Dark chocolate good for the arteries?A new study released in the June 2005 edition of the American Journal of Hypertension and reported by Dr. Charalambos Vlachopoulous, of Athena Medical School in Greece, argues that eating dark chocolate may have a slight protective effect on the cardiovascular system in healthy people. The effects of flavonoid-rich dark chocolate on vessels in the arm were observed over a 3 hour period after volunteers in good health consumed 100 grams (3.53 ounces) of commercially available dark chocolate. Dr. Vlachopoulous and his team observed that arteries in the arm dilated in response to increased blood flow. There was also a significant decrease in aortic stiffness. As was also noted by Dr. Vlachopoulous arterial elasticity/stiffness are "important determinates of cardiovascular performance and are predictors of cardiovascular risk." Of course, the biggest problem by far with eating chocolate is the sugar that almost always accompanies it, and the many health problems it causes. See our May 2005 newsletter for an snack idea involving dark chocolate. Codex Alimentarius UpdateDue to mass somnolence, complacency and inertia, more of our rights have just been removed from us. Just last month the Codex Alimentarius Commission met in Rome to ratify their vitamin and mineral supplement standards as THE international standard [1]. This means that WTO, which its member nations have given the authority to enforce global compliance with all Codex standards, can impose trade sanctions on non-compliant nations. Such vaguely large and powerful entities can reach all the way into your local health food store and affect what was previously a harmless arrangement of free will among you, the health food store proprietor and the nutritional supplement manufacturer. Some of the problems with Codex, aside from the travesty of taking away individuals' right to nourish themselves as they see fit and replacing the sovereign individual with a bureaucrat's views on nutrition is the following [2]: Codex leaves the maximum allowable doses of any permitted nutrients basically to the whims of regulatory bodies while the minimum allowable dosages are set at 15% of the amount naturally occurring in foods. Now that Codex is the official international standard for dietary supplements, it is only a matter of time before the U.S. Congress, faced with a choice of actually representing the American people, or taking the usual low road of bowing to their generous pharmaceutical lobbyist benefactors, will probably try to dismantle DSHEA and replace it with Codex standards. Here is what the U.S Constitution has to say about such affronts to our liberty: "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." Now if the American people would simply inform our elected representatives that they will just have to suffer WTO trade sanctions for being so ignorant and corrupt as to allow Codex misdeeds in the first place, and that we adamantly uphold our rights to nourish ourselves as we see fit, then we just may be able to beat this thing. H.R. 3156 [3] Losing no time at all in attacking nutritional supplements, Representatives Davis, Dingell and Waxman have introduced H.R. 3156, which they are calling the "Dietary Supplement Access and Awareness Act." This act defines an "adverse experience regarding a dietary supplement" to mean "any adverse event associated with the use of such supplement in humans, whether or not such event is considered to be related to the supplement..." H.R. 3156, Sec. 416, (c) 4 (A). Among sane people, cause and effect might be reasonably determined. However, such reckless wording in this political environment would allow anything from hurricane damage to a hot, spilled McDonald's coffee to be blamed on whatever dietary supplement may have been recently ingested. A pregnant woman could take a nutritional supplement the day before delivering, and then if there are birth defects or other abnormalities, it could be blamed on the supplement. For this reason alone, we have the sad situation in this country of some naturopathic physicians refusing to treat pregnant women at all, because the potential liability is too great, and natural therapies are too easily blamed by the drug-besotted FDA. Supplements are particularly vulnerable because the FDA has most of its funding from the pharmaceutical industry, together with some of the strongest enforcement powers in the government: such as search and seizure. This particularly bad combination has led to FDA removal of a whole class of nutritional supplements: Ephedra and all supplements containing it were banned after some one dozen individuals combined ephedra with alcohol and/or recreational drugs, which resulted in side effects. At least HR 3156 is something that can be fought. The Health Action Center has links to your congressional representative that will take less than two minutes to fire off your letter regarding this bill.
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Codex continued from column one... Codex Pharmaceuticus? Instead of regulating harmless vitamins, minerals and other substances, it would seem more prudent to issue guidelines limiting the use of pharmaceuticals, which on a percentage basis are a leading cause of death in the United States to the point of rivaling smoking, cancer and cardiovascular disease. A graph attached to an article by Ron Law, former executive director of the New Zealand National Nutritional Foods Association displays these percentages in rather graphical terms [1]. Study after study from Canada to New Zealand show that natural medicine and health related supplements are not dangerous. Major problems with pharmaceuticals include:
Given the reckless use of pharmaceuticals in our society, perhaps guidelines should be issued for their use, rather than for such harmless items as nutritional supplements. The Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for such regulation, ignores those duties because of their close ties with the pharmaceutical industry. Those ties were made much closer in 1992 when Congress passed a law with no debate that increased the FDA's dependence on large drug companies for its funding [3]. The FDA is simply a trade association for the pharmaceutical industry with the added power of having the force of the federal government behind it. Then a majority of FDA officials go on to very high-paying jobs with the pharmaceutical giants after a stint at the FDA. So much drug money and incentives for that money has flowed through the FDA that to assume the FDA is qualified to impartially judge drugs, foods, supplements or anything else is ludicrous. Therefore, an initiative for Codex Pharmaceuticus is not likely to come from the powers that be any time soon, but wouldn't it make an appropriate response to the unethical and intolerable Codex Alimentarius?
Did you know that we have in the U.S. ... primary care physicians who not only have the training of conventional doctors (diagnostic testing, physical examination, prescription of pharmaceuticals, minor surgery etc.) but have also been medically trained in botanical medicine, clinical nutrition, detoxification of heavy metals and other chemicals, homeopathy and other natural healing modalities??? Look no further: American Association of Naturopathic Physicians Fiber helps reduce colon cancer riskIn the on again off again debate concerning the benefits of a high fiber diet - a new study shows that dietary fiber may help reduce the risk of colon cancer. According to an article in the August issue of the Harvard Men's Health Watch getting the recommended daily amount of fiber may reduce colon cancer risk by as much as 40%. The recommendations in the article are that men 50 and under should consume 38 grams of fiber a day and men over age 50 should consume 30 grams of fiber a day. Fiber is a group of complex carbohydrates possessing a chemical structure that cannot be broken down by humans. We lack the digestive enzymes needed to do so. Fiber comes in two forms: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber dissolves in water to form a gel. It helps to promote a sense of "fullness" and acts to slow the digestive process and uptake of sugars. Insoluble fiber comes from the woody parts of plants and will not dissolve in water. Insoluble fiber helps to speed the passage of material through the digestive tract. In addition to discussing beneficial effects fiber has in reducing the risk of colon cancer the article goes on to note previous studies indicating a high fiber diet may have other benefits such as decreased risk of heart attack, diabetes and intestinal problems such as diverticulosis. As pointed out in a statement made by Dr. Harvey Simon, editor-in-chief of the Harvard Men's Health, "You stand to gain a lot from dietary fiber, but to get all these benefits, you need a good mix of high fiber foods." |