The Health Plus Letter April 20, 2010 Vol. 8, No. 8 By Larry Trivieri, Jr. – founder & publisher
Table Of Contents New This Issue Quote of the Day Fast Fact How To Use Diet, Exercise and Lifestyle Changes To Lower Blood Pressure Join Me In Demanding Health Freedom A Health Plus Treat: Butternut Squash and Chickpea Stew Recommendations Medical Freedom Contact Information
Quote Of The Day
“Most bad government has grown out of too much government.” -- Thomas Jefferson
Fast Fact
Your brain is more active during sleep than it is watching television.
How To Use Diet, Exercise, and Lifestyle Changes to Lower High Blood Pressure: A Holistic Perspective
Conventional high blood pressure medications treat hypertension by reducing the heart output, lowering the blood pressure, or reducing the fluid retention through the use of diuretics. These medications may relieve the symptoms of hypertension but do little to address the cause. As many of these drugs have unwanted side effects and can actually increase the risk of life-threatening heart disease, an alternative for reducing blood pressure is warranted. Alternative medical approaches inevitably begin with a careful evaluation of the factors contributing to the patient’s illness. Such an evaluation often reveals a need for dietary changes and lifestyle changes such as increased exercise, weight loss, and stress management.
Diet
A diet low in fat, sugar, and salt, and rich in foods containing potassium, calcium, magnesium, and fiber is highly recommended for hypertensives. Also, garlic and other members of the onion family should be included in any diet that aims to lower high blood pressure, as they significantly reduce both systolic and diastolic pressure.
Making relatively simple changes in diet, such as eating less fat and more fruits and vegetables, can lower blood pressure as effectively as conventional hypertension drugs. This conclusion comes from a study directed by the KaiserPermanenteCenter for Health Research in Portland, Oregon, in cooperation with researchers at Johns Hopkins, Harvard, and DukeUniversity. The study enrolled 459 adults (50% women, 60% African-American) with a starting blood pressure of less than 160/80-95 (high blood pressure was considered 140/90 or higher). The participants were divided into three groups, each of which followed a different diet. The first group ate a conventional American diet (typically high in fats, sugar, meat, and processed foods); the second group ate the same diet complemented with a high level of fruits and vegetables. The third group practiced a diet low in fats, comprising only 31% of the total calories compared to 37% in a typical American diet. This group kept their consumption of fats and cholesterol low and their consumption of fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products high. Changes in blood pressure were noticeable within two weeks. For those in the third group, blood pressure values dropped by an average of 5.5/3, while for those in the second group, the readings declined an average of 2.8/1.1. In the view of the researchers, both changes were significant. Even more impressive, those in the third group who, technically, had high blood pressure to start with experienced drops of 11.4/5.5.
Another study compared the effects of omega-3 fatty acids in fish or fish oil supplements on 125 men with moderately high blood pressure consuming high-fat or low-fat diets. The subjects ate fish, took fish oil supplements, or had a combination providing an average total of 3.65 g per day of omega-3 fatty acids. There was a significant reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressures in the subjects eating fish and/or taking fish oil supplements, particularly in those on a low-fat diet, compared with control subjects.
A third study of 2,300 middle-aged people, all moderately overweight and with blood pressure in the high normal range, found that those who lost around ten pounds within six months and cut the sodium in their diet experienced a 60% lowering of their blood pressure.
For adults with borderline to mild high blood pressure, the use of conventional antihypertensive drugs is not only often unneeded, but also can increase the risk of heart attack by nearly four times, according to physicians at Malmo University Hospital in Malmo, Sweden. Lead researcher Juan Merlo noted that despite mounting doubt about the effectiveness of high blood pressure drugs in preventing heart attacks, the trend of physicians routinely prescribing them continues to grow. In the study, 484 men, born in 1914, were tracked between 1969 and 1992, and their use of antihypertensive drugs recorded.
Out of this group, 13% who had a diastolic blood pressure below 90 mm Hg (mild high blood pressure) and were taking blood pressure lowering drugs experienced a rate of heart attacks 3.9 times greater than men with similar blood pressures not taking any heart drugs. For men with blood pressures exceeding 90 mm Hg (high blood pressure) and who were taking antihypertensive drugs, the risk of having a serious heart attack was doubled.
Calcium channel blockers also pose threats to heart health. A study of 900 elderly people with high blood pressure found that taking one kind of calcium channel blocker (the short-acting type of nifedipine, marketed as Procardia and Adalat) had twice the likelihood of dying within five years after using the drug, typically from heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes. American doctors wrote two million prescriptions for this drug in 1994, despite the lack of rigorous scientific trials by either the FDA or drug companies to prove its safety.
Lowering Hypertension with Diet and Supplements
Eric R. Braverman, M.D., director of Place for Achieving Total Health (PATH) in New York City, treats hypertension with a program centered around diet and nutritional supplementation. Dr. Braverman’s diet is low in sodium, low in saturated fat, high in vegetables from the starch group, and high in protein (particularly fish). In addition, the diet features large amounts of fresh salad. Simple sugar, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, and refined carbohydrates are reduced dramatically or eliminated altogether. His nutritional supplement program for a typical hypertensive patient includes fish oil (containing omega-3 fatty acids), garlic, evening primrose oil, magnesium, potassium, selenium, zinc, vitamin B6, niacin, vitamin C, tryptophan, taurine, cysteine, and coenzyme Q10.
One of Dr. Braverman’s patients had been treated with medication for hypertension for two years and his blood pressure was still 150/90. Dr. Braverman started him on multivitamins and supplements of B6, folic acid, B12, magnesium, taurine, garlic, and evening primrose oil. Within two weeks, he was off medication and his blood pressure had dropped to 128/82. When John, 62, first came to Dr. Braverman, he had suffered from high blood pressure for ten years. His levels for total cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-density lipoproteins (HDLs), which are key indicators of heart health, were highly imbalanced. He was taking strong daily doses of three conventional medications. When John began Dr. Braverman’s program, his blood pressure was 140/90.
First, Dr. Braverman put John on a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet to help him lose weight. Next, he started John on daily supplementation with evening primrose and fish oils, a niacin-garlic formula, safflower oil, and a hypertension nutrient formula Dr. Braverman had specially developed for his blood-pressure-lowering program. The formula consisted of garlic powder (200 mg), taurine (200 mg), magnesium oxide (50 mg), potassium chloride (6.7 mg), selenium (sodium selenite, 20 mcg), zinc chelate (4 mg), chromium chloride (26.7 mcg), niacinamide (50 mg), vitamin C (40 mg), molybdenum (40 mg), vitamin B6 (50 mg), and beta carotene (1222.33 IU). John took six pills daily of this formula along with a magnesium formula, containing vitamin B6 (65 mg), magnesium oxide (470 mg), and zinc chelate (15 mg).
Two weeks into the program, John’s cholesterol had dropped from 264 to 131, his triglycerides had decreased from 161 to 100, his blood pressure was 120/80, and his HDLs increased positively from 59 to 64. John was able to stop taking his conventional medications. After another week on the nutrients, his blood pressure was a healthier 110/80. Over the following months, Dr. Braverman reduced John’s nutrient program and adjusted his diet. John continued to be medication-free, his energy level and sexu^l drive had increased, and he was "doing fantastically well," reports Dr. Braverman.
What a Bowl of Oatmeal Can Do for Your Heart
While people living in the British Isles may take it for granted, making oatmeal a mainstay of the diet makes smart nutritional sense. In recent years at least 37 clinical studies have affirmed the ability of oatmeal and oat bran to reduce blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and generally reduce the long-term risk of heart disease.
In recognition of these well-established benefits, in 1996, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted manufacturers or packagers of oatmeal (as a food category) the right to make specific health claims about this food. It was the first such permissible health claim ever accorded to a food by the FDA, an agency that generally has favored drugs over natural substances. The FDA’s proposed health claim (now in the process of public review) states that diets high in oatmeal or oat bran may reduce the risk of heart disease.
Among the numerous studies that have demonstrated the health benefits of oatmeal, at least four put the food’s health advantages in clear focus. In 1995, researchers at JohnsHopkinsUniversity in Baltimore, Maryland, reported that people who regularly consumed even a modest portion of oatmeal (one ounce, cooked, daily) had lower blood pressure and cholesterol readings than those who never ate oatmeal. The study was based on evaluation of 850 men, 17-77 years old, living in China; their oatmeal consumption ranged from 25-90 grams daily.
The researchers stated that "the higher the oats intake, the lower the blood pressure," regardless of other factors such as age and weight, or alcohol, sodium, or potassium intake which are known to affect blood pressure. According to chief researcher Michael Klag, M.D., it is oatmeal’s high content of water-soluble fiber (called beta glucan) that produces the heart benefits. A six-year study involving 22,000 middle-aged Finnish males showed that consuming as little as 3 grams daily of soluble fiber (from the beta-glucan fiber component of oats, barley, or rye) reduced the risk of death from heart disease by 27%.
Another study of oatmeal’s heart benefits was conducted by scientists at the ChicagoCenter for Clinical research in Illinois. The researchers enlisted 156 adults, all of whom had a diagnosis of high cholesterol or multiple heart risk factors, and had them consume differing amounts of oatmeal or oat bran. In this case, more was not necessarily better. Those who ate 56 grams (two ounces, dry weight) daily of oat bran for six weeks achieved the best results (15.9% reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) followed by those who consumed 84 grams (three ounces) daily of oatmeal (11.5% reduction).
A related study involved 206 adults, 30-65 years old, who consumed 60 grams daily of oatmeal or oat bran, in addition to reducing their fat intake, for 12 weeks. The results also showed that eating oats at a "moderate and practical level" produced important decreases (at least 5.2%) in blood cholesterol levels.
Studies have also certified the widely circulated folk saying that a bowl of oatmeal "sticks to your ribs" throughout the morning. William Evans, Ph.D., director of the NollPhysiologicalResearchCenter at PennsylvaniaStateUniversity, at State College, tested oatmeal’s ability to sustain athletic performance in 18 college students. The study participants were divided into three groups, each consuming equal calorie portions of oats in three different forms: oatmeal; oat rings, a snack food; and dry oat cereal. Then they exercised on stationary bicycles as long as they could, stopping just short of exhaustion. Students who had oatmeal were able to exercise for five hours compared to four hours for the other two groups, according to Dr. Evans. The results confirm that oatmeal at breakfast can help keep you feeling "energized" throughout the morning.
Lifestyle and Exercise
Lifestyle plays a major role in the development of hypertension, and any program to reduce blood pressure must take this into consideration. Dr. Cowden notes that any changes that are implemented must be maintained if blood pressure is to be controlled on a long-term basis. Smoking should be moderated or, preferably, totally avoided, and alcohol intake should be kept to a minimum. Weight loss reduces blood pressure in those with and without hypertension, and should be a primary goal for hypertensives who are obese or moderately overweight. Other lifestyle factors important in reducing and controlling hypertension are stress management and increased exercise.
Stress Management
Stress-reduction techniques from the various disciplines of mind/body medicine such as biofeedback, yoga, meditation, qigong, relaxation exercises, and hypnotherapy have all proven successful in lowering blood pressure. In fact, meditation is so effective in reducing stress that in 1984 the National Institutes of Health recommended meditation over prescription drugs for mild hypertension.
To reduce stress and improve digestion and thus improve absorption of nutrients from food and supplements, Dr. Cowden has his patients perform stress-reduction techniques before meals and at bedtime. Says Dr. Cowden, "The nutrients we recommend have to be absorbed out of the gastrointestinal tract. But if the gut is in a stressed state, it will not absorb those nutrients nearly as well as if it is in a relaxed state."
Biofeedback has proven particularly valuable in working to lower hypertension. Patients in one study were able to sustain lower blood pressure readings than those registered prior to treatment after three years of using biofeedback. Combining biofeedback with other stress-reduction techniques can also help patients achieve optimum results. A study of mildly hypertensive males treated with either biofeedback, autogenic training, or breathing relaxation training showed a significant reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The higher the pretreatment blood pressure, the greater the effects of relaxation training.
Self-guided relaxation techniques can be a quick and effective way to lower the blood pressure, according to researchers at the NationalTaiwanUniversity in Taiwan. Hypertension is widespread there with 27% of men and 13% of women having readings of at least 140/90. Based on a study group of 590 individuals with high blood pressure, Taiwanese researchers found that practicing progressive relaxation techniques (from a taped cassette) coupled with home study of healthful practices led to an average drop of blood pressure to 130/85 after two months. No drugs or other treatments were involved other than the power of self-directed relaxation.
Exercise
Regular exercise reduces stress and blood pressure, so it is highly recommended that it be an integral part of your life. Consistent aerobic exercise can both prevent and lower hypertension. In a study of 902 people, aged 45 to 69, with hypertension, positive long-term effects on blood pressure and all cholesterol levels were achieved with increased exercise along with a lower fat diet.
Swimming, which is frequently prescribed as a non-impact exercise to lower high blood pressure, can produce a significant decrease in resting heart rate (a sign of cardiovascular health) and resting systolic blood pressure in previously sedentary people with elevated blood pressure.
Caution:Before undertaking any exercise program, an individual with hypertension should consult a physician.
The Benefits of Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic training of any kind, including rebounding (using a mini-trampoline), improves your cardiovascular fitness in a variety of ways, according to John A. Friedrich, M.D., who first reported on the effects of aerobic exercise on the body in the Journal of Physical Education (May/June 1970).
Aerobics can strengthen heart muscles and produce other cardiovascular changes so that the heart can pump more blood with fewer beats. This means your resting (normal) heart rate will be lower, which is good. By regularly working your heart harder during exercise, you improve its overall function so that it doesn’t have to work as hard during your normal activities, Dr. Friedrich wrote.
"A conditioned person may have a resting heart rate 20 beats per minute slower than a deconditioned person," says Dr. Morton Walker. "He saves 10,000 beats in one night’s sleep." Reducing the day-to-day workload of your heart can lessen your chances of developing heart disease, Dr. Walker adds.
Aerobic exercises such as rebounding increase red blood cell count, allowing faster oxygen transport through the body, and can help lower elevated blood pressure. According to Dr. Friedrich’s research, aerobic exercise helps dissolve blood clots and increases the amount of high-density lipoproteins (HDLs, the so-called good cholesterol and a major factor in the prevention of atherosclerosis) in the blood. The capacity of the lungs also increases, enabling them to process more air and replenish oxygen in the cells of the body’s tissues and organs more quickly. Metabolism (conversion of food into energy) is enhanced and you tend to absorb nutrients from your food more efficiently. Any tendency towards constipation, kidney stones, or diabetes is reduced by this type of exercise.
Lower Your High Blood Pressure Naturally
Here are easy alternatives to blood-pressure-lowering drugs for mild to moderate hypertension, according to naturopath Michael T. Murray, N.D.
If you have mild hypertension (140-160/90-104):
Reduce your weight. Eliminate your salt intake and avoid alcohol, caffeine, and smoking. Exercise more and practice stress-reduction techniques (such as biofeedback, self-hypnosis, yoga, meditation, muscle relaxation). Change your diet to include more potassium-rich foods (such as potato, avocado, cooked lima beans, bananas, flounder), fiber, and complex carbohydrates. Eat more celery, garlic, onions, and vegetable oils high in omega-3 fatty acids, but eat less animal fats. Take supplements, including calcium (1,000-1,500 mg/day), magnesium (500 mg/day), vitamin C (1-3 g/day), zinc picolinate (15-30 mg/day), and flaxseed oil (one tablespoon/day).
Maintain this program for at least three months, and preferably for six; if your blood pressure isn’t normal after this period, see a doctor.
If you have moderate hypertension, (140-180/105-114):
Do all of the above, plus: Take hawthorn herbal extract (100-250 mg, three times daily, provided the extract contains 10% procyanidins). Take coenzyme Q-10 (20 mg, three times daily). Follow this program for three months; if there is no change in your blood pressure, see a physician.
(The above article is an excerpt from Burton Goldberg’s Definitive Guide to Heart Disease)
Join Me In Demanding Health Freedom
I’m joining physicians, health freedom advocates, and other health practitioners around the country who are supporting a campaign to protect your health choices with the Alliance for Natural Health to inundate Congress and the FDA with protests over the latest draconian attempts to usurp our health freedom. I hope you will join us too.
Please consider emailing this article to friends, family and any lists you may control; because, if the politicians, attorneys, bureaucrats and lobbyists have their way, our health care options will almost entirely be limited to symptom-based drugs and surgery, neither of which does anything to truly address and treat the epidemic of chronic disease in the United States, and nothing at all to prevent disease from occurring in the first place.
Health Freedom Under Relentless Siege!
It seems that not a day goes by without a new attack on your right to choose healthy foods and supplements. I fear that public apathy is empowering federal agencies to destroy our individual liberties.
You may be aware of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s corrupt ban of pyridoxamine last year. This form of vitamin B6 was being sold as a low-cost supplement to protect against age-accelerating glycation reactions in the body. A pharmaceutical company convinced the FDA to outlaw pyridoxamine supplements and turn this safe form of B6 into a prescription drug ... one that has not even been approved!
Life Extension® was able to get around the lethal effects of the FDA's decree by substituting pyridoxal 5'-phosphate, a form of vitamin B6 with similar anti-glycation properties. Now another pharmaceutical company has petitioned the FDA asking that pyridoxal 5'-phosphate be banned so that it too can be converted into a high-priced prescription drug.
Before we document each outrage against you and the health of your loved ones, please do this first, go here and demand your natural rights to Health Freedom.
3. Enter your name and click to send to your representative.
4. You may enter email addresses of friends there to send the information to. Note: Please change the subject line to "Your Health Freedom Under Siege!"
To protest this outrageous attempt to take away a life-saving and low-cost anti-glycation nutrient, click here:
On February 22, 2010, the FDA sent a warning letter to a distributor of packaged walnuts called Diamond Foods, Inc.
The FDA said that walnuts sold by Diamond Foods cannot be legally marketed because the walnuts "are not generally recognized as safe and effective" for the medical conditions referenced on Diamond Foods' website.
According to the FDA, these walnuts are now classified as "drugs" and the "unauthorized health claims" cause them to become "misbranded," thus subjecting them to government "seizure or injunction."
The FDA sent similar letters to a wide range of food distributors including those who sell green tea and pomegranate juice.
To read about the FDA's latest attempt to obliterate the First Amendment, scientific rationality and health freedom -- and what you can do to stop it, click here
3. Enter your name and click to send to your representative.
4. You may enter email addresses of friends there to send the information to. Note: Please change the subject line to "Your Health Freedom Under Siege!"
David Versus Goliath
For the first time in history, prescription drug sales in the U.S. topped $300 billion in 2009. That's more than ten times the amount spent on dietary supplements.
Pharmaceutical companies are showering Congress and regulatory agencies (like the FDA) with dollars in order to further their monopolistic stranglehold over today's broken medical system. The recent enactment of the Health Care Reform Act will further enrich pharmaceutical interests by making sure tax dollars are available to subsidize everyone's over-priced drug costs.
The citizenry is destined to become economic serfs of the pharmaceutical industry unless they stand up against this latest reign of oppression.
Please register your protests against these heinous attempts to deprive Americans of healthy foods and supplements.
Click here to read more and protest against an FDA ban of the pyridoxal 5'-phosphate form of Vitamin B-6, the form that your body actually uses and cannot live without.
If only we could resurrect those who founded this country, it would be fascinating to hear their reactions to the egregious degree our Constitution has been subverted.
The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th, 1776. This momentous document was authored by Thomas Jefferson.
Considering the 4th of July ranks amongst the top five holidays celebrated in the United States each year, it is startling how much liberty we have allowed our government to rob us of.
One can view the many quotes of Thomas Jefferson by logging on to any number of websites dedicated to him. What's amazing is how timely his words remain after more than 200 years have passed.
Here are a few examples of Thomas Jefferson's inspirational quotes that reveal what he might say about the federal government controlling what we are allowed to learn about foods and what nutrients we are allowed to ingest:
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."
"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories."
"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."
"History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is."
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion." "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."
"I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive."
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it."
"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."
"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."
"Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question."
"Most bad government has grown out of too much government. "
Once again, please register your protests against these heinous attempts to deprive Americans of healthy foods and supplements.
3. Enter your name and click to send to your representative.
4. You may enter email addresses of friends there to send the information to. Note: Please change the subject line to "Your Health Freedom Under Siege!"
Thank you.
A Health Plus Treat: Butternut Squash and Chickpea Stew
Ingredients: 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 2 cups cubed butternut squash 1 can vegetable or chicken broth (10 oz.) 1 pinch each of ground cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and/or cumin 1 can chickpeas (15 oz.), rinsed and drained
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add squash, broth, spices and salt; simmer until squash is soft, about 10 minutes. Add chickpeas and cook until heated through.
http://tinyurl.com/y2rxfr7 - A very cool article about the power of the mind in relationship to health and one of the Western world’s most serious health problems today.
Alliance for Natural Health – http://www.alliance-natural-health.org (The leading organization fighting to preserve health freedom in England and the EU.)
And to learn how corrupt and extensive Big Pharma’s monopoly is, visit http://www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr/online/research/index.html the website for the Campaign Against Fraudulent Medical Research. In particular, read their in-depth report The Pharmaceutical Drug Racket that you will find there. That’s all for this week.
Health and Blessings!
Larry Trivieri, Jr. Contact Information: Due to the inordinate amount of spam my email account receives, I no longer use it to receive emails. To contact me, please visit www.1healthyworld.com/contactus
Disclaimer:The Health Plus Letter is a weekly eZine published by Larry Trivieri, Jr. and Library of Health, LLC (dba www.1healthyworld.com) 3 Greenwood Court, Utica, NY13501. It is made available without charge for information purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical care. If you are experiencing a health problem, seek prompt medical attention.
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