helped formulate MycoPhyto Complex (800-791-3395), a combination of six medicinal mushrooms grown on immune-enhancing herbs.

Chronic candida like yours often leads to other health problems like intestinal permeability and low immunity, with frequent colds and viruses. I suggest you find an integrative doctor or acupuncturist to work with you on these areas. If you don’t know of any in your area, try contacting a doctor through www.acam.org.