Are Calcium supplements bad? Just consider the source.[1]

Submitted by Dr. Martha Grout, M.D., M.D. (H), Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine, Scottsdale (Phoenix), Az.

Recent media reports have highlighted the association between daily calcium supplements and the risk of coronary artery disease, the number one cause of death in America. The reason for the association is not clear. Simple association does not prove cause and effect.

A New Zealand research group led by Mark Bolland MD pooled the results of 11 trials (RCTs) measuring calcium supplementation and risk for osteoporosis or colon cancer, as well as data about heart attacks, stroke, and sudden death. There was a clear association between taking daily calcium supplements over 500 mg and the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and sudden death. A 58% increase in myocardial infarction (heart attack) was seen among individuals who are taking calcium supplements daily.[2]

In another study reported in the British medical Journal post menopausal women who were taking over 500 mg of calcium supplements daily showed an increased risk of heart attack of more than 20%.[3]

It is not immediately clear whether those who take calcium supplements put more calcium into their bones or their blood vessels. Judging by the above results, it would appear more likely that calcium supplements go into the blood vessel walls.

There is now a simple test to determine the amount of calcium present in the walls of an individual’s coronary arteries (coronary artery calcium score). It utilizes a form of CT scan (EBCT or MDCT) to measure directly the amount of calcium within the coronary artery walls. The advantage of the test is that it can measure without invading the body. The disadvantage is the radiation which is used to perform the test.

This coronary artery calcium score is most useful to help doctors determine who among people at moderate risk for a heart attack actually need treatment.[4] One published study showed no correlation between daily calcium supplementation and coronary calcium score.[5] On the other hand, there does appear to be increased risk of sudden coronary death when one takes calcium supplementation.

As a licensed medical professional, Dr Murphy is of the opinion that supplemental calcium intake does not prevent osteoporosis, osteopenia, or any other disease.  The one exception to this is individuals who have had radiation to the neck or thyroid/parathyroid surgery that may affect the parathyroid glands, which are responsible for maintaining normal blood calcium levels.

So what can we do, should we decide not to take calcium supplements? We know that we need calcium, otherwise our bones turn to rubber, and our calcium/magnesium energy pumps no longer work.

There are many non-dairy and non-supplement forms of calcium.[6]

Green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, collards, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, and bok choy or Chinese cabbage are good sources of calcium.

Other sources of calcium that can help meet your body’s calcium needs:

• Salmon and sardines canned with their soft bones
• Almonds, Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, tahini, and dried beans
• Blackstrap molasses

In the discussion of cardiovascular risk and coronary calcium score, I would like to call attention to recent research into one of the possible explanations of vascular calcification. This research may have nothing to do with daily calcium supplementation. Kajander and colleagues in Finland and in Tampa Florida have reported on a newly discovered bacterium which appears to be responsible for the formation of vascular calcification and they have named it Nanobacterium Sanguineum.[7] As its name implies, N. sanguineum is a nanometer size bacterium found in blood. It was initially discovered in the blood of cows (bovine serum for research purposes) and later found to be present in human blood as well. It has as one of its properties the ability to take calcium out of tissue fluid and fix it as hydroxyapatite, a calcium and phosphorus molecule similar to that found in bone. These crystals then serve as cell wall protection for this tiniest of bacteria. Its unique characteristics include heat resistance, resistance to disinfectants, and sensitive only to tetracycline among antibiotics. It is self-replicating and secretes a biofilm which is pro-inflammatory and has prothrombinase activity, affecting blood clotting. This ‘bug’ certainly appears to have all of the characteristics of the proverbial smoking gun between vascular calcification and cardiovascular disease. There is much more to report later as this is a new discovery and has plenty of ongoing interesting research.[8]

Article Sources…

[1] Skerrett PJ, Harvard Health Blog 08/12/2010 http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/study-links-too-much-calcium-to-heart-disease-20100812204

[2] Kuanrong Li, Rudolf Kaaks, et al. Associations of dietary calcium intake and calcium supplementation with myocardial infarction and stroke risk and overall cardiovascular mortality in the Heidelberg cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study (EPIC-Heidelberg). Heart 2012;98:920-925 doi:10.1136/heartjnl-2011-301345

[3]Bolland MJ, Avenell A et al. Effect of calcium supplements on risk of myocardial infarction and cardiovascular events: meta-analysis. BMJ. 2010; 341: c3691. doi:  10.1136/bmj.c3691.

[4] Kavousi M, Elias-Smale S, et al. Evaluation of newer risk markers for coronary heart disease risk classification: a cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2012 Mar 20;156(6):438-44.

[5] Bhakta M, Bruce C, et al. Oral calcium supplements do not affect the progression of aortic valve calcification or coronary artery calcification. J Am Board Fam Med. 2009 Nov-Dec;22(6):610-6.

[6] http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002412.htm

[7] Schwartz MA, Lieske JC et al. Human-derived nanoparticles and vascular response to injury in rabbit carotid arteries: proof of principle. Int J Nanomedicine. 2008;3(2):243-8.

[8] Schwartz MA, Lieske JC et al. Human-derived nanoparticles and vascular response to injury in rabbit carotid arteries: proof of principle. Int J Nanomedicine. 2008;3(2):243-8.

Dr Martha Grout has researched some additional information below for you to view…

Calcium supplements and heart attack: Implications for a nutrient hungry nation.

Previously posted on FoxNews.com

After studying over 24,000 men and women, researchers found that those who took calcium supplements were 86 percent more likely to have a heart attack than people who did not – and the risk was more than doubled for those who were only taking calcium supplements.

Read the entire article “Calcium supplements and heart attack: Implications for a nutrient hungry nation.” click here.

Study: Calcium May Increase Heart Attack Risk.

But Experts Say Evidence Is Not Convincing

Previously posted at WebMD Health News

Millions of people who take calcium supplements in hopes of lowering their risk for bone fractures may actually be increasing their risk of having a heart attack, new research suggests.

An analysis of close to a dozen clinical trials involving about 12,000 patients found calcium supplementation to be associated with a 20% to 30% increase in heart attack risk.

 To view the entire article “Study: Calcium May Increase Heart Attack Risk”, click here.

Non-Milk Sources of Calcium

U.S.Department of Agriculture (USDA). Nutrient data laboratory. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.

Green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, collards, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, and bok choy or Chinese cabbage are good sources of calcium.

To view the complete article “Non-Milk Sources of Calcium”, click here.

Calcium Supplements May Raise Heart Attack Risk

Many Americans take calcium supplements to prevent bone loss, but they may be significantly increasing their risk for a heart attack, a new study suggests. The study of about 24,000 people ages 35 to 64 found those who regularly took calcium supplements were 86 percent more likely to have a heart attack than those who didn’t.

To View the entire article “Calcium Supplements May Raise Heart Attack Risk”, click here.

Associations of dietary calcium intake and calcium supplementation with myocardial infarction and stroke risk and overall cardiovascular mortality in the Heidelberg cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study (EPIC-Heidelberg)

It has been suggested that a higher calcium intake might favorably modify cardiovascular risk factors. However, findings of an ultimately decreased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) are limited. Instead, recent evidence warns that taking calcium supplements might increase myocardial infarction (MI) risk.

To view the complete article “Heart and education in Heart Calcium”, click here.

Could too much calcium cause heart disease?

Previously posted at Harvard Health

Oh, the ruckus a single study can raise. A report about calcium and cardiovascular disease had people from San Diego to Caribou, Maine worriedly calling their doctors or throwing away the calcium supplements they were taking to keep their bones strong.

Here’s what prompted the concern: New Zealandresearchers pooled the results of 11 randomized, controlled trials—the so-called gold standard of medical research—comparing the effects of calcium supplements and placebo on preventing osteoporosis or colon cancer. All the trials also had information on the volunteers’ cardiovascular health. As reported online in the BMJ, more of the volunteers taking calcium had heart attacks, stroke, or died suddenly than did those taking the placebo. Media reports duly noted a 30% increased risk of cardiovascular disease with calcium supplements, which sounds scary. Another way to put the findings: 5.8% of those taking calcium had a cardiovascular event, compared with 5.5% of those taking placebo.

View the complete article “Could too much calcium cause heart disease”, click here.

Effect of calcium supplements on risk of cardiovascular and myocardial events: meta-analysis.

Objective To investigate whether calcium supplements increase the risk of cardiovascular events.

Lyme Disease.

Dr. Martha Grout Dives into Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment Options.

This article was featured in Natural Awakenings Magazine May 2013 issue.

Lyme disease is transmitted through the bite of a tick infected with a species of a spirochete known as borrelia burgdorferi. There are many species of ticks, but the species found commonly in the United States usually infects the joints, causing pain. Lyme disease may be masked in the body, because the organism hides behind biofilm, a slimy conglomeration of bacterial cells and proteins, and evades the notice of the immune system. To make a diagnosis, symptomatology is just as important as testing. If the immune system is unable to muster a response, then immunoserology tests will be negative, as if there were no infection in the first place.

A controversy exists regarding the treatment of what patients experience as chronic debilitating symptoms. Allopathic medicine calls them post-Lyme syndrome, or dismisses the idea of Lyme out of hand, often prescribing antidepressant medications in an effort to help their patients feel better. Homeopathic medicine calls these debilitating symptoms chronic Lyme disease. As a result, treatments are quite different.

Remember that foreign organisms can only thrive in an environment that is weakened. If the body is toxic because of exposure or inability to get rid of toxins, it is more susceptible to infection. If the body is magnesium-depleted, which most of us are, then it is much easier for organisms to form biofilm to hide behind.

Some patients can be treated with oral or intravenous antibiotics for a period of months or years. Those whose disease is treated successfully have not stopped with antibiotic treatment. They have eliminated chemicals and food additives—any foods to which they are sensitive. Most have eliminated gluten (wheat products) and dairy (cow’s milk products) from their diets, as well as corn (high-fructose corn syrup, genetically engineered corn), soy (genetically engineered), eggs and citrus fruits.

Many have also undergone chelation therapy to decrease the amount of inflammatory heavy metals in their system or taken intravenous nutritional treatments until their intestinal tract was finally able to absorb the needed nutrients. The point is to decrease the total toxic load, so that the body has a better chance of finding and eliminating infectious organisms like Lyme and Babesia.

Several steps need to occur for the best chance at complete healing, including excellent nutrition—working with a practitioner well-trained in functional medicine, to ensure that everything eaten is healthy; nutrient supplementation—test, and supplement with GMP-certified products, so the body has the nutrients it needs to operate efficiently. Removing toxins is a must—whether they be foods, heavy metals, chemicals or toxic relationships, because they all have the same debilitating effect on the body.

Guided imagery, biophotonic therapy, heat and light therapy and chelation therapy all help eliminate these toxins, and antibiotic therapy kills the organisms so that you can get on with your life. Exercise is also proven to improve the function of the immune system. It can be as simple as going for a brisk walk three times a week. All these modalities are important for healing. Antibiotics alone are insufficient, although they are almost certainly a necessary component.

Gratitude is another essential. Infection occurs because of some significant imbalance in our lives—in food, environment or relationships. It is never too late to take steps toward correcting these imbalances. Health is a process, a journey toward the light. A homeopathic or naturopathic practitioner can help to smooth the way.

ABOVE: A decade of growth for Lyme Disease.

View the entire article in Natural Awakenings magazine, click here.

2013 SUMMER Significant Allergens Forecast.

This information previously posted and provided by Pollen.com.

In Maricopa County (Phoenix) Arizona, we consider SUMMER to be June, July and August.

The plants listed below have been documented to grow in your State, and to flower during the season indicated nationally. Flowering time pertains to the particular season of the year that a species is most likely to occur within your area. Although the flowering period for any particular species may be fairly extensive, the pollination period itself (which may cause allergic symptoms to those sensitive) is generally much more abbreviated.

The plants listed below have been documented to grow in Arizona, and to flower during the season indicated nationally. Flowering time pertains to the particular season of the year that species are most likely to occur within this area. Although the flowering period for any particular species may be fairly extensive, the pollination period itself (which may cause allergic symptoms to those sensitive) is generally much more abbreviated.

View TODAY’s Phoenix Allergy and Asthma 4-Day Forecast, click here >> http://goo.gl/eaGTt .

Trees

Narrow-Leaf Willow (Salix exigua)

Western Poison-Ivy (Toxicodendron rydbergii)

White Mulberry (Morus alba)

Weeds

Annual Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia)

Black Mustard (Brassica nigra)

Carruth’s Sagebrush (Artemisia carruthii)

Cattle-Spinach (Atriplex polycarpa)

Chinese Mustard (Brassica juncea)

Dragon Wormwood (Artemisia dracunculus)

Five-Horn Smotherweed (Bassia hyssopifolia)

Flat-Spine Burr-Ragweed (Ambrosia acanthicarpa)

Four-Wing Saltbush (Atriplex canescens)

Great Plains False Willow (Baccharis salicina)

Mat Amaranth (Amaranthus blitoides)

Palmer’s Amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri)

Pennsylvania Pellitory (Parietaria pensylvanica)

Perennial Ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya)

Quailbush (Atriplex lentiformis)

Rape (Brassica rapa)

Rosinbush (Baccharis sarothroides)

Short-Leaf False Willow (Baccharis brachyphylla)

Silver Sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia)

Smooth Amaranth (Amaranthus hybridus)

Tumbling Orache (Atriplex rosea)

Weak-Leaf Burr-Ragweed (Ambrosia confertiflora)

White Burrobush (Ambrosia dumosa)

White Sagebrush (Artemisia ludoviciana)

Woolly-Fruit Burr-Ragweed (Ambrosia eriocentra)

Wright’s Saltbush (Atriplex wrightii)

Yerba-de-Pasmo (Baccharis pteronioides)

Grasses

 The Changing Landscape of Cancer Care.

The 11^th annual IPTLD^SM Meetings in Dallas, TX brought together a group of over 200 physicians, nurses, support staff and administrators to learn the most up-to-date information about cancer treatment.

The common denominator is that they all believe that cancer is an environmental disease, that cancer treatment as it is currently practiced in allopathic medicine is a very limited and inadequate form of treatment, that it is possible to do chemotherapy in an effective and much kinder and gentler way (called Insulin Potentiation Therapy Low Dose), and that killing cancer cells is only the first step – albeit a crucial step – in the recovery from the disease which we call cancer.

There are two major differences between cancer therapy as it is practiced in the allopathic world and cancer therapy as it is practiced in the world of alternative medicine.

First:

-          In the world of allopathic medicine, chemotherapy is the goal of treatment, and success is measured in reduction of tumor size and extension of life span by a few weeks or months. Tumor genetics are becoming all-important to researchers, as you can read in the New York Times. The “changing landscape” refers to ever more precise determination of tumor genetics.

-          In the world of alternative medicine, chemotherapy is only one of the modalities used for treatment. Success is measured by many parameters, with reduction of tumor size and extension of life span being two of them. The person who develops the tumor is all-important, and tumor genetics are simply a consequence of our inborn predisposition to disease.

Second:

-          In the world of allopathic medicine, we deal with one mode of treatment at a time. “Alternative methods” of cancer treatment are looked upon with disfavor, if not actively prohibited, because we fear that they may interfere with chemotherapy or radiation or surgery.

-          In the world of alternative medicine, we recognize that the human body is a complex and chaotic system which may require multiple inputs at multiple different levels in order to see any significant change in outcome. These levels begin with what we take in to our bodies on all levels, of which chemotherapy is the last ingredient, not the first.

Those of us who practice “whole body” medicine often debate what to call ourselves. We come from many different specialties – Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, Family Practice, Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Surgery, Gastroenterology, to name just a few of the specialties present at this meeting. We have in common an idea that the human body, mind, emotions and spirit are all part of one organism, and that all parts must be treated and recognized, in order for true healing to occur.

In the end, we are all on a journey toward healing of body, mind, emotions and spirit – practitioners and patients alike. Cancer care is part of that journey.

 Click here to view additional information on I.P.T. treatment at Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine >> http://goo.gl/fcQNy .

View the video below that describes the IPT treatment at Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine…

Eric Topol – Changing Landscape of Cancer Care

Cancer care is rapidly changing, if we think about where it was some years ago as it was really beautifully archived in a book by Sid Mukherjee, MD, The Emperor of All Maladies,^[1] and to where we can go in the future. Just launched recently, for example, was MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Moon Shots program in cancer care.^[2] The Moon Shots program is perhaps, because of genomics, digitizing the genome of the tumor, comparing it with the genome-native germ line. This gives us an opportunity we never had before.

So what is the cancer clinic of the future going to look like, because it’s just starting to get developed today? For example, when we have an individual presenting for a new diagnosis of cancer, we have to move away from fine-needle aspiration and minimal tissue; we need real tissue to be able to process it properly. Not only do we need the formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimen, but we also need another type of FF — that is, flash-frozen specimens so that we can then whole-genome sequence this tissue.

Now, when that is done at the primary diagnosis and done within hours and analyzed with the appropriate software algorithms, we could get the driver mutations nailed within 24 hours from the diagnosis. This can set up remarkably precise therapy that can be given to the patient on the basis of that individual’s tumor. There are no 2 different cancers that are the same anywhere. Just like there are no 2 individuals who have the same DNA, that’s the same for a tumor.

One of the issues that we have to confront is that there’s a lot of intratumor heterogeneity. We need multiple samples to sequence from the tumor, and if there’s already a metastatic lesion, we need a sample of that as well. Multiple sequencing, frozen tissue, genome-driven guided therapy — right from the get-go — is what we need. That’s not what we have today, but that’s where we can go in the future of cancer genomic medicine. It’s really an exciting opportunity. It has to be validated.

The cancer drugs that are used today are remarkably expensive, and what’s fascinating is to see — and this is a recurrent theme — is that a drug being used, for example, for renal carcinoma can also be used for leukemia. There was a classic 3-part article on the front page of the New York Times ^[3] that exemplified some of the stories along those lines.

It’s a story about mutations — a war on mutations, not a war on cancer — and this type of cancer clinic in the future can take us there but there’s going to have to be a whole different look with respect to the way that we take samples of the tumor. We need much more tissue, and to use frozen tissue so that we don’t have to bootstrap the FFPE (that paraffin-embedded specimen) and only get a couple of hundred genes or coding elements, but in fact get a whole genome from the flash-frozen specimen. That’s really important, and we have to move in that direction — get more tissue in order to account for the heterogeneity that we know exists. And we have to do deep sequencing of that frozen tissue in order to get the driver mutations identified, and also be able to anticipate where relapses can occur downstream.

That is precision therapy. This exemplifies the future of cancer genomic medicine, and it will be really interesting to see how that plays out in these cancer clinics of the future.

Thanks so much for joining us for this segment, and stay tuned for more from The Creative Destruction of Medicine series.

View the entire article, click here >> http://goo.gl/mljjZ .

References:

1. Mukherjee S. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. New York: Scribner; 2010. The 2011 Pulitzer Prize Winners: General Nonfiction. http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2011-General-Nonfiction. Accessed March 5, 2013.
2. University of Texas MD AndersonCenter. Moon Shots program. http://cancermoonshots.org/. Accessed March 5, 2013.
3. Kolata G. In treatment for leukemia, glimpses of the future. New York Times. July 7, 2012.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/health/in-gene-sequencing-treatment-for-leukemia-glimpses-of-the-future.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. Accessed March 5, 2013.

Genetic Gamble

New Approaches to Fighting Cancer

In treatment for Leukemia, Glimpes of the Future

Second Chance: Lukas Wartman, a leukemia doctor and researcher, developed the disease himself. As he faced death, his colleagues sequenced his cancer genome. The result was a totally unexpected treatment.

ST. LOUIS — Genetics researchers at Washington University, one of the world’s leading centers for work on the human genome, were devastated. Dr. Lukas Wartman, a young, talented and beloved colleague, had the very cancer he had devoted his career to studying. He was deteriorating fast. No known treatment could save him. And no one, to their knowledge, had ever investigated the complete genetic makeup of a cancer like his.

So one day last July, Dr. Timothy Ley, associate director of the university’s genome institute, summoned his team. Why not throw everything we have at seeing if we can find a rogue gene spurring Dr. Wartman’s cancer, adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia, he asked? “It’s now or never,” he recalled telling them. “We will only get one shot.”

Dr. Ley’s team tried a type of analysis that they had never done before. They fully sequenced the genes of both his cancer cells and healthy cells for comparison, and at the same time analyzed his RNA, a close chemical cousin to DNA, for clues to what his genes were doing.

The researchers on the project put other work aside for weeks, running one of the university’s 26 sequencing machines and supercomputer around the clock. And they found a culprit — a normal gene that was in overdrive, churning out huge amounts of a protein that appeared to be spurring the cancer’s growth.

Even better, there was a promising new drug that might shut down the malfunctioning gene — a drug that had been tested and approved only for advanced kidney cancer. Dr. Wartman became the first person ever to take it for leukemia.

And now, against all odds, his cancer is in remission and has been since last fall.

While no one can say that Dr. Wartman is cured, after facing certain death last fall, he is alive and doing well. Dr. Wartman is a pioneer in a new approach to stopping cancer. What is important, medical researchers say, is the genes that drive a cancer, not the tissue or organ — liver or brain, bone marrow, blood or colon — where the cancer originates.

One woman’s breast cancer may have different genetic drivers from another woman’s and, in fact, may have more in common with prostate cancer in a man or another patient’s lung cancer.

Under this new approach, researchers expect that treatment will be tailored to an individual tumor’s mutations, with drugs, eventually, that hit several key aberrant genes at once. The cocktails of medicines would be analogous to H.I.V. treatment, which uses several different drugs at once to strike the virus in a number of critical areas.

Researchers differ about how soon the method, known as whole genome sequencing, will be generally available and paid for by insurance — estimates range from a few years to a decade or so. But they believe that it has enormous promise, though it has not yet cured anyone.

With a steep drop in the costs of sequencing and an explosion of research on genes, medical experts expect that genetic analyses of cancers will become routine. Just as pathologists do blood cultures to decide which antibiotics will stop a patient’s bacterial infection, so will genome sequencing determine which drugs might stop a cancer.

“Until you know what is driving a patient’s cancer, you really don’t have any chance of getting it right,” Dr. Ley said. “For the past 40 years, we have been sending generals into battle without a map of the battlefield. What we are doing now is building the map.”

Leading cancer researchers are starting companies to find genes that might be causing an individual’s cancer to grow, to analyze genetic data and to find and test new drugs directed against these genetic targets. Leading venture capital firms are involved.

For now, whole genome sequencing is in its infancy and dauntingly complex. The gene sequences are only the start — they come in billions of small pieces, like a huge jigsaw puzzle. The arduous job is to figure out which mutations are important, a task that requires skill, experience and instincts.

So far, most who have chosen this path are wealthy and well connected. When Steve Jobs had exhausted other options to combat pancreatic cancer, he consulted doctors who coordinated his genetic sequencing and analysis. It cost him $100,000, according to his biographer. The writer Christopher Hitchens went to the head of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, who advised him on where to get a genetic analysis of hisesophageal cancer.

HarvardMedicalSchool expects eventually to offer whole genome sequencing to help cancer patients identify treatments, said Heidi L. Rehm, who heads the molecular medicine laboratory at Harvard’s PartnersHealthcareCenter for Personalized Genetic Medicine. But later this year, Partners will take a more modest step, offering whole genome sequencing to patients with a suspected hereditary disorder in hopes of identifying mutations that might be causing the disease.

Whole genome sequencing of the type that Dr. Wartman had, Dr. Rehm added, “is a whole other level of complexity.”

Dr. Wartman was included by his colleagues in a research study, and his genetic analysis was paid for by the university and research grants. Such opportunities are not available to most patients, but Dr. Ley noted that the group had done such an analysis for another patient the year before and that no patients were being neglected because of the urgent work to figure out Dr. Wartman’s cancer.

“The precedent for moving quickly on a sample to make a key decision was already established,” Dr. Ley said.

Ethicists ask whether those with money and connections should have options far out of reach for most patients before such treatments become a normal part of medicine. And will people of more limited means be tempted to bankrupt their families in pursuit of a cure at the far edges?

“If we say we need research because this is a new idea, then why is it that rich people can even access it?” asked Wylie Burke, professor and chairwoman of the department of bioethics at the University of Washington. The saving grace, she said, is that the method will become available to all if it works.

A Life in Medicine

It was pure happenstance that landed Dr. Wartman in a university at the forefront of cancer research. He grew up in small-town Indiana, aspiring to be a veterinarian like his grandfather. But in college, he worked summers in hospitals and became fascinated by cancer. He enrolled in medical school at WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis, where he was drawn to research on genetic changes that occur in cancers of the blood. Dr. Wartman knew then what he wanted to do — become a physician researcher.

Those plans fell apart in the winter of 2002, his last year of medical school, when he went to California to be interviewed for a residency program at Stanford. On the morning of his visit, he was nearly paralyzed by an overwhelming fatigue.

“I could not get out of bed for an interview that was the most important of my life,” Dr. Wartman recalled. Somehow, he forced himself to drive to Palo Alto in a drenching rain. He rallied enough to get through the day.

When he returned to St.   Louis, he gave up running, too exhausted for the sport he loved. He started having night sweats.

“I thought it might be mono,” he said. “And I thought I would ride it out.”

But then the long bones in his legs began to hurt. He was having fevers.

He was so young then — only 25 — and had always been so healthy that his only doctor was a pediatrician.

So he went to an urgent care center in February 2003. The doctor there thought his symptoms might come from depression, but noticed that his red and white blood cell counts were low. And Lukas Wartman, who had been fascinated by the biology of leukemia, began to suspect he had it.

“I was definitely scared,” he said. “It was so unreal.”

The next day, Mr. Wartman, who was about to graduate from WashingtonUniversity’s medical school, went back there for more tests. A doctor slid a long needle into his hip bone and drew out marrow for analysis.

“We looked at the slide together,” Dr. Wartman said, recalling that terrible time. “It was packed with leukemia cells. I was in a state of shock.”

Dr. Wartman remained at the university for his residency and treatment: nine months of intensive chemotherapy, followed by 15 months of maintenance chemotherapy. Five years passed when the cancer seemed to be gone. But then it came back. Next came the most risky remedy — intensive chemotherapy to put the cancer into remission followed by a bone-marrow transplant from his younger brother.

Seven months after the transplant, feeling much stronger, he went to a major cancer meeting and sat in on a session on his type of leukemia. The speaker, a renowned researcher, reported that only 4 or 5 percent of those who relapsed survived.

“My stomach turned,” Dr. Wartman said. “I will never forget the shock of hearing that number.”

But his personal gauge of recovery — how far he could run — was encouraging.

By last spring, three years after his transplant, Dr. Wartman was running six to seven miles every other day and feeling good. “I thought maybe I would run a half marathon in the fall.”

Then the cancer came back. He remembered that number, 4 or 5 percent, for patients with one relapse. He had relapsed a second time.

This time, he said, “There is no number.”

His doctors put him on a clinical trial to try to beat the cancer with chemotherapy and hormones. It did not work.

They infused him with his brother’s healthy marrow cells, to no avail.

A Clue in RNA

Dr. Wartman’s doctors realized then that their last best hope for saving him was to use all the genetic know-how and technology at their disposal.

After their month of frantic work to beat cancer’s relentless clock, the group, led by Richard Wilson and Elaine Mardis, directors of the university’s genome institute, had the data. It was Aug. 31.

The cancer’s DNA had, as expected, many mutations, but there was nothing to be done about them. There were no drugs to attack them.

But the other analysis, of the cancer’s RNA, was different. There was something there, something unexpected.

The RNA sequencing showed that a normal gene, FLT3, was wildly active in the leukemia cells. Its normal role is to make cells grow and proliferate. An overactive FLT3 gene might be making Dr. Wartman’s cancer cells multiply so quickly.

Even better, there was a drug, sunitinib or Sutent, approved for treating advanced kidney cancer, that inhibits FLT3.

But it costs $330 a day, and Dr. Wartman’s insurance company would not pay for it. He appealed twice to his insurer and lost both times.

He also pleaded with the drug’s maker, Pfizer, to give him the drug under its compassionate use program, explaining that his entire salary was only enough to pay for 7 ½ months of Sutent. But Pfizer turned him down too.

As September went by, Dr. Wartman was getting panicky.

“Every day is a roller coaster,” he said at the time, “and everything is up in the air.”

Desperate to try the drug, he scraped up the money to buy a week’s worth and began taking it on Sept. 16. Within days, his blood counts were looking more normal.

But over dinner at a trendy St. Louis restaurant, he picked at his chicken and said he was afraid to hope.

“Obviously it’s exciting,” he said. “But Sutent could have unanticipated effects on my bone marrow.” Maybe his rising red blood cell counts were just a side effect of the drug. Or maybe they were just a coincidence.

“It’s hard to say if I feel any different,” Dr. Wartman said.

And the cost of the drug nagged at him. If it worked, how long could he afford to keep taking it?

The next day, a nurse at the hospital pharmacy called with what seemed miraculous news: a month’s supply of Sutent was waiting for Dr. Wartman. He did not know at the time, but the doctors in his division had pitched in to buy the drug.

Two weeks later, his bone marrow, which had been full of leukemia cells, was clean, a biopsy showed.

Still, he was nervous. The test involved taking out just a small amount of marrow. Cancer cells could be lurking unseen.

The next test was flow cytometry, which used antibodies to label cancer cells. Again, there were no cancer cells.

But even flow cytometry could be misleading, Dr. Wartman told himself.

Finally, a yet more sensitive test, called FISH, was done. It labels cancer cells with fluorescent pieces of DNA to identify leukemia cells. Once again, there were none.

“I can’t believe it,” his awe-struck physician, Dr. John DiPersio, told him.

Dr. Wartman, alone in his apartment, waited for his partner, Damon Berardi, to come home from work. That evening, Mr. Berardi, a 31-year-old store manager, opened the door with no idea of Dr. Wartman’s momentous news. To his surprise, Dr. Wartman was home early, waiting in the kitchen with champagne and two flutes he had given Mr. Berardi for Christmas. He told Mr. Berardi he should sit down.

“My leukemia is in remission,” he said. The men embraced exultantly, and Dr. Wartman popped open the champagne.

“I felt an overwhelming sense of relief and a renewed vision of our future together,” Mr. Berardi said. “There were no tears at that moment. We had both had cried plenty. This was a moment of hope.”

Hunches and Decisions

Dr. Wartman and his doctors had fateful decisions to make, with nothing but hunches to guide them. Should he keep taking Sutent or have another bone-marrow transplant now that he was in remission again?

In the end, Dr. DiPersio decided Dr. Wartman should have the transplant because without it the cancer might mutate and escape the Sutent.

Meanwhile, Pfizer had decided to give him the drug. Dr. Wartman has no idea why. Perhaps the company was swayed by an impassioned plea from his nurse practitioner, Stephanie Bauer.

Dr. Wartman’s cancer is still gone, for now, but he has struggled with a common complication of bone-marrow transplants, in which the white blood cells of the transplanted marrow attack his cells as though they were foreign. He has had rashes and felt ill. But these complications are gradually lessening, and he is back at work in Dr. Ley’s lab.

His colleagues want to look for the same mutation in the cancer cells of other patients with his cancer. And they would like to start a clinical trial testing Sutent to discover whether the drug can help others with leukemia, or whether the solution they found was unique to Lukas Wartman.

Dr. Wartman himself is left with nagging uncertainties. He knows how lucky he is, but what does the future hold? Can he plan a life? Is he cured?

“It’s a hard feeling to describe,” he said. “I am in uncharted waters.”

View the entire article, click here >> http://goo.gl/p6vBm .

Filed under: Cancer, Cancer Series Articles, IN THE NEWS, IPT Treatment Tagged: 4 day allergy asthma forecast for phoenix az, acupuncture, ADHD, adults, Advanced Medicine, AdvancedMedAz, advancedwomenaz, allergens, allergies, allergy, allergy forecast, allergy testing, Allopathic Medicine, alternative, alternative cancer care, alternative diabetes care, an alphabet of good health in a sick world, anxiety, Arizona, Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine, arizonaadvancedmedicine.com, asthma, Az, bell rd, biltmore, bio-identical hormones, biontology, biophotonic medicine, brain training, breast cancer, camelback, cancer (IPT), cancer center, cancer cure, cancer DNA, cave creek, chandler, chelation, children, Chinese Medicine, Chiren, cholesterol, chronic illness, clinic, co-infection, conventional medicine, crossroads clinic, dc ranch, Deborah Murphy, desert mountain, desert ridge, detox, detoxification, diabetes, doctor, Dr Jonathan Murphy, Dr Martha Grout, energy medicine, environmental medicine, fibromyalgia, flu, free consultation, functional medicine, genetics, gilbert, glendale, gluten free, gmo food labeling, grayhawk, healing, holistic, holistic center, Holistic medicine, Homeopathic Medicine, Homeopathic Physician, homeopathy, Hypnosis, infection, Insulin Potential Therapy for Cancer, integrative cancer care, integrative oncology, internal medicine doctor, IPT, irritable bowel, lyme disease, mammogram, mayo clinic, mcdowell mountain ranch, MD, MD(H), medical doctor, mesa, multiple chemical sensitivity, natural, natural homeopathic, Naturopathic Medicine, Naturopathic Physician, north Scottsdale, nutrition, old town, organic, over 40’s tune-up, PA-C, paradise valley, patient, peoria, Phoenix, phoenix magazine top doctor, photron genius, ptsd, Raintree, Scottsdale, Scottsdale allergy clinic, stress, tempe, The Changing Landscape of Cancer Care., tick bone disease, top doc, treatment, troon, troon north, tucson, vitamin c, vitamin c IV, vitamin c-4, weight loss, women’s wellness ]]> http://advancedmedaz.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/the-changing-landscape-of-cancer-care-cancer-series-27-featured-by-the-arizona-center-for-advanced-medicine-in-scottsdale-az-treating-300-holistic-and-medical-conditions-call-480-240-2600/feed/ 0 advancedmedaz Cancer27 Cancer27-chemo IconMoreInfo CenterBannerThin LogoMedscapeNews IconEntireArticle CenterBannerThin LogoNewYorkTimes Cancer27-NYT IconEntireArticle BannerCenter Print BuildingNewW FREEconsutationSymbol1.0v ApptRequest bannerEndCancerSeries OpinionCheck BookGoodHealthW IconPodcast SocialBar1 http://advancedmedaz.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/arizona-center-for-advanced-medicine-provides-treatment-for-300-holistic-and-medical-conditions-in-scottsdale-phoenix-az-phone-480-240-2600/ http://advancedmedaz.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/arizona-center-for-advanced-medicine-provides-treatment-for-300-holistic-and-medical-conditions-in-scottsdale-phoenix-az-phone-480-240-2600/#comments Wed, 29 May 2013 00:57:01 +0000 AdvancedMedAZ http://advancedmedaz.wordpress.com/?p=5369 ]]>

Come to the most advanced integrative medical center in the Southwest for innovative treatments for…

Cancer

Irritable Bowl

Lyme Disease

Metabolic Syndrome

Previously published this month in the Natural Awakenings magazine.

“Learning alternative medicine with Dr Martha Grout” video…

Read what our patients say about the treatment at Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine…

Review real patient testimonials and videos or write your own testimonial, click here >> http://goo.gl/hANEh.

View a complete summary of treatments offered at Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine, click here >> http://goo.gl/UPwsT.

Cancer Series #28 – Once again, we read about the “dilemma” in the search for a safe and accurate test to screen for breast cancer.

The Wall Street Journal talks about how mammography is inadequate to find tumors in young women with dense breasts – that covers most of the young women in the world, and many of the older ones who are using hormone replacement therapy.

What is missing in this article is the concept of Thermography – a reliable method of screening for breast disease by measuring, under controlled conditions, the heat signature put out by the breasts and recorded by a digital infra-red camera. If there is inflammation, it will show. If there is a palpable mass which is neither inflamed nor growing rapidly, no heat signature will show. But those masses are pretty clearly wrong and need to be looked at under a microscope, no matter what any test shows.

For screening purposes, thermography makes the most sense to me. No radiation, no squishing. Why would I want to subject myself to a “screening” test that uses the very modality that we know causes cancer to “screen” for cancer? It’s not logical.

Here are three images downloaded from the Thermography website. It is not hard to tell that something is amiss. There is no radiation of the breasts, no squashing of dense tender breast tissue.

Go to Thermography website >>  http://goo.gl/OrWA6 .

We offer thermography at the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine. Just give us a call at 480-240-2600 to schedule an appointment.

A dilemma in the search for breast cancer.

Previously posted at WSJ.com

Doctors are divided about how best to scan “dense” breasts. A look at the options.

After her mammogram in March, Valerie Viera got good news and bad.

The mammogram itself was negative. But Ms. Viera, a 49-year-old business owner from Ossining, N.Y., also learned her breasts are “dense,” containing a high proportion of fibrous and glandular tissue and less fat. Breast density is linked to higher cancer risk. And it makes tumors harder to see on mammograms because dense tissue and tumors both look white.

“I’ve had many mammograms, and no one ever told me that,” says Ms. Viera, whose state, New York, has a new law mandating that doctors notify women if they have dense breasts.

As it turned out, a sonogram—an ultrasound scan increasingly recommended to supplement mammography for women with dense breasts—found a mass in each of Ms. Viera’s breasts. She returned for a biopsy, and four days later got the result: benign.

Tumors are harder for radiologists to see in mammograms of dense breasts.

Ms. Viera’s experience illustrates a growing controversy over how best  to catch cancers early in women with dense breasts, or about 40% to 50% of the female population. In women with the densest breasts, mammography misses about half of cancers. Ultrasound, in which tumors stand out as black or gray, catches two to four additional cancers per thousand women who get it—but at the price of many false alarms.

“We are going to send out tons of red flags causing more biopsies and more anxiety,” says Carl J. D’Orsi, director of breast imaging research at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.

The only way for a woman to tell if her breasts are dense is to get an imaging test, generally a mammogram. Seven states—California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, Texas and Virginia—have passed dense-breast notification laws, according to Nancy M. Cappello, president of Are You Dense Inc., a nonprofit patient group lobbying for the laws. Some of these states require doctors to notify women in writing if their mammogram finds they have dense breasts, while others simply mandate that information about dense breasts in general be sent to women after each mammogram.

Increased attention to the topic has resulted in a growing number of doctors in many states voluntarily discussing breast density with women. Women also can initiate such discussions with their doctor.

Women who are told their breasts are dense shouldn’t lose sleep over it, says Wendie A. Berg, a professor of radiology at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, adding, “It’s normal to have dense breast tissue.” Dense breasts are linked to genes, body weight and use of hormone-replacement therapy, which can increase density.

The larger question is whether women who are told they have dense breasts should get additional imaging to screen for cancer.

St. Louis radiologist Barbara Monsees, who heads the AmericanCollege of Radiology’s breast-imaging commission, suggests such women start by talking with their doctor about their overall breast-cancer risk. Those who have a family history of cancer—significant enough to make them “high risk”—should get a magnetic resonance imaging scan in addition to a mammogram, Dr. Monsees says.

If a doctor determines the overall risk is average or below average, the medical community is divided about the virtues of additional imaging such as sonograms. Among the biggest problems with follow-up scans: false alarms. In a three-year study of high-risk women, biopsies were performed as a result of sonograms 7.8% of the time in the first year and 5% in the second and third years. About 90% of the resulting biopsies found no cancer, according to the study, co-written by Dr. Berg and published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Of course, some women are willing to go through the possible anxieties associated with additional imaging or a different type of imaging if, in the end, they have greater peace of mind. Options for breast-cancer screening include the following, each of which is generally covered by insurance:

A digital mammogram. There are two types of regular mammograms: the traditional analog kind and newer “digital” mammograms. For women with dense breasts, it’s best to get a digital scan, which is more accurate, says Karla Kerlikowske, a professor of medicine at the University of California in San Francisco.

3-D mammography. Also called tomosynthesis. It delivers twice as much radiation as a conventional mammogram, but some radiologists say it gives a clearer image. Some facilities charge an extra fee—often about $50—for the 3-D mammogram.

Sonogram in addition to a mammogram. The cost, about $100 to $350, is often covered by insurance. Typically, a hand-held wand is used to take the image, which takes between five and 45 minutes.

Fewer Biopsies

The good news about sonograms: As more clinicians gain experience reading the scans, the number of biopsies will likely decline. Manhattan radiologist Thomas Kolb, who helped pioneer the use of sonograms in women with dense breasts and has done some 50,000 screenings, says only about 2.4% of his scans result in biopsies.

For Jennifer Kimenker, a 53-year-old retired executive assistant from Mystic, Conn., the ultrasound and biopsy she got because of her dense breasts were worth the minor hassle. The test, in 2010, took about a half-hour and involved only a tiny hole in her left breast. “I didn’t think it was invasive,” she says. “I was very happy to have it done.”

View the complete WSJ article at >> http://goo.gl/g8mVs .

Filed under: Cancer, Cancer Series Articles, IN THE NEWS, Thermography Tagged: 4 day allergy asthma forecast for phoenix az, acupuncture, ADHD, adults, Advanced Medicine, AdvancedMedAz, advancedwomenaz, allergens, allergies, allergy, allergy forecast, allergy testing, Allopathic Medicine, alternative, alternative cancer care, alternative diabetes care, an alphabet of good health in a sick world, anxiety, Arizona, Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine, arizonaadvancedmedicine.com, asthma, Az, bell rd, biltmore, bio-identical hormones, biontology, biophotonic medicine, brain training, breast cancer, camelback, cancer (IPT), cancer center, cancer cure, cancer DNA, Cancer Series #28 - Once again, cave creek, chandler, chelation, children, Chinese Medicine, Chiren, cholesterol, chronic illness, clinic, co-infection, conventional medicine, crossroads clinic, dc ranch, Deborah Murphy, desert mountain, desert ridge, detox, detoxification, diabetes, doctor, Dr Jonathan Murphy, Dr Martha Grout, energy medicine, environmental medicine, fibromyalgia, flu, free consultation, functional medicine, genetics, gilbert, glendale, gluten free, gmo food labeling, grayhawk, healing, holistic, holistic center, Holistic medicine, Homeopathic Medicine, Homeopathic Physician, homeopathy, Hypnosis, infection, Insulin Potential Therapy for Cancer, integrative cancer care, integrative oncology, internal medicine doctor, IPT, irritable bowel, lyme disease, mammogram, mayo clinic, mcdowell mountain ranch, MD, MD(H), medical doctor, mesa, multiple chemical sensitivity, natural, natural homeopathic, Naturopathic Medicine, Naturopathic Physician, north Scottsdale, nutrition, old town, organic, over 40’s tune-up, PA-C, paradise valley, patient, peoria, Phoenix, phoenix magazine top doctor, photron genius, ptsd, Raintree, Scottsdale, Scottsdale allergy clinic, stress, tempe, tick bone disease, top doc, treatment, troon, troon north, tucson, vitamin c, vitamin c IV, vitamin c-4, we read about the “dilemma” in the search for a safe and accurate test to screen for breast cancer, weight loss, women’s wellness ]]> http://advancedmedaz.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/mammogram-or-thermogram-take-2-cancer-series-28-featured-by-arizona-center-for-advanced-medicine-treating-300holistic-and-medical-conditions-in-scottsdale-phoenix-az-call-480-240-2600/feed/ 2 advancedmedaz cancer28 Mammo1 LogoThermography2W BannerCenter MammoWSJlogo Mammo2WSJ IconEntireArticle BannerCenter Print BuildingNewW FREEconsutationSymbol1.0v ApptRequest bannerEndCancerSeries OpinionCheck BookGoodHealthW IconPodcast SocialBar1 http://advancedmedaz.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/irritable-bowel-syndrome-ibs-featured-by-arizona-center-for-advanced-medicine-treating-300-holistic-and-medical-conditions-in-scottsdale-phoenix-az-call-480-240-2600/ http://advancedmedaz.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/irritable-bowel-syndrome-ibs-featured-by-arizona-center-for-advanced-medicine-treating-300-holistic-and-medical-conditions-in-scottsdale-phoenix-az-call-480-240-2600/#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 20:05:31 +0000 AdvancedMedAZ http://advancedmedaz.wordpress.com/?p=5090 ]]>

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

The World Gastroenterology Organization defines Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) as “a functional bowel disorder in which abdominal pain or discomfort is associated with defecation or a change in bowel habit. Bloating, distension, and disordered defecation are commonly associated  features.”[1] The American Academy of Family Practice states that 15% of US adults are afflicted with IBS.[2]

IBS is diagnosed in the absence of changes in the bowel detectable by ordinary western allopathic tests. We cannot diagnose Crohn’s disease, or Ulcerative Colitis or Diverticulitis or Colon Cancer. We do not see massive inflammation of the colon. Therefore we have irritable bowel. It is a so-called “diagnosis of exclusion”.

For years IBS was thought to be just imaginary, “in your head”. Whether it is all in the head or not, the symptoms can be pretty debilitating, interfering with social and work life. How can you have a life when you always have to be on the look-out for the next bathroom?

IBS may be constipation-predominant or diarrhea-predominant. In both cases, there is disturbance of bowel function without any significant changes in the architecture of the bowel.

Symptoms are typically intermittent, not continuous. They are of chronic duration – i.e. months to years rather than days. Pain is typically relieved by passing stool or gas. Cramping and bloating are typical complaints. There may be constipation or diarrhea or symptoms may alternate. Other symptoms may be associated with more dangerous bowel disease: unintended weight loss, blood in the stool, abdominal distension, constant pain and fever.

Web MD states “the exact cause of IBS is not known… But health experts believe faulty communication between the brain and the intestinal tract causes the symptoms of IBS.”[3] What they fail to mention (or perhaps do not realize) is that symptoms are simply a sign that we need to look for the cause.

Causes of IBS may be multi-factorial. Gluten and/or lactose intolerance are two commonly missed causes. Lack of secretion of serotonin in the gut contributes to constipation-predominant IBS. Thus patients with depression because of low serotonin levels are often constipated and complain of abdominal pain. A serotonin-precursor supplement like 5HTP may completely relieve both the constipation and the IBS, while working on the depression at the same time. Courses of antibiotics changing the composition of the intestinal bacterial population are not infrequently followed by symptoms of IBS. Infection with yeasts or parasites is another cause of IBS-like symptoms. A diet high in carbohydrate and low in nutrient quality may also lead to eventual development of IBS.

For some people, the abdomen serves as a barometer of their emotions. Any upset or stress will go directly to the gut. Once this is recognized, it is possible for such people to use the GI distress as a signal that there is something causing them stress. Thus, they may be able to identify a previously-hidden stressor because their gut reacts to it before they do. This may give them an edge when faced with unidentified stressors.

At the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine we recommend a DNA-based stool test, to identify pathogenic bacteria, yeasts or viruses. We test for sensitivity to gluten and carbohydrate. We look for parasites. We work with the entire gut microbiome. Did you know that we have more bacteria in our gut than we have cells in our entire body? And when the gut bacteria are unhappy, both body and brain are unhappy as well.

Both allopathic and integrative medicine recommend the following tests for diagnosis of IBS: blood work, inflammatory markers, thyroid studies, tissue transglutaminase antibody (a single marker for celiac disease).

Colonoscopy is essential to rule out a diagnosis of cancer, or Crohn’s disease, or Ulcerative Colitis. It would be unusual to develop IBS after the age of 50. If there is blood in the stool, or constant pain, or unintended weight loss, look elsewhere for a diagnosis.

Allopathic medicine then looks for pharmaceutical drugs to suppress the symptoms. The following chart was downloaded from the American Academy of Family Practice website.[1]

View Dr Grout’s video below “Modern Diseases = Artificial Foods”…

Sources:

[1] WGO Practice Guideline 2009, downloaded 5/17/2013 from http://www.worldgastroenterology.org/assets/downloads/en/pdf/guidelines/20_irritable_bowel_syndrome.pdf

[2] Hadley SK. Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Am Fam Physician. 2005 Dec 15;72(12):2501-2508.

[3] Downloaded 5/17/2013 from http://www.webmd.com/ibs/guide/irritable-bowel-syndrome-ibs-cause.

[4] http://www.aafp.org/afp/2005/1215/p2501.html

Downloaded 5/17/2013

Give the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine Scottsdale Center a call to schedule a time to come see us, visit our new beautiful expanded clinic, ask lots of questions, and make an informed decision for good health.

The Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine treats over 300+ conditions. Contact Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine for a FREE consultation at 480-240-2600, or click here >> http://goo.gl/R2cGE.

Review real patient testimonials and videos or write your own testimonial, click here >> http://goo.gl/hANEh.

Make an APPOINTMENT ONLINE, Fast and Easy, click here >> http://goo.gl/p2lnZ.

View the entire Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine Cancer Series articles, click here >> http://goo.gl/VFLmD.

Thank you for viewing the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine blog. We want your OPINION, please take just one minute to VOTE, click here >>http://goo.gl/JnzMT.

Order Dr Martha Grout’s new book “An Alphabet of Good Health in a Sick World”

More information on Dr Grout’s book and to ORDER with a special offer, click here >>  http://goo.gl/aDihW.

Hear Dr. Grout’s radio show interview on “Good Health in a Sick World”, (the actual interview starts at 4:14 minutes) click here >> http://goo.gl/gnihJ

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Cancer Series #5 – The Gut Microbiome and Cancer

This article is fifth in a special Cancer Series of articles featured by Arizona Center of Advanced Medicine.

Submitted by Dr.Martha Grout, M.D., M.D.(H) Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine, Scottsdale (Phoenix), Az.

In 2007 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provided funding for the Microbiome Project – a consortium of researchers seeking to define the normal bacterial population of the human body. And on June 14^th of 2012 some 200 scientists from 80 institutions published much of this research[1] in a coordinated fashion in a special edition of Nature magazine as well as several other Public Library of Science (PLoS).

The scientists used genome sequencing techniques – much like the technique used for the stool analysis we do on our patients with inflammatory illness – to define the normal composition of organisms in our gut, our skin, our nose, our mouth, our ears, our vaginas.

Several interesting findings came from this research.

First, the technique of growing organisms in culture (the standard way to analyze stool in laboratory tests typically covered by your insurance) manages to identify only a few organisms. The technique of identifying DNA and RNA found only in bacteria is much better, because it identifies ALL the organisms in a sample, not just the ones the ones that we can persuade to grow in an artificial medium.

Second, the number of organisms is ten times the number of cells in the human body. The contents of the intestinal tract form the largest organ in the body. And healthy individuals do not all carry the same bacterial population.[2]  Interesting…

Third, we ALL carry pathogens – organisms that can potentially cause disease – in our gut. Whether they make us ill seems to depend more on our individual state of health, rather than the nature of the germ. So sorry, Louis Pasteur. Germs are important, to who they live in is even more important.

“We have defined the boundaries of normal microbial variation in humans,” said James M. Anderson, M.D., Ph.D., director of the NIH Division of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives, which includes the NIH Common Fund. “We now have a very good idea of what is normal for a healthy Western population and are beginning to learn how changes in the microbiome correlate with physiology and disease.”

View the video below which featuring an Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine cancer patient…

Of somewhat humbling note is the fact that bacteria in our gut are responsible for our survival. They contribute more genes for production of enzymes than our own gut tissues provide – by a factor of 360! Bacteria produce vitamins and anti-inflammatory compounds that we cannot produce on our own.

What does this all have to do with cancer? There is as yet no direct proof of a link. However, we do know that there is a link between dietary saturated fat and the resulting inflammatory immune response, with development of colitis in an experimental mouse population.[1]

View our Cancer IPT Treatment video below…

The concept is beginning to appear in the literature with regards to humans as well. One article concludes that “dietary bioactive compounds and the intestinal microbiota create a complex milieu that directly affects the carcinogenic events of the colon.”[2]

In other words, be careful what you eat. Feed your gut bacteria. Do not try to kill them all off with antibiotics, because you will just be shooting yourself in the foot. Our gut bacteria are our friends, not our enemies – unless we try to kill them. Even the friendliest of allies get nasty when you shoot at them.

View the other Cancer Series articles, click here >> http://goo.gl/8AU1g.

Hear from an actual Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine cancer patient in the video below…

“Martha Grout is the Greatest Doctor, call her for a conference.” – P.R. (Facebook post) an actual patient.

From a patient recent email:Dr. Grout,Do you remember us?  You treated my son … years ago.  I have since that time talked about your practice to everyone and anyone who will listen to me.  I believe a couple of friends have brought their children to you as well.

So just wanted to let you know that [he] was recently accepted into the University of Arizona.  Another success story for you.  I am sure your practice changed his life.  I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for my Son.

I wish you many, many years of continued success.

Be well and keep healing.

- S.V. Phoenix, AZ

(Kudzu) Best doc in town!!

Dr. Grout is a wonderful caring doctor who specializes in allergen free, pesticide free environments for those with environmental allergy. She does in-depth testing and treats the problem not the symptom!! She has background in traditional and alternative medicine and is now doing neurotherapy for ADHD, memory loss and cognitive issues.

- Patient

(Wellness.com)

Q) Does this provider have helpful information available online?

A) Yes, they have a great website and are present in many online directories

Q) Did this provider answer all of your questions?

A) Yes

Q) Did the staff make you feel uncomfortable when you called with questions or concerns?

A) Not at all! They were happy to address every concern I had

Q) Did this provider ever postpone your appointment?

A) Not at all! They always try to get me in as soon as possible

Q) Does this provider remember you by name?

A) Every single time, even if it’s been months since my last appointment!!

- Patient

(RateMDs.com)

Rating: 5.0 out of 5, based on 1 reviews. Dr. Grout has a good overall rating, based on the helpfulness and knowledge ratings of this doctor.

“Staff and Dr Grout was very caring”

- Patient

(HealthGrades.com)

Scheduling Appointments – rated ‘Excellent’

Office environment – rated ‘Excellent’

Office Friendliness – rated ‘Excellent’

Wait time – rated ‘Excellent’

Level of trust – rated ‘Excellent’

Helps patients understand their condition – rated ‘Excellent’

Listens and answers patient questions – rated ‘Excellent’

Time spent with patient – rated ‘Excellent’

Overall, will patient recommend to friends – 100%  ranked ‘Defiantly YES’

View a complete Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine INTRODUCTION video, click here >> http://goo.gl/6UfSE.

Review real patient testimonials and videos or write your own testimonial, click here >> http://goo.gl/hANEh.

Make an APPOINTMENT ONLINE, Fast and Easy, click here >> http://goo.gl/p2lnZ.

View the entire Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine Cancer Series articles, click here >> http://goo.gl/VFLmD.

Thank you for viewing the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine blog. We want your OPINION, please take just one minute to VOTE, click here >>http://goo.gl/JnzMT.

Order Dr Martha Grout’s new book “An Alphabet of Good Health in a Sick World”  and view more information on this featured book and how to ORDER with a special offer, click here >>  http://goo.gl/lgwqi.

Hear Dr. Grout’s radio show interview on “Good Health in a Sick World”, (the actual interview starts at 4:14 minutes) click here >> http://goo.gl/gnihJ .

Find, Follow, LIKE and See us everywhere at ‘AdvancedMedAZ’.

The Exclusive Cancer Series #21. Oral cancer – Early detection test now available.

Submitted by as part of the ‘Exclusive Cancer Series’ of articles by Dr. Martha Grout, M.D., M.D.(H) at the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine Cancer Center, Scottsdale (Phoenix), Az.

It is estimated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)[1] that 12,770 people (three times more men than women) will be diagnosed with tongue cancer, and that about 2000 of them will die of their disease. About 8% of those afflicted are under the age of 45. 40% are over the age of 65.

The tongue is not the only organ in the mouth – just the most visible. 40% of oral cancers are found in the tongue; the lips and floor of the mouth account for another 35%.[2] It is estimated that 40,250 people (again three times more men than women) will be diagnosed with cancer of the oral cavity and throat, and that about 7800 of them will die of their disease. The lips and the floor of the mouth are the next most frequent sites of disease.

Lifetime risk is about one in 100 – about the same incidence as autism. The incidence is increasing, with an 11% jump in 2007 alone.[3]

Three main causes of oral cancer are “smokeless” tobacco (snuff or chew), alcohol, and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), presumably acquired through oral sexual intercourse. Non-smoking patients under the age of 50 are the fastest growing segment of the population in which oral cancer is diagnosed. Most of these cancers are found by dentists during the course of routine examination.

The NCI website states: “There is no standard or routine screening test for oral cancer.”[4]

Over half of oral cancers have already spread to the lymph nodes by the time they are seen and diagnosed. If found early, the 5 year survival is 80-90%. With spread to the lymph nodes, 5 year survival decreases to 45%.[5]

Any non-healing sore in the mouth or on the lips should prompt a visit to your dentist for examination. Your physician can also examine your mouth and tongue, but your dentist has the better tools to examine the entire oral cavity.

Screening tests have been developed. One commercially available test involves rinsing the mouth with a blue dye, then illuminating the oral cavity with a special light.[6] The following images were downloaded from the website of the company which makes the device.[7]

Another test involves using salivary markers both for diagnosis and for survival estimates.[1]^,[2] This test is also now available commercially[3] It is based on good research published in the peer-reviewed literature, although it has not yet been validated by multiple studies.

At the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine we use every modality available to us to provide truly integrative care for our patients with cancer.

Please view these additional webpage’s provided by Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine with additional information on cancer treatment…

Nutrition is crucial – a low carbohydrate low animal protein diet appears to be the most successful for patients with a diagnosis of cancer.

View food nutrition articles on our website, click here >> http://goo.gl/byFUW and http://goo.gl/llq2C .