In this Issue:

• Stuff in Your House Hurting Your Sex Life?

• Beat Holiday Blues and Build a Better Brain...

• FDA Approved Laboratory Poison or Ignored Safe Plant Sweetener - Your Choice...

Stuff in Your House Hurting Your Sex Life?

Things you have in your house, like plastic bags, shampoos and cleaners have gender-
bending chemicals that can hurt your enjoyment in the bedroom.

Your body absorbs them through the skin and soft tissue membranes of the eyes, nose, mouth, throat, and lungs. Manufacturers use these chemicals in literally thousands of plastic products because they make it clear, soft, and durable.

Two of the worst pthalates (pronounced “thall–ates”) and bisphenol-A are hormone-like chemicals called “endocrine disruptors.” For instance, they can fool your body into thinking they’re estrogen, the female hormone.

They can cause severe and irreversible physical deformities in animal studies, especially in the developing reproductive systems of young males.1 Some of these included undescended testes, malformed or undeveloped genitals or prostate glands, reduced sperm counts, and even permanent damage to the nervous system.

These things spell trouble… Not just for kids, but for your sex life too.

What To Look For In Your Home

So what should you look out for? This is an easy answer.

Since World War II, manufacturers and chemical companies have introduced about 72,000 new chemicals into everything from carpets and cleaners to medical equipment. Less than 2% of them have been studied for potential health problems.

It takes time to figure out how dangerous these chemicals are. And there are no incentives for companies to do that. Studies show that we’re now at a point where the average home contains 62 toxic chemicals.

Here’s a shortlist of some of the most dangerous household chemicals my Wellness Research Foundation has identified over the years. They’re in more places than you’d think: your kitchen, your living room, your bathroom, your bedroom, and your children’s playroom.

Even Babies Found to Carry Toxins

The presence of so many chemicals in nearly everything in our lives has led to a new science called “bio-monitoring.” What it means is simple: we’re trying to figure out which chemicals the body absorbs, and what effects they might have on health.

So far, the news isn’t good. One group of government experts estimated that the average American is carrying around 700 chemicals in their bodies.2 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention screened 2,500 Americans for 148 different toxic chemicals. They found amounts of all of them in the bloodstreams of everyone tested.

Even newborn infants are loaded with trace amounts of these poisonous substances. The CDC found an average of over 200 chemicals in the tissue of newborns, including flame retardants, pesticides, and the chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) a cancer-causing agent used in non-stick cookware.

Many of these enviro-toxins cause cancer. Others have been linked to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease. If you suffer from unexplained symptoms like chronic asthma, coughing fits, nose bleeds, or even flu-like symptoms, there may be a connection to these “everywhere chemicals.”

Because so many of them penetrate the skin and the soft tissues of your body, it’s hard to keep track of which one might be causing a particular health problem. It’ll be years before we have all the information, simply because of the sheer number of “everywhere chemicals” out there.

I’ve always known that the rising rates of prostate cancer in this country are at least in part caused by these “endocrine disruptors” driving down testosterone and causing prostate cells to grow.

Ten Steps to Take Right Now

You have to do your best with the information we currently have. Here are 10 things you can do right now to help protect yourself and your family:

• Use only stainless steel, glass, or cast iron in the kitchen. Avoid plastic cooking utensils and all “non-stick” cookware.

• Never store food in plastic containers. Remove plastic wrapping from foods immediately.

• Buy toys made of natural materials – wood is best.

• Don’t let your child chew on plastic teethers, rattles,
• or pacifiers. Buy glass baby bottles and use them with care rather than risk exposing your children to plastic.

• Look for clothing, bedding, carpeting and furnishings made from unprocessed, natural fibers whenever possible. Don’t use stain-repellents like “Scotch Guard.”

• Choose cleaning products that specifically use natural ingredients only. Many health food stores carry them these days. Or you can buy them on line.

• Avoid bleached paper products – these contain chlorine, a noxious chemical that irritates the eyes and lungs.

• Buy a water filter. Most municipal water systems have
• toxic substances, including chlorine, which has also been linked to colon cancer.

• Go organic. There are fewer pesticides in organic foods. If that’s not an option, wash produce thoroughly or remove the skins. And with meat, trim the fat off. That’s where a lot of enviro-toxins are stored.

• Purify the air in your home with plants. They absorb a lot of potentially poisonous gases and replace them with oxygen.

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1. Moore et al. “Abnormalities of sexual development in male rats with in utero and lactational exposure to the antiandrogenic plasticizer Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate.” Environmental Health Perspectives, 2001. 109(3): 229–237.
2. Onstot J, Ayling R, Stanley J. “Characterization of HRGC/MS Unidentified Peaks from the Analysis of Human Adipose Tissue.” Volume 1: Technical Approach. Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Toxic Substances (560/6-87-002a), 1987.

Beat Holiday Blues and Build a Better Brain..

Christmas can be a time of family and friends. But it’s easy to feel stress, anxiety or loneliness during the holidays. And with that can come depression.

You know if you go to a doctor, they’re probably going to hand you a prescription for an antidepressant. But taking a pill tinkers with your brain chemistry. I’ve never quite trusted drug companies to do this.

What’s more, they’re expensive, they come with a lot of side effects, and we still don’t know much about their long-term impact on health. And it turns out in my experience many don’t need them at all.

You may just need to get more of an important nutrient into your diet – especially omega-3 fatty acids. While you’re at it, you can actually build a better brain by stimulating the growth of neurons and neural networks. Being over 60% fat, your brain needs a constant source of healthy fats like omega-3s. Without them, you’re more likely to get hit with depression.

In fact, the latest research shows it’s one of your most powerful allies in the fight against depression – as effective as antidepressants, but without the high cost and nasty side effects like insomnia, sexual problems, weight gain, fatigue, and suicidal thoughts.

Even better, it doesn’t matter if you’re already depressed or just at risk for depression. It doesn’t matter how old you are – in fact, it boosts mood in children and in people over 50. It doesn’t even matter if you’re already on antidepressants. You can still get the benefit.

Omega-3’s also help people who have trouble controlling their emotions to be more even-keeled. It’s good for anxiety and “anger management” issues. It keeps the mind sharp. It can even help you sleep better.

Making the Most of Your “Brain Food”

Your brain is the fattiest organ in your body. And your body needs large amounts of fat to make brain and nerve cells. Fat is also crucial for healthy brain function. In fact, if the brain were a V-8 engine, fat would be like high-octane gas. It keeps the signals between your nerve cells firing steadily and rapidly. It literally helps your mind to work harder and smarter.

What’s more, fat has the power to put a smile on your face. It helps the membranes of your brain cells absorb the natural chemicals that put you in a good mood – and keep you there.

And the kind of fat your brain and nerve cells crave most is Omega-3.

Unfortunately, we don’t get anywhere near enough of it. In North America, most people get only 130 mg per day of the most important kinds of omega-3. That falls far short of the 1000-2000 mg per day I recommend for optimal health, brainpower – and mood. And when it comes to serious depression, studies show it takes as much as 2000 to 4000 mg per day to get real results.1

If you think about it, this may be one of the reasons why rates of depression, addiction, and even suicide are so high in this country. It may also explain why people with major depression are 25 percent more likely to have heart disease.

A key ingredient to health and happiness is missing from our diet.

Boost Your Brainpower and Brighten Your Mood

Here’s some food for thought: omega-3 has the power to make your “gray matter” multiply. It miraculously unlocks your brain’s natural ability to grow, heal, and repair itself.

In a study published last summer, the brains of adults given pure omega-3 actually started growing. And here’s the twist: the parts of their brains that grew were directly responsible for happiness.2

This isn’t the first time science has uncovered omega-3’s power to literally turn people from “sad” to “glad.” In other studies, researchers found that people suffering from major depression had very low levels of omega-3 in the areas of the brain that help with mood.3

If omega-3 can make grown adult brains grow their way to happiness, you can imagine how important it is for children. Kids who look totally normal in every other way can actually suffer from stunted “brain growth” if they don’t get enough omega-3. This is true even for the unborn. And it doesn’t make for happy kids.

In one of the largest studies of its kind, scientists studied the diets of nearly 12,000 pregnant women. The children of women who ate less omega-3 rich seafood turned out to be 48 percent more likely to score in the lowest quarter on verbal IQ tests. These children also suffered poor communication and motor skills, behavioral problems, and difficult social development as they grew older.4

If you’re at risk for depression, more omega 3’s could hold it at bay. A Norwegian study of 22,000 people found that those who regularly took cod liver oil – one of the best sources of omega-3’s – were about 30% less likely to show signs of depression. And the longer they took cod liver oil, the less likely they were to become depressed.5

Omega-3’s can have positive impact even in the most severe cases of depression. In a study published just this year, Irish researchers gave patients suffering from major depression including thoughts of suicide 2,100 mg of omega-3. Another group took a placebo. After three months, the group on omega-3’s showed remarkable improvement across the board.6

Keep Your Mind Clear For the Rest of Your Life

Omega-3’s can make adult brains grow? They can also slow one of the most negative mental effects of aging. European researchers found that over a ten-year period, men over 70 who didn’t get enough omega-3 lost four times as much brainpower as men who did.7 And in a study published just last year, people over 50 with high omega-3 levels cut their risk of age-related dementia, including Alzheimer’s, in half.8

There’s also good news if you’re on antidepressants but unhappy with the results: omega-3 can eliminate their side effects – and even boost their effectiveness. People who weren’t responding well to prescription drugs in one study responded better when given omega-3 supplements, with less depression and anxiety and fewer sleep disturbances and sexual problems.9

Finally, omega-3 has a beneficial effect on “anger management” issues. It can improve a gloomy, negative outlook and reduce “bad behavior.” Several studies have found that people around 45 who struggle with impulsive behavior, hostility, and even “cynical ideas” also have low levels of omega-3. Researchers have even been able to predict whether people will suffer from angry feelings or outbursts by measuring their omega-3 their levels.10

“So Where Do I Get It?”

There are plenty of high-quality, good sources of omega-3. The problem is how to get enough – and in a form that’s safe and pure.

Fish are a great source of omega-3, but because of our polluted oceans, there’s a real risk of poisoning, particularly from heavy metals like mercury. If you decide to go this route, try to eat smaller fish like sardines, anchovies, and mackerel.

Other omega-3 rich foods include grass-fed beef and eggs from free-range, organic poultry. Flax seeds and walnuts also contain plenty of omega-3.

Studies suggest you get between 1,000 mgs (1 g) and 4,000 mgs (4 g) per day to for the full antidepressant benefit. To give you help you figure out what to look for in the supermarket (organic, free-range, or wild-caught, of course!), here’s a list of omega-3 rich foods:

Cod liver oil supplements are also a good way to go. You can find them in health food stores or on line. I prefer to use pure oil instead of soft gels with my patients because the body absorbs it better.

____________________

1. Logan AC. “Omega-3 fatty acids and major depression: a primer for the mental health professional.” Lipids in Health and Disease. 2004. 9;325.
2. Conklin et al. “Long-chain omega-3 fatty acid intake is associated positively with corticolimbic gray matter volume in healthy adults. Neuroscience Letters. 2007. 421(3):209-12. 3. McNamara et al. “Selective deficits in the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid in the postmortem orbitofrontal cortex of patients with major depressive disorder.” Biological Psychiatry. 2006 Dec 21.
4. Hibbeln JR et al. “Maternal seafood consumption in pregnancy and neurodevelopmental outcomes in childhood (ALSPAC study): an observational cohort study.” Lancet. 2007 17;369(9561):578-85.
5. Raeder MB, Steen VM, Vollset SE, Bjelland I. “Associations between cod liver oil use and symptoms of depression: The Hordaland Health Study.” Journal of Affective Disorders. 2006 Dec 18.
6. Hallahan et al. “Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation in patients with recurrent self-harm. Single-centre double-blind randomised controlled trial.” British Journal of Psychiatry. 2007. 190:118-22.
7. van Gelder et al. “Fish consumption, n-3 fatty acids, and subsequent 5-y cognitive decline in elderly men: the Zutphen Elderly Study.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2007. 85(4):1142-7.
8. Schaefer et al, “Plasma Phosphatidylcholine Docosahexaenoic Acid Content and Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer Disease: The Framingham Study.” Archives of Neurology. 2006. 63:1545-155.
9. Conklin et al. “Serum phospholipid polyunsaturated fatty acids are associated with mood, behavior and personality in healthy community adults. American Psychosomatic Society annual meeting, March 2007, Budapest, Hungary, abstract 1718.
10. Peet M, Horrobin DF. “A dose-ranging study of the effects of ethyl-eicosapentaenoate in patients with ongoing depression despite apparently adequate treatment with standard drugs.” Archives of General Psychiatry. 2002. 59(10):913-9.

FDA Approved Laboratory Poison or Ignored Safe Plant Sweetener - Your Choice...

Back in the 1970s, before the FDA approved NutraSweet for your table and all those pink and blue packets appeared in restaurants, the US military classified aspartame as a neurotoxin.

As you probably know, aspartame is the chemical that sold as NutraSweet. In spite of its toxic status, aspartame was approved by the FDA in the early 80s. Today it’s in tens of thousands of food and drink products around the world. That’s not good and I’ll show you why.

Women in my clinic usually think of a sweet tooth as a curse, but it’s completely natural to crave sweet foods. In our native world it is an excellent test of what’s likely to be good for you to eat.

It turns out that the naturally sweet foods our ancestors loved – grapes, raspberries, cherries, blueberries – really are very good for us. The same is true of our taste for fatty and salty flavors, both scarce nutrients our pre-historic ancestors needed to survive.

The problem is we no longer live in a natural world. And most of the foods we find at the supermarket take advantage of our sweet tooth in a way Nature never intended. They’re bland foods we wouldn’t like so they pack them with chemicals and imitation sugars to make us crave them, without regard for our health.

That’s one of the reasons we find ourselves in the middle of the biggest epidemic of obesity the world has ever known. And why we’ve got all these health problems. You’re right to be skeptical of artificial sweeteners like NutraSweet and Splenda. They aren’t the answer. In fact, they make the problem worse.

Mysterious Symptoms? It Could Be NutraSweet…

NutraSweet’s been the most popular sugar substitute for years. It also goes by the name of Equal, although its chemical name is aspartame.

It may be sweet, but it’s made up of chemicals that can cause cancer, nerve damage, and a host of equally dangerous side effects.

You don’t have to take my word for it. A 1994 report from the US Department of Health and Human Services1 found that it can cause 92 different “adverse reactions,” including:

The two main ingredients in aspartame, formaldehyde and methanol, are deadly and lead to cancer. They attack the brain and nerve cells, and they can wreak havoc on most systems of your body. In fact, you may have heard of formaldehyde by its more common name in laboratories and funeral homes: “embalming fluid.”

This is probably why so many of aspartame’s side effects involve the nervous system. One early study found that it could cause serious convulsions and psychotic behavior at high doses.2 And as recently as 2005, researchers discovered that aspartame causes lymphoma and leukemia in animals – even at low doses.3

So if you’re suffering from any one of the side effects I listed, NutraSweet could be the cause. I recommend you eliminate it from your diet and then wait about a month to see if the symptoms disappear.

Of course, you should do your best to avoid aspartame and any of the 5,000 products that contain it. Check the label the make sure it’s not in there before you buy a “sugar-free” food.

Cut the Chlorine from Your Cup of Coffee

“Splenda” is the latest sweetener of choice for a lot of people. Its chemical name is “sucralose.” It hasn’t been around long enough for us to closely study its possible health hazards. But the little we do know about it suggests it’s just as bad for you as aspartame.

The makers of sucralose say it’s good for you because it’s made from real sugar.

The problem is that they use chlorine to make it. Chlorine is a powerful toxin. Pure chlorine gas kills humans. As you know, it’s used as a disinfectant in pools. It also kills insects. And there’s plenty of it in “Splenda.” In fact, it may be that eating sucralose is a little like eating tiny pellets of pesticide.

One early study showed that animals fed a diet rich in sucralose suffered shrunken thymus glands and enlarged livers and kidneys.4 And the manufacturer’s own “pre-approval” testing found that sucralose also stunted growth, lowered red blood cell counts, and caused diarrhea.

Check the Label for This Hidden Ingredient . . .

Here’s another problem if you’re trying to keep sugar out of your diet. It’s tucked away on the ingredients label of so many foods, you’d barely notice it . . .

Back in the ‘80s, food makers came up with an easy way to turn corn into sugar. It was cheap to make, simple to store, and mixed easily into almost anything. So they started putting it in everything. Now it’s almost impossible to avoid.

In fact, you’ll find “high fructose corn syrup” on the label of an incredible number of foods. It’s gives everything from bread to ketchup their sweet taste. Because it’s so common, Americans are eating tons of it without even knowing it. The US Department of Agriculture estimates we ate 42 pounds of HFCS per person in the past year.5

This is causing a huge public health problem.

Your body can’t break down HFCS easily, because it isn’t natural. And unlike glucose, the most common natural sugar, HFCS can only be converted into energy by the liver. Whereas every cell in your body can turn glucose into sugar instantly. This puts a serious strain on your liver and your entire digestive system.

Most people don’t know this, including a lot of doctors, but HFCS overloads the intestine’s ability to digest carbohydrate by giving it way too much fructose in concentrated form. That causes cramps, diarrhea – and weight gain.

I think high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is one of the main reasons we’re seeing record-breaking rates of diabetes and obesity in this country. And many nutritionists agree. One expert pointed out that in 1980, just as HFCS began to hit the market in mass quantities, rates of obesity started to climb. By 2000, they’d doubled.6

This means it may very well be to blame for all the health problems that follow from obesity: diabetes, heart disease, cholesterol imbalance, high blood fat levels, hypertension, and many others.

Better than a Headache?

Instead of reaching for NutraSweet, with its potential for headaches and serious side effects, try Stevia. It has no side effects and it’s actually good for you.

Stevia comes from a South American tropical plant. It’s completely natural, with no calories. Millions of people in South America have enjoyed it for hundreds of years.

It’s completely safe. They don’t have to add chemicals to make it. So you don’t have to worry about dangerous or hidden additives.

And unlike HFCS, Stevia isn’t a sugar. It’s actually a fat-soluble fiber, so it doesn’t stress your liver or digestive system. It does just the opposite by nourishing the “good” bacteria in your gut and easing digestion.

What’s more, it’s been carefully researched. Not only does stevia enjoy a perfect safety record at the levels humans need to enjoy it – some studies have shown it actually lowers your blood pressure.7 It’s also an antioxidant and immune booster.

I recommend it to all of my patients, not just the ones worried about diabetes or are overweight. In fact, anyone with a sweet tooth should give it a try. You can stir it into your favorite drinks or add it to food. Since it’s up to 300 times sweeter than sugar, you may have to experiment with it – a little goes a long way.

____________________

1. Department of Health and Human Services. "Report on All Adverse Reactions in the Adverse Reaction Monitoring System." (February 25 and 28, 1994).
2. Walton, R. G. "Seizure and mania after high intake of aspartame." Psychopathology. 1984. 17:98-106.
3. Soffritti M. “Aspartame induces lymphomas and leukemias in rats.” European Journal of Oncology. 2005. 10(2):107-116.
4. Andy Coghlan, “Shrunken glands spark sweetener controversy,” New Scientist, November 23, 1991.
5. US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. 2007. Table 52 – High fructose corn syrup: estimated number of per capita calories consumed daily, by calendar year. Sugar and Sweeteners Yearbook 2006.
6. Bray et al, “Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2004. 79(4):537-543.
7. Chan et al, “A double-blind placebo-controlled study of the effectiveness and tolerability of oral stevioside in human hypertension.” British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 2000. 50:215–220.

Keep an eye out for your next issue of Health Confidential and...

• Why Take Supplements? A New Study Reveals People who Take Multiple Supplements Slash their Risk of Disease and are Healthier than those Who Don't. Find Out which Ones Really Make a Difference.

• Broccoli Better than Sunscreen: An Extract of Broccoli Blocks the Sun's UV Rays Better than Commercial Sunscreen - with NONE of the Toxic Chemicals. Dr. Sears Shows You How it Works and Where to Get It.

• Busting the Myth of Bottled Water: The Over-Priced Bottled Water You May Be Drinking Could Be Little More than City Tap Water. Is Your Favorite Brand On the List?

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