Caffeine

April 15th, 2009

CAFFEINE
Caffeine, the active ingredient in coffee, tea, soft drinks, cocoa, chocolate, and 2000 nonprescription drugs, is the world’s most consumed drug. Eighty percent of adults in the U.S. consume it daily in one form or another. Globally, tea is the world’s most popular beverage, followed by coffee and soft drinks. One cup of tea contains about half as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. A 12-ounce can of Coke or Pepsi contains about as much caffeine as a cup of tea or half a cup of coffee. See Coffee, Infectious Disease, Tea.

• Multiple Effects of Caffeine - Caffeine is not a direct stimulant, reports health researcher Stephen Braun. “Instead, it works indirectly by interfering with one of the brain’s main chemical ‘brakes.’ Like a car with a sticky brake pedal, the brain speeds up because it can’t slow down.”
Metabolically, it takes the liver about 5 hours to break down half a given amount of caffeine. Absorbed quickly in the intestine, caffeine crosses all cell membranes and is rapidly diffused into the saliva, semen, breast milk, and amniotic fluid. Caffeine revs up the brain, stimulating mental focus, productivity, and physical performance.
However, in large amounts, caffeine produces the opposite effect, inhibiting neuron firing and acting as a depressant. Caffeine causes the heart to beat more rapidly, constricts some blood vessels and dilates others, and stimulates some muscles to contract and others to expand. Caffeine can curb the appetite, cause weight loss, and serve as a laxative. It increases urine production and can stress the kidneys.
While caffeine releases fat stored in cells, “caffeine may actually make it harder to eat a balanced, healthy diet.” In medical studies, it is associated with increased binge eating, premenstrual syndrome, and possible birth defects and impaired development of children. Decaf, meanwhile, is weakly linked with raising cholesterol, and the solvent processing method, using strong chemicals like methylene chloride or ethyl acetate, may pose risks, though it has been approved by the FDA. Habitual coffee drinkers commonly suffer from withdrawal symptoms, including tiredness, irritability, and grogginess in the morning before they have their first cup of coffee. Caffeine dependence, withdrawal, and addiction were not recognized until recently.
In writing his book, Braun concludes that he has become more conscious of caffeine’s strong, potentially harmful effects. While he still drinks coffee, he is more mindful and takes periodic “caffeine holidays” of one or two weeks at a time.
Source: Stephen Braun, Buzz: The Science and Lore of Alcohol and Caffeine (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996).

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Cabbage

April 15th, 2009

CABBAGE
Cabbage, a traditional staple in Europe and Asia, is valued for its mild, crisp texture and natural sweet taste. Its balanced energy are particularly good for the pancreas, spleen, and stomach. As an external remedy, cabbage leaves will reduce fever, neutralize inflammation, or relieve burns and bruises.

• Chlorophyll Plaster - In his book on home remedies, educator Michio Kushi explains the traditional use of cabbage and other green leafy vegetables to prepare a Chlorophyll Plaster to help relieve inflammations, fever, and burns.
Source: Michio Kushi, Basic Home Remedies (Becket, MA: One Peaceful World Press, 1994).

• Cabbage and Other Brassica Vegetables Protect Against Cancer - Brassica vegetables, including cabbage, kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower, are protective against cancer, according to a review of seven cohort and 87 case-control studies. Researchers in the Netherlands reported that cabbage had the strongest anticancer effect of all the brassica vegetables. Protective effects were strongest for lung, stomach, colon, and rectal cancer.
Source: D. T. Verhoeven et al., “Epidemiological Studies on Brassica Vegetables and Cancer Risk,” Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention 5(9):733-48, 1996.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Buddhist medicine

April 15th, 2009

BUDDHIST MEDICINE
Siddartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, attained universal understanding while eating brown rice and meditating under a tree in north India. In his teaching, he emphasized the psychological and medicinal value of a diet that avoided extremes. Eating brown rice, especially softly prepared rice, he said, gives many healthful blessings:

It confers ten things on him:
Life and beauty, ease and strength;
It dispels hunger, thirst, and wind.
It cleanses the bladder, it digests food;
This medicine is praised by the Well-Farer.
Source: I. B. Horner, translator, The Book of the Discipline (Vinaya-pitaka), Vol. IV (London: 1951), p. 302.

Tags: ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Buckwheat

April 15th, 2009

BUCKWHEAT
Buckwheat, a hardy cereal plant traditionally eaten in Russia, Eastern Europe, and northern Asia, is popular as the principal ingredient in kasha and soba noodles. Buckwheat gives strong, warming energy and is excellent as a preparation for hard, physical labor. A buckwheat plaster is good for drawing excess liquid from the body.

• Buckwheat Reduces Risk of Heart Disease - In a study of the Yi, an ethnic minority in southwest China, researchers reported that buckwheat intake was associated with lower serum total cholesterol, lower LDL cholesterol, and a higher ratio of HDL to total cholesterol, all protective factors against high blood pressure and heart disease.
Source: J. He et al., “Oats and Buckwheat Intakes and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in an Ethnic Minority in China,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 61(2):366-72, 1995.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Brown rice Koji

April 15th, 2009

Mitoku Traditional Organic Brown Rice Koji

Koji is the natural inoculator for making miso, shoyu, natto and many other Japanese specialty fermented foods. Mitoku Brown Rice & Barley Koji are handmade by the Marukura Family from selected whole brown rice and barley which is steamed, then inoculated with spores of Aspergillus Oryzae and incubated under strictly controlled conditions. The resulting koji is left to develop for approximately 48 hours, then taken out and quickly dried in order to preserve it for use in making the finest amazake, miso or koji pickles, etc.

Ingredients: Japanese organic cultured brown rice.

Tags: ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Broccoli

April 15th, 2009

BROCCOLI
As a cruciferous vegetable, the protective effects against heart disease and cancer have been well documented. In traditional Oriental medicine, broccoli is especially good for the lungs and large intestine. See Vegetables.

• Broccoli Reduces Cancer Risk - In a review of seven cohort studies and 87 case-control studies around the world, researchers in the Netherlands reported that 67 percent of the studies found that the consumption of broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower lowered the risk of lung cancer, stomach cancer, colon cancer, and rectal cancer.
Source: D. T. Verhoeven et al., “Epidemiological Studies on Brassica Vegetables and Cancer Risk,” Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention 5(9): 733-48, 1996.

• Anticancer Nutrient Identified - Scientists at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine reported that they had identified the ingredient in broccoli that worked as a powerful anticancer compound in laboratory experiments. The chemical, sulforaphane, boosts the production of an important enzyme known to neutralize carcinogens before they trigger tumor growth. In addition to broccoli, sulforaphane is found in bok choy, ginger, scallions, and other vegetables. In subsequent experiments, the Johns Hopkins scientists reported that broccoli inhibited induced breast cancer in animal tests. They particularly recommended saga broccoli, grown organically in Maine for the experiments.
Source: Y Zhang et al., “A Major Inducer of Anticarciongenic Protective Enzymes from Broccoli,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 89(6):2399-403, 1992.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

British diet

April 15th, 2009

BRITISH DIET
In 1983 the National Advisory Committee on Nutritional Education (N.A.C.N.E.) presented dietary goals for the United Kingdom. The Lancet, the U.K.’s chief medical journal, summarized the goals as follows:
“The long-term dietary goals set out in the report of the N.A.C.N.E. working party propose substantial reductions in the national consumption of fat (25 percent for total and 40 percent for saturated fat), sugar (50 percent), and salt (25 percent), and a rise in consumption of dietary fibre (50 percent). A reduction in alcohol consumption is also recommended. . . .
“The British diet, in common with nearly all national diets, is constantly changing. Until about 200 years ago, sucrose was eaten in very small amounts and only by the affluent. The intake proposed by the N.A.C.N.E. working party corresponds to that in 1870-74. For the mass of the population, total fat consumption was below 30 percent of total energy until well into this century. Those who doubt the practicality of change may overlook the substantial changes in the British diet since 1945 and even in the past 10 or 15 years, towards a higher level of processing and the introduction of many new foods of which a large number are not British in origin (e.g., hamburgers, yogurt, pasta).” See Macrobiotics.
Source: “Implementing the N.A.C.N.E. Report,” Lancet 2:1151-56, 1983.

• Red Meat and Cancer - People who eat more than 5 ounces of red meat a day should cut back their consumption to reduce the risk of cancer, the British government recommended in 1997. In a report issued by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy (COMA), the influential advisory panel linked meat consumption with increased risk of cancer, especially that of the colon and rectum.
Source: Times of London, Sep. 25, 1997

Tags: , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Breast feeding

April 15th, 2009

BREAST-FEEDING
Mother’s milk has sustained the human species for countless generations. Breast milk is high in substances that confer natural immunity on the developing infant and protect against infection and disease. Breast-feeding also confers protection for the mother. See AIDS, Chocolate, Microwave, Mochi, Pesticides, Prenatal Nutrition, Rice, Sea Vegetables, Skin Problems, Vegetarian Diet.

• Breast-feeding Reduces Ear Infections - Breast-feeding can drastically reduce the number of ear infections in babies for the first four months, according to a University of Arizona study.
“The longer you can breast-feed exclusively, the fewer the episodes of ear infection, but four months is the minimum for significant protection,” noted Dr. Burris Duncan, who directed the study. His findings showed that 56 percent of babies who nursed for four months or more had infections compared to 68 percent of babies who were not nursed.
Source: B. Duncan, “Exclusive Breast-feeding for at Least 4 Months Protects Against Otitis Media,” Pedriatrics; 91:867-72, 1993.

• Breast-feeding Lowers Lymphoma Risk - Breast-feeding can reduce the risk of certain cancers for both mother and child. Researchers from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Md., found that infants breast-fed more than 6 months had a lower risk of developing cancer in childhood, especially lymphomas. In this study, children who were formula-fed or breast-fed for less than 6 months had approximately twice the risk of getting some childhood cancers by age 15 as those breast-fed for longer than 6 months. They also had five times the risk of getting lymphoma. “Mother’s milk contains substantial antimicrobial benefits for infants, increasing their resistance to many infections and possibly protecting them from many diseases, including lymphomas,” researchers reported.
Source: “Breast-Feeding Linked to Decreased Cancer Risk for Mother, Child,” Journal of the National Cancer Institute 80:1362-63, 1988.

• Breast-feeding Promotes Mental Development - Children born prematurely who were breast-fed scored significantly higher on intelligence tests than those who did not. “Our evidence strongly suggests that human milk might have factors important to brain development,” noted Dr. Alan Lucas, director of the study and head of infant and child nutrition at the Medical Research Council’s Dunn Nutrition Unit in Cambridge, England.
On average, the children given breast milk scored eight points higher on a range of intelligence tests taken when they were eight years old.
Source: A. Lucas et al., “Breast Milk and Subsequent Intelligent Quotient in Children Born Preterm,” Lancet 339:261–64, 1992.

• Breast-feeding Lowers Breast Cancer Risk - In a Chinese medical study, researchers found that the longer the mother nursed, the less at risk she was of breast cancer. Mimi Yu, Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, studied more than 500 Chinese women with breast cancer in Shanghai and 500 healthy women. The women she studied on an average nursed their various children for a cumulative total of nine years, a common pattern in China. “We believe that long periods of nursing would have the same protective effect for American women,” Yu reported.
Source: “Breast-Feeding Linked to Decreased Cancer Risk for Mother, Child,” Journal of the National Cancer Institute 80:1362-63, 1988.

• Breast-Fed Children Smarter - Children who are breast-fed as babies are smarter and do better than kids brought up on bottled milk, according to a New Zealand study. In a study of more than one thousand children, researchers found that those who were breast-fed for 8 months or more tested between 35 and 59 percent higher in reading comprehension, mathematical ability, and scholastic ability when they were 10 to 13 years old.
Source: L. J. Horwood and D. M. Fergusson, “Breast-feeding and Later Cognitive and Academic Outcomes,” Pediatrics 101(1):E9, 1998.

• Attention Deficit Disorder Linked to Less Breast-feeding - In a case-control study of diet and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Purdue University researchers reported that children with ADHD were about half as likely to have been breast-fed as controls. The duration of breast-feeding was also significantly longer in ordinary children than those with this behavioral disorder characterized by inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. ADHD children were also found to have lower amounts of specific fatty acids, especially omega-3 fatty acids. These are found in vegetables, fruits, and other plant quality foods, as well as in fish and seafood.
Source: L. J. Stevens et al., “Essential Fatty Acid Metabolism in Boys with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 62:761-68, 1995.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Breast cysts

April 15th, 2009

BREAST CYSTS
Dairy food, sugar, and excessive fat are often the underlying cause of lumps, fibrocystic disease, tumors, and other breast disorders. Return to a more natural way of eating has helped many women live a normal, healthy life. See also Breast Cancer.

• Breast Cysts - Marlene Barrela, who directs a Spanish ministry program at a local church in Dallas, eliminated breast cysts on a macrobiotic diet.
Source: Gale Jack and Wendy Esko, editors, Women’s Health Guide, (Becket, MA: One Peaceful World Press, 1997).

Tags: ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Breast cancer

April 15th, 2009

BREAST CANCER
Breast cancer has reached epidemic proportions in modern society, affecting 1 in 8 women. Breast cancer rates are substantially lower in countries where plant-centered diets are eaten. The protective effects of miso, tofu, and other soy products high in phytoestrogens and isoflavones are being intensively studied around the world. See Carrots, Dairy, Estrogen, Isoflavones, Menopause, Menstrual Disorders, Miso, Phytoestrogens, Sea Vegetables, Soy Foods, Tofu, Tempeh, Vegetables, Vegetarian Diet, Vitamin D, War-Restricted Diet, Women’s Health.

• Macrobiotic Diet Lessens Breast Cancer Risk - Macrobiotic and vegetarian women are less likely to develop breast cancer, researchers at New England Medical Center in Boston reported. The scientists found that macrobiotic and vegetarian women process estrogen differently from other women and eliminate it more quickly from their body. The study involved 45 pre- and postmenopausal women, about half of whom were macrobiotic and vegetarian and half nonvegetarian.
The women consumed about the same number of total calories. Although the vegetarian women took in only one third as much animal protein and animal fat, they excreted two to three times as much estrogen. High levels of estrogen have been associated with the development of breast cancer. “The difference in estrogen metabolism may explain the lower incidence of breast cancer in vegetarian women,” the study concluded.
Source: B. R. Goldin et al., “Effect of Diet on Excretion of Estrogens in Pre- and Postmenopausal Incidence of Breast Cancer in Vegetarian Women,” Cancer Research 41:3771-73, 1981.

• Miso Retards Tumors - In laboratory experiments, Japanese researchers reported that chemically-induced breast tumors in rats could be significantly decreased by feeding the animals a diet consisting of 10 percent miso.
Source: T. Gotoh et al., “Chemoprevention of N-nitroso-N-methylurea-Induced Rat Mammary Carcinogenesis by Soy Foods or Biochanin A,” Japanese Journal of Cancer Research 89(2)137-42, 1998.

• Kombu Decreases Risk of Breast Cancer - In an experiment at the Harvard School of Public Health, laboratory animals fed a control diet with 5 percent Laminaria (kombu), a brown sea vegetable, developed induced mammary cancer later than animals not fed seaweed.
“Seaweed has shown consistent antitumor activity in several in vivo animal tests,” the researchers concluded. “In extrapolating these results to the Japanese population, seaweed may be an important factor in explaining the low rates of certain cancers in Japan. Breast cancer shows a three-fold-lower rate among premenopausal Japanese women and a nine-fold-lower rate among postmenopausal women in Japan than reported for women in the United States. Since low levels of exposure to some toxic substances have been shown to be carcinogenic, then it may be that low levels of daily intake of food with antitumor properties may reduce cancer incidence.”
Source: J. Teas, M. L. Harbison, and R. S. Gelman, “Dietary Seaweed [Laminaria] and Mammary Carcinogenesis in Rats,” Cancer Research 44:2758-61, 1984.

• Tofu and Miso Protect Against Breast Cancer - In a study of the effects of soy products on female hormones, Japanese scientists reported that consumption of miso and tofu reduced production of estradiol in 50 healthy premenopausal women. “Our results suggest that the consumption of soy products lowers the risk of developing breast cancer risk modifying estrogen metabolism,” the researchers concluded.
Source: C. Nagata, “Decreased Serum Estradiol Concentration Associated with High Dietary Intake of Soy Products in Premenopausal Japanese Women,” Nutrition and Cancer 29(3):228-33, 1997.

• Asian Diet Helps Heal - A diet high in soy foods, vegetables, and fish oil may reduce the risk of breast cancer, according to a study conducted by the Jonsson Cancer Center at the University of California at Los Angeles. Dr. John Glaspy put 25 American women in remission from breast cancer on an Asian-style diet and reported that in three months on the diet the ratio of omega-3 in the women’s blood rose fivefold. The omega-3 to omega-6 ratio in breast fat is considered a major indicator of risk for this disease. Source: D. Bagga et al., “Dietary Modulation of Omega-3/Omega-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Ratios in Patients with Breast Cancer,” Journal of the National Cancer Institute 89(15):1123-31, 1997.

• Diet Lowers Risk for Hispanics - Hispanic women in the U.S. have the lowest mortality rate from breast cancer of all ethnic groups. University of Texas researchers reported that a study of 22 Hispanic women in the Houston area showed their mean intake of dietary fiber from grains, breads, beans, and vegetables was higher than other groups. “This may help explain the lower incidence of breast cancer among some Hispanic populations,” the study concluded.
Source: “Dietary Fiber, Hispanics, and Breast Cancer Risk?” Annals of the New York Academy of Science 837:524-36, 1997.

• Risks of Tamoxifen - Tamoxifen, a synthetic hormone that blocks estrogen, has been promoted for reducing the risk of breast cancer. However, it increases the risk of uterine cancer and blood clots. In a federal study, women who took tamoxifen had 45 percent fewer cases of breast cancer than controls, but over twice as much uterine cancer, nearly three times as many blood clots in the lungs, and 50 percent more blood clots in major veins.
For women age 50 or older, for every one thousand women treated with tamoxifen for five years, the drug might prevent 17 cases of invasive breast cancer, while causing 12 cases of endometrial cancer and 10 serious blood clots.
Source: Lawrence K. Altman, “Researchers Find the First Drug Known to Prevent Breast Cancer,” New York Times, April 7, 1998 and “Breast Cancer Breakthrough,” New York Times, April 8, 1998.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Bread

April 15th, 2009

BREAD
Whole grain bread is traditionally eaten in the West, Middle East, and South Asia. Unleavened or sourdough bread is preferable to yeasted breads or breads containing sweeteners, baking soda, and other additives. See Peace, Prostate Cancer, Sesame, War, Wheat.

• Sourdough Fermentation Increases Nutrition of Bread - In a study comparing the effects of sourdough bread with wholemeal bread, researchers reported that sourdough bread significantly lowered serum glucose and insulin responses and gave greater satisfaction than the other bread. “It is concluded that sourdough baking and other fermentation processes may improve the nutritional features of starch,” the researchers concluded.
Source: H. G. Liljeberg, et al., “Sourdough Fermentation or Addition of Organic Acids or Corresponding Salts to Bread Improves Nutritional Properties of Starch in Healthy Humans,” Journal of Nutrition 125 (6)1503-11, 1995.

• Diet Protected Jews During the Exodus - Unleavened bread may have helped the Jewish people survive a plague that killed many Egyptians and their livestock, according to two medical researchers. Saccharomyces, a toxic yeast, is believed to have been transmitted in yeasted bread. By eating unleavened bread that did not harbor this potentially deadly mold, the Jews escaped the plague and prepared themselves to escape from Egypt during the Exodus.
Source: John Bladwin and John S. Marr, M.D., “Ancient Scroll Carries Clue to Deadly Mold,” New York Times, August 1, 1997.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Brain tumors

April 15th, 2009

BRAIN TUMORS
Brain tumors are the leading cause of death from childhood cancer. See Miso.

• Childhood Tumors Linked to Cured Meat - In a study of maternal diet during pregnancy involving 1300 children, researchers at the University of South California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center reported that consumption of meats cured with sodium nitrite increased the risk of brain tumors.
Source: S. Preston-Martin, “Maternal Consumption of Cured Meats and Vitamins in Relation to Pediatric Brain Tumors,” Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention 5(8):599-605, 1996.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Bovine Growth Hormone

April 15th, 2009

BOVINE GROWTH HORMONE
Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) is a genetically engineered hormone fed to dairy cows to boost milk production. While the FDA approved its use in 1995, health and consumer groups have expressed concerns about its safety and demanded that it be labelled.
Monsanto, the manufacturer, has sued natural foods stores and companies that label its products BGH-free, claiming that such labels unfairly disparage a legal product. A compromise on the issue of labeling was reached for the first time in 1997 when organic food companies in Illinois and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream settled a lawsuit against the state in which natural foods suppliers won the right to explain to consumers that they oppose recombinant BGH and would not use it on their products, though the FDA has found no significant difference between BGH-treated and untreated cows.
About 25 percent of the milk sold in the U.S. is made from cows treated with BGH.

• BGH and Breast Cancer - According to a recent study in Lancet, women with a relatively small increase in blood levels of Insulin-like Growth Factor I (IGF-1), a naturally occurring grown hormone, are up to seven times more likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer than women with lower levels.
Dr. Samuel S. Epstein, an environmental cancer specialist at the University of Illinois, explained that BGH milk is supercharged with high levels of abnormally potent IGF-1, up 10 times the levels in natural milk and over 10 times more potent. IGF-1 resists pasteurization, digestion by stomach enzymes, and is well absorbed across the intestinal wall, he stated.
“The entire nation is currently being subjected to an experiment involving large-scale adulteration of an age-old dietary staple by a poorly characterized and unlabeled biotechnology product. Disturbingly, this experiment benefits only a very small segment of the agriculture industry while providing no matching benefits to consumers. Even more disturbingly it poses major potential public health risks for the entire U.S. population.”
Source: S. Epstein, “Unlabeled Milk from Cows Treated with Biosynthetic Growth Hormones: A Case of Regulatory Abdication,” International Journal of Health Services 26(1): 173-185, 1996; PR Newswire via NewsEdge Corp., June 21, 1998.

• BGH Increases Cancer Risk - In a review of the evidence linking dairy and breast cancer, researchers with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine contend that the FDA’s approval of BHG, genetically engineered bovine growth hormone, was based on faulty assumptions and studies. While the FDA concluded that it did not differ chemically from natural BGH, studies indicate that BGH differs by 1 to 9 animao acids. The FDA also assumed that BGH is not orally active in humans and that its activity is destroyed during pasteurization, both of which have been contradicted by subsequent studies.
“A substantial body of medical evidence provides possible mechanisms by which milk may promote breast cancer,” the physicians conclude. “(1) IGF-1 and estrogens are present in all milk in micromolar to nanomolar concentrations; (2) IGF-1 is not destroyed during milk pasteurization; (3) IGF-1 has been shown to stimulate or initiate growth of human breast cancer cells; (4) IGF-1 acts synergistically with estrogens, which increase its effects even at nonomolar concentrations; (5) BGH increases IGF-1 levels in milk; (6) IGF-1 and BGH can possibly be absorbed intact from the GI gract; (7) IGF-1 can exert local mitogenic tissue effects and be cleaved to exert local mitogenic tissue effects.” While BGH has not been considered to be a danger because subsequent increase in govine milk IGF-1 levels are within the “normal range” based on untreated cows and human breast milk, the physicians assert that the “normal range” could be carcinogenic when milk is ingested regularly over a lifetime. They conclude that milk produced with BGH may increase the risk of cancer.
Source: J. L. Outwater et al., “Dairy Products and Breast Cancer: The IGF-1, Estrogen, and BGH Hypothesis,” Medical Hypotheses 48:453-61, 1997.

• BGH Effects on Cows - Injecting BGH reduces a cow’s life expectancy and increases the risk of disease, contributing to increased use of antibiotics. Increased mastitis results in increased secretion of white blood cells or pus into the milk.
Source: J. Fagan, Genetic Engineering: The Hazards, MIU Press, 1995, p. 113.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Blood

April 15th, 2009

BLOOD
According to traditional Far Eastern medicine, blood is created largely in the small intestine from the transmutation of metabolized food through the villi. A diet centered on grains and vegetables creates strong, healthy blood with a slightly more alkaline pH value, while the modern diet, combining extremes of meat and sugar, creates weak, acid blood, requiring buffer mechanisms, especially depletion of minerals in the body, to make balance. See Immune Function.

• Macrobiotic Subjects Show Ideal Blood Values - Researchers at the Academic Hospital of Ghent University in Belgium evaluated the blood values of 20 men assembled by Lima Natural Foods Factory who had an average age of 36 and had been macrobiotic for about eight years. According to the tests, all the men were very healthy. Their blood pressure and body weights were low, their hormone levels favorable, and they had normal values for proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Overall, their cholesterol values were significantly lower than ordinary people.
J. P. Deslypere, M.D., one of the researchers, concluded, “[In} the field of cardiovascular and cancer risk factors this kind of blood is very favorable. It’s ideal; we couldn’t do better; that’s what we’re dreaming of. It’s really fantastic, like children, whose blood vessels are still completely open and whole. This is a very important matter, deserving our full attention.”
Source: Rik Vermuyten, MacroMuse (Fall/Metal 1984), p. 39.

• Blood Type and Constitution - The Far Eastern approach to blood, including classification of blood types by yin and yang, is presented by two educators and counselors. Among blood types, O is the most yang or strongest, AB the most yin or weakest, and A and B are in between.
Source: Michio Kushi with Marc Van Cauwenberghe, M.D., Natural Healing Through Macrobiotics, (Tokyo and New York: Japan Publications, 1979).

Tags:
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Biological weapons

April 14th, 2009

BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS
Russia had developed a new variant of anthrax that is completely resistant to antibiotics and could cause a worldwide catastrophe, the British military defense service reported. “It only needs this, or the new chemical nerve agents to be independently discovered by an ostracized nation’s scientists and then developed for missile delivery for an Armageddon situation to occur whereby the only reliable retribution may well be overwhelming nuclear response,” Jane’s, the authoritative defense manual warned. Anthrax, a disease carried by sheep and cattle, can infect human beings and cause an agonizing death. In addition to this bacteriological disease, Jane’s reported that Russia had developed three new nerve agents that were eight times as deadly as the VX nerve agent stockpiled by Iraq. (The Pentagon belatedly confirmed that chemical weapons were used in the Gulf War in 1991 and may be a factor in Gulf War Syndrome, the debilitating illness many Gulf War veterans later experienced.)
The ready availability of virulent microbes from research laboratories is also a cause for alarm. In 1997, an Ohio man was sentenced to perform 200 hours of community service and serve 18 months probation for illegally obtaining bubonic plague germs by mail. A Maryland lab sent him three vials of the freeze-dried, inactive bacteria which he said he needed to research a book.
Source: Jane’s Land-Based Air Defense 1997-98 and wire service reports.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Biological transmutation

April 14th, 2009

BIOLOGICAL TRANSMUTATION
In 1959 French scientist Louis Kervran started publishing his discoveries in the field of biological transmutation —the synthesis of necessary but unavailable chemical elements out of simpler, available ones. His interest in this field began when he studied workers in the Sahara desert, who excreted more sodium than they consumed. Food tests showed that a comparable excess amount of potassium was being taken. Kervran showed that potassium was capable of being transmuted into sodium in the body.
Developing the theories of George Ohsawa that elements can be transmuted into one another peacefully without smashing the atom, Kervran went on to find that iron could be made from manganese, silica from calcium, and phosphorus from sulfur. Kervran’s experiments have wide industrial, scientific, and social applications. For example, biological transmutations could be applied to rendering harmless nuclear wastes, toxic spills, and other chronic environmental hazards.
Source: Louis C. Kervran, Biological Transmutations (Brooklyn: Swan House, 1972).

• Army Confirms Ohsawa Theory - In 1978 scientists for the U.S. military tested Ohsawa and Kervran’s theories of biological transmutation and verified some of their experiments. The researchers concluded that living biological systems are “mini-cyclotrons” that can change one element into another and have a wide range of potential applications in the field of energy production.
Source: S. Goldfein, “Energy Development from Elemental Transmutations in Biological Systems,” Report 2247 (Ft. Belvoir, Va.: U.S. Army Mobility Equipment Research and Development Command, 1978).

Tags: , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Big Pharma, Bad Karma

April 14th, 2009

Big Pharma, Bad Karma

“One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.”
- William Osler, The Principles and Practice of Medicine (1892)

“We have a system that nobody but Big Pharma is happy with.”
- former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber, now with the Foundation for Medical Excellence

A progressive hospital administrator is currently touring the country, speaking out on the virtues of disease prevention. He begins his presentation with the observation that the modern medical system is not really focused on prevention or health promotion at all. As he puts it, “We don’t have a health care system in this country. What we have is a disease treatment system.”

This bold statement is highly effective in getting audiences on board with the idea that the priorities in modern medicine are seriously out of whack. But the situation is actually far worse than our administrator makes it out to be. The problem is not so much that we have a “disease treatment system.” Rather, the problem is that we have a “disease promotion system.”

Big Pharma wants your body

“How can this be?” you might ask. Surely the health care industry is inefficient, over-priced and frustrating to both patients and providers. But isn’t the whole point to help people get better?

Not anymore it’s not. If you’ve been paying attention to trends in media and marketing, you know that the pharmaceutical industry has seized control. Big Pharma has been let out of its cage and is now tyrannizing the medical marketplace. Not content to simply promote products for existing diseases, Big Pharma now promotes a wide range of human afflictions and expands the definitions of disease; their goal is to manufacture new, more profitable disorders.

Pharm facts

To get a sense of how warped the system has become, consider these facts:

Big Pharma now spends more than $5.5 billion to promote drugs to doctors–more than what all U.S. medical schools spend to educate medical students. (New England Journal of Medicine, June 23, 2005 “The Lessons of Vioxx”)

Major drug companies employ about 90,000 sales representatives – one for every 4.7 doctors in the United States. (American Medical Association)

The total pharmaceutical marketing budget is $25 billion. (Forbes magazine “Just Say NO!” by Robert Langreth Nov. 29, 2004)

Drug firms have spent $800 million since 1998 buying influence, including $675 million on direct lobbying of Congress. No other interest group has spent more money to sway public policy. (Center for Public Integrity)

Selling Sickness

Big Pharma has had a free ride for a long time, but finally, some people are starting to sit up and take notice. For example, consider Selling Sickness: How The World’s Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients by Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels. The story on the front flap summarizes the whole sordid mess:

“Thirty years ago, Henry Gadsen, the head of Merck, one of the world’s largest drug companies, told Fortune magazine that he wanted Merck to be more like chewing gum maker Wrigley’s. It had long been his dream, he said, to make drugs for healthy people–so that Merck could “sell drugs to everyone.” Three decades on , the late Henry Gadsen’s dream has come true.”

Moynihan and Cassels lay out their case in methodical detail, telling us about Big Pharma’s efforts to expand the patient pool and create new diseases. Their conclusion: “there’s a lot of money to be made telling healthy people they’re sick.”

Disease by definition

To understand Big Pharma’s power over our health, it’s important to understand how disease is managed in large populations. Most medical conditions are defined by a set of numbers. If we broaden the range of those numbers, even slightly, and apply it to a population of millions of people, the consequences can be profound.

For example, think about the numbers that are attached to your blood pressure. If it’s above X, you’re officially “diseased” and a candidate for medication. If it’s below X, you’re “healthy.” But X is determined, not by some perfect medical formula, but by consensus within the medical community. Exact cut-off points are debatable and relative.

This is where Big Pharma steps in. If they can expand the statistical definition of a disease, even by a small margin, they can cash in. One or two percentage points, spread across America or better yet, the world, adds up to millions of newly created patients. Thus it comes as no surprise to hear that Big Pharma has become an active participant in the process of defining disease. By pouring money and influence into experts, conferences and journals, Big Pharma stretches the definitions and expands the patient pool.

The power of suggestion

It would be one thing if human disease was a matter of absolutes, but it’s not. Social and cultural forces play an immensely powerful role in determining how we interpret our physical experience. Is obesity a disease? Workaholism? Weak sexual desire? Social anxiety? It’s easy to imagine situations in which any physical sensation or experience of the human body might be labeled as health or disease, depending on the context.

Our health is the product, not simply of genetics and biochemistry, but also of human influence. As intensely social animals, we pay close attention to the physical well-being of our families and friends. If people in the tribe speak of getting one disease or another, we naturally begin to wonder if such afflictions are part of our experience as well. If everyone around us is complaining about headaches or low back pain, we may very well decide to join the gang.

Have you ever noticed how trendy diseases can be? One month it’s eating disorders, the next month it’s carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia or irritable bowel syndrome. None of these conditions even existed 100 years ago, but now they’re “epidemic.” Similarly, medical students frequently observe how closely their physical sensations parallel the conditions that they’re studying. “Med student’s disease” is legendary.

Big Pharma is well aware that disease is creatable; they know full well that their customers are vulnerable to suggestion. By manipulating images, ideas and narratives, they shape the way people think about their bodies and in turn, their health.

The greatest therapy is the least advertised

It’s important to be aware of Big Pharma’s relentless disease promotion, but we should also take note of what’s gone missing along the way. That is, whatever happened to exercise?

Technically, Big Pharma’s direct-to-consumer marketing campaigns are “commercial speech” but they also become a form of education. People learn about their bodies from all kinds of sources and in this sense, Big Pharma’s pitch has become part of a larger health-education curriculum.

In the process, exercise is being squeezed out of the picture. Health professionals know that exercise is an immensely powerful therapy with effects that are both broad and deep. And yet, its powers are completely obscured by mega-profit therapies. Tragically, the most powerful therapeutic tool in our collection is also the one that is the least often promoted.

In fact, when we do hear about exercise in commercial media, it’s usually presented in the negative. When Big Pharma promotes drugs for conditions in which exercise is highly effective, they make sure to emphasize the failure of fitness. “If you’ve tried exercise and diet and your cholesterol is still high, ask your doctor about our miracle pill.” The sub-text to such promotions is that exercise is likely to fail and that you’ll probably have to “ask your doctor” anyway, so there’s no point in even trying. Over time, consumers are conditioned to bypass movement entirely and go directly for the pills.

A particularly egregious example of this approach is brought to us on behalf of Avandia, a blood sugar drug by GlaxoSmithKline. The advertisement pictures a frustrated middle-aged male, slumped on a bench in a stark, depressing fitness facility. The defeated expression on his face tells us that he’s had his fill of exercise. “If diet and exercise won’t get your blood sugar number down, adding Avandia can help” the ad tells us. The meta-message is obvious; exercise is a drag, so you may as well go directly to the pharmacy.

UneedUs: the axis of disempowerment

Like true drug dealers, Big Pharma makes it a point to promote dependency in its customers. The mission is simple: get people thinking about drugs as a first-line solution to physical problems. “You can’t manage your health on your own: you need us. You need us to design the drugs and test them in clinical trials. You need us to monitor your symptoms and adjust your dosage. You can’t possibly know your body on your own. You are powerless.” Ultimately, this systematic disempowerment produces the precise opposite of health; a weak, dependent and passive population. Hippocrates would be appalled.

Fueled by fear

Not surprisingly, fear plays a big role in Big Pharma’s marketing style. Lurking behind the smiling faces of happy drug consumers is the implicit threat of physical disaster. If you don’t “ask your doctor” your body will fall into an inevitable sink hole of disease and your loved ones will be dragged along with you.

We see this threat in many ads, but one particularly vivid example has recently appeared on health-related websites. Users are greeted with a big question mark and the ominous message, “What you don’t know could kill you.” Follow the link and you’ll discover that “You may be at triple the risk of developing the condition again in the future.” What’s this?” you wonder as you click through. “Talk to your doctor and click here for your online risk assessment. It’s a visit that could save your life or the life of a loved one.” This fearvertisement turns out to be a pitch for deep-vein thrombosis, an occasionally serious condition that is currently being hyped into a compelling medical emergency.

Universal disease: the dreams of medical marketers

While romantics dream of universal health, Big Pharma dreams of the inverse, a world in which the entire population is afflicted by chronic, incurable syndromes that require frequent diagnostic tests, expensive specialists and pharmaceuticals. The ideal Big Pharma customer is afflicted with disease throughout his lifespan. He is literate enough to read medical advertising, yet docile enough to follow directions “Ask your doctor about the green pill.” He doesn’t know what the green pill is, but he asks his doctor anyway, just to be sure.

A particularly chilling manifestation of this vision comes, not from Big Pharma itself, but from one of its pusher clients, Target. An advertisement in popular news magazines showcases its newly designed medication bottles with personalized, color-coded rings “to clearly identify the medication for each family member.” The advert shows three smiling children and their father, each with his own personalized bottle of drugs. The assumption is clear: if you’re a human being, you are supposed to be on something.

Turning disease into the default

Big Pharma’s direct-to-consumer strategy is not mere advertising. It is an audacious attempt to rework the default status of the human body. As Moynihan and Cassels put it in Selling Sickness, the goal of Big Pharma is “putting disease at the center of human life”

For the vast majority of human history, vigorous, robust health has been the default. Yes, there were plenty of infectious diseases, suffering and early death in the mix, but if you managed to avoid the pathogens and the predators, your body would be strong and resilient. The norm, as it is for all animals, is health.

Big Pharma wants to change all that. From this point forward, you are assumed to be diseased. You may be asymptomatic at the moment, but that’s a temporary state. By redefining what’s normal, we can make you sick merely by moving a few data points on a graph. Given the right kind of management, you will soon become a patient/customer. Once you are absorbed into the body of Big Medicine, you will become dependent for life.

Call to action

Obviously, we need is an antidote to Big Pharma. (Hmm…Maybe there’s a pill for that…”Taken once a day, this convenient new medication will decrease your anxiety about pharmaceutical marketing and help you live free again. Ask you doctor about Pharmaway.”)

Satire aside, we can begin by taking matters of health into our own hands. We start by taking care of our bodies with a movement-based lifestyle and a food-based diet. Craft a lifestyle that promotes health and independence and don’t deal with Big Pharma unless it’s absolutely necessary. (Avoid Big Pharma like the plague!) Don’t believe what you see in a Big Pharma advertisement and don’t allow your relationship with your body to be defined or distorted by fear marketing.

Use pharmaceuticals only as a last resort. Give your body a chance to seek out homeostasis on its own. Let your natural regulatory mechanisms do their thing. Make your body stronger with robust physical movement, stress relief and joy. It’s really the best approach; just ask your doctor.

References

Selling Sickness: How The World’s Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients
Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels
Nation Books 2005

The Truth About Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It
Marcia Angell

Peddling Paranoia
Alan Cassels

Suddenly Sick: The Hidden Big Business Behind Your Doctor’s Diagnosis
Seattle Times, June 26 - June 30, 2005

No Free Lunch: an alliance of health care providers who believe that
pharmaceutical promotion should not guide clinical practice

This article is a copy from http://goanimal.com/newsletters/2005/big_pharma/big_pharma.html

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Beans

April 14th, 2009

BEANS
Beans are traditionally eaten around the world as a complement to whole cereal grains. In Mesoamerica, people eat black beans or pinto beans with corn. In the Middle East and South Asia, they eat lentils and other pulses. In the Far East, they enjoy soybeans and soy products such as tofu and tempeh. Beans are an excellent source of protein, complex carbohydrates, and vitamins and minerals, especially calcium. They are associated with lower incidence of heart disease, cancer, and other degenerative diseases. See Azuki Beans, Chickpeas, Lentils, Menopause, Miso, Natto, Soy Foods, Tempeh, Tofu.

• Bile Acids and Cancer - Beans lowered bile acid production by 30 percent in men with a tendency toward elevated bile acid. Bile acids are necessary for proper fat digestion but in excess have been associated with causing cancer, especially in the large intestine. Case-control studies showed that pinto and navy beans were effective in lowering bile acid production in men at high risk for this condition.
Source: J. Anderson, “Hypocholesterolemic Effects of Oat-Bran or Bean Intake for Hypercholesterolemic Men,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 40:1146-55, 1984.

• Lowering Cholesterol - Men with high cholesterol who ate a diet including a half cup daily of dried pinto, navy, kidney, and other beans had an average drop in cholesterol levels of 20 percent after three weeks.
Source: J. W. Anderson and W. L. Chen, “Effects of Legumes and Their Soluble Fibers on Cholesterol-Rich Lipoproteins,” American Chemical Society Abstracts AGFD #39, 1982.

• Beans Inhibit Induced Colon Cancer - In laboratory experiments, researchers at Northern Arizona University reported that rats fed a diet high in pinto beans had over four times less tumors than rats fed a diet high in dairy protein. The bean group also had slower growing tumors. The experiment was designed to simulate the high bean diet of Latin American countries where there is a low incidence of colon cancer. “This study demonstrates that dry beans contain anticarcinogenic compounds,” the scientists concluded.
Source: J. S. Hughes et al., “Dry Beans Inhibit Azoxymethane-Induced Colon Carcinogenesis in F344 Rats,” Journal of Nutrition 127(12):2328-33, 1997.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Barley

April 14th, 2009

BARLEY
Barley, a traditional staple in Europe, the Middle East, and India, is recommended as part of balanced diet. The barley commonly available is pearl barley, a partially milled form. Whole grain barley is preferred. See Ulcer, War-Restricted Diet, Whole Grains.

• High-Fiber Barley Lowers Blood Sugar and Insulin - In a study of the effects of different types of barley and oats on blood sugar levels and insulin responses, Swedish researchers reported that high-fiber barley products produced better reactions than common refined or processed forms of the grain. The researchers recommended that high-fiber barley be included in diets for patients with diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and those predisposed to other metabolic diseases.
Source: J. G. Liljeberg et al., “Products Based on a High Fiber Barley Genotype, But Not on Common Barley or Oats, Lower Postprandial Glucose and Insulin Responses in Healthy Humans,” Journal of Nutrition 126(2):458-66, 1996.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Bancha twig tea (Kukicha tea)

April 14th, 2009

BANCHA TWIG TEA
Bancha twig tea (also known as kukicha tea) is traditionally eaten in the Far East and has been popularized by the macrobiotic and natural foods movements in the West. It comes from the twigs of the tea bush and is soothing and calming, for children and adults alike.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Azuki beans

April 14th, 2009

AZUKI BEANS
Azuki beans (also spelled aduki) are small, oval-shaped red or brown beans traditionally eaten in the Far East and now cultivated in the U.S., South America, and elsewhere. Azuki beans contain less fat and oil than other beans and like other beans help reduce cholesterol, regulate blood pressure, and inhibit protease and other substances associated with tumor development. See Beans.

• Traditional Use - In his book on home remedies, educator Michio Kushi explains that azuki beans are beneficial to the kidney, bladder, and reproductive functions. They are used in medicinal dishes and drinks such as Azuki Bean Tea to help regulate kidney function, dissolve kidney stones, counter heavy animal food intake, and smooth bowel movement.
Source: Michio Kushi, Basic Home Remedies (Becket, MA: One Peaceful World Press, 1994).

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Ayurvedic medicine

April 14th, 2009

AYURVEDIC MEDICINE
The Upanishads, or early Forest Teachings in India, extol food as the essence of physical, mental, and spiritual development. The Taittiriya Upa-nishad, for example, states: “From food are born all creatures; they live upon food, they are dissolved in food. Food is the chief of all things, the universal medicine.”
The Caraka Samhita, the principal text of Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India, dates to the 1st or 2nd century A.D. It also emphasizes the central importance of diet in personal health and development of humanity.
“The use of beneficial food is the only cause of growth of a person, while the use of food that is injurious is the cause of disease.”
“It is in consequence of this deterioration [in diet] that there took place a corresponding deterioration in the sap, purity, taste, potency, post-digestive effect and quality of herbs. In this manner, righteousness dwindles in each succeeding age by one quarter and the proto-elements too suffer deterioration, till eventually the world comes to dissolution.”
Sources: Shree Purohit Swami and W. B. Yeats, translators, The Upanishads (London: Faber and Faber, 1937) and Ram K. Sharma and V.B. Dash, translators, Caraka Samhita (New York: Auromere, 1983).

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Autism

April 14th, 2009

AUTISM
Autism, in which the child does not develop close personal relationships and lives in a world of his or her own, usually appears between one and three, and symptoms persist throughout life. Medically, autism is considered irreversible.

• Sonic Rebirth - Simulating the sound of the mother’s voice in utero, Alfred Tomatis, M.D., the French expert in the effects of sound and music on human development, has helped relieve hundreds of cases of autism by recreating the sound of the mother’s voice in embryo and playing it back to the autistic child to reestablish the sonic contact that was disrupted in the womb. “The vocal nourishment that the mother provides is just as important as her milk,” he explains. For adopted children or children whose mother is dead or incapacitated, he uses the filtered music of Mozart, which has a similar effect. Dr. Tomatis recommends a natural diet high in whole grains, fresh vegetables, and less dairy food, especially yogurt, for optimal hearing and development.
Source: Don Campbell, The Mozart Effect (New York: Avon Books, 1997).

• Recovery from Autism with Macrobiotics and Music - In 1973, Judy and Dick Harvey adopted James, an orphan from Vietnam who was later diagnosed as autistic. The boy loved to eat french fries, cheese, candy, and salty foods, but discontinued these, along with dairy, red meat, eggs, poultry, and refined sugar following a consultation with educator Michio Kushi. Through macrobiotics and participation in classical music, he overcame his disabilities, went on to study at the University of Nebraska where he majored in math and physics, and is now living a normal life.
Source: Judy Harvey, “Overcoming Autism with Diet,” One Peaceful World Journal 29:1, Winter 1997.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

April 14th, 2009

ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER
Hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder (ADD), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affect an estimated 10 to 15 percent of young males (and a lesser number of females) in the U.S. and are characterized by restlessness, mood swings, inability to focus, and trouble relating to peers. Ritalin, the principal drug prescribed for ADD, can cause negative side effects including nausea, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, liver damage, and anorexia.
High energy foods, including meat, eggs, poultry, sugar, chocolate, soft drinks, french fries, and chips and other salty snacks, appear to be a factor in the development of ADD. However, medical studies have found diet and behavior a complex subject, with sensitivity and reaction to foods highly individualized.
Food additives (including artificial colors and flavors), salicylates, and sugar are also suspected of causing abnormal behavior in some youngsters.
See Breast-feeding, Children’s Health, Crime and Diet, Hypoglycemia, Mental Illness, Sugar.

• Parents Attribute ADHD to Sugar - In a study on awareness of ADHD, African-American parents of children at high risk for this disorder were more likely to attribute their child’s symptoms to excessive sugar than whites (59 percent compared to 30 percent).
Source: R. Bussing et al., “Knowledge and Information about ADHD,” Social Science and Medicine 46(7):919-28, 1998.

• ADHD Linked to Low Fatty Acids - In a case-control study on altered fatty acid metabolism, nutritionists at Purdue University reported that 53 children with ADHD had lower concentrations of key fatty acids in their blood and plasma than 43 control subjects. Many of these children exhibited symptoms of essential fatty acid deficiency. The precise reason for the lower fatty acid concentrations was not clear.
Source: L. J. Stevens, “Essential Fatty Acid Metabolism in Boys with ADHD,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 62(4):761-68, 1995.
• Nutritional Therapy for ADHD - In a study of the effect of nutritional therapy on ADHD, Texas researchers reported that a polysaccharide (complex carbohydrate) supplement and a phytonutritional product containing flash-dried vegetables and fruits decreased the severity of ADHD and associated symptoms of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Conduct Disorder (CD) in all 17 children after 2 weeks. The scientists concluded that symptoms of ADHD may be reduced by the addition of plant-based substances to the diet.
Source: K. D. Dykman and R. A. Dykman, “Effect of Nutritional Supplements on ADHD,” Integr Physio Behav Sci 33(1):49-60, 1998.

• Food Colors - Hyperactivity, learning disabilities, and allergic reactions are epidemic in modern schools and have been associated with chemicals, artificial food colors and flavorings, and highly processed foods. In the U.S., estimates of hyperactivity in schoolchildren range from one in three to one in 20, while in England and other countries where food colors are regulated, only one in 2000 is reported hyperactive.
Source: D. Divoky, “Toward a Nation of Sedated Children,” Learning, March 1973, pp. 6-13.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Astronaut diet

April 14th, 2009

ASTRONAUT DIET
Astronauts on the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter are slated to eat brown rice, lentils, seitan, whole wheat tortillas with tofu sour cream, kale, broccoli, garden peas, watercress, and desserts sweetened with amasake. In 1998 researchers at Cornell University announced that they have developed 50 basic dishes featuring all-plant quality foods that can be grown hydroponically in mineral-rich water in space.
Most of the proposed dishes passed a U.S. Army taste test, with a broccoli and mushroom dish scoring the highest. The research was sponsored with a half-million-dollar grant from NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Source: Jane E. Brody, “What to Serve for Dinner, When Dinner Is on Mars: Menu Is Vegetarian Only—If You Can Get a Table,” New York Times, May 19, 1998.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Asthma cough

April 14th, 2009

Macrobiotic approach to the asthmatic cough

How to heal asthmatic cough from the view of macrobiotic, apply taoism to your healing methods, learn the yin/yang energies and how to work with them in a practical way, how to remedy the asthma cough with a simple natural beverage?
You don’t need to spend a lot of money for a drugs. The drugs have also many side effects, that will cause you more problems later. The macrobiotic approach is very natural. It seeks and use only these products that leave no side effects to your body. They are very clean and very effective. But the best is, if you implement the whole macrobiotic diet eating into your lifestyle, because in this way, you will really heal your inner illness problems and not only treating the symptoms. You can cover, suppress these symptoms for a while, but it will always come in a bigger wave. Following is the macrobiotic/taoistic theory and recipe for the remedy of asthma cough.

From the view of the energies (yin/yang) is asthmatic cough characterized by the uplifting energy, the energy going outside, but deep in the process of lungs (at the top of the body) occurs contraction. What remedy would be good for the control of this process?

To stop the outward going energy, it’s needed to provide compacting energy. So we need to use something very firm, compact. This compact product must also has opposite relation to the tendency going upward. If we would provide that in the form of contracting root, the contraction deep in the lungs would get worse.
The energy in direction of up and outward can be supported by fruits, especially by the fruits from the tree. Hence we need to find something, that is in the opposite to these fruits. We can find it in the seeds. So traditionally there were used peach and apricot seeds in these cases.

With an asthmatic cough, there occurs the spastic contraction in the bronchial tubes. We need to try to release this contraction. To achieve the releasing in the upper part of the body, we should use opposite energy. It means, we should stimulate the downward going energy, and this downward energy should have releasing character. Practically speaking, we need to serve the root, that has strong releasing ability. And that energy should be very strong, because the condition, that we treat, is very often the emergency condition. For this purpose is best suited the ginger root. The daikon radish could also work, but ginger is more strong.

So we can suggest the following recipe.

Take the peach seeds or the seeds from apricots. If we use both types, mix the 12g of apricot seeds with 20g of peach seeds. Crush them in the suribachi or in the mortar.
Stir in a small quantity of ginger root.
Then add small amount of a rice malt, to make the final product more tasty. In this case, the rice malt is better than the barley malt, because it stimulates the uplifting energy of the cough.
Cook the ingredients together with a water, until one cup of the liquid remains. Then drink the liquid and eat the ingredients. If you use the same recipe in the case of bronchitis, it can also help. But you won’t need the sweetening ingredient or the ginger. One of them is enough.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Asthma

April 14th, 2009

ASTHMA
Asthma, a chronic narrowing of the airways to the lungs, affects about 15 million Americans. Between 1980 and 1993, the incidence of this disease increased by 66 percent and deaths went up118 percent. Asthma appears to be caused primarily by excessive dairy food and fat consumption. See Dairy, Vegetarian Diet.

• Asthma and High-Fat Diet - In a Swedish study of 478 men born in 1914, researchers reported that asthma was not related to smoking history but more common in men with a high fat intake. Intake of carbohydrates, vitamin C, and iron was also lower. “Men with asthma have a significantly higher intake of fat than men without asthma,” researchers concluded.
Source: K. Strom et al., “Asthma But not Smoking-Related Airflow Limitation Is Associated with a High Fat Diet in Men,” Monaldi Archives of Chest Diseases 51(1)16-21, 1996.

• Whole Grains, Vegetables, and Other Foods High in Vitamin E Protect Against Asthma - A diet high in foods containing vitamin E may protect adults from asthma, the American Lung Association reported. In a study of 77,866 women, Harvard researchers found that eating foods high in this nutrient such as whole grains and vegetables reduced the risk of asthma.
Source: R. J. Troisi et al., “A Prospective Study of Diet and Adult-Onset Asthma,” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 151(5):1401-08, 1995.

• Use of Alternative Medicine for Asthma Increases - In a survey of 564 physicians and medical professionals using alternative medicine for asthma, researchers at the University of California at Davis reported that dietary and nutritional approaches were the most prevalent and useful treatment option.
Source: P. A. Davis et al., “The Use of Complementary/Alternative Medicine for the Treatment of Asthma in the United States,” Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology 8(2):73077, 1998.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Asian Diet Pyramid

April 14th, 2009

ASIAN DIET PYRAMID
The Traditional Healthy Asian Diet Pyramid reflects Eastern dietary traditions historically associated with good health and was developed in 1995 through a series of conferences organized by nutritionists and epidemiologists at Cornell University, Harvard School of Public Health, and the Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust.
“The nutrient composition of the traditional rural Asian diet is very similar to the Mediterranean diet in that both are largely plant-based and both pyramids recommend that meat be consumed no more than once a more or more often in very small amounts,” explained T. Colin Campbell, Cornell professor of nutritional biochemistry and a developer of the Asian Diet Pyramid. In a press conference introducing the new model, Campbell noted that dairy products are largely absent in Asian diets and are associated with lower rates of osteoporosis than in the West.
Source: 1995 International Conference on the Diets of Asia, Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust, 1995.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Arthritis

April 14th, 2009

ARTHRITIS
Arthritis, a painful bone and joint disease, affects millions of people. Major forms include osteoarthritis, the painful hardening of bones and joints in the hands or spine, which affects primarily older people, especially men. Rheumatoid arthritis, involving the inflammation and swelling of the joints, especially in the hands and feet, appears primarily in women aged 25 to 50. A balanced diet has benefited some people with arthritis. Excessive animal food and salt appear to be connected with osteoarthritis, while potatoes, tomatoes, and other nightshade plants have been associated with rheumatoid arthritis. See Fibromyalgia, Fish, Lupus, Nightshades, Sesame, Vegetarian Diet.

• Macrobiotic Approach - The macrobiotic approach to arthritis, including a classification of the different types of arthritis, dietary guidelines, home cares, and case histories, is included in several books devoted to this subject. Some arthritis is believed to be caused by strong animal food intake, especially chicken and eggs, while another type is associated with tropical fruits and vegetables, especially nightshades.
Source: Michio Kushi with Charles Millman, A Natural Approach to Arthritis (Tokyo and New York: Japan Publications, 1988) and Aveline Kushi, Cooking for Health—Arthritis (Japan Publications, 1988).

• Low-Fat Diet Relieves Rheumatoid Arthritis - Fat-free diets have produced complete remissions in six patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Doc- tors at Wayne State University in Detroit reported that when a low-calorie, low-fat diet in which chicken, cheese, safflower oil, beef, and coconut oil were eliminated, stiffness and swelling of joints disappeared within days. Patients remained symptom free for up to fourteen months, only to experience short-term recurrences within usually 24 to 48 hours of eating foods which were high in fat. “We conclude that dietary fats in amounts normally eaten in the American diet cause the inflammatory joint changes seen in rheumatoid arthritis.”
Source: Charles P. Lucas and Lawrence Power, “Dietary Fat Aggravates Active Rheumatoid Arthritis,” Department of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, 1989.

• High-Fat, High- Sucrose Diet Contributes to Arthritis - In laboratory experiments, rats fed a diet high in fat and sucrose developed abnormal stiffness, reduced energy, and other adverse morphological and structural changes.
Source: R. F. Zernicke, “Long-Term, High-Fat-Sucrose Diet Alters Rat Femoral Neck and Vertebral Morphoolgy, Bone Mineral Content, and Mechanical Properties,” Bone 16(1)25-31, 1995.

• Vegan Diet Helps Arthritis Patients - In a study of 43 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, researchers reported that those assigned to a vegan diet rich in lactobacilli had changes in fecal microbial flora associated with improvement in rheumatoid arthritis activity.
Source: R. Peltonen et al., “Faecal Microbial Flora and Disease Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis During a Vegan Diet,” British Journal of Rheumatology 36(1):64-68, 1997.

• Arthritic Patients Improve on a Vegetarian Diet - In a case control study, rheumatoid arthritis patients assigned to a vegetarian diet had a significant decrease in platelet count, leukocyte count, calprotectin, total IgG, IgM rheumatoid factor, and other biochemical and immunological variables compared to those assigned to an omnivore diet. The researchers concluded that “dietary treatment can reduce the disease activity in some patients with rheumatoid arthritis.”
Source: J. Kjeldsen-Kragh, et al., “Changes in Laboratory Variables in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients During a Trial of Fasting and One-Year Vegetarian Diet,” Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology 24(2):85-93, 1995.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

Apple

April 14th, 2009

APPLE
As part of a balanced diet, apples can help keep away serious illness. High in flavonoids, pectins, and other phytochemicals, apples can help protect against cardiovascular disease and certain cancers, especially lung and colon.

• Apples Protect Against Lung Cancer - In a study of flavonoid intake and risk of lung cancer in Finland, scientists reported that of all major dietary flavonoid sources, the consumption of apples protected men and women better than other fruits and vegetables. Those who ate the highest amount of apples had 58 percent lower lung cancer than those who ate the lowest.
Source: P. Knekt et al., “Dietary Flavonoids and the Risk of Lung Cancer and Other Malignant Neoplasms,” American Journal of Epidemiology 146(3):223-30, 1997.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Macrobiotic | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »