Healthy by Nature radio show this week: Dr. Natalie Englebart tells us about an under-recognized cause of urinary tract infections (fyi, men do get them) and vaginal infections (guys…not so much). Jack Brown and I talk about Aloe vera – not only its uses, but why one brand might be dramatically better than another. (For one week, sponsor RealFoodPharmacy.com is offering a free copy of my Aloe vera book with the purchase of any Lily of the Dessert product.) Click here to find podcasts, show archives and ways to listen nationwide.

What drummer does the FDA follow?
In last week’s newsletter I mentioned that a review article in the May 2011 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) cast serious doubt on the wisdom of the FDA’s new lower salt guidelines for everyone.¹ Then I found another review of salt studies in my files. It was published in JAMA May, 1998.² The 2011 study just confirmed what the medical establishment concluded 13 years ago. A recent study of salt and diabetes showed that the highest and the lowest levels of urinary salt excretion were associated with greater mortality.³ Bottom line: People are all quite different and when the government averages the extremes to come up with blanket rules for everyone, some of us are going to lose.

  Oh my goodness, it did what?
 
There is widely recognized phenomenon in Washington. It’s called the “law of unintended consequences”. That is basically when an action is taken to achieve one effect, but a surprising effect shows up somewhere else…like if just one person gets off of a teeter-totter. Here are some health examples:

 Kids with tonsils removed are more likely to become obese.⁴  Seriously.

My 2 Cents: Never mind that a doctor of integrative medicine might have healed the children without resorting to surgery, getting fat isn’t an outcome you’d expect from a tonsillectomy. Other than acknowledging that the tonsils are part of the immune system, most of the possible explanations the researchers proposed were kind of silly. I think that the antibiotics they gave during surgery may well be a factor. They kill good bacteria that are known to help with weight management. Also, bad eating habits may have contributed to the infected tonsils.

 The USDA Food Pyramid aimed to make Americans healthier but they got fatter and sicker.
My 2 Cents: When I went to grade school (in the olden days) we had the 4 food groups: (1) Fruits and vegetables (2) Meat, fish and eggs (3) Dairy and (4) Grain. We thought those were handed down along with the 10 commandments. Actually, the trade groups for meat and dairy had a lot to do with their creation and distribution to schools. In 1992 when the food pyramid came on the scene, we assumed somehow that all the scientists had gotten together and agreed upon a healthier plan. Only much later did we learn how much influence lobbyists for the now highly profitable processed food industry were instrumental in making grain products the big fat bottom section. (Hah, hah. That’s ironic. We ate all those starchy sugary foods and got big fat bottoms.) In 2005 the pyramid got a little healthier but is too abstract and confusing. Now the USDA is trying again with something that looks more like a dinner plate. That should be easier to comprehend, but will the advice be any better? I’ll let you know.

My first book : Natural Alternatives to Nexium, Maalox, Tagamet, Prilosec & Other Acid Blockers. Subtitle: What to Use to Relieve Acid Reflux, Heartburn, and Gastric Ailments.

My latest book : Aloe Vera-Modern Science Sheds Light on an Ancient Herbal Remedy

Copyright 2011 Martie Whittekin, CCN

¹ Stolarz-Skrzypek, K. Fatal and nonfatal outcomes, incidence of hypertension, and blood pressure changes in relation to urinary sodium excretion. JAMA. 2011 May 4;305(17):1777-85.

² Graudal, NA. Effects of sodium restriction on blood pressure, renin, aldosterone, catecholamines, cholesterols, and triglyceride: a meta-analysis. JAMA. 1998 May 6;279(17):1383-91.

³ Thomas, MC. The association between dietary sodium intake, ESRD, and all-cause mortality in patients with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2011 Apr;34(4):861-6. Epub 2011 Feb 9.
⁴ Jeyakumar, A. Systematic Review of Adenotonsillectomy as a Risk Factor for Childhood Obesity. 2010 AAO–HNSF Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO; September 26-29, 2010; Boston, Massachusetts.