Supplements | |  |
Nutritional supplements are an important part of any health program. In today’s world, it is essentially impossible to obtain all of the nutrients that we need from our food, even if we are eating a healthy diet. Organic food has a higher nutrient content than non-organic, but optimal levels of most nutrients are higher than we can reasonably get from our foods. Basic multi-vitamins and multi-minerals, along with extra calcium and magnesium are important, for starters. In addition, Vitamin D has been found to be incredibly important for the immune system and brain development. It helps prevent colds and flus, and most kinds of cancer. If we spent most of our day outside in the sun without clothing or sunscreen, we would get enough of this important vitamin, but that is unrealistic today. Most kids need 2000 – 5000 units per day, and most adults need 10,000 – 15,000 units per day of D3. Omega-3 is an essential nutrient that essentially no one gets enough of from their diets. Omega -3 is critical as an anti-inflammatory. It helps the immune system, the cardiovascular system, the visual system, your joints – essentially everything in your body. Eating fish frequently is one way to get enough DHA and EPA – the two most important omega-3 oils - but it is not safe to eat that much fish today due to the mercury and other pollutants content. Only purified fish oils are safe and give us enough of these essential compounds. For many, immune boosters such as fermented mushroom extracts can enhance the microbe-killing capacity of our white blood cells, which may have been weakened by stress, chronic infections, toxicity, or poor nutrition. Daily probiotics are essential for gut and immune health. There are other supplements such as grapefruit seed extract (GSE) that help to fight yeast overgrowth in the GI tract – a common problem causing many symptoms. For those on hormone replacement protocols, special supplements that help the body process hormones in healthy ways are important, such as DIM – a broccoli extract, calcium D-glucarate, Iodine (which helps prevent breast cancer and fibrocystic breasts), folate, and for men, saw palmetto. For those who are toxic or who have genetic mutations such as MTHFR, supplements that enhance methylation and glutathione production are critical for long-term health. Anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant supplements are essential to prevent the long-term diseases of aging, like heart disease and cancer and dementia. There are many more kinds of nutritional supplements that can be important depending on the health issues involved. While every individual’s needs will vary, overall, a good broad-spectrum supplementation program is an essential component of optimal health treatment for any person – young or old. |
Metabolic/Insulin Resistance Syndrome What is Metabolic Syndrome?Metabolic Syndrome is a term used to describe someone suffering from a combination of the following conditions: 1. Abdominal obesity
2. High triglycerides
3. Low HDL (good) cholesterol
4. High LDL (bad) cholesterol
5. High Blood Pressure
6. Insulin resistance
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Who is at danger for developing Metabolic Syndrome? Typically, it is a risk for middle-aged people who are eating more and exercising less.  |
Abdominal obesityAbdominal obesity is obesity centralized to the abdominal area that is out of proportion with fat stores in the rest of the body. A disproportionately large "waist circumference," is considered a high risk factor for many diseases including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and osteoarthritis that affects mostly the knees, but also the hips and back. How much fat Is considered abdominal obesity?Body scans and MRIs can determine with great accuracy the degree of abdominal obesity someone may have, but these tests are very costly and inconvenient and to be truthful are not needed to reveal the obvious. Someone who a big belly has abdominal obesity. Still needing science to prove to patients that they are indeed abdominally obese, many clinicians rely on the Body Mass Index (BMI) measurement. The BMI is determined by computing a number based on the height and weight of an individual. 
Using the formula above, let’s say you are a woman who weights 140 pounds and is 5 foot-5 inches tall (65 inches). Let’s see how you would do. Your body weight = 140 Divided by your height in inches squared 65 x 65 = 4225 (140/4225=0.033) 0.033 x 703 = 23.3 Your Body Mass Index and you would be normal. BODY MASS INDEX RESULTSBelow 18.5 Underweight 18.5 – 24.9 Normal Range 25.0 – 29.9 Overweight 30.0 and Above Obese But what if you were a man with some muscle? Say 6 feet tall and a muscle packed 210 pounds. You would have a Body Mass Index of 28.4 and you would be considered overweight! You can probably see why this method of determining abdominal obesity and general obesity is often criticized. Critics point out that it fails to differentiate between body mass from fat and body mass from muscle. Recently using the BMI formula, researchers took the published weights of professional athletes in the National Football League and the National Basketball Association and determined that nearly all the footballers were overweight and half of them obese. In addition, many of those tall, muscular and somewhat thin NBA stars were graded as overweight and a handful, including Shaquille O'Neal, arguably the best player in the league, were considered obese. At the time "SHAQ" at 7 foot 1 inch, weighed 320 pounds; few though, would consider him obese. The BMI should never be used by itself as a diagnostic tool in determining health risks from obesity, but only one of many tools in guiding the patients towards a more healthy lifestyle. The “Apples” and “Pears”Some researchers have suggested that the WHR or Waist-Hip Ratio measurement is a more accurate measure of health risks based on being obese. They prefer this test because it takes into account the distribution of fat through the waist and hip area, where we store the majority of our fat. Fat can be stored as abdominal fat (an "apple" body shape) or around the hips (a "pear" body shape). People who carry their excess fat in their hips are considered to have less of a risk factor than the abdominal obesity people. To calculate your Waist-Hip Ratio | 1. Measure your waist circumference at the belly button. Hold the tape measure straight. 2. Measure your hips at their widest part, that is where your buttocks peak. 3. Divide your waist by your hip measurement. For women, ideal is a WTR of 0.8 or less. For example a women with a 29 inch waist and 36 inch hips just makes the cutoff. For men, ideal is a WTR of 0.95 or less. A man with a 34 inch waist would be “ideal” with a 36 inch hip measurement. |
In Waist-Hip Ratio, risk is rated by how high the ratio numbers are. For women, the higher the number past 0.8 the greater risk of obesity related disorders. For men, anything over .95, the higher it goes, the highest the risk. High triglyceridesTriglycerides are fats that are chemically altered in the body so that they can be stored and then used later to meet our body's energy needs. When we need to burn that fat, we release hormones that free the triglycerides from the fat cells. Too much stored fat or triglycerides in the blood is called hypertriglyceridemia and is linked to coronary artery disease and diabetes. LOW HDLCholesterol does many wonderful things in our body which is why we need it. What we especially need to have is normal levels of the "good" cholesterol, HDL (high-density lipoprotein), because the HDL cholesterol seems to protect against heart attack and stroke by carrying away or preventing the bad cholesterol "LDL" from building up plaque on arterial walls. Low HDL, low protection. HIGH LDLHigh levels of LDL puts people at risk for heart disease as mentioned above because it builds plaque. You need to exercise and watch your diet in order to start bringing your LDL numbers down. BLOOD PRESSUREThe well known remedies for reducing blood pressure without medication are: 1. Lose weight, the more overweight you are, the greater the risk you will have for high-blood pressure.
2. Reduce salt intake. Most sodium comes from packaged and frozen foods.
This is yet another reason to eat your foods in their freshest and most natural form - go for vegetables.
3. Change your eating habits to reduce portion size and decrease carbohydrates.
4. Exercise.
Insulin Resistance SyndromeOur bodies need sugar (glucose) as a fuel for our cells to perform their daily cellular functions. When we eat sugar or foods that are broken down into glucose such as high-glycemic carbohydrates, our body's digestive process puts that glucose into the blood stream for the cells to collect and utilize. The cells rely on the pancreas to monitor the blood levels and to alert them when glucose is abundant. The pancreas does this by secreting insulin which circulates through our bodies delivering the message to the cells of glucose's presence. In perfect balance, when we eat carbohydrates and produce glucose, the cells use it up as energy and there is little left over. When Our Cells Ignore Insulin and Become ResistantOver the course of years as we get older, become more sedentary, and our diets become "sugar loaded," we process more glucose than our cells can use and the excess floats around in our blood, or is turned into fat in the cells. Insulin Resistance also increases the symptoms and/or risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome, contributing to: 1. Accumulation of body fat
2. Obesity
3. Elevated triglycerides
4. High blood pressure.
5. Acceleration of the aging process. |
Food Allergies, Intolerances and Other Reactions“One person’s food is another person’s poison.” Lucretius There are many different ways that the immune system can react to food. An IgG (Immunoglobulin type G) reaction is a delayed, systemic inflammatory response to a food, which can show up as behavior problems in children or pain, fatigue and irritability in adults, hours or even days after eating the offending food, making it very difficult to pinpoint which food is causing the problem. An example of this is a child in my practice that would sometimes have unexplained tantrums. The IgG food test showed a strong reaction to pork. The mother realized that the child often had these tantrums in the afternoons on the days that she fed him bacon for breakfast. When she stopped the bacon, the tantrums went away. An adult example is a mom who tested strongly reactive to wheat. She realized that if she ate wheat toast for breakfast, she developed pain in her hips and other joints later that day. Stopping the wheat toast helped to alleviate her joint pain. An IgG reaction to food is called a food intolerance instead of a true food allergy, but it can cause many symptoms just the same. Many chronic systemic illnesses are worsened by anything that promotes inflammation, so removing IgG reactive foods can improve inflammation in the brain and GI tract, as well as the rest of the body. Most doctors do not bother to test for IgG food intolerances, so this problem is often overlooked. However, chronic untreated food reactions can wear out and weaken the immune system over time, leaving the body more vulnerable to infections and eventually possibly even cancer. A simple blood test can help identify the IgG reactive foods which are causing challenging behaviors, worsening gut, brain, and body inflammation, and making people feel bad. When the offending foods are removed, improvements are often seen in areas such as attention, cognition, behavior, and sleep. For a list of the kinds of symptoms that can be caused by IgG reactions to foods, see the following table. Symptoms of IgG Food Sensitivities
Digestive Tract
Stomach painsBloatingDiarrheaConstipationPassing gas | Mouth & Throat
Chronic coughingGaggingCanker sores | Ears
Ear infectionsEarachesHearing loss | Nose
Stuffy noseSinus problemsHay feverSneezing attacksExcessive mucous | Eyes
Watery eyesItchy eyesSwollen eyelidsDark circlesBlurred vision | Skin
AcneHivesRashesHair lossFlushing/hot flashesExcessive sweating | Emotions
Mood swingsAnxiety, fearIrritability, angerDepressionAggressivenessNervousness | Lungs
Chest congestionAsthma, bronchitis Shortness of breath Difficulty breathing | Weight
Binge eatingCravings Excessive weightCompulsive eatingWater retentionUnderweight | Mind
Poor memoryConfusion Poor concentration Stuttering, stammering Learning disabilities | Joint & Muscles
Pain in joints Arthritis Stiffness Limitation of movement Aches in muscles Feeling of weakness | Other
Irregular heartbeat Rapid heart Chest pains Frequent illness Urgent urination Genital itch | Head
HeadachesFaintness Dizziness Insomnia |
When patients have many strong IgG reactions to foods, it is often a sign of a “leaky gut.” If a patient continues to eat a strongly reactive IgG food, it can make the leaky gut worse, causing a vicious cycle of intestinal damage and inflammation. When we have a healthy GI tract, the food that we eat stays inside the GI tract the whole way through. But when there is inflammation and microscopic damage to the tight junctions between cells in the GI tract, the intestines can become leaky and food particles can enter the bloodstream, where the immune system reacts to it as a foreign substance, causing the IgG immune reactions. There are many causes of a leaky gut. Toxins such as heavy metals, infections such as yeast overgrowth, viruses (including measles virus), Lyme spirochetes, bad bacteria or parasites, autoimmune diseases, all promote a leaky gut. It is important to work on healing the leaky gut or else the patient will become intolerant to any food that they eat. Taking probiotics and digestive enzymes, detoxifying, treating infections, avoiding offending foods, rotating foods in a varied diet, and anti-inflammatory treatments such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy and certain supplements are all helpful in healing the leaky gut.With IgG reactions to foods, quantity often matters. If an IgG reaction is mild, the patient may be able to eat a small amount of that food once or twice a week and not have symptoms. For severe reactions, the food will need to be removed completely for several months to years, depending on the patient, during which time it is important to work on healing the GI tract. If those treatments are successful, it is often possible to reintroduce some of the offending foods in small, rotating amounts in the future. IgG reactions are not permanent or life-threatening, and they fluctuate constantly. When an IgG positive food is removed from the diet, the immune reaction will fade over time. This is why it is important to re-test for IgG food reactions approximately every 6-12 months. Anti-histamines do not help with this type of immune reaction, but a medicine called Chromalyn can help decrease the level of inflammation associated with IgG food reactions in some cases.
It is important to realize that patients have many different branches to their immune system, and many of them can react to foods differently.
Some patients will also have an IgE, or immediate, histamine-mediated reaction to foods. Anti-histamines can help with this kind of reaction, if it is mild. This is often called a “true” food allergy, because the word “allergy” was initially defined as being mediated via IgE alone. This is the kind of allergy that can be caused by inhalants such as pollens or pet dander, causing itchy, watery eyes, sneezing and coughing, and may worsen asthma. The most well-known type of IgE food allergy is a severe peanut allergy, where the patient can not ingest or often even touch or inhale any product made with peanuts. This type of allergy is called “anaphylactic” and can be life-threatening, and patients may need to carry an epi-pen to treat unexpected exposures. Patients can become anaphylactic to other foods or products such as latex as well. IgE reactions are often tested for by skin tests, but skin testing is not very accurate for food allergies. A simple blood test can also identify IgE food allergies. Often these patients will have high levels of IgE in their blood, and have lots of Eosinophils (a type of allergic blood cell) on a CBC test. Milder forms of IgE reactions to foods can cause symptoms such as hyperactivity, rashes, phlegm, etc. This also causes inflammation in the body. It is important to avoid IgE reactive foods. These reactions tend to be more permanent. At this time, it is not possible to recover from an anaphylactic food allergy, but with treatments that work to help balance the immune system, it is often possible to decrease the IgE reactivity of many patients.
In addition, some patients have IgA reactions to foods. This is usually a direct, intestinal reaction to the food. IgA lines the intestines and mucous membranes of the body like a protective layer, where it can trap and kill invading organisms that enter our GI tract or nose and sinuses before they have a chance to make us sick. Think of it like fly paper – sticky stuff to trap and kill bugs. But if IgA becomes reactive to certain foods, it can cause an intestinal reaction, such as abdominal pain or diarrhea when that food is eaten. IgA is also a delayed reaction to foods, which is also hard to detect clinically without a blood test, and IgA reactions can lead to IgG reactions over time. If a patient has GI symptoms, it is important to test this food reaction as well. |
Prioritizing Organic Produce Purchases Make good organic produce choices. When buying organic produce, your top priorities should be those items that would otherwise have the highest level of pesticides. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG; www.ewg.org/), the top 10 fruits and veggies with the highest pesticide load, therefore your top choices for buying organically grown produce, are:
1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet bell peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Lettuce
9. Grapes (imported)
10. Pears
On the other end of the scale are 12 foods that are the safest non-organic purchases to make, because they're grown with the least amount of pesticides.
Twelve Foods that Don't Have to be Organic
The Environmental Working Group's Shoppers' Guide to Pesticides in Produce is based on the results of nearly 43,000 pesticide tests. Organic fruits and vegetables are by definition grown without the use of pesticides. But some find the expense of organic foods prohibitive. Of the 43 different fruit and vegetable categories in the Guide to Pesticides, the following twelve foods had the lowest pesticide load when conventionally grown.
Consequently, they are the safest conventionally grown crops to consume:
• 1. Broccoli
• 2. Eggplant
• 3. Cabbage
• 4. Banana
• 5. Kiwi
• 6. Asparagus
• 7. Sweet peas (frozen)
• 8. Mango
• 9. Pineapple
• 10. Sweet corn (frozen)
• 11. Avocado
• 12. Onion |
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KRON-TV interviews Dr. Mielke on ...
