The Top Three Health Breakthroughs
Following is a summary statement regarding the top three health breakthroughs that we feel you should EXPLORE.
Healthy Skeptics Subscribers have access to complete texts, including references and citations, as well as access to a an interactive forum where one can ask questions and compare notes with other members.
Top 3 Breakthroughs
PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) treatments are now – finally – hitting mainstream medicine, from orthopedics (treating connective tissue and joint injuries) to dental practices, where PRP is showing great promise in restoring gum tissue. To get an idea how important and far-reaching this breakthrough is, we need to explain a little about what platelets are and what they do. This will be a recurring Healthy Skeptics theme, remembering the mantra, “if people KNEW better, they’d DO better.”
Stem cells are different, and there is a lot of confusion regarding this difference because PRP injections are likely to contain some stem cells, and may also recruit stem cells to the point of injury. So if a treatment center is advertising stem cell therapy and only providing PRP injections, they’re not lying; just exaggerating; and you might reconsider using them.
Real stem cell therapy uses mesenchymal stem cells (MSC’s) and requires that a trained physician, usually an orthopedic specialist, remove cells from your hip or fatty tissue. But that’s only step one. While a PRP injection can be made in a simple centrifuge right there in the physician’s office, MSC’s are isolated and grown in a sophisticated cell culture lab by cell biologists, usually over a over two week period. We’ll explain these procedures in more detail AND provide reliable references when available. This is an area of health care that you really need to EXPLORE.
The Nutrition Detective Course
by Stephen Cherniske
In pursuit of a healthy body, the most valuable possession is an open mind. A cynical attitude is an obstacle to learning, but blind acceptance is just as bad. It leads ultimately to confusion, error and disappointment.
The purpose of this course is to give you the information and tools you need to reap the rewards of optimum nutrition without being taken for a ride or endangering your health.
Metabolic Makeover Shopping List
Part 1– Metabolic Modifiers
We like to purchase our metabolic modifiers from:
• Amazon.com
• Super Supplements
• Vitamin shop
• Univera
Formulations of the metabolic modifiers from Univera include Aloe Select, Aloe Gold, Xtra, Xperia, Vitality, Rhythmatix, Level G, Regenifree, Regenicare, Thermogenic, GoVera, and Prime. The company named NOW makes the acetyl l-carnitine in a Citrus flavored liquid formula, which makes it easier to consume by adding it to drinks, including using it to flavor water. Leucine is available as a powder, as are creatine and maca, which make them easier to add to beverages. When purchasing resveratrol, it’s always important to get a product that’s in a nitrogen flushed capsule such Univera’s Rhythmatix or resveratrol capsules from Kirkland. Steer clear of liquid resveratrol products as these open bottles allow rapid oxidation of the resveratrol within 24 hours.
Wondering which metabolic modifiers to purchase first? Refer to page 187 in the book for helping you decide whether to start, stay or get strong. Stephen divided a few of the metabolic modifiers into these categories so that people can choose which ones they want to add to their program next.
Metabolic Makeover Shopping List
Part 2– Protein
On page 116 of the book we list some wild and /or naturally raised meat sources. Depending on where the person lives, these may be more accessible at some local supermarkets. However in this modern day with Internet shopping, it’s easier to have dietary protein diversity because of the increased variety accessible from such suppliers. We like to purchase elk, deer, goat and wildboar from grande meats at ElkUSA.com.
Locally, we enjoy
Wild caught Pacific salmon
• Other Seafoods
• Grass fed lamb
• Alomonds
• Hemp seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Chia seed
• Nut butter
• A wide variety of legumes
• Eggs laid by our own chickens
Metabolic Makeover Shopping List
Part 3– Kitchen Appliances
Having the right tool for you Metabolic Makeover is just as important as having the right ingredients:
• Vegetable steamer
• Fish poacher
• Egg poacher
• Wok for braising greens
• Rice cooker to use to cook quinoa
• Yogurt maker to make fermented sunflower seed dish that will appear in the metabolic
makeover kitchen companion cookbook coming soon
Autonomic Nervous System Health Assessment
All functions of the human body are controlled or influenced by the nervous system. Some movement and sensory functions (vision, touch) are voluntary. Everything else is regulated by the autonomic nervous system (ANS), including circulation (heart and blood vessels) temperature regulation, digestion and metabolism. The ANS is divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches.
As Stephen explained in The Metabolic Plan, the sympathetic nervous system drives catabolic activity associated with the fight or flight response. Sympathetic output increases heart rate, breathing, liver functions related to energy needs as well as glucose release. Parasympathetic activity is generally anabolic, associated with repair and restore functions. As you can imagine, optimum health requires a balanced coordination of these activities and that can now be measured with a sophisticated technology known as ANSHSA.
The ANSHA test is a non-invasive, painless way to evaluate cardiovascular health at the earliest stage, when diet, lifestyle and natural products can provide the greatest benefit. It gives the clinician information about heart rate variability, blood vessel elasticity, arterial stiffness and overall health. Because of its ability to predict pathology, often years before the first sign or symptom, the technology is FDA approved and insurance reimbursable.
What is CRISPR gene editing?
Stephen Cherniske
In the short (roughly 50 year) history of genetics, I have always thought that there must be a lot we can learn from bacteria. These genetically simple organisms conduct incredibly complex feats in order to survive and proliferate. Bacteria have been conducting genetic modifications (aka mutation) since the beginning of time; one recent example being the ease by which pathogenic bacteria evade or inactivate our antibiotic drugs. These are purposeful, not random mutations. Pretty cool for a single cell.
In the late 1980’s scientists were surprised to find repeating sequences of bacterial DNA without an obvious task assignment. That sent molecular biologists running to their labs, and in 2002, it was learned that these sequences were part of the bacterial immune system. The segments were called Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats or CRISPR.
We have to be careful using words like “system,” since that conjures up the complex activity of organs, blood cells and tissues. In this case, the system is purely genetic, and that, to say the least was rather intriguing.
Intrigue attracts brilliant minds, and scientists soon learned how this mechanism worked. Interspersed in the repeated sequences were “spacers” that matched pieces of DNA from viral invaders. Some bacteria, it turns out, have an adaptive immune system that can be passed to future generations. If the bacterium is invaded by the same virus, DNA in the spacers is converted to RNA, forming a structure that binds to strands of DNA in the invading virus, literally slicing into the helix and destroying the virus’ ability to proliferate. Cool!
You have to know that the inability to slice specific sequences of DNA has been a stumbling block for geneticists. Gene editing tools have been time consuming, expensive and far from perfect, as evidenced by the fact that not a single genetic disease has been cured.
CRISPR provides the perfect tool because this cellular defense system can be used to edit genomes, not just kill viruses. Scientists are now creating “guide RNA” to attach to virtually any point on the genome, and CRISPR protein scissors remove the DNA at that spot. These segments of DNA can be deleted or added, just as a film editor might cut a film and splice in new frames.
If you’re not feeling a bit uneasy about this yet, here’s the headline from a CRISPR ad I received this morning from Sigma-aldrich, a major provider of laboratory supplies.
“Access affordable targeted genome editing for mouse, human, and rat.”
Yeah… labs now have the ability to edit heritable DNA. And if this technology is usable by a small biotech team like mine, imagine what is going on in sophisticated privately held (unregulated) facilities around the world.
Bottom line, This is the proverbial double-edged sword. In March, 2017 the first human was cured of an inherited DNA defect that causes sickle cell anemia. This portends the quick (in our lifetime) end to genetic disorders including cystic fibrosis, hemochromatosis, Tay–Sachs disease and hemophilia.
And it also opens up a Pandora’s box of ethical and moral dilemmas for which we are woefully unprepared. If scientists can eliminate inherited defects, that means they can manipulate any region of the human genome. And as many have noted, “If it can be done, it will be done,” Welcome to the brave new world. Fasten your seat belts.
For scientists who want the details, go to https://phys.org/news/2017-04-accurate-dna-method.html#jCp.