COVID-19, DHEA, The Healthy Skeptics
July 2021 Newsletter
July 2021 Newsletter
By Stephen Cherniske, M.S.
- COVID-19 update
- Lessons from the past
- Vaccine perspective: News you need
- Therapeutics update
- Ivermectin
B Herd and personal immunity
III. Altea Health Sciences
- Philosophy and mission
- Research and product development
- Product News
- MMIS in canisters only
- Timed-Release Protein and Intermittent Fasting – Free e-book!
- Exciting new Products
- X•Altea for mind, mood, vital energy and cardiovascular health
- Coming in September: Altea Senior Sport™
The pandemic
By now, you have or have not been vaccinated. In a moment, I’ll explain why that doesn’t matter much. Natalie and I decided to vaccinate because we love to travel, and one of our new grandbabies is 3,000 miles away in Buffalo, NY.
What the news reports are missing
I really don’t think the news outlets are intentionally lying. They report what they understand, and even when they interview a qualified expert, they fail to set their report in the context of what we know from evolutionary biology.
We need to remember the H1N1 swine flu pandemic of 2009. It killed about 250,000 people globally, and it also evolved rapidly, producing half a dozen known variants. Importantly, as H1N1 evolved, it became less deadly. And that, by the way, is also true of four other coronaviruses that have made the leap to humans. These strains now cause a quarter of all common colds. They don’t put thousands of people in hospital ICU’s.
So why is this not discussed in news reports? Every time a news reporter mentions the new Delta variant, all they say is that it is more transmissible. So what? That’s only bad news if it is also more virulent, and while that would run counter to the normal evolution of RNA viruses, it is still possible. We’ll know more in the next 6 months.
Bottom line. The vaccines are safe and effective. We know that because more than 100,000 people who were involved in early clinical trials have now been carefully followed for more than a year. Point that out to the next person who sends you a video claiming that the vaccines are a population control plot. Or that the vaccines cause autoimmune disease, infertility, impotence or cancer. None of those fears have been realized. None of the dire predictions have come to pass. RNA vaccines do not alter your DNA.
Q: What about breakthrough infections in vaccinated people? Doesn’t that show that vaccines don’t work?
A: Of course not. It merely demonstrates that some people (usually elderly or other immune-compromised people) fail to produce an adequate antibody response to the vaccine. Overall, you need to know that in 2021, hospitalizations for COVID-19 infections in fully vaccinated people account for only a small fraction of one percent of all events, and 76% of those hospitalizations were in people over age 65.
REF: CDC.gov
Editorial
RNA technology is relatively new. I get it. New medical technologies are scary, especially to people who do not have training in genetics. Even doctors like Christiane Northrup – who has a medical degree – are ill-equipped to understand the tremendous advance that RNA technologies represent. So she makes stuff up, which is really unfortunate. Please do not forward anything by Dr. Northrup, unless it is in her specialty, which is OBGYN. No, wait. Please do not forward anything by Christiane Northrup. In a recent presentation, she claimed that COVID vaccines are ineffective against the virus and will cause widespread sterility; that vaccinated mothers who breastfeed could kill their babies; that vaccinated people are a health risk to those who are not vaccinated; that people should not wear masks, and that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is collecting physiological information via COVID vaccines, cell phones and cryptocurrency.
REF: Woodard, Colin (2 May 2021). “Meet Christiane Northrup, doctor of disinformation”. Portland Press Herald. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
People who understand medical genomics, on the other hand, see the tremendous potential of RNA technologies. You can get a brief RNA vaccine overview here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4sUuFBEo2g
Moving forward, you should know that an RNA technology has just been used to cure a hereditary disorder known as ATTR amyloidosis. Prior to this study, there was no treatment for ATTR. After years of painful neuropathy, patients usually died of heart failure. Now, there is hope for a cure from an infusion of genetic information that repairs the mis-folded protein that causes the disease. Dr. Kiran Musunuru, director of the Genetic and Epigenetic Origins of Disease Program at the University of Pennsylvania had this to say:
“What was astonishing about this first-in-human study is not just that the treatment worked, but that it worked extremely well in patients, in one case turning off the disease gene close to 100%. It’s like launching a rocket ship in the hope of just getting into orbit, but making it all the way to the moon on the first try.”
Back to the vaccine issue
If you choose not to be vaccinated, that is a reasonable choice because – as I have said for well over a year – herd immunity does not depend on vaccines. Vaccines are intended to protect the vulnerable. And the way to become less vulnerable is well defined. Go to My2048.com. Hover over IMMUNITY in the menu bar, and you’ll see a 5 part series that Natalie and I created.
There’s also good news about Ivermectin. This safe and widely used drug is finally being investigated as part of the Platform Randomised Trial of Treatments in the Community for Epidemic and Pandemic Illnesses (PRINCIPLE), the world’s largest clinical trial of possible COVID-19 treatments for recovery at home and in other non-hospital settings. The study is being coordinated at Oxford University in the UK, and you can read all the details here: STUDY
Altea Health Sciences
We are partners devoted to providing accurate and actionable information to health conscious individuals. Natalie is a board-certified Family Medicine physician and I’m a research biochemist. You can check us out at: https://my2048.com/about-us/ or https://TheHealthySkeptics.com.
All of our videos are archived on My2048.com, and a VIP Membership option is available on TheHealthySkeptics.com
Please consider our products.
We are small, and choose to remain small in order to better serve our health seeker community. We have no desire to compete with Amazon. So you won’t find a long list of vitamins, minerals and conventional products. Instead, we specialize in unique and cutting edge products that you won’t find in health food stores.
NOTE: Membership is available for $99/year at TheHealthySkeptics.com, which gives you product discounts and free shipping. Since we also offer CBD products on that site, the checkout uses an e-check system known as Green.money. Since some of our customers don’t have checking accounts, and some prefer to use a credit card, we created My2048.com. That site offers all of the Healthy Skeptics / Altea products except the CBD products, and uses a standard credit card checkout.
Changes
After launching MMIS (Multi-Mushroom Immune Support) in canisters instead of capsules, we learned that most customers preferred canisters, mainly for the reduced price, since one canister = 3 bottles of capsules. Thus we’re discontinuing encapsulated MMIS and added a scoop in the canisters for more precise dosing. One level scoop = 2 capsules. MMIS has a pleasant umami taste and can be mixed with any beverage, hot or cold.
Newsletter #58 – July 2021We originally designed Timed-Release Protein for our sports & fitness line. For athletes and body-builders, muscle gains are optimized by a slow and steady release of amino acids. So we created a four stage protein powder combining whey protein isolate, soy protein isolate, sacha inchi (a seed protein from Peru) and Fibersol™. Details here: TIMED RELEASE PROTEIN
This is also an advantage for intermittent fasting (IF), since the timed-release feature provides satiety (hunger satisfaction) for about 5 hours. You can watch our IF video at the link above, and anyone purchasing Timed-Release Protein in July will receive our e-book, The Complete Guide to Intermittent Fasting absolutely free.
New Products
We’re excited to (finally) release X•Altea™. It’s taken almost a year to finalize the ingredient mix and secure the raw materials. X•Altea is a powdered superfood with clinically-proven benefits.
Mind, Mood and Vital Energy from:
- * Arginine Alpha-ketoglutarate
- * Pyridoxal-5-phosphate
- * CoQ10
- * D-Ribose
- * Inositol
Cardiovascular Support from:
- * D-Ribose
- * Beet concentrate
- * CoQ10
- * Arginine
- * Aronia concetrate
Antioxidant / Anti-inflammation from: 2g of Altea’s industry leading superfruit concentrate
- Aronia
- Amla
- Goji
- Pomegranate
- Acerola
- Mangosteen
- Strawberry
- Cranberry
- Maqui berry
- Jabuticaba berry
Suggested use: Mix one rounded tsp (about 5g) in 4-6 oz of hot (not boiling) water. Hot water infusion “activates” X•Altea to release aromatic compounds and blend flavors. Enjoy hot or cold.
Quality and Value
Somewhat similar products are available for $49 to $65. A month supply of X*Altea is $39.95, and the Healthy Skeptics Member price is only $32.
NOTE: You may already be thinking about combining X•Altea and KYSO our pre-workout energy product. Genius idea, and yes, it tastes great and supercharges you for hours. In fact, the combination has a name; we call it Va-Boom!
Coming in July:
Altea Senior Sport™
If you have read The Metabolic Makeover, you know that Natalie and I consider fitness to be the cornerstone of health, wellness and longevity. Virtually all of our products are designed to make exercise easier and more enjoyable, and to relieve any discomfort that may result.
This new product is a unique approach to the multiple needs of athletes and weekend warriors over 40:
* Zen focus: with Alpha GPC (L-Alpha Glycerylphosphorylcholine) and guarana. NOTE: both ingredients have been found (at doses provided) to enhance memory, concentration, mood, information processing speed and reaction time.
* Joint comfort: with Univestin™ and Amlexin™, two patented, clinically proven plant based anti-inflammatories.
* Prevention of over-use injuries (by reducing inflammation)
* Vital Energy: from Arginine Alpha-ketoglutarate, guarana and CoQ10
Ingredients
- 60 capsules
- Each capsule contains:
- * Alpha GPC 100 mg
- * Univestin™ plant-based
- anti-inflammatory: 75 mg
- * Amlexin™ plant-based
- anti-inflammatory 75 mg
- * Arginine Alpha Ketoglutarate 200 mg
- * Guarana 100 mg
- * CoQ10 10 mg
Instructions for use:
Take one or two capsules about 30 minutes before exercise or competition. Do not take after 4:PM
NOTE: First level benefits (focus, energy) will be experienced right away, but second level benefits (joint comfort, memory, cognition) may take a few days and are cumulative.