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Archive for the ‘Dr. Mercola’ Category
How to Best Test for Undiagnosed Diabetes
With our sedentary lifestyles, hyper stress levels, and fast/processed food diets, a lot of us are probably borderline Diabetic 2′s. I thought the following health article by Dr. Mercola to be on point for addressing this potentially epidemic problem that is running as a undercurrent to public health.
From mercola.com :
A simple test that measures long-term blood sugar may help identify millions of people with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes.
The test, known as hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), provides information on a person’s average blood sugar (glucose) over the past 2 to 3 months and does not require fasting. Although the fasting plasma glucose test is still considered the most accurate measure, HbA1c may be more pragmatic because it does not require patients to fast for several hours beforehand.
More than 5 million Americans have undiagnosed diabetes.
If not controlled, the disease can lead to serious medical complications such as heart disease, blindness, kidney damage and amputations resulting from damage to nerves.
Currently, however, there is no clear evidence to support widespread screening at the doctor’s office. While the new findings do not show that the HbA1c test is a cost-effective way to do routine screening, they do suggest that more cases of diabetes can be caught.
The test was particularly effective at detecting new cases of diabetes in obese individuals, those with high blood pressure and individuals with a family history of the disease.
An estimated 16 million Americans have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, but medical experts say the figure is actually higher.
Journal of General Internal Medicine January 2002;17:1-7
Dr. Mercola’s Comments:
I routinely perform the hemoglobin A1c test in diabetics, but I have not found it as useful, or even as sensitive, as another wonderful screen for diabetes, which is the fasting glucose and insulin test.
The absolute best test for diagnosing diabetes truly remains the eight-hour fasting blood sugar. It is absolutely amazing how powerful and sensitive this test is.
The ideal fasting blood glucose should be around 87. I become nervous when my patients have numbers over 100. Traditional standards state that diabetes is formally diagnosed at 120.
With insulin levels, the lower the better. I like to see them below 5, but 2 or 3 would be far better. Any fasting insulin level over 10 is a major problem and is a huge risk factor for diabetes.
Fortunately, diabetes can be treated and prevented. Here is a three-step plan that should help you gain control over your diabetes if you have it, and protect you from getting it if you don’t.
* Eat foods that are right for your nutritional type
* Exercise
* Get enough sleep
Forced flu vaccinations ? A shot in the arm for Big Pharma profits !
Behind the push to vaccinate the entire population [for Flu H1N1] are the pharmaceutical makers of the vaccines, who are working in conjunction with the government to make the vaccine mandatory.
Homeland security and FEMA are pushing for forced vaccinations and the medical experts, virologists and epidemiologists are calling for calm and resorting to voluntary vaccination only. The former have links with the vaccine manufacturers via political contacts.
A great deal of money will be made by the manufacturers, should forced vaccinations be mandated.
Continue To Avoid Any Type Of Dental Metal In Your Mouth
Take A Bite Out Your Dentists Hide
Hold out for finding a dentist that uses metal-free zirconia implants which have been used in Europe and South America for a while now.
Traditional metal dental implants and fillings release metal ions into your mouth 24 hours a day. This chronic exposure may trigger inflammation, allergies, and autoimmune disease in susceptible individuals. They are a precursor to disease.
Cases of intolerance to metal implants, even the newer ones made of titanium, have been reported. The removal of any incompatible dental material has resulted in reduced metal sensitivity and long-term health improvement in the majority of patients.
Zirconia is a New Alternative to Titanium Implants
In recent years, high-strength ceramic implants have become attractive alternatives to titanium implants, and some current research has focused on the viability of materials such as zirconia (the dioxide of zirconium, a metal close to titanium on the periodic table).
Metal-free zirconia implants have been used in Europe and South America for years, but they have only recently become available in the U.S.
Zirconia implants are highly biocompatible to the human body and exhibit minimum ion release compared to metallic implants.
Moreover, zirconia ceramics have been successfully used in orthopedic surgery to manufacture ball heads for total hip replacements.
Given that titanium dental implants can induce metal sensitivity, inflammation, autoimmunity, and malignant tumors, while zirconia implants are metal-free but just as durable, why invite chronic metal exposure?
Your body would surely benefit from choosing the biocompatible, ceramic dental implant over the standard, titanium metal implant.
It’s All A Matter of Balance – Understated Quote of the Day
Important Cod Liver Oil Update
For years, cod liver oil as been forced on us as children and touted as a dietary supplement to support healthy vitamin D levels. Recent findings could be interpreted that it may not serve you as well as previously believed.
Cod liver oil contains vitamins D and A in addition to healthy omega-3 fats. These vitamins are essential for most everyone who cannot get regular sun exposure year-round.
But more recent research has discovered that the ratios of these two vitamins may be of paramount importance in order to extract optimal health benefits, and unfortunately, modern cod liver oil does not supply these vitamins in healthy ratios to each other.
Taking Control Of Your Health
More government involvement doesn’t hold the answer to the health care crisis. What is needed is more personal involvement — your personal involvement — in the form of a commitment to your own health.
If you carefully follow some basic health principles — simple things like exercising, eating whole foods, sleeping enough, getting sun exposure, reducing stress in your life, and nurturing personal relationships — you will drastically reduce your need for conventional medical care.
You could also carefully analyze newer health insurance options such as HRAs and HSAs if you live in the United States. The basic concept here is to provide protection against medical catastrophes, but to have a high deductible to lower your costs. If you stay healthy, the premium savings would more than pay for the higher deductible — IF you ever need it.
And that is really the bottom line.
As drug sales are now dwindling due to a depressed economy, you and your children are likely to be bombarded with increasingly aggressive pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising, and lobbying for more forced drugging and mandatory vaccinations.
Don’t fall for the scare tactics and disease mongering! And don’t believe the fairy tale that taking a pill with a laundry list of side effects will somehow make you feel as glowing and wonderful as the well-paid actors in the commercial.
The more you take responsibility for your own health — in the form of nurturing your body to prevent disease — the less you need to rely on the “disease care” that passes for health care in the United States in the first place.
Source: mercola.com
Keeping abreast of the mammogram industry
“More death by medicine….. for the past 20 years (closer to 30), nearly everything we have come to accept as beneficial to our health or possibly “life saving” or as “preventive” has turned out to be nothing short of witchcraft. Then we find out 20 years later that the FDA and/or the medical books were wrong. Yet, nothing is ever done about it. It just gets swept under the rug. …. Seriously, I don’t know anyone who sees a doctor that actually improves their health. They get put on meds and you see an immediate decline in their health. When you point this out to them they get mad at you.” (from the comments section to the article at the link below)
New analysis finds mammograms only occasionally save lives
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