African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic

Volume 7, Issue 12 NEWSLETTER November/December 2012 THE HEART / ♥♥

Artificial Jellyfish Engineered What is the African Traditional

Out of Rat Heart Muscles Herbal Research Clinic? We can make you healthy and wise By John Roach Nakato Lewis NBC News Blackherbals at the Source of the Nile, UG Ltd. July 24, 2012 The African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic located in Ntinda, Uganda is a modern clinic facility

established to create a model space whereby

indigenous herbal practitioners and healers can upgrade and update their skills through training and certification and respond to common diseases using African healing methods and traditions in a modern clinical environment.

Traditional healers are the major health labor resource in Africa as a whole. In Uganda, indigenous traditional

healers are the only source of health services for the Colorized image of the tissue-engineered jellyfish, majority of the population. An estimated 80% of the "swimming" in a container of ocean-like saltwater. population receives its health education and health care Dubbed "Medusoid," the bioengineered construct is from practitioners of traditional medicine. They are made from silicone rubber and powered by lab-grown knowledgeable of the culture, the local languages and heart tissue. It was built in a proof-of-concept study at local traditions. Our purpose is to raise public Caltech and Harvard for designing muscular pumps for awareness and understanding on the value of African biomedical applications. traditional herbal medicine and other healing practices in today’s world. Continued on page 2 The Clinic is open and operational. Some of the

I NSIDE T HIS I SSUE services we offer are African herbal medicine, 3 Afrikan Spirituality – The Shabaka Text reflexology, acupressure, hot and cold hydrotherapy, 4 Feature – Six Sounds to Heal and Cure, The Heart Sound body massage, herbal tonics, patient counseling, blood 6 Feature – The Heart has its own Brain and Consciousness pressure checks, urine testing (sugar), and nutritional 8 Feature – Heart and Circulatory System profiles. We believe in spirit, mind and body. Spiritual 14 Cesium Connection to Heart Disease counseling upon request. 18 Study finds Stain Drugs Accelerate Hardening of the Arteries 19 Feature – The Calcium Supplement Problem Visit us also at www.Blackherbals.com 21 Electrolytes of Significance in Heart Functioning 25 Confront Salt Confusion Hours: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday thru Friday 30 Feature - Heart Disease –Beyond the Stent & Bypass Saturday by Appointment, Sundays – Closed 37 Ulcer Causing Bacteria associated with Heart Disease 41 Feature- Radiation Exposure and Heart Attacks - Fukushima 50 Heavy Metals and their Link to Heart Disease 51 Feature – Kemetic Medicine 55 The Ancient Egyptian Heart 57 Feature – Phytochemicals and Cardiovascular Disease 60 Can Dietary Flavonoids influence Development of CHD 69 Feature - Towards an Africology of Knowledge Production 84 Tuberculosis is 500,000 Years Old 85 Where is Your Heart? 86 Herbs of the Month – Garlic & More

-1- Traditional African Clinic – November/December 2012 Cont’d from page 1- Artificial Jellyfish engineered out of It allows researchers to take rat heart cells and pattern them in different shapes and sizes that act as actuators – “things Rat Heart Muscles that can move, they can pump, they can flap,” Dabiri said. Scientists have made an artificial jellyfish out of rat heart For the jelly part, the team used a thin layer of silicone muscles and rubbery silicon. When given an electric rubber. shock, it swims just like the real thing. Putting together the pieces Future versions should be able to swim and feed by The next step was to put the two pieces together in the best themselves. possible way to get a functioning jellyfish. Instead of

“That then allows us to extend their lifetime,” John simply copying nature, the team tried out all kinds of muscle patterns, looking for the best. Dabiri, a professor of aeronautics and bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology, told me. “As engineers in this process of building artificial jellyfish, The breakthrough is a big step toward the development of we simply don’t have the same constraints that evolution an artificial human heart with living cells. It also opens a does,” Dabiri said. window to a future where humans could loosen the “These organisms, as they evolve, have to worry about constraints of evolution. fending off predators, catching their prey, reproducing. All “The design of the heart that we have today is by no we have to do is show up in a lab and try to be creative.” means the best physically possible design,” Dabiri said. “So, it is a very different set of constraints that we have in “It is the one that evolution stumbled onto over the course terms of developing this, and so it is not surprising that we of millions of years of random searching.” might find solutions that are different from what might It’s possible, perhaps probable, that there’s a better have come through evolution.” design out there for humans to discover. An artificial In the end, the team settled on a muscle arrangement that is heart, for example, could be engineered to steer clear of similar to that of the jellyfish, but “not a carbon copy,” heart disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S. Dabiri said. Building a better pump When the team put the engineered jellyfish into a pool of To get there, though, scientists must first understand how ionized water and sent an electric signal through the water, biology assembles its building blocks into a pump, Dabiri the fish swam like a real jellyfish. noted. “We haven’t yet developed an internal pacemaking system “We know pretty well how to build engineered pumps, within these artificial jellyfish, so the way that we control things that are built out of steel and aluminum and so on,” the functioning is, we shock them,” Dabiri explained. he said. “We don’t have as good a handle right now in Future of jellyfish and hearts biology on how nature builds things out of muscle An internal pacemaker mechanism and chemical receptors tissues.” that act as a nose to sniff out food are additions planned for To start, they looked to the jellyfish, an example of a future versions of the jellyfish, called Medusoid, to give it simple biological pump, and tried to build it in the lab greater autonomy. from scratch. This might raise science-fiction fears of giant artificial Jellyfish essentially have two parts: muscle cells that jellyfish roaming the waters – note that there’s another squeeze down on the body, pushing out water and jetting group working on robotic jellyfish that will never run out of the animal the opposite way, and elastic stretchy tissue energy. But in reality, the main application for the (the jelly) that gently recovers to its relaxed shape after technology would be in biomedicine. Even in its current each pump. “In our engineered system, we needed to form, Medusoid could be used to test the effect drugs have have these two components,” Dabiri explained. on the pumping mechanism of a heart, for example. The team could have used jellyfish tissue and jellyfish In the future, the research may lead to an artificial heart. muscle, but “it so happens that the building blocks we are One, perhaps, that is better than a healthy human heart. And more familiar with in tissue engineering come from the if we can engineer better hearts, will we stop there? Does heart cells of rats,” he said. this open the door to a completely rebuilt – and improved – The technique was pioneered by Kevin Kit Parker, a human? bioengineer at Harvard and co-author of a paper http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/artificial- describing the artificial jellyfish published today in the jellyfish-engineered-out-rat-heart-muscles-899197 journal Nature Biotechnology. ☻☻☻☻☻☻

-2- Traditional African Clinic – November/December 2012

AFRIKAN SPIRITUALITY

The Shabaka Text The living Horus; Who prospers the Two Lands; the Two

Ladies: Who prospers the Two Lands; the Golden Horus: Who prospers the Two Lands; King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Neferkare; the Son of Re: Sha[baka], beloved of Ptah-South-of-his-Wall, who lives like Re forever. The traditional shrine as a symbol of our cultural history This writing was copied out anew by his majesty in the

house of his father Ptah-South-of-his-Wall, for his majesty found it to be a work of the ancestors which was worm- eaten, so that it could not be understood from the beginning for he is the son of his firstborn son. to end. His majesty copied it anew so that it became better Geb's words to the Nine Gods: "I have appointed than it had been before, in order that his name might endure Horus, the firstborn." and his monument last in the House of his father Ptah- South-of-his-Wall throughout eternity, as a work done by Geb's words to the Nine Gods: "Him alone, Horus, the son of Re [Shabaka] for his father Ptah-Tatenen, so that the inheritance." he might live forever. Geb's words to the Nine Gods: "To his heir, Horus, /// [King of Upper and Lower Egypt] is this Ptah, who is my inheritance." called the great name: [Ta-te]nen [South-of-his-Wall, Lord Geb's words to the Nine Gods: "To the son of my of eternity] ///. /// [the joiner] of Upper and Lower Egypt is son, Horus, the Jackal of Upper Egypt /// Geb's he, this uniter who arose as king of Upper Egypt and arose words to the Nine Gods: "The firstborn, Horus, the as king of Lower Egypt. /// /// "self-begotten," so says Opener-of-the-ways." Atum: "who created the Nine Gods." Geb's words to the Nine Gods: "The son who was [Geb, lord of the gods, commanded] that the Nine Gods born /// Horus, on the Birthday of the Opener-of- gather to him. He judged between Horus and Seth; he the-ways." ended their quarrel. He made Seth the king of Upper Egypt in the land of Upper Egypt, up to the place in which he was Then Horus stood over the land. He is the uniter of this land, proclaimed in the great name: Ta-tenen, born, which is Su. And Geb made Horus King of Lower Egypt in the land of Lower Egypt, up to the place in which South-of-his-Wall, Lord of Eternity. Then sprouted the two Great Magicians upon his head. He is his father was drowned which is "Division-of-the-Two- Lands." Thus Horus stood over one region, and Seth stood Horus who arose as king of Upper and Lower over one region. They made peace over the Two Lands at Egypt, who united the Two Lands in the Nome of Ayan. That was the division of the Two Lands. the Wall, the place in which the Two Lands were united. Geb's words to Seth: "Go to the place in which you were Reed and papyrus were placed on the double door born." of the House of Ptah. That means Horus and Seth, Seth: Upper Egypt. pacified and united. They fraternized so as to cease Geb's words to Horus: "Go to the place in which your quarrelling in whatever place they might be, being father was drowned." united in the House of Ptah, the "Balance of the Two Lands" in which Upper and Lower Egypt had Horus: Lower Egypt. been weighed. Geb's words to Horus and Seth: "I have separated you." This is the land ////// the burial of Osiris in the /// Lower and Upper Egypt. House of Sokar. ////// Isis and Nephthys without delay, for Osiris had drowned in his water. Isis Then it seemed wrong to Geb that the portion of Horus was [and Nephthys] looked out, [beheld him and like the portion of Seth. So Geb gave Horus his inheritance, attended to him]. Horus speaks to Isis and ------Nephthys: "Hurry, grasp him ///." Managing Editor: Nakato Lewis Isis and Nephthys speak to Osiris: "We come, we PUBLISHER: KIWANUKA LEWIS Published monthly and freely by BHSN for the ATHR Clinic take you ///." http://www.blackherbals.com/athrc_newsletters.htm Continued on page 77

-3- Traditional African Clinic – November/December 2012 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic

Volume 7, Issue 12 NEWSLETTER November/December 2012 FEATURED ARTICLES Six Sounds to Heal and Cure: Sound Four, The Heart Sound By Richard Stossel February 10, 2009

(NaturalNews) In this continuing series on "The Six These sounds not only assisted them while fighting, but Healing Sounds", we are going to go cover the fourth of seemed to help them recover more rapidly from these sounds and one that is very important in this illnesses and injuries. modern age, the heart sound. The Chinese discovered long ago that when a person

Many of us know that sounds can have a powerful effect was diagnosed with an illness whose origin was found on our minds and emotions. Listening to relaxing music to be rooted in a particular organ, that the sounds of has been shown to cause a healing response in plants, distress that they made (whimpering/moaning) were the animals and humans. Loud discordant music has been same for all people regardless of their spoken language. shown to have the opposite effect. Plants exposed to this It was from these observations that a system of healing type of music live shorter lives and actually produce less sounds was eventually formulated called "The Six nutritious fruit and seeds than those exposed to softer, Syllable Secret" or "Six Healing Sounds". more flowing music. These types of disruptive sounds Whatever name we give it, this system is one that is can have a negative effect on the human body. The heart designed to help purge the body of excess fire chi that is particularly sensitive to these types of disruptive can accumulate in the organs on a daily basis. It was sounds. found that if two people had a weakness in a certain Animals in nature often use sound in a number of ways, organ and one practiced the healing sound for that including helping them communicate over great organ, that person recovered much faster than the one distances, navigate, avoid obstacles in their path and who did not practice the healing sound. assist them in locating prey. This is especially true in the In previous installments in this series we covered the case of bats, which may be nearly visually blind but are first three of these healing sounds for the lungs, kidneys able to zero in on flying insects in mid flight due to the and liver. The links for each of those articles are listed accuracy of their sonar. below. Recently discovered evidence shows one of the reasons The lung sound that cats purr is because they`re helping to cleanse their http://www.naturalnews.com/025014.html bodies of excess carbon dioxide and aberrant energies. The kidney sound The Taoist and Shaolin monks of China and many other http://www.naturalnews.com/025082.html cultures have also realized how powerful various sounds The liver sound can be. They use chanting not only to calm and clear the http://www.naturalnews.com/025155.html mind but to greatly energize various organ systems for increased mind/body control, health and longevity. The next sound that we are going to cover is one that the author hopes will benefit a huge number of people Many techniques like this actually came from the due to the ever increasing amount of heart disease that observance of animals. The martial artists of China are is occurring in the world today. famous for many and varied animal styles of fighting such as tiger, crane, snake, eagle claw and hundreds of This sound can be of great assistance in helping to others. They learned these fighting styles from watching purge the heart of excess fire energies. The high levels animals in their natural habitat and how they fought with of emotional stress that people are under today place a other animals. They also noticed that each animal made great deal of strain on the heart, which in turn causes a certain sounds when fighting, when sick or at rest. Continued on page 5

-4- Traditional African Clinic – November/December 2012 Continued from page 4 – Six Sounds to Heal and Cure, The electrical charges. This sac is so important and critical Heart Sound that it is given its own special designation in Chinese medicine. buildup of fire chi and further weakens this vital organ. These stressors have a number of origins including Some other information about the heart is as follows; the sedentary lifestyles, poor diet, emotional and mental element of the heart is fire, its season is summer; its stress, and lack of sleep to name a few. negative emotions are impatience, arrogance, cruelty and

When autopsies are performed on people that have died violence. Some of its positive emotions are joy, honor, sincerity, creativity, spirit and light. The color associated of heart disease it is very often reported that their hearts with the heart is red and one of its external body parts is looked as though they had been cooked from the inside. This is in perfect accordance with the Chinese view of the tongue. heart disease being a disease of excess fire energy. The Heart Sound

The heart sound can go a long way in helping to remove To perform the heart sound, we are going to first take a few deep breaths, then close the eyes and become aware stress from this vital organ. It has even been known to of the heart. After a few breaths you can begin making help prevent second hearts attacks. the heart sound by tilting the head back and while looking In Chinese medicine, each organ is linked with another up, open the mouth and make the sound organ which is its yin or yang counterpart and helps HAWWWWWWWWWWWW upon exhalation. At the balance out its energy. For example: the linked organ for same time you should also visualize the pericardium, the heart is the small intestine. The heart is the yang which is the sack that surrounds the heart, releasing heat, (fire) organ and the small intestine is the yin (water) impatience and arrogance upon the exhalation. organ. Another example is the stomach/spleen Remember that the sound should be made softly or even relationship where the stomach is the yang and the "sub vocally" which is characterized by movement of the spleen is yin. Since the small intestine is linked with the lips or other speech organs without making audible heart in that paired organ system anything that greatly sounds. The sound of the heart sound is similar to the stresses one organ will also have an associative and often "HAW" in the work Hawk. opposite effect on its linked pair. Chinese doctors use these relationships and laws to effectively heal and cure Take a short rest between each repetition by taking a few all kinds of diseases and illnesses. normal breaths and, keeping the eyes closed, visualize a bright red color along with the qualities of joy, sincerity, This heart/small intestine relationship is one of the main honor and creativity, coming into the heart with each reasons why overeating can often cause heartburn or inhalation. This is an important step, so do not skip it. possibly even heart attack. The small intestine is directly involved in the digestion process and when an excessive Practice the heart sound 3-6 times. If you have a sore amount of food is consumed at one time, too much chi is throat, cold sores, swollen gums or tongue, heart disease, drained from the small intestine. This can cause a serious heart pains, or you are experiencing moodiness or weakening of the organ which often causes the chi in its jumpiness, then perform this exercise from 9 to 36 times. paired organ (the heart) to flare up and become too yang. Even for someone who is in very good health, practicing When this happens you may end up with an excess of the six healing sounds on a daily basis will have a fire energy in the heart. If the heart is not strong enough noticeable improvement in mood, energy, mental clarity to handle this excess fire chi, heartburn, arrhythmias or and health. For those who are trying to overcome various heart attack can be the result. illnesses and diseases these sounds can be a powerful and This pairing of yin and yang organs helps to keep the invaluable tool to help cleanse impure energies and energies of each organ in balance. When there is a strong matter from the body. fluctuation of chi in one organ there is often an opposite Since the body is constantly converting toxic matter to effect on its paired organ. The body is naturally designed gases for expulsion through the respiratory system, these this way so that paired organs naturally keep each other sounds greatly assist in this cleansing process. They in balance. The six healing sounds can be a powerful and accelerate the removal of carbon dioxide, toxins, effective technique to help assist the body in this natural pollutants and negative energies out of the system more balancing act by making sure that no organ has too much efficiently than during normal respiration. One thing to fire chi at any one time. keep in mind when performing these sounds is not to do This is especially important in the case of the heart. The them for at least 30 minutes after a meal. pericardium which is the sac that surrounds the heart http://www.naturalnews.com/025681_Chi_healing_health.html helps to protect it from excess fire chi and any stray ☻☻☻☻☻☻

-5- Traditional African Clinic – November/December 2012 African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic

Volume 7, Issue 12 NEWSLETTER November/December 2012 FEATURED ARTICLES The Heart Has Its Own “Brain” and Consciousness Waking Times 12 September 2012 Many believe that conscious awareness originates in powerful influence on processes throughout the body. the brain alone. Recent scientific research suggests that We have demonstrated, for example, that brain rhythms consciousness actually emerges from the brain and naturally synchronize to the heart’s rhythmic activity, body acting together. A growing body of evidence and also that during sustained feelings of love or suggests that the heart plays a particularly significant appreciation, the blood pressure and respiratory role in this process. rhythms, among other oscillatory systems, entrain to the heart’s rhythm. Far more than a simple pump, as was once believed, the heart is now recognized by scientists as a highly We propose that the heart’s field acts as a carrier complex system with its own functional “brain.” wave for information that provides a global Research in the new discipline of neurocardiology synchronizing signal for the entire body. Specifically, shows that the heart is a sensory organ and a we suggest that as pulsing waves of energy radiate out sophisticated center for receiving and processing from the heart, they interact with organs and other information. The nervous system within the heart (or structures. The waves encode or record the features and “heart brain”) enables it to learn, remember, and make dynamic activity of these structures in patterns of energy functional decisions independent of the brain’s cerebral waveforms that are distributed throughout the body. In cortex. Moreover, numerous experiments have this way, the encoded information acts to in-form demonstrated that the signals the heart continuously (literally, give shape to) the activity of all bodily sends to the brain influence the function of higher brain functions—to coordinate and synchronize processes in centers involved in perception, cognition, and the body as a whole. This perspective requires an emotional processing. energetic concept of information, in which patterns of organization are enfolded into waves of energy of In addition to the extensive neural communication system activity distributed throughout the system as a network linking the heart with the brain and body, the whole. heart also communicates information to the brain and throughout the body via electromagnetic field Basic research at the Institute of HeartMath shows that interactions. The heart generates the body’s most information pertaining to a person’s emotional state is powerful and most extensive rhythmic electromagnetic also communicated throughout the body via the heart’s field. Compared to the electromagnetic field produced electromagnetic field. The rhythmic beating patterns of by the brain, the electrical component of the heart’s the heart change significantly as we experience different field is about 60 times greater in amplitude, and emotions. Negative emotions, such as anger or permeates every cell in the body. The magnetic frustration, are associated with an erratic, disordered, component is approximately 5000 times stronger than incoherent pattern in the heart’s rhythms. In contrast, the brain’s magnetic field and can be detected several positive emotions, such as love or appreciation, are feet away from the body with sensitive magnetometers. associated with a smooth, ordered, coherent pattern in the heart’s rhythmic activity. In turn, these changes in The heart generates a continuous series of the heart’s beating patterns create corresponding electromagnetic pulses in which the time interval changes in the structure of the electromagnetic field between each beat varies in a dynamic and complex radiated by the heart, measurable by a technique called manner. The heart’s ever-present rhythmic field has a spectral analysis. Continued on page 7

-6- Traditional African Clinic – November/December 2012

Continued from page 6 – The Heart Has Its Own “Brain” suggesting that individuals in a psychophysiologically and Consciousness coherent state become more aware of the information More specifically, we have demonstrated that sustained encoded in the heart fields of those around them. positive emotions appear to give rise to a distinct mode The results of these experiments have led us to infer of functioning, which we call psychophysiological that the nervous system acts as an “antenna,” which is coherence. During this mode, heart rhythms exhibit a tuned to and responds to the electromagnetic fields sine wave-like pattern and the heart’s electromagnetic produced by the hearts of other individuals. We believe field becomes correspondingly more organized. this capacity for exchange of energetic information is an innate ability that heightens awareness and mediates At the physiological level, this mode is characterized by increased efficiency and harmony in the activity and important aspects of true empathy and sensitivity to others Furthermore, we have observed that this energetic interactions of the body’s systems. [1] communication ability can be intentionally enhanced, Psychologically, this mode is linked with a notable producing a much deeper level of nonverbal reduction in internal mental dialogue, reduced communication, understanding, and connection between perceptions of stress, increased emotional balance, and people. There is also intriguing evidence that heart field enhanced mental clarity, intuitive discernment, and interactions can occur between people and animals. cognitive performance. In short, energetic communication via the heart field In sum, our research suggests that psychophysiological facilitates development of an expanded consciousness in coherence is important in enhancing consciousness—both relation to our social world. for the body’s sensory awareness of the information The Heart’s Field and Intuition required to execute and coordinate physiological There are also new data suggesting that the heart’s field is function, and also to optimize emotional stability, mental function, and intentional action. Furthermore, as we see directly involved in intuitive perception, through its next, there is experimental evidence that coupling to an energetic information field outside the psychophysiological coherence may increase our bounds of space and time. Using a rigorous experimental awareness of and sensitivity to others around us. The design, we found compelling evidence that both the heart Institute of HeartMath has created practical technologies and brain receive and respond to information about a and tools that all people can use to increase coherence. future event before the event actually happens. Even more surprising was our finding that the heart appears to Heart Field Interactions Between Individuals receive this “intuitive” information before the brain. This Most people think of social communication solely in suggests that the heart’s field may be linked to a more terms of overt signals expressed through language, voice subtle energetic field that contains information on objects qualities, gestures, facial expressions, and body and events remote in space or ahead in time. Called by movements. However, there is now evidence that a subtle Karl Pribram and others the “spectral domain,” this is a yet influential electromagnetic or “energetic” fundamental order of potential energy that enfolds space communication system operates just below our conscious and time, and is thought to be the basis for our awareness. Energetic interactions likely contribute to the consciousness of “the whole.” (See heartmath.org for “magnetic” attractions or repulsions that occur between further detail.) individuals, and also affect social exchanges and relationships. Moreover, it appears that the heart’s field Social Fields plays an important role in communicating physiological, In the same way that the heart generates energy in the psychological, and social information between body, we propose that the social collective is the activator individuals. and regulator of the energy in social systems.

Experiments conducted at the Institute of HeartMath have A body of groundbreaking work shows how the field of found remarkable evidence that the heart’s socioemotional interaction between a mother and her electromagnetic field can transmit information between infant is essential to brain development, the emergence of people. We have been able to measure an exchange of consciousness, and the formation of a healthy self- heart energy between individuals up to 5 feet apart. We concept. These interactions are organized along two have also found that one person’s brain waves can relational dimensions—stimulation of the baby’s actually synchronize to another person’s heart. emotions, and regulation of shared emotional energy. Furthermore, when an individual is generating a coherent Together they form a socioemotional field through which heart rhythm, synchronization between that person’s enormous quantities of psychobiological and psycho- brain waves and another person’s heartbeat is more likely social information are exchanged. Coherent organization to occur. These findings have intriguing implications, Continued on page 11 -7- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic

Volume7, Issue 12 NEWSLETTER November/December 2012 FEATURED ARTICLES Heart and Circulatory System Reviewed by Steven Dowshen, MD May 2010 KidsHealth.Org

With each heartbeat, blood is sent throughout our and left atria receive the blood entering the heart. A wall bodies, carrying oxygen and nutrients to every cell. called the interatrial septum divides the right and left Each day, 2,000 gallons of blood travel many times atria, which are separated from the ventricles by the through about 60,000 miles of blood vessels that branch atrioventricular valves. The tricuspid valve separates the and cross, linking the cells of our organs and body parts right atrium from the right ventricle, and the mitral valve separates the left atrium and the left ventricle. About the Heart and Circulatory System The circulatory system is composed of the heart and blood vessels, including arteries, veins, and capillaries. Our bodies actually have two circulatory systems: The pulmonary circulation is a short loop from the heart to the lungs and back again, and the systemic circulation (the system we usually think of as our circulatory system) sends blood from the heart to all the other parts

of our bodies and back again. The heart is the key organ in the circulatory system. As a hollow, muscular pump, its main function is to propel blood throughout the body. It usually beats from 60 to 100 times per minute, but can go much faster when

necessary. It beats about 100,000 times a day, more than 30 million times per year, and about 2.5 billion times in a 70-year lifetime. The heart gets messages from the body that tell it when to pump more or less blood depending on an individual's needs. When we're sleeping, it pumps just enough to provide for the lower amounts of oxygen needed by our bodies at rest. When we're exercising or frightened, the heart pumps faster to increase the Two other cardiac valves separate the ventricles and the delivery of oxygen. large blood vessels that carry blood leaving the heart. These are the pulmonic valve, which separates the right The heart has four chambers that are enclosed by thick, ventricle from the pulmonary artery leading to the lungs, muscular walls. It lies between the lungs and just to the and the aortic valve, which separates the left ventricle left of the middle of the chest cavity. The bottom part from the aorta, the body's largest blood vessel. of the heart is divided into two chambers called the right and left ventricles, which pump blood out of the Arteries carry blood away from the heart. They are the heart. A wall called the interventricular septum divides thickest blood vessels, with muscular walls that contract the ventricles. to keep the blood moving away from the heart and through the body. In the systemic circulation, oxygen- The upper part of the heart is made up of the other two rich blood is pumped from the heart into the aorta. This chambers of the heart, the right and left atria. The right Continued on page 9

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Continued from page 8 – Heart and Circulatory System of salt from the body. huge artery curves up and back from the left ventricle, One complete heartbeat makes up a cardiac cycle, which then heads down in front of the spinal column into the consists of two phases: abdomen. Two coronary arteries branch off at the beginning of the aorta and divide into a network of 1. In the first phase, the ventricles contract (this is smaller arteries that provide oxygen and nourishment to called systole), sending blood into the pulmonary and systemic circulation. To prevent the flow of the muscles of the heart. blood backwards into the atria during systole, the Unlike the aorta, the body's other main artery, the atrioventricular valves close, creating the first pulmonary artery, carries oxygen-poor blood. From the sound (the lub). When the ventricles finish right ventricle, the pulmonary artery divides into right contracting, the aortic and pulmonary valves close and left branches, on the way to the lungs where blood to prevent blood from flowing back into the picks up oxygen. ventricles. This is what creates the second sound Arterial walls have three layers: (the dub). 2. Then the ventricles relax (this is called diastole) 1. The endothelium is on the inside and provides a and fill with blood from the atria, which makes up smooth lining for blood to flow over as it moves the second phase of the cardiac cycle. through the artery. A unique electrical conduction system in the heart causes it 2. The media is the middle part of the artery, made to beat in its regular rhythm. The sinoatrial or SA node, a up of a layer of muscle and elastic tissue. small area of tissue in the wall of the right atrium, sends out an electrical signal to start the contracting of the heart 3. The adventitia is the tough covering that muscle. This node is called the pacemaker of the heart protects the outside of the artery. because it sets the rate of the heartbeat and causes the rest As they get farther from the heart, the arteries branch out of the heart to contract in its rhythm. into arterioles, which are smaller and less elastic. These electrical impulses cause the atria to contract first, Veins carry blood back to the heart. They're not as and then travel down to the atrioventricular or AV node, muscular as arteries, but they contain valves that prevent which acts as a kind of relay station. From here the blood from flowing backward. Veins have the same electrical signal travels through the right and left ventricles, three layers that arteries do, but are thinner and less causing them to contract and forcing blood out into the flexible. The two largest veins are the superior and major arteries. inferior vena cavae. The terms superior and inferior don't In the systemic circulation, blood travels out of the left mean that one vein is better than the other, but that ventricle, to the aorta, to every organ and tissue in the body, they're located above and below the heart. and then back to the right atrium. The arteries, capillaries, A network of tiny capillaries connects the arteries and and veins of the systemic circulatory system are the veins. Though tiny, the capillaries are one of the most channels through which this long journey takes place. important parts of the circulatory system because it's Once in the arteries, blood flows to smaller arterioles and through them that nutrients and oxygen are delivered to then to capillaries. While in the capillaries, the bloodstream the cells. In addition, waste products such as carbon delivers oxygen and nutrients to the body's cells and picks dioxide are also removed by the capillaries. up waste materials. Blood then goes back through the What the Heart and Circulatory System Do capillaries into venules, and then to larger veins until it The circulatory system works closely with other systems reaches the vena cavae. in our bodies. It supplies oxygen and nutrients to our Blood from the head and arms returns to the heart through bodies by working with the respiratory system. At the the superior vena cava, and blood from the lower parts of same time, the circulatory system helps carry waste and the body returns through the inferior vena cava. Both vena carbon dioxide out of the body. cavae deliver this oxygen-depleted blood into the right Hormones — produced by the endocrine system — are atrium. From here the blood exits to fill the right ventricle, also transported through the blood in the circulatory ready to be pumped into the pulmonary circulation for more system. As the body's chemical messengers, hormones oxygen. transfer information and instructions from one set of In the pulmonary circulation, blood low in oxygen but high cells to another. For example, one of the hormones in carbon dioxide is pumped out the right ventricle into the produced by the heart helps control the kidneys' release Continued on page 10 -9- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 9 – Heart and Circulatory System disorder, an arrhythmia may be treated with medication, pulmonary artery, which branches off in two directions. surgery, or pacemakers. The right branch goes to the right lung, and vice versa. Cardiomyopathy. This chronic disease causes the heart In the lungs, the branches divide further into capillaries. muscle (the myocardium) to become weakened. Usually, Blood flows more slowly through these tiny vessels, it first affects the lower chambers of the heart, the allowing time for gases to be exchanged between the ventricles, and then progresses and damages the muscle capillary walls and the millions of alveoli, the tiny air cells and even the tissues surrounding the heart. In its sacs in the lungs. most severe forms, it can lead to heart failure and even death. Cardiomyopathy is the #1 reason for heart During the process called oxygenation, oxygen is taken transplants in children. up by the bloodstream. Oxygen locks onto a molecule called hemoglobin in the red blood cells. The newly Coronary artery disease. The most common heart oxygenated blood leaves the lungs through the pulmonary disorder in adults, coronary artery disease is caused by veins and heads back to the heart. It enters the heart in the atherosclerosis. Deposits of fat, calcium, and dead cells, left atrium, then fills the left ventricle so it can be called atherosclerotic plaques, form on the inner walls of pumped into the systemic circulation. the coronary arteries (the blood vessels that supply the heart) and interfere with the smooth flow of blood. Blood Problems of the Heart and Circulatory System flow to the heart muscle may even stop if a thrombus, or Problems with the cardiovascular system are common — clot, forms in a coronary vessel, which may cause a heart more than 64 million Americans have some type of attack. In a heart attack (or myocardial infarction), the cardiac problem. But cardiovascular problems don't just heart muscle becomes damaged by lack of oxygen, and affect older people — many heart and circulatory system unless blood flow returns within minutes, muscle damage problems affect children and teens, too. increases and the heart's ability to pump blood is Heart and circulatory problems are grouped into two compromised. If the clot can be dissolved within a few categories: congenital (problems present at birth) and hours, damage to the heart can be reduced. Heart attacks acquired (problems developed some time after birth). are rare in kids and teens. Congenital heart defects. These abnormalities in the Hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol). Cholesterol is heart's structure are present at birth. Approximately 8 out a waxy substance that's found in the body's cells, in the of every 1,000 newborns have congenital heart defects blood, and in some foods. Having too much cholesterol in ranging from mild to severe. These defects occur while the blood, also known as hypercholesterolemia, is a major the fetus is developing in the mother's uterus and it's not risk factor for heart disease and can lead to a heart attack. usually known why they occur. Some congenital heart Cholesterol is carried in the bloodstream by lipoproteins. defects are caused by genetic disorders, but most are not. Two kinds — low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and high- What all congenital heart defects have in common, density lipoproteins (HDL) — are the most important. however, is that they involve abnormal or incomplete High levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) development of the heart. increase a person's risk for heart disease and stroke, A common sign of a congenital heart defect is a heart whereas high levels of HDL cholesterol (the good murmur — an abnormal sound (like a blowing or cholesterol) can protect against these. whooshing sound) that's heard when listening to the A blood test can indicate if someone's cholesterol is too heart. Usually a heart murmur is detected by a doctor high. A child's cholesterol level is borderline if it's 170 to who's listening to the heart with a stethoscope during a 199 mg/dL, and it's considered high if it's above 200 routine exam. Murmurs are very common in children and mg/dL. About 10% of teens between 12 and 19 have high can be caused by congenital heart defects or other heart cholesterol levels that put them at increased risk of conditions. cardiovascular disease. Arrhythmia. Cardiac arrhythmias, also called High blood pressure (hypertension). Over time, high dysrhythmias or rhythm disorders, are problems in the blood pressure can damage the heart, arteries, and other rhythm of the heartbeat. They may be caused by a body organs. Symptoms can include headache, nose congenital heart defect or they may be acquired later. An bleeds, dizziness, and lightheadedness. Infants, kids, and arrhythmia may cause the heart's rhythm to be irregular, teens can have high blood pressure, which may be caused abnormally fast, or abnormally slow. Arrhythmias can by genetic factors, excess body weight, diet, lack of occur at any age and may be discovered during a routine physical examination. Depending on the type of rhythm Continued on page 11

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Continued from page 10 – Heart and Circulatory System Continued from page 7- The Heart Has Its Own “Brain” and Consciousness exercise, and diseases such as heart disease or kidney of the mother-child relations that make up this field is disease. critical. This occurs when interactions are charged, most Kawasaki disease. Also known as mucocutaneous lymph importantly, with positive emotions (love, joy, happiness, node syndrome, Kawasaki disease affects the mucous excitement, appreciation, etc.), and are patterned as highly membranes (the lining of the mouth and breathing synchronized, reciprocal exchanges between these two passages), the skin, and the lymph nodes (part of the individuals. These patterns are imprinted in the child’s immune system). It can also lead to vasculitis, an brain and thus influence psychosocial function throughout inflammation of the blood vessels. This can affect all life. (See Allan Schore, Affect Regulation and the Origin of major arteries in the body — including the coronary the Self.) arteries. It can also cause inflammation of the heart muscle, called myocarditis. When coronary arteries Moreover in a longitudinal study of 46 social groups, one become inflamed, a child can develop aneurysms, which of us (RTB) documented how information about the are weakened and bulging spots on the walls of arteries. global organization of a group—the group’s collective This increases the risk of a blood clot forming in this consciousness—appears to be transmitted to all members weakened area, which can block the artery, possibly by an energetic field of socio-emotional connection. Data leading to a heart attack. In addition to the coronary on the relationships between each pair of members was found to provide an accurate image of the social structure arteries, the heart muscle, lining, valves, or the outer membrane that surrounds the heart can become inflamed. of the group as a whole. Coherent organization of the Arrhythmias or abnormal functioning of some heart group’s social structure is associated with a network of valves can occur. Kawasaki disease has surpassed positively charged emotions (love, excitement, and rheumatic fever as the leading cause of acquired heart optimism) connecting all members. This network of disease in children in the United States. positive emotions appears to constitute a field of energetic connection into which information about the group’s social Rheumatic heart disease. Usually the complication of structure is encoded and distributed throughout the group. an untreated strep throat infection, rheumatic fever can Remarkably, an accurate picture of the group’s overall lead to permanent heart damage and even death. Most social structure was obtained from information only about common in kids between 5 and 15 years of age, it begins relationships between pairs of individuals. We believe the when antibodies the body produces to fight the strep only way this is possible is if information about the infection begin to attack other parts of the body. They organization of the whole group is distributed to all react to tissues in the heart valves as though they were the members of the group via an energetic field. Such strep bacteria and cause the heart valves to thicken and correspondence in information between parts and the whole scar. Inflammation and weakening of the heart muscle is consistent with the principle of holographic organization. may also occur. Usually, when strep throat infections are [2] promptly treated with antibiotics, this condition can be avoided. Synthesis and Implications Some organizing features of the heart field, identified in Stroke. Strokes occur when the blood supply to the brain numerous studies at HeartMath, may also be shared by is cut off or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts and those of our hypothesized social field. Each is a field of spills blood into an area of the brain, causing damage to energy in which the waveforms of energy encode the brain cells. Children or infants who have experienced features of objects and events as energy moves throughout stroke may be suddenly numb or weak, especially on one the system. This creates a nonlocal order of energetic side of the body, and they may experience a sudden information in which each location in the field contains an severe headache, nausea or vomiting, and difficulty enfolded image of the organization of the whole system at seeing, speaking, walking, or moving. During childhood, that moment. The organization and processing of strokes are rare. information in these energy fields can best be understood in Getting plenty of exercise, eating a nutritious diet, terms of quantum holographic principles. [3] maintaining a healthy weight, and getting regular medical Another commonality is the role of positive emotions, such checkups are the best ways to help keep the heart healthy as love and appreciation, in generating coherence both in and avoid long-term problems like high blood pressure, the heart field and in social fields. When the movement of high cholesterol, and heart disease. energy is intentionally regulated to form a coherent, http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body_basics/heart.html# harmonious order, information integrity and flow are ☻☻☻☻☻☻ Continued on page 12

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Continued from page 11 – The Heart Has Its Own “Brain” and Consciousness Heart of Genetically Modified optimized. This, in turn, produces stable,effective system Pig 'successfully transplanted function, which enhances health, psychosocial well- being, and intentional action in the individual or social into Monkey', South Korea group. Scientists claim Heart coherence and social coherence may also act to mutually reinforce each other. As individuals within a By Nick Enoch group increase psychophysiological coherence, psycho- 26 June 2012 social attunement may be increased, thereby increasing the coherence of social relations. Similarly, the creation The heart of a genetically modified pig has been of a coherent social field by a group may help support the successfully transplanted into a monkey, according to generation and maintenance of psychophysiological scientists in South Korea. coherence in its individual members. An expanded, It is the first time the country has claimed to have deepened awareness and consciousness results—of the accomplished such an inter-species operation body’s internal physiological, emotional, and mental Known as xenotransplantation, it is seen by some as a way processes, and also of the deeper, latent orders enfolded to end the chronic shortage of human organs available for into the energy fields that surround us. transplants. This is the basis of self-awareness, social sensitivity, creativity, intuition, spiritual insight, and understanding of ourselves and all that we are connected to. It is through the intentional generation of coherence in both heart and social fields that a critical shift to the next level of planetary consciousness can occur—one that brings us into harmony with the movement of the whole. Footnotes 1. Correlates of physiological coherence include: increased synchronization between the two branches of the autonomic nervous system, a shift in autonomic balance toward increased parasympathetic activity, increased heart-brain synchronization, increased vascular resonance, and entrainment between diverse physiological oscillatory systems. 2. Holographic organization is based on a field concept of order, in which information about the organization of an object as a whole is encoded as an interference pattern in energy waveforms distributed throughout the field. This makes it possible to retrieve information about the object Before the controversial procedure, conducted in Seoul, the as a whole from any location within the field. cloned pig had its genes responsible for immune rejection 3. The term “quantum,” as used in quantum holography, removed. does not mean that this kind of energetic information The ultimate aim of such experimentation would be to put processing is understood in terms of the principles of pig hearts and other swine organs into humans. quantum physics. Rather, quantum holography is a special, nondeterministic form of holographic And the South Koreans believe this could become a organization based on a discrete unit of energetic commercially viable reality within five years. information called a logon or a “quantum” of The first known transplant of a genetically engineered pig information. heart in a primate was performed in 1994. But the http://www.wakingtimes.com/2012/09/12/the-heart-has-its- possibility of animal-to-human operations has divided the own-brain-and-consciousness/ medical ethics community. ☻☻☻☻☻☻ Continued on page 13 -12- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 12 – Heart of genetically modified pig In cloning a pig called Xeno, the scientist said his team 'successfully transplanted into monkey' adopted almost identical technology to that used by U.S. Medical ethicist Associate Professor Nicholas Tonti- scientists in 2002 to create cloned piglets, in which one Filippini, speaking in 2010, said such transplants had the copy of the sugar-producing gene was 'knocked out'. potential to bring animal diseases into the human An organism receives two copies of a gene, one from the population. mother and one from the father. Scientists have tried to produce pigs lacking both copies, so far unsuccessfully.

PIG + MONKEY = HOPE FOR DIABETICS 'Through our achievement, South Korea became the second In 2009, Israeli scientists transplanted embryonic country in the world to clone such piglets after the United pancreatic tissue from pigs to monkeys to combat States,' Lim said at the time. Type 1 Diabetes. Lim said then that his team would conduct clinical trials on As a result, the researchers were able to reverse the humans in 2012 and he believed genetically modified mini- primate's insulin deficiency, MIT reported. pigs could be used commercially around 2017. They said the key to their breakthrough was the Two years ago, Australian scientists kept pig lungs alive embryonic tissue's ability to grow into a new pancreas and functioning with human blood. that uses blood vessels from the host animal. The breakthrough came after scientists at Melbourne's St The host blood vessels are not subject to the risky Vincent's Hospital were able to remove a section of pig immune reaction that has always impeded DNA which made the pig organs incompatible with human xenotransplants of mature pancreatic material. blood. Yair Reisner of the Weizmann Institute, who led the Prof Tony D'Apice - who had been breeding pigs for research, claimed that the results, published in the possible transplants since 1989 - said human DNA was journal PNAS, could offer a viable replacement added to the engineered animals to control blood clotting therapy for sufferers of type 1 diabetes, which destroys and rejection in humans. the pancreas. Dr Glenn Westall, from the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, said the world-first discovery meant pig-human lung He said the creation of genetically modified pigs was not transplants were a real prospect. ethically acceptable, explaining: 'It is basically a human- pig, a hybrid, or whatever you want to call it. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2164964/South-Korea- scientists-successfully-transplant-heart-genetically-modified-pig- 'It is about whether the community is prepared to accept a monkey.html part human, part animal.' ☻☻☻☻☻☻ South Korean scientists first claimed to have cloned a piglet whose organs were genetically modified to make Antidepressants Could Make them more suitable for human transplants in 2009. Your Brain Bleed, Cause Lead scientist Lim Gio-Bin said the cloned piglet, born Hemorrhagic Strokes on April 3, had been genetically altered to lack the 'alpha- gal' gene which triggers tissue rejection, according to By Lisa Garber PhysOrg. October 20, 2012 He said his government-sponsored team, involving Natural Society scientists from four universities and two research Thickened arteries, heart disease, depression, suicide, and institutes, used stem cells of smaller-than-normal pigs to now, we can add bleeding of the brain to the long list of clone 'mini-pigs' with modified genes. side effects of antidepressants. Though the risk is Immuno-rejection has been a major hurdle in human admittedly very small, researchers declared on Wednesday organ transplants. Pig organs are well suited for that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may transplantation but are coated with sugar molecules that raise the risk of hemorrhagic strokes, which happen when trigger acute rejection in human bodies. the brain bleeds. Human antibodies attach themselves to such molecules SSRIs include a wide variety of common antidepressents, and quickly destroy the transplanted pig organ. including Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, and Paxil. These drugs Continued on page 14

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Continued from page 13 – Antidepressants Could Make Your Brain Bleed Cause Hemorrhagic Strokes Cesium Connection to Heart are also linked to an increased risk of stomach bleeding. Disease, Japan Reports 14% Platelets Can’t Clot, Hemorrhage Increase After analyzing 16 previous studies involving over 500,000 patients, researchers determined that SSRI users July 28, 2012 were 40 to 50 percent more likely to suffer bleeding of or HNN Staff around the brain. The researchers were not, however, able The Japanese health ministry has revealed a 14% increase to collect other relevant data, like subjects’ smoking and in cardiac deaths between February 2011 and February drinking habits, diet, and whether they had diabetes. 2012. At least some scientists, link the cause to cesium Their findings were published in the journal Neurology. radiation emitted from the Fukushima melt downs. Health , Although lead researcher Dr. Daniel G. Hackam of Labor and Welfare Ministry reported: Western University in London, Ontario says that we • The number of deaths was up 12.5 percent “can’t infer cause and effect from this,” it isn’t exactly an (=12695 people) compared to the same month of unreasonable association. Blood cells (platelets) have the year before difficulty clumping and clotting in the presence of SSRIs, causing the patient’s platelet function to stumble soon • The number of deaths caused by Malignant after taking SSRIs. This may be why patients experienced Neoplasm was up 7.7% (=2066 people) from the the greatest risk of hemorrhage within the first few same month of the year before months of taking the drugs. • The number caused by cardiac disease was up People already at risk of brain hemorrhage would do well 14.6% (=2585 people) to stay away from SSRIs, Hackam added, as well as those According to a translation posted by Energy News, Dr. on medications that reduce clotting like Coumadin or an Yury Bandazhevsky of Belarus examined the people aspirin-Plavix combination. exposed to radiation and the people who had died of Psychiatrists and Financial Conflicts of Interest Chernobyl and clinically identified the association between It’s worth noting that Hackam also says that these drugs Cesium radiation and cardiac disease. are, overall, “quite safe.” Perhaps he’s neglected to [...] "We can’t either determine or deny the morbidity and look at the Emory University School of Medicine’s mortality increased only because of radiation released from findings that antidepressants thickened arteries 400 Fukushima Daiichi," the scientist said, adding that a study percent more than aging, which is the foremost needs to be undertaken to determine the linkage, if any, factor of athersclerosis. Still other studies indicate between exposure and cardiac deaths. that Cymbalta and other antidepressants cause 1 in 5 http://www.huntingtonnews.net/39866 patients to feel worse than when administered place- ☻☻☻☻☻☻ bos. The 'New AIDS of the Why, then, are so many patients treated with powerful psychotactive drugs instead of a personalized Americas': Experts warn of combination of vitamin D, probiotis, diet, acupuncture, Deadly Insect-borne Disease yoga, and other natural remedies? Perhaps because 70 percent of panel members to the 5th editionof the that can cause Victims' Hearts Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders have financial ties to pharmaceutical companies. to Explode http://www.blacklistednews.com/Antidepressants_Could_Make 29 May 2012 _Your_Brain_Bleed%2c_Cause_Hemorrhagic_Strokes/22106/ MailOnline 0/38/38/Y/M.html ☻☻☻☻☻☻ A little-known life-threatening illness caused by blood sucking insects has been labelled the ‘new AIDS of the Americas’ by experts. The parasitic illness called Chagas Disease has similarities to the early spread of HIV,

according to a new study. Continued on page 15

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Continued from page 14– The 'New AIDS of the Americas' Chagas commonly affects people in poverty-stricken Similar to AIDS, Chagas is difficult to detect and it can areas and most U.S. cases are found in immigrants. take years for symptoms to emerge, according to experts If caught early enough, the disease can be prevented with writing in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical an intense 3-month drug treatment. Diseases. However, because of the lengthy incubation period and costly medication, Chagas is often left untreated. Also known as the American trypanosomiasis, the disease spreads easily either through blood transfusions or, less commonly, from mother to child. All blood banks in the U.S. and Latin America screen for traces of the disease. Most blood banks in the U.S began screening for it in 2007. Chagas is usually transmitted from the bite of blood- sucking insect species called Triatome bugs which The new AIDS? A parasitic illness called Chagas disease has release a parasite called Trypanosoma cruzi into the been dubbed the 'new AIDS of the Americas' by experts. It is usually transmitted from the bite of blood-sucking insect victim's bloodstream. species called Triatome bugs, which include 'Kissing bugs' The species includes Triatomids - black wingless beetles (Triatomids) about 20mm in length commonly known as 'kissing bugs'. Their closest relative is the Tsetse fly, found in The disease - once largely contained to Latin America - Africa, which spread Sleeping Sickness (where the has spread into the U.S due to increases in travel and victim's brain swells). immigration. Chagas disease comes in two phases - acute and severe. The Dangerous Spread of Chagas Disease Named after the Brazilian doctor who discovered it in The acute phase may have no symptoms but can present 1909, Chagas disease is a potentially deadly illness a fever, general feeling of being unwell and swelling in spread by blood-sucking insects including Triatomids one eye. most commonly known as 'kissing bugs.' Like AIDS, the illness is difficult to detect and has a long remission period. It spreads easily through blood transfusions and from mother to child. Approximately a quarter of victims who contract the disease develop enlarged heart or intestines that can burst causing sudden death. An estimated 10 million people worldwide are infected, including 30,000 people in the U.S. Chagas is considered one of the Neglected Parasitic Infections, a group of five parasitic diseases that have been targeted by CDC for public health action. Victim: Charles Darwin may have contracted the disease as he travelled the globe on HMS Beagle in his 20s It is estimated that in 2008 Chagas disease killed more than 10,000 people. After the acute phase the disease goes into remission and it can take years before symptoms, such as constipation, Due to the severity of the illness, the amount of people abdomen pain and digestive problems, emerge again in infected and the ability of prevention, Chagas is the severe stage. considered one of the Neglected Parasitic Infections, a group of five parasitic diseases that have been targeted The parasite can eventually make its way to the heart, by CDC for public health action. where it can live and multiply. Continued to page 16 -15- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 15 – The 'New AIDS of the Americas' their youthful stage, and teach them to do other things as About a quarter of the people who contract Chagas, well. The major advantage here is that if the body sees its develop enlarged heart or intestines that can burst own cells, it will recognize them as friendly cells and the causing sudden death. immune system will not attack. Although the drugs available are not as expensive as The bad thing is that so far, studies have only shown those for AIDS, there are shortages of the medication in hiPSCs from younger (under 60 years) and healthy people poorer countries and little money is being spent on who are able to adapt to this new situation and transform discovering new treatments. their cells. So far, this doesn’t seem to work out for elderly and diseased patients. But scientists are confident in this Chagas disease is named after Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano technique, and believe it can be used in many more Chagas, a Brazilian doctor who first discovered the exciting cases. disease in 1909. “What is new and exciting about our research is that we Researchers from the University of Maryland School of have shown that it’s possible to take skin cells from an Medicine said last year that they believed Charles elderly patient with advanced heart failure and end up with Darwin suffered from three different illnesses, his own beating cells in a laboratory dish that are healthy including a Chagas infection. The experts believe he and young,” said Lior Gepstein, a professor of cardiology contracted the disease during a five-year trip around the at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and globe on the HMS Beagle in his 20s – and attributed it Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel. to his death of heart failure 47 years later. Basically, it is the equivalent to the stage of his heart cells The father of modern life scientists wrote in his journal when he was just born. that he had been bitten by a 'wingless black bug' during http://beforeitsnews.com/science-and-technology/2012/05/lab- the expedition, where he visited South America. uses-skin-cells-to-help-repair-heart-muscle-2169886.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2151815/Chagas- ☻☻☻☻☻☻ disease-New-AIDS-Americas-cause-victims-hearts- explode.html Teen Girl Dies from Cardiac ☻☻☻☻☻☻ Arrest after Drinking Two Lab uses Skin Cells to help Monster Energy Drinks: repair Heart Muscle Lawsuit May 23, 2012 The lawsuit states that the two cans amounted to the Another breakthrough in biology and medicine was equivalent of 14 cans of Coca Cola, and that caffeine can reported, as scientists were able, for the first time, to be lethal at 200 to 400 milligrams of caffeine. take skin cells from patients who had suffered heart failure and make them repair the cardiac muscle. By Makini Brice The technique had been tested only on rats and it October 22, 2012 seemed decades could pass until it would become In the wake of a recent death of a 14-year-old Maryland suitable for humans, but in lack of anything better, teen, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released doctors applied it, and it worked out remarkably fine, the reports of the deaths of five people, as well as one non- marking the beginning of a new era in the quest for fatal heart attack that have been linked with the popular replacement cells to treat tissue affected by disease, energy drink Monster. Israeli researchers declared. According to her parents' lawsuit, the late Anais Fournier The research relies on a technique called human- went to the mall with her friends, where she bought a 24- induced pluripotent stem cells, or hiPSCs, a recently- ounce Monster energy drink. The next day, she returned to discovered source which can be a good replacement for the mall, where she bought another Monster energy drink. the much more controversial stem cells technique. Basically what you do is take cells from the patient and Shortly before 9 PM, just hours after consuming the second inject new genes into their nucleus, along with a drink, the teenager went into cardiac arrest. By the time the ‘chemical cocktail’. ambulance arrived to transport her to the hospital, she was Basically, these new elements reprogram the cells to Continued on page 17

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Continued from page 16 – The 'New AIDS of the Americas' the easy damaging of blood vessels. But her lawyer says unconscious. Doctors placed her in a medically induced that her doctor had not suggested any special behavior coma in order to combat brain swelling, but after six regarding exercise or caffeine. days, the family decided to terminate her life support. According to the New York Times, the labels on the Two days before Christmas last year, Fournier died. Monster's containers say that they are "not recommended" for some consumers, like children, which the drink supplier classifies as those under the age of 12, or people "sensitive" to caffeine. http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/12832/20121022/teen-girl- dies-cardiac-arrest-drinking-monster-energy-drink.htm ☻☻☻☻☻☻ The Risk of a Heart Attack is on your Plate By Jonathan Landsman May 20, 2012 (Photo: Karen Bleier, AFP/Getty Images) (NaturalNews) Do you want to dramatically change the Her parents state that her autopsy said that she had died course of your life? I'm talking about avoiding a massive of "cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity heart attack, ineffective stent procedures or (painful) complicating mitral valve regurgitation in the setting of bypass surgeries. Believe it or not, you CAN unclog Ehlers-Danlos syndrome". The lawsuit states that the arteries, lower blood pressure and improve your circulation beverages, in total, contained 480 milligrams of by simply eating a better diet. caffeine, in addition to other stimulants. Her parents say that caffeine can be lethal at 200 to 400 milligrams It's time to update medical wisdom of caffeine, and that the two cans amounted to the In 1967, the first coronary bypass surgery was performed equivalent of 14 cans of Coca Cola. and everybody thought it was a "miracle" in medicine. Of course, 10 year later, the (less invasive) angioplasty was In the United States, soft drink manufacturers are created but couldn't prevent a heart attack. By 1987, the use limited to 71.5 milligrams of caffeine per 12 ounces. of stents lowered the demand for bypass surgery with NO But, because energy drink manufacturers like those reduction in the risk of a heart attack. behind Monster, Red Bull, and Rock star classify their beverages as dietary supplements, they are not subject Modern medicine doesn't get it! You can NOT fix a to FDA regulation. biochemical problem - like heart disease with a mechanical (surgical) solution. By 1990, Dr. Dean Ornish, a world- A statement from Monster's manufacturer, Monster renowned internist popularized the fact that anyone can Energy, said that the drink supplier said that they did reverse coronary heart disease with simple changes to diet, not believe that they had any responsibility for exercise and stress management habits. Doctors must Fournier's death and that they intend to vigorously upgrade their thinking process. defend themselves in court. They also cited the 8 million sales of their beverage worldwide. "I don't understand why asking people to eat a well- balanced, vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is FDA's spokeswoman, Shelly Burgess, said that they medically conservative to cut people open." - Dr. Dean had received 5 cases connected to the energy drink. Ornish Though the cases date back to 2004, all the deaths occurred in2009 or later. Burgess said that the Heart disease is a "toothless paper tiger" responsibility lay with energy drink manufacturers to Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of the Cleveland Clinic Wellness investigate any claims made against them. FDA rules Institute believes that "coronary heart disease is nothing also state that drink manufacturers do not need to more than a toothless paper tiger that need never exist and disclose the amount of caffeine in their beverage. if it does exist it need never ever progress." Simply put, it is a "food born illness". In addition, he reminds us that Fournier had a genetic disorder, Ehrlers-Danlos drugs alone will NOT prevent a heart attack or stop the syndrome, characterized by the loosening of joints and symptoms of heart disease. Continued on page 18

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Continued from page 17– The Risk of a Heart Attack is on greater in those who used statins frequently. your Plate Drug companies’ arguments for using statins despite the In his book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease - Dr. problems associated with them are based on the premise that Esselstyn reveals the cause and revolutionary treatment these drugs improve the health of the cardiovascular system, (available to all) that can abolish cardiovascular disease the part of the body most essential for life. This argument forever. In fact, it is his dream that one day we may has been dealt a blow by the findings showing accelerated entirely abolish heart disease - the scourge of an CAC and AAC, both which largely contribute to affluent, modern society. cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular deaths. How many people have to die Just how big a risk factor is arterial calcification? Coronary artery disease is the leading killer of men and Interestingly, a recent study published in the Journal of the women in Western civilization. In the United States American Medical Association underscores the health risk alone, more than 500,000 people die - every single posed by calcium in the walls of the arteries. In analyzing year. And, this number will shock you, about 3 million what risk factors are most predictive of an impending heart people experience a "silent" heart attack with minimal attack, researchers found coronary calcium was six times symptoms and heart damage of life-threatening more accurate in predicting this event than the risk factor of proportions. In fact, one out of every two American a family history of coronary heart disease. Dr. Arthur men and one out of every three American women will Agatston, cardiologist and author of the South Beach diet have some form of cardiovascular disease. books, commented on the study, saying coronary calcium is Do you want to avoid a heart attack? According to Dr. the best predictor of who will have a heart attack and who Esselstyn, we must avoid foods that had a mother or a will not. face. It's better to eat lots of fruits, vegetables, whole Doctor relates horror stories of adverse effects of statins grains and beans plus avoid all oils. Sure, the change in The latest discovery of the arterial calcification effect of lifestyle will be extreme (in the beginning) but the statins is likely the tip of a massive iceberg of adverse rewards will last a lifetime. effects. These drugs have been linked to more than a http://www.naturalnews.com/035917_heart_attack_food_diet staggering 300 side effects, including weakening of the heart .html muscle. ☻☻☻☻☻☻ In an interview with Dissident Voice, Barbara H. Roberts, New Study Finds Statin M.D., Director of the Women’s Cardiac Center at the Miriam Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island relates that Drugs Accelerate Hardening she regularly sees patients in her practice with serious adverse effects to statins. These include debilitating pain, of Arteries transient amnesia and cognitive decline, along with fatigue, By Mary West muscle weakness and neuropathy. One of her patients stated a fire in her home when she forgot the stove was on. August 27, 2012 Another was a college professor whose memory loss was so The pharmaceutical industry claims the cardiovascular great he had to quit teaching. Others had to be wheelchair benefits of statins outweigh their many troubling side bound. effects, as well as their risk of causing type 2 diabetes. Discover a natural alternative to statins. A new study that shows these drugs accelerate arterial As you may have read, “bad” cholesterol may not be quite calcification appears to refute this claim, leaving Big the villain that we have been led to believe. What about low Pharma without a leg to stand on. levels of “good” or HDL cholesterol? Dr. Roberts prescribes Findings are a blow to Big Pharma’s claims. two to three tablespoons of olive oil to her patients with this In the research published in Diabetes Care, scientists problem, and in every case, the HDL improves. She laments examining patients with type 2 diabetes and severe that the Mediterranean diet gets little media attention, atherosclerosis discovered that coronary artery although studies show it reduces cardiovascular disease and calcification was decidedly greater in more frequent deaths. statin users compared to those who were less frequent http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/23/health/heart-attack- users. Even more disturbing, in a subgroup of prediction/index.html participants who initially did not take statins, ☻☻☻☻☻☻ advancement of coronary artery calcification (CAC) and aortic artery calcification (AAC) was decidedly -18- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic

Volume 7, Issue 12 NEWSLETTER November/December 2012 FEATURED ARTICLES The Calcium Supplement Problem: As Serious As A Heart Attack By Sayer Ji, Founder January12, 2012

and stroke by 15% -- in essence, putting those doubts to rest. The idea that calcium supplementation may be toxic to cardiovascular health is not new, as many in the field of nutrition have long warned against supplementation with elemental calcium; which is to say, calcium from limestone, oyster shell, egg shell and bone meal (hydroxylapatite). Despite the growing popularity of elemental calcium supplementation, largely reinforced by convention- al health "experts" and organizations like the National Osteoporosis Foundation (whose corporate sponsors include the calcium manufacturers Oscal and Citrical), Osteoporosis is not caused by a lack of limestone, the habit simply does not make sense. After all, have oyster shell or bone meal. Heart attack, however, you ever experienced visceral disgust after accidentally may be caused by supplementation with these exact consuming eggshell? If you have, you know your body same "elemental" forms of calcium, according to two is "hard-wired" to reject low-quality calcium sources meta-analyses published last year in the British (stones and bones as it were), in favor of getting calcium Medical Journal. from food. Back in July of 2011, the British Medical Journal Inorganic or "elemental" calcium, when not bound to the published the results of a high-powered meta-analysis natural co-factors, e.g. amino acids, lipids and which looked at whether or not calcium glyconutrients, found in "food" (which is to say other supplementation had any effect on cardiovascular living beings, e.g. plants and animals), no longer has the disease risk. Indeed, this groundbreaking report, intelligent delivery system that enables your body which was based on the results of five clinical trials to utilize it in a biologically appropriate manner. conducted in the US, Britain and New Zealand, Lacking this "delivery system," the calcium may end up involving over 8,000 people, showed that taking going to places you do not want (ectopic calcification), elemental calcium supplements of 500 mg or more or go to places you do want (e.g. the bones), but in increased the relative risk of heart attack by 27%. excessive amounts, stimulating unnaturally accelerated Though the study made international headlines at cell-division (osteoblasts), resulting in higher bone turn the time, critics soon took issue with the over rates later in life (this is explained in the article fact that it involved calcium supplementation without below). co-administered vitamin D. However, in April of that Or, the body attempts to disburden itself of this same year, another meta-analysis published in the inappropriate calcium and dumps it into the bowel same journal showed that even with co-administered (constipation), or pushes it through the kidneys (stones). D elemental calcium increased the risk of heart attack by 24%, and in addition, the composite of heart attack Continued on page 20

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Continued from page 19– The Calcium Supplement and have a high concentration of sodium chloride (table Problem salt, or NaCl). The electrolytes in sodium chloride are:

Worse, high levels of calcium can accumulate in the + • sodium ion (Na ) - cation blood (hypercalcemia), which can contribute to - destabilizing the atherosclerotic plaque through the • chloride ion (Cl ) – anion formation of a brittle calcium cap on the atheroma, can As for your body, the major electrolytes are as follows: contribute to thrombosis (clot) formation, hypertension + (that's why we use calcium channel blockers to lower • sodium (Na ) blood pressure), and perhaps causing arrhythmias/fibril- • potassium (K+) lation and or heart muscle cramping (a rather common, • chloride (Cl-) though rarely recognized trigger of 'heart attack'). • calcium (Ca2+) The breasts too are uniquely susceptible to calcification, which is why we use the same x-rays to ascertain bone • magnesium (Mg2+) density that we do to discern pathological • bicarbonate (HCO -) microcalcifications in the breast, i.e. x-ray 3 2- mammography. Due to the fact that the • phosphate (PO4 ) hydroxylapatitate crystals found in malignant breast 2- • sulfate (SO ) tissue may act as a cellular 'signaling molecule' or 4 mitogen (inducing cell proliferation), it is possible that Electrolytes are important because they are what your certain breast calcifications may be a cause, and not just cells (especially nerve, heart, muscle) use to maintain an effect, of the tumorous lesions ("breast cancer") voltages across their cell membranes and to carry found there. This may also help to explain why women electrical impulses (nerve impulses, muscle contractions) with the highest bone density (often obtained through across themselves and to other cells. Your kidneys work massive, lifelong calcium supplementation) have up to to keep the electrolyte concentrations in your blood 300% higher incidence of malignant breast cancer. constant despite changes in your body. For example, when you exercise heavily, you lose electrolytes in your "Brain gravel" is also an increasingly prevalent sweat, particularly sodium and potassium. These phenomenon, where autoposied patients have been electrolytes must be replaced to keep the electrolyte found to have pebble-size calcium deposits distributed concentrations of your body fluids constant. So, many throughout their brains, including the pineal gland ('the sports drinks have sodium chloride or potassium chloride seat of the soul'). The wide range of existing calcium- added to them. They also have sugar and flavorings to associateted pathologies, and their increasing provide your body with extra energy and to make the prevalence in calcium-fixated cultures, demand drink taste better. further investigation and explanation. Could one aspect be our cultural fixation on mega-dose calcium Another example where electrolyte drinks are important is supplementation? when infants/children have chronic vomiting or diarrhea, perhaps due to intestinal flu viruses. When children vomit http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/calcium-supplement- problem-serious-heart-attack or have diarrhea, they lose electrolytes. Again, these ☻☻☻☻☻☻ electrolytes and the fluids must be replaced to prevent dehydration and seizures. Therefore, drinks such as What are Electrolytes? Pedialyte have sodium and potassium in them like the sports drinks do. However, pediatricians do not Electrolyte is a "medical/scientific" term for salts, recommend giving sports drinks to a sick child! Sports specifically ions. The term electrolyte means that this drinks have much higher sugar concentrations than ion is electrically-charged and moves to either a Pedialyte and the high sugar is not a proper treatment. negative (cathode) or positive (anode) electrode: http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet- • ions that move to the cathode (cations) are fitness/information/question565.htm positively charged ☻☻☻☻☻☻

• ions that move to the anode (anions) are negatively charged

For example, your body fluids -- blood, plasma, interstitial fluid (fluid between cells) -- are like seawater

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vasodilation, bradycardia, heart block, and cardiac arrest ELECTROLYTES OF can occur with increasing levels. Low magnesium may SIGNIFICANCE IN HEART cause cardiac arrhythmias and may play an important role in atypical ventricular tachycardia (torsades de pointes). FUNCTIONING Attempting to replace potassium is difficult if an existing By David L. Heiserman magnesium or calcium deficiency is also present. Primary Content Providers: The U. S. Army, The U.S. Navy As with all muscle and nervous tissue, a proper Copyright © 2001, 2004 SweetHaven Publishing Services concentration of electrolytes is essential for normal heart function. The three electrolytes essential for proper cardiac http://www.waybuilder.net/sweethaven/MedTech/Pharmacol/co function are potassium, calcium, and sodium. ursemain.asp?whichMod=module030218 ☻☻☻☻☻☻ a. Potassium. An increase in the level of potassium in the extracellular fluid causes a decrease in the heart rate as Overview of Electrolytes & well as a decrease in the force of contraction. The heart becomes dilated and flaccid. An extremely large increase Electrolyte Imbalances in potassium can block nervous conduction through the Electrolytes are salts that conduct electricity and are found atrio-ventricular bundle. If potassium levels are increased in the body fluid, tissue, and blood. Examples are chloride, two or three times above normal, the atrio-ventricular calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium. Sodium blockade is usually so severe that death occurs. Potassium (Na+) is concentrated in the extracellular fluid (ECF) and depletion also causes a decrease in the heart rate and an potassium (K+) is concentrated in the intracellular fluid increase in the force of contraction. This is of concern, (ICF). Proper balance is essential for muscle coordination, especially in the patient who has been taking digitalis. As heart function, fluid absorption and excretion, nerve you will remember, digitalis is valuable in the treatment of function, and concentration. heart failure because it decreases the heart rate as well as increases the force of contraction, thus the efficiency of the The kidneys regulate fluid absorption and excretion and heart is increased. If potassium levels are depleted at too maintain a narrow range of electrolyte fluctuation. great a degree, digitalis intoxication can result in which Normally, sodium and potassium are filtered and excreted case the heart rate might decrease to too slow a rate. in the urine and feces according to the body's needs. Too much or too little sodium or potassium, caused by poor b. Calcium. Calcium is primarily involved with the diet, dehydration, medication, and disease, results in an contractile processes of the myocardium. An increase in imbalance. Too much sodium is called hypernatremia; too calcium levels may cause over contraction of the heart and little is called hyponatremia. Too much potassium is called a decrease in calcium levels may cause cardiac flaccidity. hyperkalemia; too little is called hypokalemia. It should be noted that calcium level alterations rarely reach the point where these effects can be seen. Electrolyte Imbalance Incidence and Prevalence Hyponatremia is the most common electrolyte imbalance. c. Sodium. Sodium is another essential electrolyte It is associated with kidney disease such as nephrotic involved in cardiac function. However, sodium imbalances syndrome and acute renal failure (ARF). Men and women are usually manifested in some of the other systems before with healthy kidneys have equal chances of experiencing cardiac problems arise. If sodium levels are increased electrolyte imbalance, and people with eating disorders above normal depressed cardiac function occurs. Sodium such as anorexia and bulimia, which most often affect levels are of concern in congestive heart failure because of women, are at increased risk. Very young people and old the edema that can certainly aggravate congestive heart people are affected more often than young adults. failure. Persons having congestive heart failure must carefully monitor their sodium intake in that too much http://www.healthcommunities.com/electrolyte- sodium can cause an excessive fluid accumulation in the imbalance/electrolyte-imbalance-overview.shtml ☻☻☻☻☻☻ tissues. This fluid accumulation causes the heart to work harder in order to compensate for the water. What causes Electrolyte d. Magnesium. Magnesium is an essential electrolyte involved as a cofactor in many enzyme systems. It is also Imbalance? closely linked to regulating intracellular potassium and The balance of electrolytes is constantly shifting due to calcium content. High magnesium levels may affect heart fluctuating fluids in your body. For example, when you rate, cardiac conduction, and blood pressure. Hypotension, Continued on page 22

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Continued from page 21 – What causes Electrolyte Questions for diagnosing the cause of electrolyte Imbalance? imbalances sweat as a result of exercise, hot weather, or illness, To diagnose your condition, your doctor or licensed levels of certain electrolytes may be low. Vomiting and health care practitioner will ask you several questions diarrhea are other causes of electrolyte imbalances, as related to your electrolyte imbalance including: they result in excessive fluid loss. • When did you start to experience symptoms? Electrolyte imbalances can also be caused by a deficiency • Are you taking any medications such as diuretics or or an overabundance of minerals in the body. potassium-sparing medications? Medical causes of electrolyte imbalances • Have you been exercising or working outdoors in hot Electrolyte imbalances can be caused by medical weather? conditions including: • Do you drink enough fluids? • Addison’s disease (deceased production of hormones by the adrenal glands) • Do you drink alcohol? • Alcoholism, which causes the breakdown of muscle • Do you have high blood pressure or other chronic fibers, resulting in potassium being released into the conditions that may require medication? bloodstream What are the potential complications of electrolyte • Diabetes imbalance? Because electrolyte imbalances can be due to serious • Diarrhea diseases, failure to seek treatment can result in serious • Heat exhaustion complications and permanent damage. Once the underlying cause is diagnosed, it is important for you to • Kidney disease follow the treatment plan that you and your health care • Vomiting professional design specifically for you to reduce the risk of potential complications including: • Malnutrition • Cerebral edema (swelling of the brain) • HIV/AIDS • Overheating • Age, Elderly • Seizures or convulsions • Cancer • Shock Medication-related causes of electrolyte imbalances Electrolyte imbalances may be caused by medications • Unconsciousness and coma including: • Muscle spasm • Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors • Bone disorders • Calcium supplements • Weakness • Certain hormones that are potassium-sparing (lead to • Blood pressure changes the retention of potassium by the kidneys) • Twitching • Diuretics, which promote fluid excretion by the kidneys • Irregular heartbeat • Potassium supplements • Numbness Serious or life-threatening causes of electrolyte • Nervous system disorders imbalances • Confusion In some cases, electrolyte imbalances may be a symptom of a serious or life-threatening condition that should be • Convulsions immediately evaluated in an emergency setting. These • Lethargy include: • Seizures • Dehydration Internet • Shock ☻☻☻☻☻☻

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the diuretic. If you are taking a single dose a day, take it Heart Disease and Diuretics in the morning with your breakfast or right after eating Sometimes diuretics are used as heart disease treatment. your breakfast. If you are taking more than one dose a Diuretics, commonly known as "water pills," help your day, take the last dose no later than 4 p.m. body get rid of unneeded water and salt through the urine. The number of doses you take each day, the time allowed Getting rid of excess fluid makes it easier for your heart between doses, and how long you need to take a diuretic to pump and controls blood pressure. Examples of will depend on the type prescribed, as well as your diuretics include: condition. • Lasix (furosemide) Weigh yourself at the same time every day (on the same • Bumex (bumetanide) scale) and record your weight. Call your doctor if you gain three pounds in one day or five pounds in one week. • Demadex (torsemide) While taking a diuretic, have your blood pressure and • Esidrix (hydrochlorothiazide) kidney function tested regularly, as advised by your • Zaroxolyn (metolazone) doctor. These tests are important because diuretics can change your blood potassium and magnesium levels. • Aldactone (spironolactone) Keep all appointments with your doctor and the Diuretics are categorized as thiazide-like (Zaroxolyn and laboratory so that your response to this medication can be Esidrix), loop (Lasix, Bumex, Demadex) or potassium monitored. sparing (Aldactone). Thiazide diuretics cause moderate increases in water excretion and are appropriate for long- What Are the Side Effects of Diuretics? term use. Loop diuretics are more powerful and are Diuretics can cause the following side effects: especially useful in emergencies. Potassium-sparing • Frequent urination. This may last for up to four diuretics help your body retain the mineral potassium hours after each dose. If you are taking two diuretic and are often prescribed in conjunction with the other two doses each day, take the second dose no later than types of diuretics. Some diuretics are a combination of late afternoon so you can sleep through the night potassium-sparing and thiazide diuretics. without needing to wake up to urinate.. Who Should Take Diuretics? • Extreme tiredness or weakness. These effects If you have any of the following conditions, your doctor should decrease as your body adjusts to the may recommend you take a diuretic. medication. Call your doctor or nurse if these • Edema. Diuretics decrease swelling (edema) that symptoms persist, since these symptoms could mean usually occurs in the legs. your medication dose needs to be adjusted. • High blood pressure. Thiazide diuretics lower blood • Muscle cramps or weakness. Be sure that you are pressure, which substantially reduces the risk of taking your potassium supplement correctly, if stroke and heart attack. prescribed. Contact your doctor or nurse if these symptoms persist. • Heart failure. Diuretics reduce the swelling (edema) and water build up in the lungs (congestion) caused • Thirst. Try sucking on sugarless hard candy. Contact by heart failure. Normally, loop diuretics are used for your doctor or nurse if you have extreme thirst, heart failure. which could be a sign of dehydration. • Kidney problems. Diuretics reduce water retention. • Dizziness, lightheadedness. Try rising more slowly when getting up from a lying or sitting position. • Liver problems. Diuretics reduce the amount of fluid buildup associated with cirrhosis (disease of the • Blurred vision, confusion, headache, increased liver). perspiration (sweating), restlessness. If these effects are persistent or severe, contact your doctor or • Glaucoma. Diuretics reduce the pressure in the eye nurse. associated with this disease. • Dehydration. Signs include dizziness, extreme thirst, How Should I Take Diuretics? excessive dryness of the mouth, decreased urine Before a diuretic is prescribed, tell your doctor if you output, dark-colored urine, or constipation. If these have diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, or gout. symptoms occur, don't assume you need more fluids - Follow the label directions on how often you should take - call your doctor or nurse. Continued on page 24 -23- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 23 – Heart Disease and Diuretics Healthy Eating: Sodium • Fever, sore throat, cough, ringing in the ears, unusual bleeding or bruising, rapid and excessive Study was Misleading weight loss. Contact your doctor or nurse right away. By Joan Endyke • Skin rash . Stop taking the medication and contact October 25, 2012 your doctor or nurse right away. GateHouse News Service • Loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, or muscle In the face of a public health campaign to lower sodium cramps. Be sure that you are taking your potassium intakes in the United States, a controversial health writer supplement correctly, if prescribed. Contact your created confusion this year when he claimed new doctor or nurse if these symptoms persist. research showed less sodium does not reduce Contact your doctor or nurse if you have any other cardiovascular disease, and worse, lowering sodium may symptoms that cause concern. even cause more deaths. What Foods or Drugs Interact With Diuretics? However, when trained researchers scrutinized his To avoid harmful drug interactions, tell your doctor and studies, they found glaring flaws. Health experts agree: It pharmacist all the medications you are taking, including is still good advice to lower sodium. herbal preparations, over-the-counter drugs, vitamins, and Cardiovascular diseases, including heart attack, stroke nutrition supplements. and heart failure, are the leading causes of death in the Diuretics are often prescribed in combination with other United States, and high blood pressure is a major risk drugs. If you experience an increase in side effects after factor. taking your medications together, contact your doctor. One in every three Americans is estimated to develop You may need to change the times you are taking each high blood pressure and high sodium intakes are a medication. contributing factor. Before a diuretic is prescribed, tell your doctor if you are According to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, taking other medications for high blood pressure, the evidence is strong: As sodium intake decreases, so digoxin, indomethacin, probenecid, or corticosteroids does blood pressure, but most Americans are unaware of (prednisone). this and 90 percent of the population is consuming more Some diuretics may require you to avoid or include than needed. certain foods in your diet. Follow your doctor's advice, Excess dietary sodium promotes fluid retention in the which may include: body and constricts and stiffens vessels, which creates • Following a low-salt diet. higher pressure. The heart works harder to force a higher volume of blood through narrowed blood vessels. Over • Taking a potassium supplement or including high- time this damages the vessels, causes plaque build-up and potassium foods such as bananas and orange juice if weakens the heart. you are losing potassium. Talk to your doctor about your level of potassium intake. The American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Can Pregnant Women Take Diuretics? Prevention, and the National Heart Lung and Blood Check with your doctor if you are pregnant or planning to Institute all agree: Americans will benefit from lowering become pregnant while taking a diuretic. sodium in their diets. Can Breastfeeding Women Take Diuretics? The recommendation is to limit sodium to 1,500 mg daily Most diuretics are compatible with breastfeeding, with for more than half of the population – particularly some precautions; talk to your doctor. African-Americans, people over the age of 51 and those Can Children Take Diuretics? with high blood pressure. For everyone else, the aim is Children can safely take diuretics. The side effects are less than 2,300 mg. similar to those in adults. Children require smaller doses Some exceptions apply. For example, people with certain of the drug. medical conditions, such as kidney disease, may need http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/medicine-diuretics? even lower amounts and endurance athletes may need ☻☻☻☻☻☻ higher amounts because of sweat loss. Continued on page 25 -24- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 24 – Heart Disease and Diuretics Confront Salt Confusion Americans consume an average of 3,400 mg of sodium daily with most from processed prepared foods, like By Paul Louis dehydrated rice and pasta packages, jarred and canned tomato sauce, soups, frozen foods, salad dressings, deli April 20, 2009 foods, fast foods, restaurant meals and the like. (NaturalNews) Salt is currently considered a leading There is very little sodium in fresh fruits and vegetables, culprit for high blood pressure and other health fresh meats and unprocessed grains. A teaspoon of added problems. This is based on the premise that a high salt contains 2,300 mg of sodium. sodium intake creates high blood pressure, which can lead to heart attacks, arterial, and kidney problems. Salt Limiting sodium is a big part of the puzzle, but also is high in sodium. But sodium is essential for proper important: Add foods high in potassium, magnesium and absorption of other major nutrients and functioning of calcium, minerals that dilate blood vessels and lower nerves and muscles, as well as being necessary for pressure. Choose multiple servings of fresh fruits and balancing water and minerals in the body. vegetables daily, along with low-fat, calcium-rich foods. Lately there have been studies that strongly question http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/marengo/lifestyle/food/x1757 the research on sodium hazards, as well as the 119480/HEALTHY-EATING-Sodium-study-was-misleading? recommended maximum sodium intakes from that ☻☻☻☻☻☻ research. There has been a survey in New York, conducted over several years on hypertension prone Study shows Children's Salt locals, which showed that those with high sodium Intake a Cause for Concern intakes had proportionately less heart attacks than those who were put on low sodium diets! And now there are September 17, 2012 even MD`s who claim that the right type of salt, Memphis Business Journal unrefined, has more health benefits than health hazards.

A major confusion is that only refined commercial and household salt is known as salt to most of medical science and consumers. It is the most prevalent, by far. Refined salt, stripped of its natural mineral structure, is virtually all sodium. As a matter of fact, it is 97% to 99% sodium! That`s why it is called Sodium Chloride. Processed foods are laced with Sodium Chloride refined salt as well as with other types of sodium, such as sodium benzoate, sodium nitrate, and the notorious monosodium glutamate (MSG). So if you are concerned about your sodium levels, then cut out The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns processed foods! many American children are at a significantly increased Part of the process for refined salt, or commercial table risk for having high blood pressure, thanks to excessive salt, involves the use of aluminum, ferrocyanide and salt intake. (Note: Processed salt – ed.) bleach. These are all toxic materials that your body takes in with refined, commercial salt. And because of USA TODAY reports a study released by the CDC that process, almost all the vital minerals that real, showed that kids are consuming as much salt as is unrefined salt can offer are removed! One or two suggested for adults, with some eating more than twice servings of refined salt won`t send you to the grave. the recommended amount than their older counterparts. But continued almost daily use will avail you to the Excessive sodium intake is associated with hypertension, perils of aluminum toxicity. Ferro cyanide is listed by or high blood pressure, in children. the EPA as a toxic material for human consumption. http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/blog/morning_call/2012/ You are probably aware of the hazards to human health 09/study-shows-childrens-salt-intake-a.html of chlorine, which is used to bleach the salt. There's ☻☻☻☻☻☻ more on aluminum toxicity here: www.hbci.com/~wenonah/hydro/al.htm Continued on page 26

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Continued from page 25 – Confront Salt Confusion areas. This is the fluoride that originally was claimed as According to Dr. David Brownstein, author of Salt Your a deterrent against tooth decay. Wikipedia notes that Way to Health, unrefined salt is an excellent detoxification while all other fluorides are dangerous for human aid, as well as a provider of mineral nutrients in a naturally consumption, calcium fluoride is not. And it`s Calcium bio-available balance. There are usually around 80 Fluoride that would be in any unrefined salt analysis. minerals and essential trace elements in unrefined, organic The other fluoride, Sodium Fluoride, is a synthetic, salt. Soil grown food is lacking in many of these because poisonous fluoride. It has been used as rat poison. It`s a the soil has been depleted of trace elements and minerals. waste by-product of the aluminum industry, fertilizer Some of the major minerals included with unrefined salt industry, and nuclear industry. It`s their way of picking are: Magnesium (a very essential metabolic agent), up a lot of easy bucks by selling it to municipalities for calcium, potassium, and sulfate. Obviously, sodium is their water supplies instead of suffering the expense of present also, but it comprises only 50% of the total mineral getting rid of it. That`s the stuff that`s been going into content rather than the 99% sodium in refined table salt. our water supplies, causing health problems, and Regular consumer table salt, refined, sometimes has iodine assisting in the dumbing down of America. Either the added in order to promote thyroid health. Dr. Brownstien dentists didn`t distinguish between those two, or has devoted a good deal of his practice and research on perhaps they didn`t even know there were two types of thyroid and glandular health. He says there is less iodized fluoride. salt now than before, and the amount of iodine in iodized It appears that organically produced, unrefined salt salt is insufficient for optimum thyroid health anyway. should be a healthy addition to our diets. It offers bio- Iodine is an important agent for glandular health, and it is available, balanced minerals that aren`t naturally also scarcely present in our food anymore. Unless you eat present in our food chain. It does not contain the a lot of seafood and roll the dice with mercury! poisons of industry that are a part of refined salt. Yes, Dr. Brownstein strongly advocates the use of unrefined, too much of a good thing can be bad. But again, the organic salt with iodine supplements, preferably a sodium of refined salt and other food additives is combination of potassium iodide and iodine. He maintains curbed best by eliminating processed foods, which that these two dietary items contribute largely toward contain several toxic sodium sources as well as optimum endocrine health, which is vital for a strong unrefined salt, from the diet. Dr. Brownstein`s advice, immune system. using organic, unrefined salt with a little bit of iodine supplementation, seems like a natural and economical Unrefined salt has a distinctively different look from way to boost one`s immune system. refined salt. It is usually too course to be used in salt shaker. You may want to invest in a salt grinder. And it is Sources: usually not very white. Off white is more common, even Crusader Health News, January 18, 2009 - Interview of Dr. David Brownstein pink or gray for unrefined pure salt. The extreme white of Salt Institute, www.saltinstitute.org common household or commercial salt is a result of Rutgers (New Brunswick) Health Education Newsletter, 2002 bleaching. But buyer beware, some so called sea salts Wikipedia offered on line and especially in health food stores are at least partially processed. Avoid sea salt that is too white http://www.naturalnews.com/026080_salt_sodium_health.ht ml and too fine as a rule of thumb. ☻☻☻☻☻☻ If you are very concerned about getting the purest available product, and you don`t have anyone`s advice you Killer Headache: Migraines can trust, look for "organic certification". Since salt is mined or taken from salt water beds, organic has different hike Stroke Risk implications than produce and animal product organic Some sufferers have twice the chance of heart attacks, requirements. But the standards are there and they are strokes, studies say strict. The two groups that certify salt as organic are BIO- GRO of New Zealand, and Nature & Progresre of France. By David Kohn You may come across an analysis of organic salt minerals, March 2, 2009 or a commentary on such, that mentions fluoride as a Beth Leslie had gotten occasional migraines for years. constituent. But there are two types of fluoride. One, She thought of them as a painful imposition, nothing Calcium Fluoride, is an element that occurs as a natural more. Continued on page 27 process over time within the earth`s soil, rock, and water

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Continued from page 26 – Killer Headache: Migraines hike Some researchers blame migraines on chronic exposure Stroke Risk to certain neurotransmitters. Most scientists think Then, one day two years ago, her world tipped sideways. migraine sufferers’ brains are hyper-excitable — that “Everything was spinning. I just kept my eyes closed, is, their neurons tend to start firing uncontrollably, with because whenever I’d open them I’d get dizzy,” says the outburst spreading across the brain over the course Leslie, a 24-year-old veterinary technician who lives in of a few hours. Bowling Green, Ohio. “It really freaked me out.” This electrical storm causes the brain to release several She went to the hospital, where a doctor told her she’d neurotransmitters, including two chemicals called probably come down with some sort of virus. After two Substance P and Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide days, Leslie’s condition hadn’t improved, and her (CGRP) that produce inflammation and pain in the boyfriend started pressing the doctors. They agreed to blood vessels surrounding our brains. give her a brain scan, and found she’d suffered a stroke, Researchers suspect that over years of repeated one that centered on her cerebellum, the part of the brain migraines, the inflammation from Substance P and in charge of balance. CGRP may weaken blood vessels, not only in the head Leslie was shocked. Like most people, she’d thought of but throughout the body. This damage may raise the stroke as a disease of old age. But for those who get risk of stroke or heart attack. During a stroke, the migraines, the rules appear to be different. Until recently, vessels that supply the brain rupture or become scientists saw migraine suffering as a physiological blocked; during a heart attack the same thing happens thunderstorm that left few lasting effects. But new to the vessels around the heart. research suggests some migraines aren’t so innocuous. In a study of 175 people completed last year, Recent studies show those who suffer from something University of Toledo neurologist Gretchen Tietjen — called migraine with aura have double, or perhaps triple, who treated Leslie after her stroke — found that nearly the risk of stroke or heart attack, compared with people a third of those with migraines had signs of blood who don’t get migraines at all. vessel damage, almost five times higher than the controls. In these people — Leslie is one of them — the headache is preceded by a range of symptoms: slurred speech, Tietjen says that while there’s no conclusive proof that forgetfulness, feeling hot or cold, and ghostly lights Leslie’s migraines played a role in her stroke, they blinking across the field of vision. That last one is the easily could have. aura. A third of those who experience migraines have But another group of scientists think the culprit isn’t these symptoms; generally, this sub-group also has more neurotransmitters, but the vascular system itself. frequent, and more excruciating, migraines. Dodick and others argue that the blood vessels of “I don’t think migraine is seen as a serious disorder. people who get migraines are inherently dysfunctional, That’s a mistake,” says migraine researcher David contracting and expanding abnormally in reaction to Dodick, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. physical and emotional stress. “Headache is just one manifestation of migraine. It’s a “People with migraine probably have unusually systemic illness.” reactive blood vessels,” says neurologist Richard B. The mysteries of migraines Lipton, a leading migraine researcher at the Albert Thirty-five million Americans — 1 in 10 of us — get Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. migraines. They tend to occur regularly, with severe pain In the head, these vascular spasms could trigger on one side of the head. Migraine attacks often include migraines. When the veins and arteries in the temple other symptoms, such as nausea and sensitivity to light and skull expand and contract too much, they may and sound. press on nerves, leading to the excruciating pain. Researchers disagree on whether people who get In people who get migraines, these blood vessel migraines without aura are at higher risk for strokes and seizures may occur throughout the body, without heart attacks. So far, almost all of the research of patients much noticing. Over years, these spasms may migraine and cardiovascular risk has occurred in those damage the vascular system. who get auras. And one knows for sure what accounts for the higher rates of strokes and heart attacks in those who Link between migraine and heart defect? do suffer from migraine with aura, but scientist have Then there’s the hole-in-the-heart theory. Researchers several theories that may offer insight. Continued on page 26

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Continued from page 27 – Killer Headache: Migraines hike In a 2007 study published, Kurth found that women Stroke Risk who have migraine with aura, smoke and take oral have known for years that having a gap in the wall between contraceptives (also a stroke hazard), were 10 times two chambers of the heart — a surprisingly common defect more likely to have a stroke than women without these (it occurs in 10 to 20 percent of people) — increases the risks. Leslie, for example, was taking birth control pills risk of stroke. It’s not clear why: The defect, known as a when she had her stroke. patent foramen ovale, or PFO, may allow blood to bypass Changes in treatment the lungs, which constantly filter small clots and impurities Even without a clear causal link, the new findings may from the blood. These clots may end up lodged in veins and change how doctors treat migraines. Rather than seeing arteries in the head, triggering strokes. the condition as a painful but harmless hassle, doctors Over the past five years, scientists have found that PFOs are increasingly trying to prevent it, just as they do seem to occur in more than half of people who get obesity or high blood pressure. A range of medicines, migraines. In some migraine patients, closing the PFO with including blood pressure drugs and antidepressants, can surgery seems to lead to a disappearance of headaches. help prevent headaches. And many patients also find relief through changes in lifestyle and diet. Some researchers suspect the unpurified blood leaking through the PFO contains inflammatory molecules, which Although there’s no clear proof, some scientists, set off that electrical storm when they travel up to the brain. including Tietjen, suspect that in migraineurs, (This may be why people with migraine get headaches after preventing headaches could lower the risk of stroke and eating certain foods like red wine, olives and chocolate. heart attack. “I think there’s ongoing, progressive These “trigger” foods may contain the offending chemicals, damage to the cardiovascular system,” she says. “If you which in normal people are constantly removed from the can treat patients early on, maybe you can keep it from blood.) progressing.” ‘A very complex system’ Dodick agrees. “The evidence points in that direction,” But none of these hypotheses have been proven, and the he says. “So it makes good sense to be aggressive with links between migraine and cardiovascular disease remain preventive measures.” He notes that only 15 percent of murky. people who get frequent migraines take preventive medicine. “There’s no clear mechanism that convinces me,” says Tobias Kurth, a neuro-epidemiologist at the Harvard Leslie, who has since fully recovered from her stroke, University School of Public Health. “It’s likely a very is now in this minority. She takes Elavil, an anti- complex system.” depressant, for migraine prevention. She no longer takes oral contraceptives, and last year she had surgery Kurth, who has spent several years examining connections to close a PFO doctors discovered after her stroke. She between migraine and stroke, thinks there may be several almost never gets a headache. lines of connection between stroke, heart disease and migraine. “It still surprises me that I had a stroke,” she says. “But I’m doing everything I can to stay healthy now. I’ve At the same time, he says, even those who get frequent come a long way.” migraines shouldn’t panic. In the general population, stroke and heart attack are quite rare. They’re even less common if http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29288759/ ☻☻☻☻☻☻ you’re young and healthy. While th e stroke risk might double from 15 per 100,000 in the general population to 30 per 100,000 for those who migraine with aura, the risk is Perfluorooctanoic Acid and still relatively small, pointed out Lipton in the journal Heart Disease Neurology Today. By Andy Soos, ENN “A doubling of risk sounds scary, but in absolute terms, it’s still low,” says Dr. Stephen Silberstein, a migraine September 4, 2012 specialist at the Jefferson Headache Center in Philadelphia. Perfluorooctanoic acid is a synthetic, stable perflu- But if you get migraines, and you smoke, are overweight, orinated carboxylic acid and fluorosurfactant. It has or have untreated high blood pressure, then your risk climbs been used in the manufacture of such prominent significantly. And each risk compounds the others consumer goods as Teflon and Gore-Tex. Exposure to exponentially. perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a man made chemical Continued on page 27

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Continued from page 28 – Perfluorooctanoic Acid and Heart 1, the multivariable odds ratio among participants in Disease quartile 4 was 2.01 for CVD and 1.78 for PAD, used in the manufacture of some common household according to the results. "In summary, in a products, appears to be associated with cardiovascular representative cross-sectional sample of the U.S. disease and peripheral arterial disease in a study of 1,216 population, we found that higher PFOA levels are individuals, according to a report published Online First positively associated with self-reported CVD and by Archives of Internal Medicine. Surveys have objectively measured PAD. Our findings, however, suggested that PFOA (widely used in the manufacture of should be interpreted with caution because of the products such as lubricants, polishes, paper and textile possibility of residual confounding and reverse coatings, and food packaging) is detectable in the blood causality. Future prospective studies are needed to of more than 98 percent of the U.S. population. Some confirm or refute our findings," the authors conclude. evidence has suggested that an association may be http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/44895 biologically plausible between PFOA exposure and ☻☻☻☻☻☻ cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to the study background. Infectious Agents The levels of PFOA exposure in humans vary widely. Basics of Infectious Agents While an average American might have 3 or 4 parts per billion of PFOA present in his blood serum, individuals *The role of this risk factor in the development of heart occupationally exposed to PFOA have had blood serum disease is not yet fully established. While some levels over 100,000 parts per billion recorded. In a study infectious agents are associated with heart disease and of individuals living around DuPont's Washington Works heart attack, it has not yet been shown that treating WV plant, those who had no occupational exposure had a these infections will lower your risk of having a heart median blood serum level of 329 parts per billion while attack or dying early. the median of those with occupational exposure was 775 What are infectious agents and how are they related parts per billion. to heart disease? PFOA can form as a breakdown product from a variety of Infectious agents are viruses or bacteria that takes up precursor molecules. PFOA precursors can be residence in your body, causing an infection. Certain transformed to PFOA by metabolism, biodegradation, or common infections may play a role in heart disease. atmospheric processes. The theory is that these bacteria and viruses trigger Anoop Shankar, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues from the inflammation in the arteries, making the arteries more West Virginia University School of Public Health, likely to become clogged, thereby increasing your risk Morgantown, examined the association between serum of heart attack or stroke. Researchers have identified (blood) levels of PFOA and the presence of CVD and several different bacteria and viruses that may be PAD, a marker of atherosclerosis, in a nationally associated with heart disease.1 The main suspects representative group of adults. The study used merged include: data from the 1999-2000 and 2003-2004 National Health • Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae), a cause and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). of flu-like respiratory problems that can lead to The study suggests that increasing serum PFOA levels pneumonia or bronchitis were positively associated with the presence of CVD and • Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), the bacteria that PAD, and the association appeared to be independent of causes stomach ulcers confounders such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, smoking status, body mass index, diabetes mellitus, hypertension • Cytomegalovirus (CMV), a member of the herpes and serum cholesterol level. family of viruses that usually doesn't cause any symptoms "Our results contribute to the emerging data on health effects of PFCs [perfluoroalkyl chemicals], suggesting Studies are currently underway to determine which, if for the first time that PFOA exposure is potentially any, of these infections actually increase people's risk related to CVD and PAD. However, owing to the cross- for heart disease, heart attack, and death, and whether sectional nature of the present study, we cannot conclude your risk for heart disease can be reduced by treating that the association is causal," the authors comment. these infections. Research so far has had conflicting results, researchers stated that h. pylori -- which can be Compared with the reference level of PFOA in quartile Continued on page 38

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African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic

Volume 7, Issue 12 NEWSLETTER November/December 2012 FEATURED ARTICLES Heart Disease - Beyond The Stent & Bypass Cardiac Coverup By Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer, MD October 12, 2009

Summary are exposed and at one time contract tuberculosis, but Once upon a time, by the turn of the last century, do not presently have active disease. flying in the face of over a hundred years of research In Infections and Atherosclerosis: New Clues from an and clinical observation to the contrary, medicine old Hypothesis? Nieto stressed the need to extend the abandoned the link between infection and possible role of infectious agents beyond the three atherosclerotic heart disease; not because it was ever infections which have in recent years been the focus of proven wrong, but because it did not fit in with the research: Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Chlamydia trends of a medical establishment convinced that pneumonia, and Helicobactor pylori [39]. chronic disease such as heart disease must be multifactorial, degenerative and non-infectious. Mycobacterial disease shares interesting connections to heart disease. Not only is tuberculosis the only Yet it was the very inability of 'established' risk microorganism to depend on cholesterol for its factors such as hypercholesterolemia, hypertension pathogenesis but CDC maps for cardiovascular disease and smoking to fully explain the incidence and trends bear a striking match to those of State and regional TB in cardiovascular disease that resulted in historically case rates. Why should this be? repeated calls to search out an infectious cause, a search that began more than a century ago. Ellis, Hektoen, Osler, McCallum, Swartz, Livingston and Alexander- Jackson all saw clinical and laboratory Today, half of US heart attack victims have evidence of a causative relationship between the TB, its acceptable cholesterol levels and 25% or more have related mycobacteria and heart disease. And Xu showed none of the "risk factors" associated with heart that proteins of mycobacterial origin actually led to disease, including smoking, high blood pressure or experimental atherosclerosis in laboratory animals. obesity, most of which are not inconsistent with Furthermore present day markers suggested as being caused by infection [7,56]. indicators for heart disease susceptibility such as C- Even the traditionalist's 2003 assault in JAMA Reactive Protein (CRP), interleukin-6 and (Journal of the American Medical Association) to homocysteine are all similarly elevated in tuberculosis. 'debunk' what they call the "50% risk factor myth" Although more than 120 years have passed since its [20] fell woefully short under scrutiny. In one group discovery, Mycobacterium tuberculosis is still the 30% died of heart disease with a cholesterol of at leading cause of death globally due to a single least 240 mg/dl, a condition which also existed in infectious agent (Dye et al. 1999). This high mortality 21% who did not die during the same period. And rate exists in spite of the fact that for over 50 years the overlap was obvious throughout the so-called risk tuberculosis has been a preventable, diagnosable, and categories. Under such scrutiny, lead author treatable disease. Greenland conceded that if obesity, inactivity and elevated cholesterol in the elderly are included, just It therefore behooves us to explore the historical, about everyone has a risk factor and he likened the clinical, and pathological link between heart disease, dilemma of people who do or do not wind up with typical, and atypical tuberculosis. heart disease akin to the susceptibility of people who Continued on page 31 -30- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 30 – Heart Disease - Beyond The Stent MacCallum's investigation [34] recognized that of all the & Bypass Cardiac Coverup infectious causes of heart disease, only one, tuberculosis, Introduction caused arteriosclerosis. At autopsy, he cited 101 cases of Attached at the hip, the American Heart Association advanced tuberculosis. Of these cases, there were 49 (AHA), first to push towards medical heart specialization, cases in children in the first decade of life - none of was actually an offshoot of The National Tuberculosis which showed arterial changes. Even in the second, third Association, without whose money and help it would and fourth decades there were only 11 autopsies who died never have survived. In one of its first Bulletins, the AHA of TB with moderate cardiovascular sclerosis; while 13 (American Heart Association) came up with a long list of showed nothing. But by the fifth, sixth, seventh and the similarities between tuberculosis and heart disease eighth decades, true to current coronary timetables, there [2], a view supported by Ellis in The New England were only 2 autopsies with normal arteries and 26 with Journal of Medicine half a century later [15]. In a 'name TB arteriosclerosis (Ibid). that disease' Ellis fleshes-out a medical condition who's By 1972, pathologist Phillip Schwartz, once a student of mortality rate was 200 to 300 per 100,000, was Loffler, became aware that the 'lardaceous', waxy widespread, and by whom many in their prime were degeneration misnamed by Virchow as starch-like struck down. Treatment was only partially effective. "amyloid" (starch was called amylum), showed that Doctors recommended diet and exercise. Special amyloid (starch-like) degeneration occurred more hospitals were built for it. In a tough decision, Ellis's frequently in elderly cardiovascular systems than readers only recognized the disease as TB when he said it hardening and atheromatous lesions of their arteries. But struck 75 years ago, the white plague of the 20th century, along with this, he noticed that such amyloid for the mortality rate for ischemic heart disease (IHD) at degeneration, upon autopsy, usually revealed signs of the time of Ellis's writing was also 200 to 300 persons per lingering pulmonary and lymph node tuberculosis [59]. 100,000. Classic thought regarding atherosclerosis never was Yet it was not until after WWII that the subject was terribly convincing. It supposedly begins with the pursued in earnest, and by two women, one of them the appearance of cholesterol and fat-laden macrophages first female medical resident in New York. Sometime in (white blood cells) called "foam cells". The fact that 1965, Rutger's investigators Virginia Livingston, M.D. some of these macrophages died, just added to the debris. and Eleanor Alexander-Jackson PhD, fueled by Fleet and Macrophages died, tradition dictated, because they could Kerr Grants, working with sterile, post catastrophic heart not eliminate cholesterol the way they got rid of bacteria. attack coronary artery specimens, established low-grade They simply stuffed themselves compulsively with more tubercular infection, staining 'acid-fast' (not decolorized and more cholesterol, converting into the large 'foam with acid-alcohol) in all ischemic heart disease specimens cells' that filled the plaques of advanced atherosclerosis. [32]. Macrophages, then, said orthodoxy, literally ate Even in stained slides of the heart muscle itself, themselves to death at our cardiac blood vessels expense. Livingston documented small, acid-fast globoidal But there were obvious flaws to such thinking. First, tubercular bodies which soon appeared to enter into a unlike with other microbes, human macrophages were not gradual state of digestion (Ibid). that good at eliminating germs like tuberculosis, which in In 1986, Hektoen, studying how tuberculosis attacked turn kills many of them. Second cholesterol by itself, blood vessels of the cardiovascular system, saw the blood normally the most abundant steroid in man, was on the born microbes implanting themselves in cardiovascular rise in Japanese blood during the very decade (1980/- walls. Eventually these microbes would penetrate all 1989) when the incidence of coronary heart disease was layers of the arterial wall, including its muscular coat. on its way down [40]. In the meantime, in the US, half The offshoot led, often, to the degeneration of whole the people who had a heart attack had acceptable arterial segments.[23]. Since tubercular attack came from cholesterol levels, including its HDL and LDL fractions. the inside of the vascular wall outwards, Hektoen often Although cholesterol thus seemed an imperfect criterion spotted the initial attack as involving the intimal or for determining coronary heart disease, its intimate adventitial layers. interaction with TB and the mycobacteria presented Even William Osler, arguably the greatest physician since extremely interesting coincidental findings. Not only Hippocrates, and to this day an icon for accurate clinical were virulent tuberculosis and the mycobacteria the only judgment, made clear that arteriosclerosis was frequently pathogens that actually relied upon cholesterol to enter associated with tuberculosis [42]. Continued on page 32

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Continued from page 31 – Heart Disease - Beyond The Stent causative factor [33] because there was no correlation & Bypass Cardiac Coverup between the severity or extent of atherosclerosis and the the body's white blood cells or macrophages [17], but, it involvement of chlamydial infection at the same site. was the Mycobacteria that in addition were able to This report was in concert with Thomas [57] and Gibbs produce [31], esterify [29], take up, modify, accumulate [19]. Combined, these studies seemed to ask: What if [4], and promote the deposition of and release [26] of Chlamydia pneumoniae was just a passenger bacteria, a cholesterol. friendly bystander? And when, in 1995, MC Sutter's editorial Lessons For Atherosclerotic Research From Orthodox thought then pronounced that smooth muscle Tuberculosis And Peptic Ulcer, warned we might be cells of the cardiovascular system somehow responded to overlooking the role of a microorganism in athero- fat proliferation under the influence of certain platelet sclerosis, he did not have chlamydia specifically in mind factors, which are otherwise supposed to function [53]. Nevertheless, statistics showed that people who exclusively in clotting, to eventually cause inflammation. used a lot of antibiotics had less heart attacks, and so by But, to many, it seemed fuzzy logic that inflammation 2000 the CDC found that 14% of the cardiologists in should occur from fat proliferation to begin with. Alaska and West Virginia treated heart patients with Livingston and Alexander- Jackson's meticulous work antibiotics for angina, heart attacks, angioplasty or after clarified this, finding in all specimens, an infectious agent by-pass surgery. behind that inflammation and fat propagation [32]. But unfortunately, they worked as "outsiders" at a time when And certain antibiotics did seem to work, but the question women doctors and scientists weren't fully accepted. was their efficacy based upon their anti-Chlamydial activity? Azithromycin, for example has a documented, if Others Notice moderate activity against certain mycobacteria as well. A 1973 watershed study by Benditt and Benditt reported that cells found in artherogenic plague had a monoclonal Something More Conclusive origin, that is, they were derived from a single cell As the millennium approached, something much more population [6]. Confirmatory studies [43,44] prompted irrefutable was happening. Xu had previously been found the revival and legitimization of a search for an infectious that injecting rabbits with normal cholesterol with protein cause. But by concluding that such monoclonal origins from TB resulted in atherosclerotic changes [61]. Now were caused by "Chemical mutagens or viruses or both" George and Shoenfeld were implicating these very same Benditt and Benditt's agenda blindsided a third major proteins in not only the origin of the atherosclerosis in possibility- tuberculosis and the mycobacteria, each cardiovascular blood vessels but of fatty streak formation capable of churning out its own monoclonal enzymes, there as well [18]. In the meantime, Mukherjee and De once systemic [13,45]. Benedictis showed that an increase in antibodies against such tubercular proteins somehow already in the body It was in no small part as a result of Benditt's study, much was actually associated with re-stenosis or future closure of the world's scientific and medical community focused of coronary vessels [37]. By 2000, it became obvious to on an extremely limited role for tuberculosis and the Afek that mice injected with high doses of such mycobacteria in heart disease, and at the same time tuberculoproteins developed significantly larger areas of seemed to purposefully marginalize studies that kept atherosclerosis despite the fact that their diet was devoid seeping into the Index Medicus. For example, in the same of high fat content [1]. Revisiting this subject, Xu, also year Livingston pursued her heart work at Rutgers, the using the same tubercular protein (HSP-65), proved the Russians, unhindered by the American brand of same thing in New Zealand white rabbits [62]. In Xu's politicized medicine, began proving the link between study, such rabbits with normal serum cholesterol tuberculosis, atherosclerosis and heart disease [8,25,27, injected with the TB preparation led to the formation of 28]. all the classic features of arteriosclerosis in humans - the Which Infection? inflammatory cell accumulation and the smooth cell Since a 1988 report of raised antibodies against proliferation (Ibid) that Livingston and Alexander- Chlamydia pneumoniae in patients with heart disease Jackson had decades ago attributed to tuberculosis. appeared, it was hoped that the microbe might be behind In fact, the only finding missing from Xu's study using atherosclerosis [21,41,50]. Hurting this hypothesis was normal cholesterolemic animals were "foam cells": tissue the low incidence of atherosclerosis in the tropics despite macrophages in which tuberculosis not only lived but chlamydia's high frequency there [52]. thrived in, capable of ingesting material that dissolved Also Loehe and Bittman concluded that although during tissue preparation, especially lipids. However, this Chlamydia, on occasions, might be present, it was not a Continued on page 33

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Continued from page 32– Heart Disease - Beyond The Stent is an age-old, non-specific protein, first identified in & Bypass Cardiac Coverup 1930, and then found in the serum of various persons missing piece of the puzzle was soon remedied when in with certain inflammatory and degenerative diseases addition to tuberculous proteins his animals were given a [48]. Recently an elevated CRP has been touted as an cholesterol rich diet, at which point Xu saw all the lesions excellent marker for the approximately 25 million US found in classic human heart disease, including foam patients that have none of the risk factors associated with cells. Obviously, tuberculoproteins were overwhelming heart disease, yet are at risk for a heart attack. the systems macrophages, not allowing them to get rid of However CRP and elevated sedimentation rate have long ingested fat. been excellent markers of active tuberculosis [22], CRP When Man Thinks - Heaven Laughs being present at all times when erythrocyte There was also incriminating epidemiologic evidence. sedimentation rate (ESR) is elevated but returning to The higher incidence of coronary heart disease in young normal faster than ESR as tuberculosis, once treated, males had a remarkable parallel in bacterial diseases such becomes inactive. Indeed CRP is a sensitive indicator of as TB [52]. And the association between low the activity of tuberculosis [5]. socioeconomic status and coronary disease found Researchers have even tried to neatly tie in excessive common ground with the incidence of tuberculosis. weight and its fat cells to indirectly increasing C- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reactive protein (CRP) by dumping interleukin-6 (IL-6) maps for the total cardiovascular disease and death rates into the blood, which, in turn supposedly promotes an across the country [10] bore a conspicuous similarity to inflammatory response, key to signaling the liver, and state and regional incidence for CDC TB case rates maps perhaps the arterial walls themselves, to churn out more in the United States [9]. In addition, the statins, among CRP. But again, and significantly, higher levels of the most popular drugs in America (Lipitor, Lescol), interleukin-6 are consistently found in either the lung though inhibitors of Coenzyme-A compound (HMG-CoA secretions [58] or serum [54] where TB resides. Russell or 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase) and as noted sustained release of IL-6 repeatedly issued from such lowered serum cholesterol levels, did much more. human macrophages infected with TB [49], a defense strategy the microbe uses to possibly create anergic Specifically, when macrophages were depleted of conditions (conditions with lowered immunity) that cholesterol by such pharmacological treatment, prevent macrophages from killing them. mycobacteria such as tuberculosis could not enter the macrophage TB liked to house in, thrive in and depend Others look towards elevated serum levels of upon [17]. Furthermore, this block of macrophage uptake homocysteine, an amino acid also linked as an index of with cholesterol depletion was specific only for potential heart disease, as the marker of the future even tuberculosis and the mycobacteria and no other pathogen. though a homocysteine marker meta analysis appeared In other words, cholesterol played a crucial role in in JAMA, concluding that elevated homocysteine was at tuberculosis's establishment of intracellular infection most a modest independent predictor of Ischemic Heart leading both to the long term survival of the germ and the Disease (IHD) in healthy populations [24]. Nevertheless death of 1.9 million people a year. homocysteine, it is claimed by some, although not deposited in blood vessel walls like cholesterol, can The large British heart protection study took many by damage the inside lining of these vessels and make surprise when they learned that even lowering "normal" platelets more likely to clot, the scenario which cholesterol levels lowered heart disease risk [12]. This supposedly leads to stroke or heart attacks. led again to speculation that there must be some other risk factor involved besides cholesterol itself. Lead- Homocysteine is formed from another amino acid in our author Collins countered that the reason for his study's diets, methionine. But methionine is also the protein that finding was that even what we call "normal" cholesterol M. tuberculosis brings systemically into its host to values are too high, but it is just as easily posited that the initiate its own protein synthesis [11]. Although lower the blood cholesterol the less likely there is to be Homocysteine can be turned back into methionine and chronic mycobacterial infection which would also be of its level lowered in the blood, this requires two essential benefit derived from lower than normal cholesterol cofactors: vitamin B12 and "folate" or folic acid, both of levels. which can be lowered in tubercular infection, leading to elevated homocysteine levels [35,46]. It is hardly a coincidence that studies have shown that statins, which indirectly decrease mycobacterial disease, Nieto's extensive review concludes that the introduction also lower C-reactive protein (CRP). C-reactive protein Continued on page 34

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Continued from page 33- Heart Disease - Beyond The Stent Anestad focuses on Norwegian 20th century statistics & Bypass Cardiac Coverup in which two things become obvious. of antibiotic therapies in the 1940s and 1950s could have First, that until 1945 tuberculosis was easily the leading contributed to the decline of heart disease and heart cause of infectious death in Norway, surpassing attacks in the last few decades [39]. Although the cardiovascular death at the time. Second, that as the tetracyclines appeared in the 1950s it was only after the diagnosed cases of tuberculosis fell from his statistics, introduction of the macrolides, in particular erythromycin cardiovascular disease increased dramatically until in the 1960s that the cardiovascular disease mortality 1975, when its stats too somewhat tapered [3]. At first curve began to sink. Though it was hypothesized that glance, these statistics seem unrelated even though they such decline was the effect of tetracycline and the are on the same bar graph. But are they? Or are we just macrolides against Chlamydia pneumonae, many of the looking at another example of Weinstein's reference to atypical mycobacteria were also sensitive to occult TB finding an expanded niche in the erythromycin and the tetracycline doxycycline [36]. Also, cardiovascular system in one of its quests to become "a the antibiotic time-curve Nieto cites excludes the actual greater mimic than syphilis ever was"? introduction of anti-tubercular antibiotics. In Tuberculosis in Disguise, Rab and Rahman Although erythromycin is very effective against C. document cases of congestive heart failure and IHD pneumoniae, the microorganism may persist in the (Ischemic Heart Disease) with chest pain, raised respiratory tract despite adequate blood levels of the erythocyte sedimentation rate, leukocytosis and antibiotic [51]. There can be no doubt that the availability inverted T-waves across the chest leads otherwise of antibiotics lowered the morbidity and mortality of indistinguishable from the real thing, which turned out cardiovascular disease. Netter mentions that tuberculosis, to be miliary (systemic) tuberculosis [47]. Rab and once often associated with cor pulmonale was less so Rahman again warned "confusion may occur because linked in recent years, probably because of the tuberculosis can mimic so many other conditions". widespread use of antibiotics and antimicrobial agents [38]. Certainly with tuberculosis and for some time now, we have a human population affected that dwarfs syphilis Conclusion - Runs Silent, Runs Deep in its prime. At least a staggering 1.7 million around the When Nieto stressed the need to extend the possible role globe die of tuberculosis each year, while another 1.9 of infectious agents beyond the 3 infections which have billion are infected with M. tuberculosis and are at risk in recent years been the focus of research: namely, for active disease[14].The World Health Organization Cytomegalovirus (CMV) C. pneumonia and Helicobactor (WHO) estimates that 1/3 of the planet has contracted pylori [39], was he picking Sir William Osler's brain TB. regarding that arteriosclerosis was frequently associated with tuberculosis? [42]. Still many ridicule the possibility It would take such a disease to adequately explain the that microbes might be the agents of arteriosclerosis. scope of cardiovascular disease, which affects about 61 These were the same minds that in another, far gone era, million people, or almost one-forth of the population in would have jeered the possibility that syphilis in its late the US alone. Almost 6 million US hospitalizations stages had a special preference for the arteries and could each year are due to cardiovascular disease. cause devastation of major cardiovascular vessels. (www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/aag/aag_cvd.htm) Eventually though, these minds were proven wrong. But The linkage of tuberculosis to acute myocardial the lessons of syphilis are far-gone or are they? infarction and resulting heart attacks is nothing new When by 1982, keynote speaker and then Harvard [16,30,55]; yet serious clinical trials have never been infectious disease guru Louis Weinstein addressed the undertaken. And one is left wondering whether the annual session of the American College of Physicians he present flurry of trials designed to simply label the mentioned: "We thought initially that the disease markers in the blood that TB and the mycobacteria (tuberculosis) was disappearing, but we are now seeing throw our way is ever really going to quell the near up to 27 different syndromes and extapulmonary forms, epidemic cardiovascular disease that is presently in our etc. It is today's great mimic, a greater mimic than midst. syphilis ever was"[60]. References In Atherosclerosis and Tuberculosis: Are They Both [1] Afek A, George J. Immunization of low-density lipoprotein receptor deficient (LDL-RD) mice with heat Chronic Diseases?, after going over the many similarities shock protein 65 (HSP-65) promotes early atherosclerosis. J between tuberculosis and Chlamydia pneumoniae, Autoimmun 2000;14(2):11521. Continued on page 35

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Continued from page 34 - Heart Disease - Beyond The Stent C57BL/ 6J Mice by immunization with heat shock protein-65 & Bypass Cardiac Coverup arteriosclerosis. Thromb Vasc Biol 1999;19:50510. [2] AHA Similarity of tuberculosis and heart disease. Bull Am [19] Gibbs RG, Sian M. Chlamydia pneumoniae does not Heart Assoc 1927;2(5):22. influence atherosclerotic plaque behavior in patients with established carotid artery stenosis. Stroke 2000;31:29305. [3] Anestad G, Hoel T. Atherosclerosis and tuberculosis: are they both chronic infectious diseases. Scand J Infect Dis [20] Greenland P, Knoll MD. Major Risk Factors as antecedents 2001;33:797. of fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease events. JAMA 2003;290(7):8917. [4] Av-Gay Y, Sobouti R. Cholesterol is accumulated by mycobacteria but its degradation is limited to non-pathogenic [21] Gurfinkel E, Bozovich G. Chlamydia pneumoniae: Heart disease: the greatest 'risk' factor of them all 777 fast inflammation and instability of the atherosclerotic plaque. growing mycobacteria. Can J Microbiol 2000;46(9):82631. Atherosclerosis 1998;140(Suppl 1):315. [5] Bajaj G, Rattan A. Prognostic value of 'C' reactive protein [22] Haghighi L, Doust JY. C-Reactive protein in pulmonary in tuberculosis. Indian Pediatr 1989;26(10):10103. tuberculosis. Dis Chest 1966;50(6):6246. [6] Benditt EP, Benditt JM. Evidence for a monoclonal origin [23] Hektoen L. The vascular changes of tuberculous meningitis. of human atherosclerotic plaques. Proc Natl Acad Sci J Exper Med 1986:112. 1973;70(6):17536. [24] Wilson PW. Homocysteine and coronary heart disease: how [7] Benson RL, Smith KG. Experimental arteritis and great is the hazard? JAMA 2002;288(16):20423. arteriosclerosis associated with streptococcal inoculations. Arch Pathol 1931;12:92440. [25] Kamyshnikova VS, Kolb VG. Biochemical factors involved in atherogenesis in pulmonary tuberculosis. Probl Tuberk [8] Bruade VI. Cardiovascular diseases in conjunction with 1984;11:4852. pulmonary tuberculosis (pathological-anatomical findings). Sov Med 1966;29(12): 1047. [26] Kamyshnikov VS, Kolb VG. Lipid metabolism and atherogenesis in tuberculosis in experimental animals. Probl [9] CDC Map: TB case rates, United States, 2001. Atlanta Tuberk 1993;4:535. Georgia: US Department of Health, Education and Welfare CDC; 2001. [27] Kazykhanov NS. Lung tuberculosis in patients with atherosclerosis. Sov Med 1965;28(8):3744. [10] CDC Map total cardiovascular disease 1995 death rate. Atlanta Georgia: US Department of Health, Education Welfare [28] Kazykhanov NS. Arteriosclerosis in patients with pulmonary CDC; 1995. tuberculosis. Kardiologiia 1967;7(10):137. [11] Chun T. Induction of M3-restricted T lymphocyte [29] Kondo E, Kanai K. Accumulation of cholesterol esters in responses by N- formulated peptides derived from macrophages incubated with mycobacteria in vitro. Jpn J Med Sci Mycobacterium tuberculosis. J Exp Med 2001;193(10):121320. Biol 1976;29(3):12337. [12] Collins R, Armitage J. MRC/BHF heart protection study [30] Kossowsky WA, Rafii S. Letter: acute myocardial infarction of cholesterol-lowering with simvastatin in 5963 people with in miliary tuberculosis. Ann Intern Med 1975;82(6):8134. diabetes: a randomized placebo-controlled trial. Lancet [31] Lamb DC, Kelly DE. A sterol biosynthetic pathway in 2003;361(9374):200516. mycobacterium. FEBS Lett 1998;437(1-2):1424. [13] David HL. Bacteriology of the mycobacterioses. Atlanta [32] Livingston V. Cancer: a new breakthough. Los Angeles: Georgia: Center for disease control, Mycobacteriolgy branch; Nash Publishing; 1972. 1976. [33] Loehe F, Bittmann I. Chlamydia pneumoniae in [14] Dye C, Scheele S. Global burden of tuberculosis: atherosclerotic lesions of patients undergoing vascular surgery. estimated incidence, prevalence, and mortality by country. Ann Vasc Surg 2002;16(4):46773. JAMA 1999;282:67786. [34] MacCallum WG. Acute and chronic infections as etiological [15] Ellis JG. Plague tuberculosis and plague atherosclerosis. factors in arteriosclerosis. In: Cowdry EV, editor. Arteriosclerosis The New England J Med 1977;296(12):695. A survey of the problem. New York: MacMillan Co; 1933. p. 355- [16] Ferrari-Sacco A, Ferraro U. Myocardial Infarct and 62. Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Discussion of 2 cases of [35] Markkansen T, Levanto A. Folic acid and vitamin B12 in myocardiocoronary disease appearing during hospitalization tuberculosis. Scand J Haemat 1967;4:28391. in a sanatorium. Minerva Cardioangiol 1966;14(8):46575. [36] Molavi A, Weinstein L. In viro activity of erythromycin [17] Gatfield J, Pieters J. Essential role for cholesterol in entry against atypical mycobacteria. J Infect Dis 1971;123:2169. of mycobacteria in macrophages. Science 2000;288:1647750. [37] Mukherjee M. De Benedictis association of antibodies to [18] George J, Shoenfeld Y. Enhanced fatty streak formation in Continued on page 34

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Continued from page 35 – Heart Disease - Beyond The Stent [53] Sutter MC. Lessons for atherosclerosis research from & Bypass Cardiac Coverup tuberculosis and peptic ulcer. Can Med Assoc J 1995;152(5):66770. heat- shock protein-65 with percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and subsequent restenosis. Thromb [54] Tang S, Xiao H. Changes of proinflammatory cytokines Haemost 1996;75(2):25860. and their receptors in serum from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Zhonghua Jie He He Hu Xi Za Zhi [38] Netter FH HEART The Ciba Collection of Medical 2002;25(6):3259. Illustrations. West Caldwell New Jersey CIBA-GEIGY Corporation 1992. [55] Tarakanova KN, Terent'eva GM. Myocardial infarct in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Probl Tuberk [39] Nieto FJ. Infections and atherosclerosis: new clues from 1972;50(4):901. an old hypothesis. Am J Epidemiol 1998;148(10):93748. [56] Thom DH, Grayston JT. Association of prior infection [40] Okayama A. Ueshima changes in total serum cholesterol with Chlamydia pneumoniae and angiographically and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease in Japan, demonstrated coronary artery disease. JAMA 1992;268:6872. 19801989. Int J Epidemiol 1993;22:103847. [57] Thomas M, Wong Y. Relation between direct detechion of [41] Orfila JJ. Seroepidemiological evidence for an Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA in human coronary arteries at association between Chlamydia pneumoniae and postmortem examination and histological severity (Stary atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis 1998;140(Suppl 1):115. garding) of associated atherosclerotic plaque. Circulation [42] Osler W. Diseases of the arteries. In: Osler W, MacCrae 1999;99:27336. T, editors. Modern medicine Its theory and practice in original [58] Tsao TC, Hong J. Increased TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta and contributions by Americans and foreign authors, vol. 4. IL-6levels in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid with the Philadelphia, PA: Lea & Fabiger; 1908. p. 42647. upregulation of their mRNA in macrophages lavaged from [43] Pearson TA, Wang BA. Clonal characteristics of fibrous patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis. Tub Lung Dis plaques and fatty streaks from human aortas. Am J Pathol 1999;79(5):27985. 1975;81:37987. [59] Schwartz P. Amyloid degeneration and tuberculosis in the [44] Pearson TA, Dillma JM. Clonal characteristics of aged. Gerontologia 1972;18(5-6):32162. cutaneous scars and implications for atherogenesis. Am J [60] Weinstein L. Bacterial endocarditis, TB changing Pathol 1981;102:4954. presentation. Internal Med News 1982;15(11):2. [45] Purwantini E, Gillis TP. Presence of F420-dependent [61] Xu Q. Dietrich Induction of arteriosclerosis in glucose-6- phosphate dehydogenase in Mycobacterium and normocholesterolemic mice and rabbits by immunization with Nocardia species, but absence from Streptomyces and Corynebacterium species and methanogenic Archaea. FEMS heat shock protein 65. Arterioscler Thromb 1992;12:78999. Microbiol Lett 1997;146(1):12934. [62] Xu Q, Kleindienst R. Increased expression of heat shock [46] Qureshi GA, Baig SM. The neurochemical markers in protein 65 coincides with a population of infiltrating T cerebrospinal fluid to differentiate between aseptic and lymphocytes in atherosclerotic lesions of rabbits specifically tuberculous meningitis. Neurochem Int 1998;32(2):197203. responding to heat shock protein 65. J Clin Invest 1993;91:2693702. [47] Rab SM, Rahman M. Tuberculosis in disguise. Brit J Dis Chest 1967;61:904. ©Copyright 2009 [48] Rifai N, Ridker PM. Inflammatory markers and coronary http://www.rense.com/general87/stent.htm heart disease. Curr Opin Lipidol 2002;13(4):3839. ☻☻☻☻☻☻ [49] Russel DG. Sturgill-Koszycki S why intracellular parasitism need not be a degrading experience for Food-Borne Bacteria Causes Mycobacterium. Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 1997;352:130310. Potentially Fatal Heart [50] Saikku P, Leinonen M. Serological evidence of an association of a novel Chlamydia, TWAR, with chronic Infection coronary heart disease and acute myocardial infarction. ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2011) — Researchers at the Lancet 1988;2:9836. University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine [51] Smith CB, Friedewald WT. Shedding of Mycoplasma have found that particular strains of a food-borne bacteria pneumonia after tetracycline and erythromycin therapy. New are able to invade the heart, leading to serious and Eng J Med 1967;276:11725. difficult-to-treat heart infections. [52] Stille W, Dittmann R. Arteriosclerosis as a sequela of The study is available online in the Journal of Medical chronic Chlamydia pneumoniae infection Herz Microbiology. Continued on page 37 1998;23(3):18592. -36- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 36– Food-Borne Bacteria Causes cardiac-associated strains display modified proteins on Potentially Fatal Heart Infection their surface that enable the bacteria to more easily enter The bacteria Listeria monocytogenes is commonly cardiac cells, targeting the heart and leading to bacterial found in soft cheeses and chilled ready-to-eat products. infection. For healthy individuals, listeria infections are usually "Listeria is actually pretty common in foods," said mild, but for susceptible individuals and the elderly, Freitag. "And because it can grow at refrigerated infection can result in serious illness, usually associated temperatures, as foods are being produced with a longer with the central nervous system, the placenta and the and longer shelf life, listeria infection may become more developing fetus. common. In combination with an aging population that is About 10 percent of serious listeria infections involve a more susceptible to serious infection, it's important that cardiac infection, according to Nancy Freitag, associate we learn all we can about these deadly infections." professor of microbiology and immunology and The study was supported by a Public Health Service principle investigator on the study. These infections are Grant; by Public Health Service post-doctoral training difficult to treat, with more than one-third proving fatal, fellowships; and an American Heart Association but have not been widely studied and are poorly Predoctoral Fellowship. understood. Journal Reference: Freitag and her colleagues obtained a strain of listeria F. Alonzo, L. D. Bobo, D. J. Skiest, N. E. Freitag. Evidence for that had been isolated from a patient with endocarditis, subpopulations of Listeria monocytogenes with enhanced or infection of the heart. invasion of cardiac cells. Journal of Medical Microbiology, 2011; DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.027185-0 "This looked to be an unusual strain, and the infection itself was unusual," she said. Usually with endocarditis http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110126144531. there is bacterial growth on heart valves, but in this htm case the infection had invaded the cardiac muscle. ☻☻☻☻☻☻ The researchers were interested in determining whether Ulcer-Causing Bacteria Also patient predisposition led to heart infection or whether something different about the strain caused it to target May Be Associated With the heart. Heart Disease They found that when they infected mice with either DALLAS, May 5 -- Infection by a particularly strong the cardiac isolate or a lab strain, they found 10 times strain of bacteria normally associated with stomach ulcers as much bacteria in the hearts of mice infected with the could be a contributing factor to heart disease, according cardiac strain. In the spleen and liver, organs that are to a report in today's Circulation: Journal of the American commonly targeted by listeria, the levels of bacteria Heart Association. were equal in both groups of mice. Italian researchers report they have found that the Further, the researchers found that while the lab-strain- association between the bacteria -- known as infected group often had no heart infection at all, 90 Helicobacter pylori (h. pylori) -- and heart disease percent of the mice infected with the cardiac strain had appeared to depend on the strength, or virulent nature, of heart infections. The researchers obtained more strains the bacteria strain. In their study, the researchers found of listeria, for a total of 10, and did the same evidence of the bacteria in 62 percent of people with experiment. They found that only one other strain also heart disease and only 40 percent of those without the seemed to also target the heart. disease. "The prevalence of infection by Helicobacter "They infected the heart of more animals and were pylori was similar in patients with heart attack, unstable always infecting heart muscle and always in greater chest pain, or chronic chest pain," says the study's lead number," Freitag said. "Some strains seem to have this author, Vincenzo Pasceri, M.D., of the department of enhanced ability to target the heart for infection." internal medicine and cardiology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome. "The findings Freitag's team used molecular genetics and cardiac cell strongly suggest that the association between cultures to explore what was different about these two Helicobacter pylori and heart disease is related to the strains. strength of this bacteria," he says. Though there was a "These strains seem to have a better ability to invade relationship between the bacteria and heart disease, the cardiac cells," she said. The results suggest that these Continued on page 38

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Continued from page 37 – Food-Borne Bacteria Causes publication of the research. Potentially Fatal Heart Infection Several earlier studies suggest an association, but others controlled with antibiotics -- did not exacerbate the suggest none. Ridker points out that people with poor severity of heart disease. access to medical care are more likely to develop The researchers studied 88 patients who had ischemic infections that are not treated promptly and also more heart disease, which causes heart attacks and is the result likely to suffer from heart disease. The two may not be of poor blood flow to the heart. The control group related, Ridker says. Ridker adds that while the data are consisted of 88 patients who did not have heart disease. "provocative and interesting," additional research is Researchers say every effort was made to match the needed before any definite link can be shown. groups by body mass index -- a measure of fatness -- and Helicobacter pylori were discovered in 1983 by two socioeconomic class. The latter was important, Pasceri Australian researchers. The tiny, spiral-shaped organisms says, because poorer people tend to get more infections live in the stomachs of most people but occasionally are than those with more financial resources. the cause of gastritis, the underlying condition for stomach ulcers and some forms of cancer. Even with this finding, Pasceri says that an individual with an ulcer because of an h. pylori infection shouldn't Co-authors are: Giovanni Cammarota, M.D.; Giuseppe necessarily be examined for heart disease. Patti, M.D.; Lucio Cuoco, M.D.; Antonio Gasbarrini, M.D.; Rita L. Grillo, M.D., Giuseppe Fedeli, M.D.; "Screening for heart disease in patients with an ulcer is Giovanni Gasbarrini, M.D.; and Attilio Maseri, M.D. not a cost-effective strategy, although, of course, patients should be treated for h. pylori infection to heal their http://scienceblog.com/community/older/1998/A/199800323.ht ulcer," says Pasceri. "Our results, which show that the ml ☻☻☻☻☻☻ risk of heart disease is due only to virulent strains, allow us to treat patients really at risk, enhancing the cost- Continued from page 29 - Infectious Agents benefit ratio of the treatment." and it's not known whether these infections actually The key factor seemed to be whether the bacteria contribute to heart disease or if they are just innocent contained a gene called CagA. Heart disease affected 43 bystanders. Any links between heart disease and other percent of people with the bacteria with the CagA gene, infections that cause inflammation, such as hepatitis A compared to only 17 percent of those infected with virus, herpes simplex virus, Epstein-Barr virus, and bacteria lacking this gene. There was no difference periodontitis (gum disease), have been less frequently between patients and controls who were infected by the studied. bacteria without the gene. Are these infections the same as heart infections? Pasceri says that further research needs to be done to No. Sometimes the heart muscle or the sac that surrounds determine the association between h. pylori and heart the heart may get infected by bacteria causing disease, but he adds that there is increasing evidence that myocarditis or bacterial pericarditis. This usually several chronic infections are associated with the happens in people with autoimmune disorders or after a development of atherosclerosis in otherwise healthy severe chest infection, but it may also be brought on by people. "It is worth noting that such infections have a an allergic reaction to medication. It is one of the reasons high prevalence both in Europe and the United States," that heart patients have to take antibiotics before having Pasceri says. "Even a small increase in the risk of dental work done (the bacteria can enter the bloodstream ischemic heart disease due to these infections would through the cuts in your mouth and travel to the heart to mean a huge number of heart attacks and cardiac deaths. do damage). This is a separate situation and will not be Prevention and treatment of these infections may be a covered in this section. new strategy for the prevention of ischemic heart How common are the 3 infections suspected of causing disease." H. pylori is one of four organisms often heart disease? investigated for an association with heart disease. The Very common. Most people will be infected with one of other three -- including Chlamydia pneumoniae, these bacteria or viruses at some point in their lives. The cytomegalovirus and herpes -- cause low-grade, life-long Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that infections that can produce a smoldering inflammation, between 50% and 85% of US adults are infected with the kind that leads to heart disease, according to Paul M. CMV by age 40.2 About two thirds of the world's Ridker, M.D., M.P.H, of Brigham and Women's Hospital population have been infected with H. pylori.3 in Boston. Ridker wrote an editorial accompanying Continued on page 39

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Continued from page 38 - Infectious Agents disease, but only 5% of artery tissue samples taken from C. pneumoniae is the most common; it infects about people without heart disease.1 half of all people by age 20 and about 75% by age 60.4 Heart Disease Risk: H. pylori How might these bacteria and viruses cause heart There is less evidence that H. pylori affects your risk of disease? heart disease. In general, studies that reported an association were small and not very rigorous. Larger There are two main theories to explain how these studies have found either no connection or only a weak bacteria and viruses may cause atherosclerosis connection between this bacteria and heart disease.1, 13 (hardening of the arteries). One is that the bacteria/viruses themselves directly attack and damage Heart Disease Risk:Cytomegalovirus artery walls. The other theory is that the presence of There have only been a few studies on cytomegalovirus these bacteria or virus causes other changes in the in people with heart disease. The results have been body, such as the release of chemicals that can mixed. Among more than 1,000 people in the accumulate in the blood vessels and clog the arteries, Framingham Heart Study (62% were women), there was eventually leading to heart disease.5 no increased risk of heart disease for people with CMV antibodies.14 However, another study of over 230 people, A third theory is that the type of infection is less including 87 women, found that women with CMV were important than the number of different infections you more likely to have heart disease as those who did not get, a number known as a the total pathogen burden have this virus. In men, CMV was associated with (bacteria and viruses are pathogens).6 In a study of over inflammation markers such as CRP that have been linked 1,000 people with heart disease, the number of to heart disease.15 In a study of 400 seemingly healthy infections a person had was directly related to their risk people (more than half were women), those who tested of dying from heart disease. People in this study were positive for CMV were more likely to have signs of tested for 8 different infections, including the 3 main damaged blood vessels. Their blood vessels also did not suspects. Those who tested positive to more than 5 widen very much in response to nitroglycerin, a infections were nearly 5 times more likely to die or medication used to relieve chest pain.16 In a study of have a heart attack than those who tested positive for nearly 1,000 people with heart disease (28% were fewer than 4 infections.7 women), those who tested positive for CMV (but not H. There are other studies showing a similar connection pylori or C. pneumoniae) were more likely to die of any between the number of infections and heart disease,8-10 cause during the following 3 years.17 but there are also some that don't, including a study of How are infectious agents tested for? 122 healthy postmenopausal women.11 Usually through a blood test. If you have been infected Will these bacteria and viruses affect my risk of with these bacteria or viruses, your body will make heart disease? antibodies against them. Antibodies are your immune Researchers do not yet know exactly how, or if, these system's customized weaponry for fighting infections – infections affect a person's risk of heart disease. each antibody is made to fight a specific kind of Presently, studies show an association between these infection. After your body has fought off the infection, infections and heart disease, but there is little proof yet the antibodies often stay in your blood so that the that the infections actually cause heart disease. infection can be recognized and attacked if it reappears. Doctors can tell if you are infected or have been infected Heart Disease Risk: C. pneumoniae in the past with any viruses or bacteria by testing your One study comparing about 100 men and 20 women blood for the specific antibodies. who had a heart attack at a young age (younger than 45 in men and 50 in women) with 120 healthy individuals The 3 types of bacteria and viruses suspected of having a found that people infected with C. pneumoniae were role in heart disease are not routinely tested for to about twice as likely to have had a heart attack. If a determine heart disease risk. You would only be tested person was infected with both C. pneumoniae and for them if you presented symptoms of the ailments that CMV, their risk was 12 times greater than people with they commonly cause. neither infection, and 5 times greater than people with • H. pylori: Diagnosing infection with H. pylori only one infection.12 Looking at combined results from involves taking a blood sample, stool sample, a tissue 13 studies involving more than 600 people, C. biopsy of the stomach lining, or a breath test pneumoniae bacteria was found in 52% of hardened (depending on your healthcare provider's orders). artery tissue samples taken from people with heart Continued on page 40

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Continued from page 39 - Infectious Agents 6. Espinola-Klein C, Rupprecht HJ, Blankenberg S, et al. Impact of infectious burden on progression of carotid atherosclerosis. You may be tested if you have a peptic ulcer (a Stroke. 2002;33:2581-2586. sore in the lining of the stomach or small intestine). 7. Rupprecht HJ, Blankenberg S, Bickel C, et al. Impact of viral • C. pneumoniae: A blood test may be given if you and bacterial infectious burden on long-term prognosis in have symptoms of bronchitis, sinusitis, or patients with coronary artery disease. Circulation. 2001;104:25- pneumonia. 31. • Cytomegalovirus (CMV): A CMV test might be 8. Zhu J, Quyyumi AA, Norman JE, et al. Effects of total ordered if you are a young adult, a pregnant female, pathogen burden on coronary artery disease risk and C-reactive or an immune-compromised patient and have flu- protein levels. Am J Cardiol. 2000;85:140-146. or mononucleosis-type symptoms such as fatigue, 9. Smieja M, Gnarpe J, Lonn E, et al. Multiple infections and swollen lymph nodes, and fever. subsequent cardiovascular events in the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation (HOPE) Study. Circulation. Can I prevent myself from being infected? 2003;107:251-257. These bacteria and viruses are very common so there is little you can do to protect yourself. Most people will 10. Espinola-Klein C, Rupprecht HJ, Blankenberg S, et al. be infected at some point in their lives. There is not yet Impact of infectious burden on extent and long-term prognosis of enough evidence to support taking antibiotics as a atherosclerosis. Circulation. 2002;105:15-21. preventive measure against heart disease. Currently, 11. Ridker PM, Hennekens CH, Buring JE, Kundsin R, Shih J. there are two large trials underway to better understand Baseline IgG antibody titers to Chlamydia pneumoniae, if treating these infections can reduce a person's risk of Helicobacter pylori, herpes simplex virus, and cytomegalovirus heart disease. and the risk for cardiovascular disease in women. Ann Intern Med. 1999;131:573-577. How are these infections treated? 12. Gattone M, Iacoviello L, Colombo M, et al. Chlamydia In many cases you won't receive any treatment because pneumoniae and cytomegalovirus seropositivity, inflammatory you will not even notice that you are infected with markers, and the risk of myocardial infarction at a young age. these bacteria and viruses. They often have no obvious Am Heart J. 2001;142:633-640. symptoms. C. pneumoniae and H. pylori can be successfully treated with antibiotics, usually a 7 to 14 13. Folsom AR, Nieto FJ, Sorlie P, Chambless LE, Graham DY. Helicobacter pylori seropositivity and coronary heart disease day course. But even after treatment, these bacteria are incidence. Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities (ARIC) Study so common that it's possible you'll be infected again. Investigators. Circulation. 1998;98:845-850. Because CMV is a virus, it requires an antiviral drug called ganciclovir. While it can't cure the infection, 14. Haider AW, Wilson PW, Larson MG, et al. The association of ganciclovir can keep the virus in its inactive state. seropositivity to Helicobacter pylori, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and cytomegalovirus with risk of cardiovascular disease: a There is no evidence to show that treating these prospective study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2002;40:1408-1413. infections can reduce a person's risk of heart disease. 15. Zhu J, Shearer GM, Norman JE, et al. Host response to References cytomegalovirus infection as a determinant of susceptibility to 1. Danesh J, Collins R, Peto R. Chronic infections and coronary artery disease: sex-based differences in inflammation coronary heart disease: is there a link? Lancet. and type of immune response. Circulation. 2000;102:2491-2496. 1997;350:430-436. 16. Grahame-Clarke C, Chan NN, Andrew D, et al. Human 2. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Infection. National Center for cytomegalovirus seropositivity is associated with impaired Infectious Diseases. 10/26/2002 17:45:16. Available at: vascular function. Circulation. 2003;108:678-683. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/cmv.htm, 2003. 17. Muhlestein JB, Horne BD, Carlquist JF, et al. 3. Helicobacter pylori and Peptic Ulcer Disease. Center for Cytomegalovirus seropositivity and C-reactive protein have Disease Control. Available at: independent and combined predictive value for mortality in http://www.cdc.gov/ulcer/md.htm#howcommon. Accessed patients with angiographically demonstrated coronary artery May 1, 2006. disease. Circulation. 2000;102:1917-1923. 4. Kuo CC, Jackson LA, Campbell LA, Grayston JT. http://www.hearthealthywomen.org/am-i-at-risk/infectious- Chlamydia pneumoniae (TWAR). Clin Microbiol Rev. agents/infectious-agents.html 1995;8:451-461. ☻☻☻☻☻☻ 5. Fong IW. Emerging relations between infectious diseases and coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis. Cmaj. 2000;163:49-56.

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African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic

Volume 7 Issue 12 NEWSLETTER November/December 2012 FEATURED ARTICLES Radiation Exposure and Heart Attacks in Children of Fukushima By Chris Busby September 9, 2011

It is commonly supposed that exposure to radiation child’s heart at age 5 is 220g, the tissue alone weighs causes cancer and leukemia. This is what the risk models 85g. The heart is a critical organ and an amazing one. It of the current system of radiation protection gives as the must pump continuously for the lifespan of the expected end point of exposure. Thus an individual is individual. The cardiac myocyte is the most physically exposed and many years later develop cancer. For high energetic cell in the body, contracting constantly, doses, it is conceded that there are serious deterministic without tiring, 3 billion times or more in an average effects, ending in deaths. I want to discuss a non-cancer human lifespan. By coordinating its beating activity result of internal exposure to the nuclide Caesium-137 with that of its 3 billion neighbours in the main pump which is a major long lived contaminant from nuclear of the human heart, over 7,000 litres of blood are reactors, was present in the Chernobyl fallout and in the pumped per day, without conscious effort, along contamination from Fukushima. I want to consider the 100,000 miles of blood vessels (Severs 2000). The effects of chronic exposure of children to this substance number of muscle cells in a heart are known to be 3 x and how it will damage their developing hearts. 109. Their cylindrical dimensions are approximately 100-150µ long and 20-35 µ diameter. They cannot be First, we do not need to speculate about this. The data is replaced, except very slowly, at a rate of about 1% per available. Prof Yuri Bandashevsky carried out a great year, so damage to the cells is, as all heart attack deal of research on the effects of the contamination of victims know, very serious. children in the territories of Belarus contaminated by the Chernobyl accident. He established that children with If there are 3 x 109 cells in a human heart, in a mean body burdens of upwards of 40Bq/kg Cs-137 children’s heart where the mass of tissue is 85g, the cell suffered life-threatening cardiac problems including density is 3.5 x 1010 cells per kilogram. arrythmias, cardiac insufficiency (angina) and heart It has been known for many years that the nuclide Cs- attacks (infarctions) which could result in death. Fig 1 137 is concentrated in muscle. Let us introduce below is taken from Bandashevsky’s contribution to the 50Bq/kg of Cs-137 into this heart muscle tissue. This is conference of the European Committee on Radiation risk 50 tracks per second from the Cs-137 beta particle and in Lesvos, 2009, where he received the Edward Radford maybe another 20 tracks per second from the gamma Memorial Prize for his important researches. It shows ray decay of the daughter Ba-137m. This is 70 tracks that cardiac arrhythmia anomalies measured by ECG per second. Each track intercepts about 400 cells. For a appear in children at contamination levels above about child chronically contaminated at this level through 20Bq/kg. living on Cs-137 contaminated areas for one year, the These researches, incidentally, resulted in him being sent number of tracks is simply 70x 60x60x24x365 = 2.2 x to jail for several years by the Belarussian government: 109 tracks per kilogram per year. This means that the he only was released following massive pressure from the number of cells hit by a radiation electron track, per European Union and the issuing to him of an EU kilogram is 8.8 x 1011. passport. The question I wish to briefly address is how For this model we immediately see that every heart cell this could occur, what is the mechanism? will be hit by a radiation track about 25 times. If only 1 Modeling the heart of a child percent of these tracks caused the cell to die, it means According to ICRP reference human data the mass of a Continued on page 42 -41- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 41- Radiation Exposure and Heart Attacks in Children of Fukushima that the child’s heart would lose 25% percent of its functional capability: all the cells would be dead. The necrosis would lead to conduction problems, just like it does in old people, and cardiac arrythmias and heart attacks would ensue. It must be noted that heart muscle cannot regenerate itself except very slowly, indeed it was originally though that heart cells could not replace themselves. Following discovery that Carbon-14 from the 60s atmospheric tests was incorporated into hearts, it was seen that there was a 1% replacement per year. So we see that the heart is the critical organ in the body. Fig 3 Structure of the causes of death in Belarus, 2008 The cells when damaged cannot be repaired. This is why the children of Chernobyl have been developing cardiac Fukushima problems and dying. It is why the adult population of We have recently heard that children in the Fukushima Belarus has been developing cardiac problems and dying contamination area have been suffering heart attacks. Fig 2, Fig 3 [ Bandashevsky 2011]. This is therefore a predictable development and is a consequence of internal contamination of heart muscle with Caesium-137 and other radionuclides. In view of the seriousness of this development the ECRR committee has decided to release the Bandashevsky presentation at its 2009 Lesvos conference [www.euradcom.org]. Implications for those living on the Fukushima contaminated territories These considerations make it a matter of urgency to begin to carry out clinical investigations and ECG measure-ments on children living in the contaminated territories and ingesting or inhaling Cs-137. Any child found to have cardiac anomalies should be immediately evacuated to clean territory. If it is found that any Fig 1 Number of children without ECG modifications as children are suffering cardiac problems it must be a a function of Cs-137 concentration in the organism matter of urgency to evacuate all the children. (Bandashevsky and Bandashevsky). Implications for radiation risk assessment The concentration on cancer and leukemia as an end point for epidemiological studies of radiation risk is a flawed approach since cancer rates with age have a different trend to heart and circulatory system rates. This problem is clear when retrospective studies of radiation victims are carries out but have not been considered by those using these methods to develop or underpin risk coefficients. Examples include nuclear test veterans, and radium and thorotrast exposed cohorts. The point simply made is that if you die of a heart attack you do not develop cancer. This syndrome is clear for Belarus in Fig 3 and has Fig 2 The dynamics of cardiovascular diseases in the significant implications for health care in the Republic of Belarus Fukushima case. The broad spectrum non specific ageing effects of internal nuclide exposures, described Continued on page 43

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Continued from page 42 – Radiation Exposure and Heart Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster. In 2001 the Attacks in Children of Fukushima infant mortality was 6.834 per 1000 live births, vividly by Bandashevsky, results is alarming loss of life. increasing to 6.845 in 2007. All years from 2002 to This is seen in Fig 4 where the population of Belarus is 2007 were higher than the 2001 rate. seen to have moved into negative replacement after the Spewing from the Fukushima reactor are radioactive Chernobyl. isotopes including those of iodine (I-131), strontium (Sr-90) and cesium (Cs-134 and Cs-137) all of which are taken up in food and water. Iodine is concentrated in the thyroid, Sr-90 in bones and teeth and Cs-134 and Cs-137 in soft tissues, including the heart. The unborn and babies are more vulnerable because the cells are rapidly dividing and the delivered dose is proportionally larger than that delivered to an adult. Data from Chernobyl, which exploded 25 years ago, clearly shows increased numbers of sick and weak newborns and increased numbers of deaths in the unborn and newborns, especially soon after the meltdown. These occurred in Europe as well as the former Soviet Union. Similar findings are also seen in Fig 4 Demographic index for the Republic of Belarus, wildlife living in areas with increased radioactive 1950-2004 [Bandashevsky 2011]. fallout levels. (Chernobyl – Consequences of the Catastrophe for http://1am.sakura.ne.jp/Nuclear/caesiumheart_v1.0_E.pdf ☻☻☻☻☻☻ People and the Environment, Alexeiy V. Yablokov, Vasily B. Nesterenko, and Alexey V. Nesterenko. Is the Dramatic Increase in Consulting Editor: Janette D. Sherman-Nevinger. New York Academy of Sciences, 2009.) Baby Deaths in the US a Levels of radioisotopes were measured in children who Result of Fukushima Fallout? had died in the Minsk area that had received Chernobyl fallout. The cardiac findings were the same as those By Janette D. Sherman, M. D. & Joseph Mangano seen in test animals that had been administered Cs- June 22, 2011 137. Bandashevsky, Y. I, Pathology of Incorporated Dianuke.org Ionizing Radiation, Belarus Technical University, Minsk. 136 pp., 1999. For his pioneering work, Prof. A 35% Spike in Infant Mortality in Northwest Cities since Bandashevsky was arrested in 2001 and imprisoned for Meltdown five years of an eight year sentence. U.S. babies are dying at an increased rate. While the The national low-weight (under 2500 grams, or 5.5 United States spends billions on medical care, as of 2006, lbs) rate has risen 23% from 1984 to 2006. Nearly the US ranked 28th in the world in infant mortality, more 400,000 infants are born under 2500g each year in the than twice that of the lowest ranked countries. (DHHS, U.S. Most of the increase in infant mortality is due CDC, National Center for Health Statistics. Health United specifically to infants born weighing less than 750 States 2010, Table 20, p. 131, February 2011.) grams (I lb 10 1/2 oz). Multiple births commonly The recent CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report result in underweight babies, but most of the increase indicates that eight cities in the northwest U.S. (Boise ID, in births at less than 750 grams occurred among Seattle WA, Portland OR, plus the northern California singletons and among mothers 20-34 years of age. cities of Santa Cruz, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, (CDC, National Vital Statistics Report, 52 (12): 1-24, and Berkeley) reported the following data on deaths 2005.) among those younger than one year of age: From an obstetrical point of view, women in the age This amounts to an increase of 35% (the total for the bracket 20 to 34 are those most physically able to entire U.S. rose about 2.3%), and is statistically deliver a healthy child. So what has gone wrong? significant. Of further significance is that those dates Clues to causation are often revealed when there is a include the four weeks before and the ten weeks after the Continued on page 44 -43- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 43 – Baby Deaths in the US a Result of Fukushima Fallout? The Nightmare of Mercury in change in incidence, a suspicious geographical Heart Tissues distribution, and/or an increase in hazards known to Researchers at the Catholic University in Rome have tested adversely affect health and development. patients with advanced congested heart failure and found a The risk of having a baby with birth defects is estimated ‘marked elevation’ of mercury in the heart tissue – in the at three to four of every 100 babies born. As of 2005, order of a massive 22,000 times higher than normal. Because the Institute of medicine estimated the cost of pre-term heart tissues absorb a large percentage of mercury entering births in the US at more than $2.6 billion, or $51,600 the boy, cardiologists need to pay attention to the nightmare for each infant. of mercury toxicity that is threatening our hearts with cardiac arrest. Soviet doctors studied workers exposed to mercury Low birth weight babies, born too soon and too small, found that the heavy metal had a profound effect on the heart, face a lifetime of health problems, including cerebral interfering with its normal contractions, electrical palsy, and behavioral and learning problems placing an conductivity and overall regulation. They also found that enormous physical, emotional and economic burdens on mercury accumulated in the heart tissue and valves. society as a whole and on those caring for them. Death of a young child is devastating to a family. Researchers in Italy found that mercury accumulated in the heart tissue and valves even when very little is found As of June 5, 2011, The Japan Times reported that elsewhere in the body. Why this happens is not know, but radiation in the No. 1 plant was measured at 4,000 researchers are clear that mercury adversely affects heart milliseverts per hour. To put that in perspective, a metabolism and worsens cellular function. Mercury adversely worker would receive a maximal “permissible” dose in affects the myocardium in a sub clinical manner but 4 minutes. In addition there are over 40,000 tons of eventually becomes the background basis for pathological radioactive water under that reactor with more shifts that undermine heart health. The most noticeable shifts radioactivity escaping into the air and sea. Fuel rods are in the beat frequency and voltage. are believed to have melted and sunk to the bottom of reactors 1, 2, and 3. The overall vascular effects of mercury include oxidative stress, inflammation, thrombosis, vascular smooth muscle Tepco, the corporate owner took more than two months dysfunction, endothelial dysfunction, dyslipidemia, high LDL to confirm the meltdowns and admitted lying about the cholesterol, low HDL, high triglycerides, immune levels of destruction and subsequent contamination, dysfunction and mitochondrial dysfunction. The clinical resulting in “Public Distrust.” Over 100,000 tons of consequences of mercury toxicity include hypertension, radioactive waste are on the site. coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, increased Why should we care if there may be is a link between carotid IMT and obstruction, CVA, generalized Fukushima and the death of children? Because we need atherosclerosis, and renal dysfunction with protenuria. to measure the actual levels of isotopes in the Mercury blocks the action of acetylcholine, the environment and in the bodies of people exposed to neurotransmitter that passes the nerve impulse from the vagus determine if the fallout is killing our most vulnerable. nerve to the heart muscle. Both acetycholine and the nerve The research is not technically difficult – the political receptors in the heart muscle contain thiol (sulfur/hydrogen) and economic barriers may be greater. Bandshevsky proteins. When mercury attaches to the thiol protein in the and others did it and confirmed the connection. The heart muscle receptors and in the acetylcholine, the heart information is available in the Chernobyl book. muscle can’t receive the vagus nerve electrical impulse for (Previously cited.) contractions as well as they might. Mercury accumulates in The biological findings of Chernobyl cannot be the heart muscle and heart valves, causing damage by ignored: isotope incorporation will determine the future attaching to thiol (SH-) proteins. This damage is indicated by of all life on earth – animal, fish, bird, plant and EKG and confirmed by histologic study. As mercury enters human. It is crucial to know this information if we are ours bodies, if there is sufficient selenium it will mop up the to avoid further catastrophic damage. mercury before it can bind to its favourite sulphur sites or Source: pass through the blood-brain barrier. Selenium is excellent http://www.counterpunch.org/sherman06102011.html antidote for mercury exposure. http://www.dianuke.org/is-the-dramatic-increase-in-baby- http://naturalallopathiccardiology.com/cms/index.php?option=com deaths-in-the-us-a-result-of-fukushima-fallout/ _content&view=article&id=115&Itemid=151 ☻☻☻☻☻☻ ☻☻☻☻☻☻

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more likely to develop diabetes and 14 percent more Pollution tied to Disease Risk likely to develop hypertension than those living in in L.A. black women sections with cleaner air. January 13, 2012 Previous research has linked air pollution to health High Blood Pressure News problems such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease and even higher rates of death. In a study of more than 4,000 black women in Los "The public health implications are huge,” said Dr. Jiu- Angeles, those who lived in areas with higher levels of Chiuan Chen, who studies the effects of air pollution at traffic-related air pollution were at increased risk of the University of Southern California Keck School of developing diabetes and High Blood Pressure. Medicine in Los Angeles, especially for black women, The researchers, led by Patricia Coogan at Boston who have higher rates of diabetes and High Blood University, found that black women living in Pressure than white women. He was not involved in the neighborhoods with high levels of nitrogen oxides, current work. pollutants found in traffic exhaust, were 25 percent more Forty-four percent of all black women in the U.S. have likely to develop diabetes and 14 percent more likely to High Blood Pressure and about 11 percent have develop hypertension than those living in sections with diabetes compared with 28 percent and roughly seven cleaner air. percent, respectively, of white women, according to the Previous research has linked air pollution to health Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. problems such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease and even Evidence suggests that longer-term exposure to air higher rates of death. pollutants over years confers higher risks of "The public health implications are huge,” said Dr. Jiu- cardiovascular morbidity and mortality than shorter Chiuan Chen, who studies the effects of air pollution at term exposure. One explanation is that cumulative the University of Southern California Keck School of adverse effects that develop over longer durations lead Medicine in Los Angeles, especially for black women, to the genesis of chronic disease. Preliminary who have higher rates of diabetes and High Blood epidemiological and clinical evidence suggest that air Pressure than white women. He was not involved in the pollution may contribute to the development current work. Hypertension and Type 2 Diabetes. Forty-four percent of all black women in the U.S. have Black Americans also experience higher levels of air High Blood Pressure and about 11 percent have diabetes pollution than white Americans, according to the study compared with 28 percent and roughly seven percent, authors. respectively, of white women, according to the Centers For their investigation, published in Circulation, the for Disease Control and Prevention. researchers followed participants in the ongoing Black Evidence suggests that longer-term exposure to air Women’s Health Study for 10 years. The women were pollutants over years confers higher risks of mainly recruited from subscribers to Essence magazine, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality than shorter term and none had diabetes or High Blood Pressure when the exposure. One explanation is that cumulative adverse study began in 1995. effects that develop over longer durations lead to the Over the course of a decade, 531 women developed genesis of chronic disease. Preliminary epidemiological High Blood Pressure and 183 women were diagnosed and clinical evidence suggest that air pollution may with diabetes. contribute to the development hypertension and type 2 diabetes. The findings on their relative risks for those conditions take into account several other potential influences, In a study of more than 4,000 black women in Los including how heavy the women were, whether they Angeles, those who lived in areas with higher levels of smoked and other stressors, including noise levels at traffic-related air pollution were at increased risk of participants’ homes. developing diabetes and High Blood Pressure. Although researchers measured average pollution levels The researchers, led by Patricia Coogan at Boston near participants’ homes for only one year of the ten- University, found that black women living in year study, Coogan told Reuters Health that air neighborhoods with high levels of nitrogen oxides, pollution patterns remained relatively constant over the pollutants found in traffic exhaust, were 25 percent entire study period. Continued on page 46

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Continued from page 45 – Pollution tied to Disease Risk in like intravenous “chelation therapy’ is bogus. L.A. black women Why did I say ‘proven’? Well, because in the early While Coogan and her colleagues estimated nitrogen 1960’s, published studies in mainstream medical journals oxide concentrations near participants’ homes, they did clearly demonstrated the benefits of intravenous not account for commuting habits or exposure to air administered EDTA chelation therapy in relieving pollution at work. According to the researchers, symptomatic angina – chest pain due to coronary heart Americans, on average, spend about 70 percent of their disease. Clark and Mosher reported an 87% improvement time at home. of coronary artery disease symptoms in the American In addition to measuring nitrogen oxides, a proxy for Journal of Cardiology (1960). Then, in 1963, one of the traffic pollution, the researchers evaluated levels of fine principle investigators of this therapy did an about-face particulate matter. Many sources contribute to this type and wrote an article stating that chelation therapy was of of air pollution, including traffic, power plants and no benefit for cardiovascular disease. The interesting industrial processes. thing about this article was that he cited no study for his conclusion. Women who lived in areas with higher fine particulate exposures also faced an increased risk of diabetes and I think that part of the problem with understanding High Blood Pressure, although statistically the link was chelation therapy may have come from chelation doctors weak and could have been due to chance. themselves. Since its inception and for many decades afterwards, it was the belief that chelation therapy Previous reports have suggested that air pollution worked simply because it was binding to calcium in particles small enough to make their way into the blood hardened atherosclerotic plaque and “dissolving” the stream may contribute to a narrowing of blood vessels, blockage in the arteries. While there was an experimental which can lead to High Blood Pressure and reduce study published in the journal Surgery in 1962 by Wilder sensitivity to insulin. showing that disodium EDTA was releasing calcium More research needs to be done before these results can from plaque, there has not, at least to my understanding, be generalized to all women or even all black women been a long term study proving this as the true living in the U.S., Coogan cautions. Earlier studies did mechanism for chelation therapy. not find a link between air pollution and increased In today’s prevailing medical ideology, coronary heart incidence of diabetes or High Blood Pressure in men, disease is simply due to excess “LDL” cholesterol and she said. that all one needs is a high dose of a statin drug such as Because people don’t always have control over where Lipitor or Crestor, as advertised on television. If this were they live, policy makers must recognize the dangers of the truth, why have people benefited from chelation living and working in areas with high air pollution, therapy over the past 4 decades, and why are there more Chen said. and more articles discussing the link between heavy metals and coronary heart disease and – even worse – To reduce the risk of High Blood Pressure and diabetes, cardiovascular “mortality”? Let’s explore this. he added, individuals can take steps, such as exercising, losing excess weight, quitting smoking and limiting salt The first thing to understand, in my opinion, is that intake. SOURCE: Circulation, online January 4, 2012 disease is often due to excess inflammation and to oxidation that is out of control. The fact that this concept http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/pollution-tied-to- was first published in 1957 in the Journal of Gerontology disease-risk-in-la-black-women/ by Dr. Denhan Harman is interesting because this ☻☻☻☻☻☻ concept underlies the benefits of chelation therapy as well Heavy Metals and Their Link as of statin drug use and both their benefits in coronary artery disease therapy. to Heart Disease Let’s first consider the following few articles regarding Ron Manzanero, M.D. toxic heavy metals. Please bear in mind that the metals in Austin Integrative Medicine consideration are matters of disease causation from chronic micro-dose exposure, not from the massive-dose The purpose of this article is to bring to light the exposure that most people and doctors imagine, as if connection between coronary artery disease and heavy someone drank a gallon of leaded paint. metals like mercury and lead. The naysayers say there is no such connection and that an old, proven therapy Continued on page 47

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Continued from page 46 – Heavy Metals and Their Link to vascular mortality in the general population, constituting Heart Disease a major health problem.” (Emphasis mine) The first article from the March 26, 2003 issue of the The standard lead range in many laboratories is “normal” Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 289, up to 25 or even 50 mcg/dL! Again, I point out that the No. 12 by Nash, et al, it is shown that women in their 40s article failed to discuss how intravenous EDTA chelation and 50s, who are moving from peri-menopause to early therapy is the approved therapy for lead removal from the menopause and who were in the upper half of the normal body. A similar statement was made in the April 2009 blood lead level, had a statistically significant higher issue of Environmental Health regarding lead: incident rate of elevated blood pressure compared to those women who were in the lower half of the normal “Lead is a multi-targeted toxicant, affecting cardio- lead level. The article then clearly discusses the vascular, renal, and nervous systems and may contribute mechanism of how lead, which is stored and later to morbidity and mortality…” (Emphasis mine) released from our bones as we age, will enter the blood The conclusion of this article was that older women with stream and deposit in arteries, thus inhibiting the higher concentrations of blood lead might be at higher relaxation and dilation of these very arteries. The end risk for death from coronary artery disease. Again, we see result is a more narrowed artery. If you’ve ever tried to a correlation between lead in microgram doses and suck through a skinny straw versus a wide fat straw, cardiovascular disease and mortality. you’ve probably noticed that it required more force to do so. Likewise, your heart has to exert more pressure and A more recent study published in Circulation (2009; 120: force to pump blood through narrowed arteries versus 1056-1064) by Weisskopf, et al, also concludes that wider dilated arteries. (Many of our prescription drugs blood lead levels have been associated with increased lower blood pressure by causing a relaxation of the “mortality” due to cardiovascular disease. The article arteries!) very importantly makes the distinction that the lead exposure is a cumulative result over years of exposure A key point of this article is that the lead levels that versus the sudden massive dose toxicity we all think of caused hypertension were in the standard “normal when we hear the word “toxicity”. They point to the range”. Clearly, it does not require massive dose notion that serum blood testing may have severe exposure to bring about a “toxic” effect from this heavy limitations on accurately diagnosing total body metal. This hypertension is a result of normal bone aging concentration of lead and propose the idea of using bone and thinning causing a release of stored lead from the x-rays as an alternative and more accurate way to bones in microgram doses. I also found it interesting that determine lead accumulation. (Blood serum levels only nowhere in the article do the authors indicate the show what is floating through the blood stream, not what approved therapy for lead detoxification, which is is buried in the body’s tissues.) intravenous EDTA chelation. I guess they’re content to prescribe another drug, which only treats the number but The principle investigator, Dr. Weisskopf states: doesn’t really get to the root of the problem. “The findings with bone lead are dramatic. It is the first time we have a biomarker of cumulative exposure to lead Before going on, I should add that our body is exposed to and the strong findings suggest that … past exposures to environmental heavy metals like lead and mercury from lead represent an important predictor of cardiovascular our drinking water, food, dental amalgams, old leaded death…” (Emphasis mine) paints, and largely from atmospheric contamination from coal burning plants, the vast majority occurring in China. It was also found that men with the highest level of bone (Texas also has its share of coal burning plants.) The lead concentrations were at a six times higher risk for body attempts to eliminate these heavy metals via its own cardiovascular disease compared to men with the lowest chelating molecule, glutathione. But unfortunately, much lead levels. What might the reasons be for lead and this of the heavy metals are stored in connective tissue like link to cardiovascular death? According to the authors, our bones. This explains why, in the above study, the there are several mechanisms, one being an increase in women were getting more micro-dose exposure of lead oxidative stress from the lead. In the 1957 article I quoted from their own osteopenia, or thinning of the bones! that disease and aging is a problem of inflammation and oxidation. Oxidation is what causes iron to rust. The journal Circulation (2006; 114: 1388-1394) explored Oxidation is what causes our LDL, “bad’ cholesterol, to the relationship between blood lead levels above 10 become problematic. Oxidation can cause blood vessel micrograms/dL and illness and concluded that “lead inflammation and atherogenic disease. exposures remain a significant determinant of cardio- Continued on page 48

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Continued from page 47 – – Heavy Metals and Their Link to studies on EDTA could have been because of lead re- Heart Disease moval from the arteries and subsequent increase in blood Lastly, I don’t want to leave the toxic metal mercury out vessel diameter and improved blood flow dynamics. of the discussion. There was a press release in May 30, Also, one has to consider the reduction in oxidative 2007 from the Ohio State University Medical Center’s damage to the arteries and cholesterol by steady removal lipid studies center announcing that “mercury’s link to of lead and mercury. One of the more current heart disease can be traced to activation of [an enzyme] understandings of statin cholesterol drug benefits is their which triggers a process leading to plaque buildup in anti-inflammatory effect. It remains to be proven that blood vessel walls” (also published in the International massive lowering of LDL and total cholesterol extends Journal of Toxicology). (Emphasis mine.) life. In fact, considering that our natural anabolic (build, To summarize, we live in a toxic world with daily repair, restore) hormones like testosterone and estrogen all environmental exposures to lead and mercury, as well as derive from cholesterol, we might be doing more harm a host of other toxic metals and poisons, which than good in the current severe lowering of total biologically accumulate in the body, especially in our cholesterol as practiced by pharmaceutical driven bones. As we begin to age, there is a process of normal mainstream medicine. Cholesterol is required in optimal bone thinning which releases micro-doses of these toxic brain neurotransmitter functioning and this may explain metals back into the blood stream and tissues. The end why there is an ever-increasing occurrence of elderly effects of this re-exposure are in the multitudes, individuals who suffer from a “statin drug cognitive however, for the purpose of this article and the topic of dysfunction syndrome”. chelation therapy for cardiovascular disease, I’d like to It is my opinion that intravenous EDTA chelation therapy, highlight the following tidbits: along with other complimentary types of therapy, need to • Lead is proven to cause blood vessel narrowing and be one part of the overall plan of optimally treating hypertension (AMA Journal) cardiovascular disease. The above studies, while not clinical trials on chelation therapy, are highly suggestive • Lead is proven to be a causative factor for death due that toxic metals like lead and mercury are causative to cardiovascular disease (Circulation Journal, factors in heart disease and that some form of chelation Environmental Health) therapy would be beneficial. Indeed, it is the anecdotal • Lead causes oxidative destruction (Circulation evidence of people receiving benefit from chelation Journal) therapy over a time span of 50 years that supports this. • Mercury can trigger plaque formation in the http://aimmd.com/articles/heavy-metals-and-their-link-to-heart- coronary arteries (International Journal of disease/ ☻☻☻☻☻☻ Toxicology) Given that the original studies on EDTA chelation were The Cesium Deception: Why proven to have a benefit by relief of angina in patients with cardiovascular disease and given that the FDA- the Mainstream Media is approved therapy for lead detoxification is EDTA mostly reporting Iodine chelation therapy, perhaps mainstream medicine needs to reconsider their flawed notion that chelation is a Levels, not Radioactive useless treatment for heart disease. By today’s standard of medical care, lead and mercury are not even on the Cesium radar screen! Yet, by the above studies it is clear that By Mike Adams lead and mercury do play a role in not only cardiovascular “disease”, but also cardiovascular (NaturalNews April 07, 2011) Virtually all the numbers “mortality”! It is my contention, as well as that of you're seeing about the radioactivity coming out of thousands of other doctors worldwide that EDTA Fukushima are based on iodine-131 which only has a half- chelation still should play a significant role in the life of 8 days, not the far more dangerous cesium-137 treatment of coronary artery disease. The mechanism of which has a half-life of 30 years. So while the mainstream benefit is probably that of heavy metal removal and not a media reports that "radiation levels are falling rapidly" “rotor-rooter’ effect of calcium removal. In an already from the 7.5 million times reading taken a few days ago, diseased and narrowed artery from atherosclerosis, the what they're not telling you is that the cesium-137 relief of angina symptoms as proven in the 1960’s radioactivity will take 30 years just to fall by 50 percent. Continued on page 49 -48- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 48 – The Cesium Deception So a speck of radiation that might have been a "low level" It's the great global cover-up in all this: What happens to if it were floating around in the air around you can all the radioactive cesium being dumped into the ocean suddenly become fatal if you consume it. And that's what right now? It doesn't just burn itself out in a few months people are now facing with Japan's seafood. Yet like iodine-131. This stuff sticks around for centuries. everybody is being told that it's all perfectly safe, no problem, no worried, don't even think about it. As part of the cover story, the FDA now says it will test "all imported food products coming from Japan" Where does the radiation go in your body? (http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/04/05/fukushima- We're all being lied to about the "safety" of dumping-into-th...). This claim is, of course, ridiculous on radioactive food, you see. And there's more to it than its face. Even without this Fukushima emergency in the what has been discussed here, actually: If a fish takes in works, the FDA only tests a tiny fraction of all the food radioactive cesium and it gets distributed throughout the imported into the USA. This agency has no existing body of that fish in the way that potassium would infrastructure under which it could test ALL the food normally get distributed (because cesium follows nearly being imported from Japan. The very idea is ludicrous. the same biological pathways as potassium), then the radioactive cesium has become part of the fish flesh. As this ABC News story reveals, the FDA says it's "really stretched" just to inspect a mere two percent of When you eat that fish, your body breaks down the fish imported food: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/radiation- tissues, then reabsorbs the cesium into your own body, japans-fish-raise-concerns-wor... distributing the cesium into your own muscle tissues where potassium would normally go. You are what you The FDA likes radiation! eat, after all. And if you eat radioactive cesium, then you Even if the FDA could magically test all the food being quickly become a walking radioactive dirty bomb from imported from Japan, what allowable level of radiation the inside. would the FDA claim was "safe" in those foods anyway? Remember, this is the agency that has long supported If it's invisible, it must be safe the mass irradiation of the U.S. food supply as a way They don't tell you that on CNN, folks. I'm willing to bet to kill e.coli and salmonella. their "info babe" news models don't even have a clue about the laws of physics in the first place. So while For all we know, FDA bureaucrats equate radiation with they're all telling you that eating irradiated seafood from safety and might actually declare radioactive seafood Japan is perfectly safe, the truth is that it could very well from Japan to be safer than non-radioactive food be quite deadly if you're eating fish that contain high because, they would say, the radiation "kills salmonella." levels of cesium. Why eating radioactive food is FAR more dangerous So you might wonder, then, are fish being detected with than nuclear fallout cesium in their tissues? You bet they are! You'll find the The other element in all this that's hardly being reported details in these news stories: in the press is that when you eat radioactive food, the threat to your health increases exponentially. That's http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/201104/s3 because internal radiation is far more deadly to your 183678.... and http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/business/news/20110406p2a0 body than external radiation. It all comes down to the 0m0na008000c... law of the inverse square of the distance between you and the radiation source. The extremely high levels of radiation even have the local fishermen freaked out. "I can't go out to fish A speck of radioactive dust that's one meter away from because of the radiation," one Japanese fisherman told you, for example, is twice as dangerous as that same ABC News (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/radiation-japans- speck four meters away. But if you eat that radioactive fish-raise-concerns-wor...). speck (because it's part of a fish you're consuming, for example), then suddenly it's inside your body. So now it But don't worry, we're told. It's all safe to eat. The FDA is might only be a millimeter away from your internal in charge, after all. And remember what governments tissues, meaning you've decreased the distance between always say about radiation and chemicals: If it's you and the radiation source by one thousand times. invisible, it MUST be safe! Because if the law of the inverse square of the distance, http://www.naturalnews.com/031992_radioactive_cesium.html you have now magnified the radiation intensity by one ☻☻☻☻☻☻ million times (because one million is the square of one thousand). -49- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

to have anti-inflammatory properties, could be the body’s Hypertension: Heavy Metals, natural defence against obesity-related conditions such as Useful Cations and Melanin type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, fatty liver disease, polycystic ovary syndrome and some cancers. as a Possible Repository “Stockpiling extra calories is difficult even for By Pfeiffer CC and Mailloux RJ. specialized fat cells; having too much lipid molecules takes its toll on the fat cells, producing oxidative stress,” Princeton Brain Bio Center, Skillman, New Jersey she says. 08558 “It’s not unthinkable that these cells would adapt and Abstract produce melanin as a form of self-protection. As a side Popular belief has often attributed the disproportionate benefit, melanin may suppress inflammatory properties of occurrence of hypertension in blacks to the increased the extra pounds of the fat,” she adds. social stresses faced by the minority population. Evidence now points to a more biologically relevant Ancha agrees that a larger study is needed to confirm the explanation of black hypertension, an increase in levels role that the body’s production of this compound plays in of heavy metals. Preferentially bound to melanin, fat tissue, but insists that her team’s two-year study cadmium, lead, and copper have implications not only in suggests that melanin-based therapies may someday be the etiology of black hypertension, but in the etiology of used to reduce the incidence of chronic diseases among all hypertension. Of course, hypertension is the morbidly obese. “This opens an entirely new avenue heterogeneous by nature and cannot be attributed solely for medical interventions because the process of to any single cause. However, the indictment of the biosynthesis of melanin is relatively easy to meddle with. heavy metals, as well as a deficiency of other cations We hope that this study will spur the development of such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium, warrants a preventive medications aimed at curtailing devastating more nutritional approach and less reliance on current metabolic complications in obese and overweight pharmacological therapy in selected cases. Melanin populations,” she says. should be investigated as a storage bank for useful The study was conducted in collaboration with cations. If real, such a cation reservoir would explain the researchers from INOVA Fairfax Hospital and the heat tolerance capacity of blacks and other dark-skinned National Cancer Institute. Its findings appear in the tropical races. current Web edition of the FASEB Journal, and will be Med Hypotheses. 1988 Jun;26(2):125-30, PMID: 3412202 published in the March 2009 print edition. (ANI) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3412202 http://www.topnews.in/health/melanin-may-be- ☻☻☻☻☻☻ body%E2%80%99s-natural-defence- ☻☻☻☻☻☻ Melanin May Be Body’s The heart of the wise man lies quiet like limpid Natural Defence against water. ~ Cameroon proverb Obesity-related Diseases A letter from the heart can be read on the face. - Kiswahili November 7, 2008 Top News The man may be the head of the home but the wife is A team of American researchers has for the first time the heart. – Kenya (Gikuyu) observed the production of large quantities of melanin in The best part of happiness lies in the secret heart of fat tissues among extremely obese people undergoing a lover. - (African Proverb). weight loss surgery. One thread for the needle, one love for the heart. – Melanin is a pigment that gives the skin, the hair, and Sudan the iris of the eye their natural colour. Ancha Baranova, an assistant professor in the Love looks not with the eyes, but with the heart. Department of Molecular and Microbiology at George Therefore, is winged cupid painted blind. Mason University, claims that melanin production has William Shakespeare never before been identified in fat tissue. ☻☻☻☻☻☻ She believes that the antioxidant, which has been shown

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African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic

Volume7, Issue 12 NEWSLETTER November/December 2012 FEATURED ARTICLES KEMETIC MEDICINE By Sehu Khepera Ankh Kemetic Yoga Association

This is a brief overview of Ancient Egyptian Medicine Greek period in North East Africa (10,000BCE). and in no way represents an exhaustive study of the There was a skilled approach in combining more hidden or subject. For more on Kemetic Medicine contact Sehu esoteric healing practices with purely empirical and Khepera Ankh. scientific measures. In the Lure of Medical History- Ancient Egyptian Medicine is as old as the civilization Pharmacy of Ancient Egypt it states the “Egyptian medical itself which encompassed all areas of holistic and practice was of two orders: specialty medicine. From the latest geological dating of (1) The Superior, or Magic, consisting of incantations, the Sphinx (Hor em Akhet) monument we can prayers for the removal of sortileges, and commentaries on reasonably deduce that the healing arts were established oracles; and (2) the Customary Dogma or common practice. in Egypt by at least 10,000 BCE. This conceptual practice of combining incantations and The unique feature of Ancient Egyptian Medicine is its prayers (Hekau- Magical Words of Power) with empirical reliance on the mystical and metaphysical skill of the procedures proved to be a very powerful combination in physician (Sunnu(t)). Despite its emphasis on energetic healing the physical and mental sick and those that became theories and practices, it was no less scientific in its injured by various means. The Physicians however were pharmacopeia and surgical procedures. The Edwin held to procedural guidelines as well and were not to rely Smith Surgical Papyrus demonstrates the medical on their own whims but to consult the medical texts in scientific and surgical techniques, mostly associated matters of cathartic procedure in diagnosis, treatment and with the brain, face and skull, of the ancient priest/ess prognosis. In the book, The Old Egyptian Medical Papyri, doctors. on page 35, Chauncey D. Leake writes, “Dr. Owesi Temkin Due to the sophistication of the olden civilization it was has summarized various views on these matters, indicating significant that an equal as sophisticated medical that gradual tendency to support the empirical rationality of system be devised and this is exemplified in the vast the Chief Egyptian medical texts. This is in accord with the pharmacopeia and healing modalities all of which were position of Herman Ranke and also of Herman Grapow. gained from plants, herbs, shrubs and fauna. James Grapow emphasizes the differences in the medical papyri Henry Breasted, an Egyptologist who worked during depending upon whether they are to be used as textbooks, the late 1800’s stated, “The current conclusion or merely as collection of recipes for practicing physicians. regarding the Ancient Egyptian, a conclusion in which In the textbooks, the diagnoses are coherently expressed in myself heretofore shared, has been that he was sentence form. In the formularies the prescriptions employ interested in scientific principles, if at all, solely loosely connected words and concepts”. because of the unavoidable necessity of applying them This same formula of diagnoses, treatment and prognosis is in practical life.” still used today by modern doctors. The principle difference This scientific emphasis is found in the manner in with the Sunnu(t) as compared to modern physicians was which they performed complex surgeries such as, for their use of purely natural substances; in as such in ancient example, trephination and the setting of broken bones. times there were no allopathic medicaments. These techniques are still used today by modern Yet the priest(esses) physicians were able to make pills, medicine doctors and so in many cases what seems like suppositories, poultices among other curing agents. All of modern medical discoveries of the Greek period were this is documented in the principle medical papyri. already being used some thousands of years before the Continued on page 52 -51- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 51– Kemetic Medicine but a complete system which needed to be healed from Dr. Charles Finch states, “The Egyptians were well the deepest aspects to the outer aspects. Although the versed in many pathological syndromes. The physicians understood and recognized the penetrating identification of a disease necessitates acute and issues of the mind and soul, nonetheless, applied painstaking clinical observation, often over many years, themselves rigorously to understanding the scientific and many of the ones described in the medical papyri are principles and empirical observation that goes into known today. Egyptian physicians understood the origin theories of maintaining the health of the physical body; of parpalegia and paralysis from spinal cord injuries and therefore, the medical practice was undiminished and recognized the traumatic origin of neurological symptoms all encompassing. such as deafness, urinary incontinence, and priapism. In this wide ranging concentration on the full system, They described many syndromes of cardiac origin". The they truly enacted a healing of the human person and principle medical papyri are: thus transcended treating only symptoms to treating the Ancient Egyptian Medical Papyri: root causes of the disease at the very source; the soul. In essence they viewed the human being as a soul 1) Edwin Smith Papyrus struggling for enlightenment in the search for liberation 2) Ebers Papyrus from pain and suffering. Therefore, each individual patient was treated as a confused divinity and not 3) Hearst Papyrus simply as a person. When this confusion is ameliorated 4) The Chester Beatty Papyri then the personality discovers her or his true divine nature and thus transcends the condition of the body 5) Berlin Papyrus whether it be in good health or disease. This system can 6) The London Medical Papyrus still be used today and this is why the video presentation was made to illustrate how these healing 7) The Ramseeum Papyri practices and theories are actually timeless and are 8) The Carlsburg Papyrus much needed today as is indicative of the condition of the current medical system in its failure to curb the 9) The Brooklyn Papyrus chronic disease epidemic. Thus there is urgent 10) The Kahun Papyrus necessity to evaluate, adjust and change some aspects of the current medical paradigm to address the deeper From these we learn of their expertise in areas such as realities of the human experience. dentistry, brain injuries, therapeutics as well as a highly advanced practice in areas of women’s health, children’s Ancient Egyptian Physiology: Brief Overview: health and veterinary medicine. This is by no means an exhaustive treatise on Kemetic Physiology and serves only for informational and These and other profound medical discoveries by the educational purposes. For more details into this area olden physicians are still as relevant today as they were contact Sehu Khepera. thousands of years ago which is supported by the growing "green" culture. The very basis of Egyptian In Kemetic medicine the heart (Ab) is seen as the Medicine was the healing of the sick by addressing the center of the body because it is from the heart that deep and penetrating issues of the mind. Thus coherence blood is sent to profuse the entire terminal was sought between the mind and body. From these we cardiovascular system (cells of the body) with oxygen. learn of their expertise in areas such as dentistry, brain The heart has a dual function of collecting oxygenated injuries, therapeutics as well as a highly advanced blood from the lungs and deoxygenated blood from the practice in areas of women’s health, children’s health and body’s periphery via the venous system. Thus the heart veterinary medicine. What this means is that the priest handles the blood fluid in a dual manner as physicians knew that physical ailments were caused by demonstrated by the two atria which collects the blood mental afflictions such as worries, intense cares or mal and two ventricles which distributes blood volume. In adaptive behavior born of vice conjoined with the ariu as such, the heart represents duality (the four cardinal (karmic basis) of each human being. points of the universe; earth, air, water fire,), upon which singularity is the basis. What this means is that Thus, the whole system was taken into consideration and the human organism, from the Kemetic perspective, is a managed integratively, including at the level of the soul manifestation of undifferentiated consciousness and as of the human being or animal. Therefore, they saw the such has a dual nature. Thus, we have two hands, two human or animal not only merely as a biological entity Continued on page 53 -52- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 52 – Kemetic Medicine look into the mind. Thus, the mind body connection is arms,two legs, two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two not merely healthy body healthy mind. But rather, more ovaries, two testicles, two kidneys etc. Therefore, the poignantly it is a righteous and disciplined mind leads to body is a dual system or a system that relies on the a healthy body. This however does not indicate that a homeostasis and synchronicity of that coupled system to person with an unrighteous disposition, will all of maintain its optimal health. When the body is placed sudden feel pain in the body and disease of the physical under objective and strict scrutiny of a meditative mind in constitution or does it indicate that a saint or sage would equipoise it is discovered that the body is a small segment never get ill. Thus, the ariu (karmic basis) of the of the total experience of the human entity. individual patient must also be taken into account. Therefore, Kemetic Medicine is very sophisticated, In as such the Ab is also the organ that is weighed on the complex and cannot be simplified to gain a true scales of Maat in the form of a heart shaped vase, in the understanding of it. judgment hall that is presented in the Papyrus and Coffin Text genres of Ancient Kemetic literature. Maat signifies What the Kemetic Medical paradigm illustrates however order, righteousness and truth and is symbolized by an is that if there is a habitual tendency towards vice as ostrich feather which is a symbol of the Goddess Maat. acted out through the impetus from an impure mind it How this relates to Kemetic Medicine is that the heart on will eventually show up in the body as a disruption in the balance scales of Maat is actually a metaphor for the the proper functioning of the organ and or vascular unconscious mind of a human being. In the judgment system. Therefore, the ancient Kemites cleverly knew hall, the heart (unconscious mind) is weighed against the this and so logically centered their physiologic studies feather of Maat. If the heart is drawn with guilt, remorse and investigations at the heart and moved from there to and extreme self centeredness it will be heavier than the the pulse centers at the throat, wrist, thighs, lower legs feather of Maat and therefore the mind would go through and feet. periods of suffering, misery and will be inflicted with By understanding the pulse system of the human being, afflictions such as fear, anger, jealousy, desire. Thus one can gain insight to the disease process that has taken these afflictions are the basis upon which disease is born place within the physical body and as such gain insight in the body. into the nature of the person’s mind. Thus, from a Conversely, if the unconscious mind has been made light practical perspective modalities would be applied to the by a life of virtue, peace and righteousness it will be as body or ingested along with spiritual counsel and light or lighter than the feather of Maat, metaphorically; recitation of specific formulas to rectify the mental depending upon the depth of the profundity of attainment anomaly that is showing up in the body. Spiritual of righteous order in life of a given individual. Thus a counsel would be given to assist the patient in mind that has been made light by a life of truth will not overcoming life conditions and situations that lead be afflicted by the anomalies that are created by the mind either to vice, impurity or general every day stressors and thus there is a great reduction in the possibilities of that can grow in magnitude so as to make life difficult such individual actually suffering from disease. However, to handle. a life of virtue does not necessitate nor otherwise Therefore, it is not to only heal the body, or to only presuppose that a given righteous personality will never focus on the mind; but to work both at the mental and get ill in his or her life time as all beings in time and physical levels in harmonization. Further, the spiritual space are under the influence of ari (karma). dimension of a human being was not left out of the The heart as the center of the body is related to the heart equation. Thus, incantations and spiritual rituals along shaped vase in the following manner. The physical organ, with counsel in relation to life problems and the human the heart is the center of health for the body. If the mind condition would be offered to the patient as well. is attuned to the cosmic order and made light through a In utilizing the heart as the center of the physical body; life of virtue, then there would be lightness in the body as the philosophy of Swadj was employed. Swadj means to well. What this means is that the relative health of the green the body, or to make the body green. This is done mind has a direct influence on the relative health of the by ingesting green leafy vegetables, and green drinks body. Thus, when the body is afflicted it is due to an that act to energize the body’s cells. They employed this infusion of negative energy into the body from the philosophy because leaves of plants captures sunlight anomalies of the mental continuum of a human being. and congeals it as the chlorophyll molecule which is Therefore, physical diseases are mirror images of the stored in the chloroplast aspect of the plant cell. state of mind of a human being. Looking at the body is a Continued on page 54

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Continued from page 53 – Kemetic Medicine 2011) we are at about 7 billion people. To feed all of the Thus when a human being ingests green vegetables they people in the developed world, who mostly eat a meat are in essence ingesting particles of the sun that has been based diet, 120 billion land animals are killed each year; collected in the leaves of plants. The philosophy of Not to mention the trillion or so sea animals that die each greening coincides with the dictum of firstly looking at year as a result of the need for mass human consumption. the heart and examining the entire system from there. In By the time 2050 comes around this number will be quite as such Kemetic Medicine places emphasis on larger. Thus in essence, to feed all of these people a meat preventation of disease by collecting into the mind and based diet will take the continued and escalation of cattle body philosophies and foods that lead to good health. The ranch farming techniques that cause much misery to the emphasis on the heart center is not to say that the animals in which they live in deplorable conditions. Not endocrine system was ignored; not at all. In Kemetic to mention that there would be increase in starvation in Medicine the endocrine system is part and parcel of the the poorer countries of Africa and Asia because the cattle vascular apparatus which includes the lungs and the are fed grain, not grass. heart. The grain that the cattle are being fed to fatten them for In this area of Kemetic Medicine it gets very complex as human consumption could be better utilized to feed all of the endocrine system was attuned with and worked the people in Africa and Asia who are starving each and through the Sefech Ba Ra (7 Souls of Ra; Psycho every day. In the XXIII Mind and Life Conference in Spiritual Energy System, Chakras). In as such the major Dharamsala India, Matthieu Ricard cited that, “1.4 healing deities are the God Ptah and the Goddess billion poor people could be fed 775 million tons of grain Sekhmet. Sekhmet represents the life forces while Ptah used yearly for raising livestock.” He further stated, “25 represents the mind. Thus, for good health a balance must million people could be fed throughout the year if the be struck by the energetic system and the mind which inhabitants of the USA would avoid eating meat for one reflects in a healthy endocrine and blood vascular system. day a week”. Therefore, a plant and grain based diet is Philosophically, for health of the body, according to the not only healthier as is proven by science, and personal Kemetic paradigm, there must be health of the fluid experience, but also it is more efficient metabolically and systems. In this manner the fluid systems are seen psychically to eat the cosmic powers, the higher metaphorically as tributaries of the Nile River with the energetic elements of the universe rather than the dense central channel of the energetic system being the main muscle of animals which underlies the moral issue of the body of the river. Hence, for good health one must drink mass genocide of animals; which brings us back to the lots of clean water; whose subtle essence is the energetic balance scales of Maat. quality of the Divinity Hapi. It has been proven that in cultures where there is Therefore when one is drinking water it is not simply a predominantly a meat based diet there are high fluid, but rather, a cosmic force or energetic expression of prevalence of metabolic disease such as diabetes and the the universe. Thus when we eat green leafy vegetables we concomitant diseases such as cardiovascular disease and are ingesting the energetic quality of the deities Ra and stroke. The number one killer of people in large Asar and when we ingest water we are taking in the industrial nations is cardiovascular disease. Hence, a energetic quality of God Hapi. Therefore, we are eating meat based diet does not bring health to the vascular the Gods and Goddesses and they in turn give our body system but rather causes disease of the vascular system. optimal health. And since they are immortal Gods and Now since the populations of industrial nations are Goddesses, they cannot go out of existence if we eat them mainly eating animals that are essentially slaughtered for because they regenerate on their own power (water is in no other reason than profit based upon human great danger now because of the damming of rivers and consumption, it causes heaviness and dullness of the massive use of water by soda and beer companies; Maat mind which reflects in the body as disease. philosophy talks about not polluting the water). However, This occurs because there is no proper ritual to thank and the same cannot be said about animals. The eating of appease the mind and subtle energies of the animals. animals causes much suffering to the animals and in turn Hence when proper rituals are performed it acts as a to the people who eat them. calming effect on the environment and psyche of those Modern science now says that the earth’s population will who participate in the ritual killing and consumption of level off at about 9 billion people by the year 2050 upon the animal. Thus the cosmic powers are placated and so which the rate of increase of the human population will the wrathful aspects of the deities are not activated. slow and may even see a small decline. Now (November Continued on page 55

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Continued from page 54 – Kemetic Medicine Ancient Egyptian Medicine When animals are slaughtered as they are in the slaughterhouses, the animals die with strong feelings of and the Concept of Heart fear, anger, irritability, sadness, hostility and emotional Failure suffering. Hence, there is a high prevalence of cardiovascular Saba MM, Ventura HO, Saleh M, Mehra MR. disease in people who based their diet on animal and Cardiomyopathy and Heart Transplantation Center, dairy products as the human body consumes these Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans, LA 70121 negative energies which in turn are absorbed by the Abstract unconscious mind, the heart, Ab. The negative energies Background: that are ingurgitated into the unconscious mind are then The cardiac glosses of the Ebers papyrus comprise the reflected back into the physical body and there ferment concepts and notions of the Egyptian physicians about into tangible disease. The negative energies cause a the heart and its diseases. We sought to analyze some of disruption in the vascular, endocrine and organ systems the cardiac glosses of the Ebers papyrus, focusing on of the body. Therefore, broadly speaking, the problem of those which may describe early concepts of the disease is a problem of the impure energies that a human syndrome of heart failure. being absorbs into their psyche. Methods and Result: Thus, since the heart is also seen as the seat of the Review of Joachim's German translation and both emotions and the seat of the mind, music therapy was Bryan's and Ghalioungui's English translations of the also employed to harmonize the emotions and bring the Ebers papyrus. One clinical scenario describes patients heart rate and blood pressure to a healthy level by causing with "weakness of the heart" or "cardiac dysfunction: a dispersion of the negative energies and collection of "His heart is bored," "The heart weakens," "This means positive powers through sound. Nonetheless, in the case that the heart does not speak or that the vessels of the of infections antibiotics were used. They made their own antibiotics out of coarse bread. Therefore all aspects of heart are dumb. Its information under your hands medicine were employed with the philosophical premise normally appears because of the air with which they are filled is missing...." Debility that has arisen in the and physiological fact that the heart is the center from heart." The other clinical scenario supplies information which health or disease permeates while the ethical and about patients with heart failure and "fluid retention" or moral condition of the mind is the conduit by which the body is maintained in health or disease. "congestion": "His heart is flooded. This is the liquid of the mouth. His body parts are all together weak"..."His Therefore the combining of herbs such as carminatives heart is over flooded...." were not crude inventions but rather very thought out and scientifically tested modalities which assisted in the Conclusion: Whether or not Egyptian medicine and the contents of healing of the patient. This is significant because the the papyri paved the way for future knowledge, the Sunnut believed that people were healed by self correction and she employed certain cosmic powers to clinical scenarios included in the Ebers papyrus may assist the patient with his or her own self correction. Thus represent one of the earliest documented observations of the syndrome of heart failure. PMID: 16911907 the Sunnut was an assistant to the individual’s own power for self healing. For the Sunnu or Kemetic naturopathic http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16911907 practitioner the idea is to align the patient with proper ☻☻☻☻☻☻ forces for healing and then let the process take its course. In as such healing occurs and the patient dispenses with The Ancient Egyptian the negativities that caused the disease and thus return to health and proper livelihood. Heart em Hetep, Probably the most interesting aspect of the ancient Sehu Khepera Ankh Egyptian's concept of the heart is that their ancient beliefs remain with us today, not as science, but within http://www.kemeticyoga.org/kemetic_medicine the very fiber of our emotions, our poetry and our song ☻☻☻☻☻☻ lyrics. When we refer to our hearts in regard to love, or any other emotion, we are invoking a living memory of

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Continued from page 50 – The Egyptian Heart For this reason, the heart was one of the only organs not removed from the body during mummification. Of the ancient Egyptian belief system. course there was concern that the heart might testify

against the deceased, so in order to prevent this, a heart scarab was often wrapped within the bandages. The inscription on the scarab would most likely consist of Chapter 30 from the Book of the Dead:

The Egyptians believed that the heart, rather than the brain, was the source of human wisdom, as well as emotions, memory, the soul and the personality itself. Notions of physiology and disease were all connected in concept to the heart, and it was through the heart that God spoke, giving ancient Egyptians knowledge of God and God's will. For this reason it was considered the most important of the body's organs. However, despite the ancient Egyptian's seemingly advanced medical and O my heart which I had upon earth, do not rise up surgical knowledge, the heart's role in blood circulation against me as a witness in the presence of the lord of was not precisely understood. things; do not speak against me concerning what I have done, do not bring up anything against me in the It was felt that from the heart, channels (metu) linked all presence of the great god of the west..." parts of the body together. These channels delivered not only blood, but also air, tears, saliva, mucus, sperm, The heart amulets began taking the form of a vase with nutriment and even bodily waste. In fact, the only real lug handles, perhaps symbolic of blood vessels, from function of the brain was thought to be to pass mucus to the New Kingdom onward. Chapter 29b of the Book the nose, so it was one of the organs that were discarded of the Dead states that these should be made of seheret during mummification. stone (cornelian), but they were often made from other materials. Probably to some extent, this concept of channels may have had some symbolism with the Nile. Ancient Egyptians were thought to be in good health if the metu were clear and without blockage. Disease was caused when a channel became blocked, much like an irrigation canal cannot deliver water if it is blocked.

So today, when we confront our lovers, we speak from In the final judgment portrayed by the Book of the Dead, the heart, and when we break up, it is our heart that is the heart of the deceased was shown being weighed broken, in only another of many memories of our against the feather of Ma'at, a symbol of universal truth, ancient Egyptian roots. harmony and balance. Anubis was sometimes shown http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/heart.htm adjusting the balance of the scales slightly in favor of the ☻☻☻☻☻☻ deceased, to ensure it into the underworld. The heart was thought to be given back to the deceased in the afterlife.

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African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic

Volume 7, Issue 12 NEWSLETTER November/December 2012 FEATURED ARTICLES Phytochemicals and Cardiovascular Disease By Barbara V. Howard, PhD and David Kritchevsky, PhD A Statement for Healthcare Professionals from the American Heart Association Circulation. 1997; 95: 2591-2593

Epidemiological studies have often shown relationships absorption of cholesterol by 42% in a meal containing between vegetable/fruit intake and coronary heart 500 mg of cholesterol.6 The decrease in plasma disease that are not clearly attributable to major cholesterol is probably due to an increase in LDL macronutrients or known vitamins and minerals. This receptor activity. However, the decline in plasma suggests that other components of plants may be cholesterol is relatively less than the decrease in important in lowering risk of cardiovascular disease. absorption, presumably because of a compensatory Although the literature contains studies of a myriad of increase in cholesterol synthesis. This area merits possible plant components, many of these studies are reinvestigation using newer technologies. small or poorly controlled. Further, the supposition In the 1980s it was demonstrated that sitostanol, a 5-α itself has led to claims of “miracle” ingredients with saturated sitosterol derivative, reduced the intestinal supposed mitigating effects on cardiovascular as well absorption of cholesterol and serum cholesterol more as other chronic diseases. A substantial body of effectively than sitosterol and at doses below those of evidence has accumulated in three areas: plant sterols, sitosterol.7 In a recent study8 sitostanol was flavonoids, and plant sulfur compounds. This review interesterified with margarine, and the resultant product summarizes the state of knowledge in these three areas (1.9 to 2.6 g sitosterol per day) exhibited a and explores possibilities for future work. hypocholesterolemic effect in a population with mild Plant Sterols hypercholesteremia. The mean 1-year reduction in The plant kingdom contains a number of sterols that plasma cholesterol was 10.2%. The sitostanol was not differ from cholesterol by having ethyl or methyl absorbed and did not appear to interfere with groups or unsaturation in the side chain. The absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. predominant ones—sitosterol, stigmasterol, and Squalene, a sterol precursor also found in plant campesterol—can be present in Western diets in products, was originally suggested to have a amounts almost equal to dietary cholesterol.1 The most cholesterol-lowering effect, but earlier studies in prominent is β-sitosterol, which differs from animals showed that it had no positive influence on cholesterol in that it has an ethyl group at carbon 24 of atherosclerosis.2 Sitosterols and squalene are present in the side chain. In the early 1950s it was noted that the both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated vegetable addition of sitosterol to the diet of cholesterol-fed oils and thus may be responsible for some of the chickens or rabbits lowered cholesterol levels in both variable cholesterol-lowering effects observed in species and inhibited atherogenesis in the latter.2 studies using these products; this may explain Sitosterol or mixtures of soy sterols were studied differences observed between various sources and extensively as cholesterol-lowering agents between degrees of refinement of olive oil. Other cholesterol- 1950 and 1960.3 The preparations achieved cholesterol lowering alcohols in rice bran oils include esters of lowering of approximately 10%.4 The mode of action triterpene alcohols that inhibit hepatic cholesterol appears to involve inhibition of cholesterol absorption, esterase and tocotrienols that inhibit HMG Co-A although the plant sterols themselves are absorbed very reductase.9 However, there is conflicting evidence as to poorly.5 The mechanism of inhibition of cholesterol whether rice bran oil decreases plasma cholesterol absorption is believed to be through crystallization and levels in humans.10 co-precipitation. Ingestion of 1 g of β-sitosterol reduced Continued on page 58

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Continued from page 57 - Phytochemicals and Cardiovascular of garlic per day lowered serum cholesterol by approx- Disease imately 9%.20 The same amount of garlic was shown to reduce cholesterol levels and severity of atherosclerosis Finally, cafestol is a terpene present in coffee. Some 21 studies but not others have suggested that coffee intake in cholesterol-fed rabbits. Garlic contains a number of may be associated with changes in plasma cholesterol that compounds, but those thought to be the most active are may be explained by the presence of this compound. diallyl disulfide and its mono S oxide (allicim). The Suggestions have been made that the manner of mechanism of hypocholesterolemia may be the inhibition of cholesterol synthesis.22 Garlic has also been reported to preparation may influence the effect of coffee; filtering 23 24 may remove some cholesterol-raising compounds. inhibit platelet aggregation, decrease coagulation time, and lower blood pressure.25 Garlic in large quantities, Flavonoids however, can actually have significant side effects, such Flavonoids are derivatives of 2-phenyl-1-benzopyran-4- as anemia or allergic manifestations.19 Much more work one with varied chemical structures present in fruits, is needed in the chemistry and pharmacology of the 11 12 vegetables, nuts, and seeds. The major flavonoid sulfur-containing compounds in plants. categories are flavonols, flavones, catechins, flavanones, and anthocyanins. The main dietary sources of these Conclusions compounds are tea, onions, soy, and wine. The main Plant sterols, flavonoids, and sulfur-containing com- flavonoid in onions is quercetin glucoside and the main pounds represent three classes of compounds found in flavonoid in tea is quercetin rutinoside. Flavonoid intake fruits and vegetables that may be important in reducing has been inversely associated with coronary heart disease risk of atherosclerosis. Within these categories are 13 in the Zutphen Elderly Study, the Seven Countries multiple possible compounds, most of which are not well 14 15 Study, and a cohort study in Finland. In the Zutphen characterized and whose modes of action are not 13 Elderly Study, for example, a flavonoid intake of 0 to established. In addition, many other plant products (ie, 19.0 mg/d was associated with a coronary heart disease antioxidant vitamins, phytoestrogens, and trace minerals) mortality rate of 18.5 per 1000 person-years, compared may also be linked to the atherosclerotic process. These with a mortality rate of 7.8 among those who consumed plant micronutrients will clearly be the topic of future more than 29.9 mg/d (30 mg/d represents approximately research. As work continues on all of these compounds, five to six cups of tea per day). It should be pointed out other unrecognized components will be identified. that some flavonoids exert toxic effects (gastrointestinal or allergic), especially if taken in large amounts. Nutritional databases must be further developed to include better information on micronutrients, and large Systematic work is needed on the major classes of population-based studies that contain collected dietary flavonoids to categorize their structure, efficacy, and data should be reanalyzed using improved nutritional potential adverse effects. The link between flavonoids and databases to quantify consumption of plant sterols, atherosclerosis is based partly on the evidence that some flavonoids, and sulfur-containing compounds and to flavonoids possess antioxidant properties and have been assess possible relationships with atherosclerosis and shown to be potent inhibitors of LDL oxidation in vitro. other chronic diseases. In addition, careful metabolic For example, the phenolic substances in red wine inhibit studies using newer techniques to measure cholesterol oxidation of human LDL.16 Flavonoids have also been absorption and lipoprotein metabolism must be conducted shown to inhibit platelet aggregation and adhesion,17 to define the mechanism of action of each of these which may be another way they lower the risk of heart micronutrients. Finally, a direct assessment of the disease. Isoflavones in soy foods have been reported to influence of micronutrients on lipoprotein profiles, lower plasma cholesterol and also to have estrogenlike hemostatic factors, and cardiovascular disease must be effects.18 made. It should be recognized that some micronutrients may not act alone but in concert with other dietary Plant Sulfur Compounds components. Thus, benefits may come from the Naturally occurring sulfur-containing compounds (the integration of several dietary components. allium family) may influence plasma cholesterol and atherosclerosis. These substances are found especially in Until more of this information is gathered and fully garlic, onions, and leeks, the most prominent of these understood, consumption of a balanced diet containing a being garlic. Garlic oil was in the pharmacopeia of the wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain Babylonians and other ancient peoples.19 Garlic oil or products is recommended as the most prudent way to garlic has been shown to be hypolipidemic in humans, ensure optimum consumption of macronutrients and with a recent meta-analysis suggesting that one half clove micronutrients. Continued on page 59

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Continued from page 58 – Phytochemicals and Cardiovascular 12. Cook NC, Samman S. Flavonoids: chemistry, Disease metabolism, cardioprotein effects, and dietary sources. The Journal of Nutrional Biochemistry. 1996;7:66-76. Footnotes CrossRef • “Phytochemicals and Cardiovascular Disease” was 13. Hertog MGL, Feskens EJM, Hollman PCH, Katan MB, approved by the American Heart Association Science Kromhout D. Dietary antioxidant flavonoids and risk of Advisory and Coordinating Committee in November coronary heart disease: the Zutphen Elderly Study. 1996. Lancet. 1993;342:1007-1011. CrossRefMedline

References 14. Hertog MGL, Kromhout D, Aravanis C, Blackburn H, 1. Miettinen TA, Tilvis RS, Kesäniemi YA. Serum plant sterols Buzina R, Fidanza F, Giampaoli S, Jansen A, Menotti A, and cholesterol precursors reflect cholesterol absorption and Nedeljkovic S, Pekkarinen M, Simic BS, Toshima H, synthesis in volunteers of a randomly selected male Feskens EJM, Hollman PCH, Katan MB. Flavonoid population. Am J Epidemiol. 1990;131:20-31. intake and long-term risk of coronary heart disease and Abstract/FREE Full Text cancer in the seven countries study. Arch Intern Med. 1995;155:381-386. CrossRefMedline 2. Pollak OJ, Kritchevsky D. Sitosterol. Monogr Atheroscler. 1981;10:1-219. Medline 15. Knekt P, Jarvinen R, Reunanen A, Maatela J. Flavonoid intake and coronary mortality in Finland: a cohort 3. Lees AM, Mok HYI, Lees RS, McCluskey MA, Grundy SM. study. BMJ. 1996;312:478-481. Abstract/FREE Full Plant sterols as cholesterol-lowering agents: clinical trials in Text patients with hypercholesterolemia and studies of sterol balance. Atherosclerosis. 1977;28:325-338. 16. Frankel EN, Kanner J, German JB, Parks E, Kinsella CrossRefMedline JE. Inhibition of oxidation of human low-density 4. Vahouny GV, Kritchevsky D. Plant and marine sterols and lipoprotein by phenolic substances in red wine. Lancet. cholesterol metabolism. In: Spiller GA, ed. Nutritional 1993;341:454-457. CrossRefMedline Pharmacology. New York, NY: Alan R Liss Inc; 1981:31- 72. 17. Gryglewski RJ, Korbut R, Robak J, Swies J. On the mechanism of antithrombotic action of flavonoids. 5. Tilvis RS, Miettinen TA. Serum plant sterols and their Biochem Pharmacol. 1987;36:317-322. relation to cholesterol absorption. Am J Clin Nutr. CrossRefMedline 1986;43:92-97. Abstract/FREE Full Text 18. Dwyer JT, Goldin BR, Saul N, Gaultieri L, Bakarat S, 6. Mattson FH, Grundy SM, Crouse JR. Optimizing the effect of Adlercreutz H. Tofu and soy drinks contain plant sterols on cholesterol absorption in man. Am J Clin phytoestrogens. J Am Diet Assoc. 1994;94:739-743. Nutr. 1982;35:697-700. Abstract/FREE Full Text CrossRefMedline 7. Heinemann T, Leiss O, von Bergmann K. Effect of low-dose 19. Kritchevsky D. The effect of dietary garlic on the sitostanol on serum cholesterol in patients with development of cardiovascular disease. Trends in Food hypercholesterolemia. Atherosclerosis. 1986;61:219-223. Science and Technology. 1991;2:141-144. CrossRef CrossRefMedline 20. Warshafsky S, Kamer RS, Sivak SL. Effect of garlic on 8. Miettinen TA, Puska P, Gylling H, Vanhanen H, Vartiainen total serum cholesterol: a meta-analysis. Ann Intern E. Reduction of serum cholesterol with sitostanol-ester Med. 1993;119: 599-605. margarine in a mildly hypercholester-olemic population. N Engl J Med. 1995;333:1308-1312. 21. Jain RC, Konar DB. Effect of garlic oil in experimental CrossRefMedline cholesterol atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis. 1978;29: 125-129. CrossRefMedline 9. Rukmini C, Raghuram TC. Nutritional and biochemical aspects of the hypolipidemic action of rice bran oil: a review. 22. Sendl A, Schliack M, Löser R, Stanislaus F, Wagner H. J Am Coll Nutr. 1991;10:593-601.Abstract Inhibition of cholesterol synthesis in vitro by extracts and isolated compounds prepared from garlic and wild 10. Lichtenstein AH, Ausman LM, Carrasco W, Gualtieri LJ, garlic. Atherosclerosis. 1992;94:79-85. Jenner JL, Ordovas JM, Nicolosi RJ, Goldin BR, Schaefer 23. CrossRefMedline EJ. Rice bran oil consumption and plasma lipid levels in moderately hypercholesterolemic humans. Arterioscler 24. Samson RR. Effects of dietary garlic and temporal drift Thromb. 1994;14:549-556. Abstract/FREE Full Text on platelet aggregation. Atherosclerosis. 1982;44:119- 120. Letter. CrossRefMedline 11. Kuhnau J. The flavonoids: a class of semi-essential food components 190 their role in human nutrition. World Rev 25. Bordia A, Bansal HC, Arora SJ, Singh SV. Effect of the Nutr Diet. 1976;24:117-191. Medline essential oils of garlic and onion on alimentary Continued on page 60

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Continued from page 59 – Phytochemicals and and comparable fat intakes, but nevertheless a far lower Cardiovascular Disease incidence of coronary disease (5). The high French Hyperlipemia. Atherosclerosis. 1975;21:15-19 consumption of red wine has been implicated in these CrossRefMedline differences (6).

26. Mansell P, Reckless JPD. Garlic. BMJ. 1991;303:379- Others claim that they can be explained by olive oil, or the 380. Editorial. FREE Full Text consumption of garlic. Copyright © 1997 by American Heart Association Does red wine, olive oil and garlic have anything in http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/95/11/2591.full common? (apart from "the good life" which such a ☻☻☻☻☻☻ consumption surely is an expression of, important in itself for health).

Can Dietary Flavonoids Several components in fruits and vegetables have drawn

influence the Development attention as possible candidates when the effects are to be explained, as illustrated in Table 1. For each of the of Coronary Heart Disease? candidates, there is evidence that they may have an effect. To assess their single and combined effects is an enormous By Helle Margrete Meltzer and Karl Egil task, which beginning. This article is only at its focuses on Malterud Abstract the flavonoids, a group of naturally occurring compounds The flavonoids constitute a large group of secondary which recently has attracted considerable attention as plant metabolites being ubiquitous among higher dietary constituents with potential importance for health plants. The biological activity of flavonoids was (7-9) (Fact column 1). discovered during the 1930s, when it was found that Chemical structure several vegetables and fruits contained substances Flavonoids have a common skeleton of diphenylpyranes different from vitamin C and yet able to counteract the (C6-C3-C6), i.e. two benzene rings (A and B) connected capillary fragility characteristic of scurvy. The "P by a heterocyclical pyran- or pyron ring (Figure I). The vitamins" (as they were once called) were, however, flavonoids are often hydroxylated in the positions 3,5,7,3', not accepted as vitamins, and they are now regarded as 4', and 5'. The presence or absence of a hydroxyl group in members of the large and diffuse class of "non- the 3 position determines the division into the two main nutrients". Today, extensive research is directed subgroups of flavonoids: 3-hydroxyflavonoids (flavonols, towards the elucidation of the importance and the flavanonols and catechins) and flavonoids with an potential therapeutic value of flavonoids in the unsubstituted 3-position (flavones and flavanones) (Figure treatment of, e.g., cancer and cardiovascular diseases. 1). The most common flavonoid in food is quercetin, while In this paper, recent research on flavonoids is reviewed catechins nutritionally are the most important of the with emphasis on the possible correlation between flavonoids in beverages, due to their high concentration in dietary flavonoid content and reduced risk for tea. cardiovascular disease. More than 4,000 flavonoids have been described, and the Introduction number of characterized substances is continually Recently, the preventive and therapeutic potential of increasing ( 1 0). food and beverages has received increased scientific attention. From a nutritional point of view, flavonols and flavones are of special interest due to their potential protective role Large epidemiological surveys have shown a in carcinogenesis, atherosclerosis and thrombosis. relationship between the consumption of fruit and vegetables and reduced risk of cancer and Both flavonols and flavones are usually present in our food cardiovascular disease (I), and some of the works even as glycosides, D-glucose being the most common sugar. indicate that raw vegetables give the strongest Other sugars can be galactose, rhamnose, arabinose, protection (2-4). xylose, in addition to glucuronic acid. The preferred binding site for the sugar unit is in the C3 position, An expression like "the French paradox" has appeared, glycosylation in the C7 position being somewhat less based on the interesting observation that the French common (1 1,12). have comparable plasma cholesterol levels to the Americans, The sugar-free part of the molecule is called the flavonoid aglycone. Continued on page 61

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Continued from page 53 – Can Dietary Flavonoids Administration in 1962. At this point there were more influence the Development of Coronary Heart Disease than 200 flavonoid-containing preparations on the Due to the enormous variation in substitution types and American market. substitution patterns, (hydroxylation-, methoxylation-, Interest in the biological effects of flavonoids has sulphation-and glycosidation patterns in addition to C- increased tremendously the last 15-20 years (85), and methylation, C-glycosylation and prenylation) more several thousand articles have been published on the than 1,000 different flavonol and flavone glycosides theme. In addition to the more important effects have been described, and more than 20 million different mentioned in the main article, the are some more exotic combinations are theoretically possible (1 3). ones. Among them are inhibition of tooth decay(86,87), Table 1. Some dietary substances suggested to protection against snake venom (88), or effect against be associated with decreased risk of disease. dandruff (89)! Several books, such as (90-92) and reviews, e.g, (21,24,93) have been published. Vitamins (e.g . ascorbic acid, a-tocopherol) Function in plants Minerals (e-g. selenium, zinc, manganese) Numerous functions of flavonoids in plants have been Dietary fibre demonstrated or suggested. Glucosinolates Indols These include pigmentation (to attract pollinators), Flavonoids protection of the plant from UV light and micro- Terpenoids (including carotenoids) organisms, defence against grazing animals, regulation of Phytosterols enzyme activity and signal substances for nitrogen- Proteinase inhibitors fixating bacteria (14,15). The flavonoids are omnipresent Sulphur compounds from onion and garlic in higher plants. In foods, we find flavonoids as natural colour substances (the anthocyanins, a subgroup of FACT COLUMN 1: HISTORY flavonoids, have a strong red, purple or mauve colour and Flavonoids have been known as plant pigments for may give a blue colour when combined with other more than one hundred-years. In periods, their substances in plants; chalcones and aurones are yellow), biological effects and importance have been discussed taste components and as antioxidants (16). intensively. Flavones and flavonols can be pale yellow or creamy Around 1940 the opinion was that flavonoids had coloured. Some colours are only visible to pollinating vitamin properties. In the 1970s, the flavonoids were insects, which can sense UV radiation invisible to suspected of having mutagenic and carcinogenic effect, humans. Thus they can sense "flavonoid colours" not while in the 80s and 90s, considerable research has visible to man. been directed towards their activity as antioxidants and radical scavengers, as well as their anti-mutagenic and Presence in foods anti-carcinogenic properties. Flavonols and flavones are mainly present in the leaves and outer parts of plants, but small amounts have also In a human context, interest in flavonoids originates been detected in roots (1 1,12). One exception is onions, from studies by the Nobel laureate Szent-Gyorgyi and where the bulb contains considerable amounts of co-workers in the 1930s (83,84), when they reported quercetin 4'-glycosides. We receive approximately 70% that a number of substances in vegetables and fruits of the flavonoids in the diet from beverages and fruit. (different from vitamin C) could heal the capillary fragility (with associated haemorrhage) characteristic of Some herbs and spices have high concentrations, and scurvy. For years there was an argument as to whether large amounts are also found in some well known the flavonoids, often designated as bioflavonoids or medicinal plants. For centuries lay people and medical vitamin P, had a direct, independent effect on tissue professionals have used herbs containing flavonoids in metabolism (especially capillary fragility), or if their attempts to heal inflammations, diabetes, allergies, role rather was of a synergistic nature. headaches, the common flu, cancer etc. (13). Around 1950 it was agreed that the flavonoids had Propolis, made by bees from plant exudates (usually from physiological significance, but that their most important buds), is used to protect the hive entrance and is often and possibly single role was their influence on capillary rich in flavonoids. From old times the peoples of Asia resistance. The effect seemed to be independent of have been drinking green tea as a medicinal remedy vitamin C. In spite of this, flavonoids were taken off because of its presumed pharmacological effects. Green the list of effective drugs by the US Food and Drug Continued on page 62

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Continued from page 61- Can Dietary Flavonoids influence process, macrophages in the artery walls take up the Development of Coronary Heart Disease modified LDL (low density lipoprotein) from plasma tea is an important source of flavonoids in the East by a route independent of the LDL receptor, and the (17). receptor involved (often called the scavenger receptor) only recognizes modified, e.g. oxidised LDL. We know Our knowledge about the dietary intake of flavonoids is that native LDL can be modified by all the most sparse and partly contradictory. important types of cells in the vasculature, including In 1976 Kiihnau (18) estimated the daily flavonoid endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and intake in the USA to be approximately 1 gram, 100 mg macrophages. thereof being flavonols and flavones, but these There is some evidence that cellularly produced 15- estimates have not been confirmed. lipoxygenase may be involved in the process (49). Hertog et al. (19) have improved the old analytical Oxidised LDL has strong atherogenic properties, e .g . methods, and their results are shown in Table 2. Based by chemoattraction of monocytes and by the on the analysis of five common flavonoids, the macrophages being inhibited from migrating back into flavonoid content of the Dutch diet was estimated to be the plasma. This leads to an accumulation of 28 mg/day (as aglycones). In areas with a very high macrophages, saturated with cholesteryl esters, in intake of plants and herbs/spices, the intake of intima. Gradually the macrophages are transformed to flavonoids is believed to be as high as 2-3 gl/day. Many foam cells, which may then develop into fatty streaks. factors influence the flavonoid content of plants, among others the conditions of growth, ripeness and season. A fatty streak can further develop into fibrotic plaques, Growth beneath glass reduces the levels of flavonoids, which become calcified and lead to reduction of the and in general, processed foods have 50% lower lumen (26). concentrations than fresh (20). A subgroup of Oxidised LDL is also cytotoxic, and may harm flavonoids, the isoflavonoids, are mainly found in the endothelial cells. This damage is accompanied by Leguminosae, soy beans being an example of a food release of factors stimulating platelet aggregation and with a substantial content of isoflavonoids. early growth of thrombosis. The combination of Biological effects thrombogenesis and reduced intraluminal volume may Recently, the antioxidant properties of the flavonoids lead to infarction. have become a subject of considerable interest (2 1 - Thus, substances protecting against the oxidation of 23), but in addition, several other properties have been LDL are of considerable interest in the prevention and reported, some of which are shown in Table 3 (1 treatment of coronary heart disease (27). In addition, 3,16,24,25). Among the effects can be mentioned substances with antithrombotic properties will be of modulation of enzyme activity, e.g. cyclooxygenase, interest. a-Tocopherol (vitamin E), retinyl stearate, y- lipoxygenases, phospholipase A2, hyaluronidase and tocopherol and Pcarotene have been reckoned among 5'-iodothyronine deiodinase. Inhibition of LAR (lens the most important antioxidants. All are fat soluble. aldose reductase) and of ACE (angiotensin convertase) has also been described. These effects provide a broad It is, however, well known that the content of potential for medical effects and usage, and in antioxidants in an LDL particle of a healthy adult can particular, work is presently being conducted with vary widely, and it is tempting to speculate that the flavonoids and cancer (Fact column 2). In this paper, dietary content may have an impact. The cytosolic however, we will concentrate on the possible impact levels of antioxidants also influence the oxidation of flavonoids may have on coronary heart disease. In this LDL. Best known among these is ascorbic acid context, we will discuss the antioxidant properties of (vitamin C), which can react directly with superoxide flavonoids. and hydroxyl radicals and in vitro can reduce the tocopheroxyl radical back to atocopherol. Coronary heart disease The composition of the diet influences the risk for To our knowledge, no attempts have been made to developing coronary heart disease, and not least "the quantify the flavonoid content of human LDL. French paradox" and other phenomena show that the Flavonoids as antioxidants influence is not limited to the effect of saturated fat and Many flavonoids are strong antioxidants; for a review, cholesterol (5). The mechanisms underlying the see, e.g. (21). Several in vitro studies have shown development of atherosclerosis are not completely flavonoids to have stronger antioxidant properties in understood, but it is generally believed that early in the Continued on page 63

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Continued from page 62 – Can Dietary Flavonoids disease (107). So far, it is not known whether this effect influence the Development of Coronary Heart Disease also applies to humans. some assay systems than a-tocopherol. Usually, the Platelet aggregation optimal antioxidant activity of flavonoids is related to Since the 1950s it has been known that flavonoids may neighbouring phenolic hydroxyl groups (usu8lly in the have an antithrombotic effect and inhibit platelet 3'- and 4'-position), a double bond between C2 and C3 aggregation (55). The effect is well documented both in in conjugation with a carbonyl group at C4, and vitro and in vivo in animal experiments, as well as ex vivo hydroxyl groups at C3 and C5 (28). Flavonols in humans (56). The mechanisms behind the combining these properties, such as quercetin, can antiaggregatory effect seem complex. In many cases, scavenge radicals such as superoxide, hydroxyl, inhibition of cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase, resulting in alkoxyl and peroxyl. However, some flavonoids are increased CAMP levels, seems to be important (57), but strong antioxidants and radical scavengers without this is apparently not the case for the antiaggregatory having this structure (29,30). flavonoids in green tea (58). It is well known that flavonoids seem to have vitamin C A number of other mechanisms have been suggested: an sparing effects (31,32), and it has been assumed that influence on the metabolism of arachidonic acid (with this is related to their antioxidant properties. "Vitamin reduction in thromboxane levels) (59,60) - receptor C2" was once suggested as a name for some flavonoids, antagonism to tromboxane receptors have also been but this was never generally accepted (3 1, 33). reported (61), as well as an increase in the levels of Moreover, recent data (34) indicate that the vitamin C prostacyclin (62). Many flavonoids are strong inhibitors of sparing effect is not as easily explained as earlier lipoxygenases, but have differing effect on believed. cyclooxygenase (63, 64). Reduction of calcium levels LDL (60), inhibition of "platelet activating factor" (58), As previously mentioned, data have gradually scavenging of free radicals (65) and reduced liberation of accumulated indicating that oxidation of LDL is an proaggregatory enzymes (66) have been observed. important factor in the development of atherosclerosis Apparently, the antiaggregatory effects of flavonoids are (reviews, see (35-37)). Atherogenesis is, however, a due to several more or less separate mechanisms. very complex process (38). One would expect the substantial effect of flavonoids on In in vitro experiments, flavonoids inhibit the oxidation arachidonic acid metabolism to result in antiinflammatory of LDL triggered by cellular (e,g. macrophages) as well properties, and this has indeed been demonstrated, mainly as noncellular factors (e.g. copper ions) (39-47). in animal experiments in vivo, but also in experiments with human cells in vitro (67-7 1). In this case, as well, Scavenging of free radicals participating in oxidative several mechanisms seem to be involved. The literature is processes may thus be an explanation for some of the reviewed in, e.g. (24,72). observed effects of flavonoids. Other mechanisms, such as protection of a-tocopherol, have also been suggested. In summary, the antiinflammatory, antiaggregatory and In addition, quercetin reduces the cytotoxic effects of antioxidative/radical scavenging effects of flavonoids are oxidized LDL (46,48). The mechanism underlying this well documented in in vitro systems, and the results point effect is not known. at several, partly independent, mechanisms. One can not disregard the possibility that still other effects may be of Because 15-lipoxygenase has been suggested to importance; inhibition of xanthin oxidase (produces participate in the oxidation of LDL (49), it is of superoxide radicals), myeloperoxidase (produces particular interest that several flavonoids inhibit this hypochlorite, another prooxidant) and angiotensin enzyme (5O,5 1). convertase (gives angiotensin 11, which increases blood Frankel et al. have shown that phenols extracted from pressure) has also been reported for the flavonoids. red wine inhibited Cu catalysed oxidation of human Therapeutic use LDL ex vivo (52). This has been corroborated by other Medical use of plants rich in flavonoids goes back to studies (53,54). ancient times. This practice was probably based on Recent experiments show that soybean isoflavonoids experience, and only lately has the use of flavonoids and given to rhesus monkeys reduce LDL levels and flavonoid-containing preparations been based on rational increase the levels of HDL (high density lipoprotein) in biochemical knowledge. plasma, and thus would be expected to have a The ability to counteract capillary permeability was the beneficial effect in connection with coronary heart Continued on page 64 -63- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 63 – Can Dietary Flavonoids Flavone acetic acid, a synthetic flavonoid, is an influence the Development of Coronary Heart Disease example of this: This compound was chosen by the first biological effect shown for flavonoids. A number Cancer Research Campaign (UK) to a phase I, and later of pharmaceuticals, both with natural flavonoids and a phase I1 clinical trial. Both in vitro and animal semisynthetic derivatives, take advantage of this effect, experiments showed the antitumor activity of this as shown in several clinical studies (73,74). compound to be substantial. A flavonoid with an unusual structure, silybin (from the But only minimal activity could be demonstrated in thistle Silybum marianum, "Mariendistel" - an ancient humans! The process was reviewed in an article with medical plant from central Europe (75)), has the title: "Flavone acetic acid - from laboratory to clinic hepatoprotective effect and is included in many and back" (8 1). pharmaceuticals. Its clinical effect is well documented Bioactive compounds from natural sources have often (review, see (76)). had a disadvantage compared to their synthetic Another flavonoid, catechin (cyanidanol), also showed relatives: They are difficult to give effective patent promising clinical activity against hepatic disease, but protection. Because of this they have to some extent turned out to give serious side effects, probably of been regarded as economically uninteresting to the immunological nature (Fact column 3). pharmaceutical industry. As flavonoids are tested in clinical trials, they apparently show another handicap: Preparations from Crataegus (hawthorn), containing They are highly sensitive to their chemical oligomeric flavonoids as their (putative) main surroundings. Due to this, well established results may pharmacologically active ingredients, are used to treat be difficult to reproduce in new experimental settings. mild heart insufficiency. A Japanese multicenter study This may complicate the therapeutical use of testing such a product showed significant improvement flavonoids. compared to a placebo group (78). Studies designed to reveal the mechanisms of Crataegus preparations have FACT COLUMN 3: SIDE EFFECTS recently been reported, e.g. ( 108 - 1 10). Crataegus By and large, flavonoids are relatively nontoxic to based pharmaceuticals can interact with digitalis; thus higher animals (94-96,114), and seem to be devoid of such preparations should not be administered at the teratogenic effects (97). same time. As long as the diet is the sole source of flavonoids, the Pharmaceuticals based on extracts from Ginkgo hiloha, risk of becoming intoxicated seems small. Clinical an ancient Chinese medicine, have gained substantial trials with large doses of the flavonoid catechin use in large parts of Europe the last 10-20 years. In (cyanidanol) have, however, showed serious side Germany alone 4.2 million prescriptions with such effects, probably due to immunological reactions preparations were dispatched in 1990, representing a (98,99). The dosages in these cases were more than 1 market value of 263 million DM (79). Usually, partially gram/day. The acute LD50 for flavonoids tested in purified extracts of the plant with a specified content of animal experiments normally seems to be above I terpenoids and flavonoids, regarded as the main gram/kg body weight. The mutagenic effect shown for effective ingredients of the plant, are employed. A a number of flavonoids in Ames test seems to be of less number of clinical studies have been performed testing relevance in a cancer context than the antimutagenic the effect of Ginkgo preparations against age-related effect shown for flavonoids. cerebral insufficiency, and a meta-analysis of some of Dermatitis induced by flavonoids has been reported. In these studies showed a clear clinical effect (80). several of these reports raw extracts of plants were However, for many of the claimed effects of employed, and there is no direct evidence for flavonoids, effects that are seemingly in accordance flavonoids being the triggering factor. Some articles, with claims from folk medicine and results from in however, describe tests using pure substances (1 vitro and animal experiments, clinical data are lacking. 15,116), and here it appears that certain flavonoids can produce dermatological reactions, although the large So far, acceptable clinical intervention studies testing majority are inactive. the effects of flavonoids against atherosclerotic and thrombotic disease have not been conducted. In the Propolis, well known for its allergic skin reactions cases where clinical trials have been conducted, they (117), is normally rich in flavonoids, but other have often not been able to confirm the promising substances seem to be responsible for the allergy (1 results from in vitro and animal experiments. 18,119). Continued on page 65

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Continued from page 64 – Can Dietary Flavonoids influence to the upper tertile compared to the lowest tertile of the Development of Coronary Heart Disease flavonoid intake. Some isoflavonoids are oestrogens. Their activity is The flavonoid intake was not related to cancer relatively low, and consumption of soy beans, a rich incidence or mortality. source of isoflavonoids, does not seem to have adverse oestrogenic effects in humans. It has long been known As a first attempt to include the flavonoids in the that sheep grazing on isoflavonoid-rich clover species classical epidemiological cause-effect models for get hormone balance disturbances, and recently it has coronary heart mortality, the Dutch group estimated the been shown that coumestrol, the most active flavonoid intake around 1960 for the 16 cohorts being isoflavonoid oestrogen, (but only found in very small part of the Seven Countries Study (82). The average amounts in soy beans), disturbs oestrus in female mice flavonoid intake was inversely correlated to coronary and produces abnormal sexual behaviour in male mice heart mortality in the cohort after 25 years of follow- (1 20). up, and explained 25% of the variance. When adjustments were made for other risk factors, saturated Epidemiological studies fat explained 73% of the variance, smoking 9%, while Recently, results from several epidemiological studies flavonoids explained 8%, independent of the intake of have been published, including relative precise estimates the vitamins E, C and alcohol. This study can easily be of the intake of flavonoids (7,82,111,112). Much of this criticised in the Zutphen study, but nevertheless the work comes from the Netherlands, and was initiated by a results can, e.g. since all estimates were far more workshop held in Wageningen in 1990 with the title uncertain than be an indication of flavonoids being at "Nonnutritive anticarcinogens in foods". least a factor to be controlled for in future Thanks to multidisiplinary co-operation between epidemiological studies. chemists, nutritionists and epidemiologists, methods The Zutphen Study results have recently found support were developed for analyses of important food in a publication from Finland (1 11). Here, 5 133 men flavonoids. and women between 30 and 69 years, with no signs of Later, the content in the most relevant Dutch food items coronary disease at start, were followed for 26 years. were analysed and the Dutch dietary intake was The flavonoid intake was estimated on the basis of estimated, based on the dietary data. Further, the results dietary reports at the start of the study, and the were attached to the Seven Countries Study which flavonoid values from the Dutch food item analysis. started in the 1960s. The intake was far below the Dutch: only 3.4 mglday as Results from the food analyses are shown in Table 2. a median, with a range from 0 to 41.4 mg. 64% of the The Zutphen study (7) comprised 805 men from the flavonoids came from onions and apples. During the town Zutphen in Holland being between 65 and 84 years study period, 473 persons died of coronary disease. of age when the study started in 1985. The average There was a significant inverse correlation between flavonoid intake (estimated as the sum of the five most flavonoid intake and both total and coronary mortality important flavonoid aglycones) was 26 mg/ day. Most of among females, when corrected for age, smoking, the flavonoids (61 %) came from tea, 38% from serum cholesterol, blood pressure and body mass index. vegetables and fruit (mainly onions, kale, endives and Among the men, the trend was the same, but significant apples). only for total mortality. The intake was related to the risk of developing cancer The latest of the hitherto published epidemiological and coronary heart disease the following five years. In studies on dietary flavonoids also comes from Zutphen this period, 43 men died from coronary heart disease (112). In this work, 552 men between 50 and 69 years while 38 men had myocardial infarction. The flavonoid of age were followed in a prospective study intake was inversely related to coronary heart mortality investigating the relationship between flavonoid intake (P for trend=0.003), while the correlation to the and stroke. incidence of a first infarction was much weaker after After correction for confounders (including antioxidant adjustment for known risk factors as age, body mass vitamins) it was found that the quartile with the highest index, smoking, serum cholesterol, blood pressure, flavonoid intake (more than 28.6 mg/day) had physical activity, consumption of coffee, and further for significantly fewer cases of stroke than the quartile with the intake of energy, vitamin C, vitamin E, p-carotene the lowest flavonoid intake (less than 18.3 mg/d) (RR and dietary fibre (P=O. 15). Coronary heart mortality 0.27; 95% confidence interval 0.1 1-0.70; P for trend was reduced by more than 50% in the group belonging Continued on page 66 -65- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 65 – Can Dietary Flavonoids Some results concerning the biological activity of influence the Development of Coronary Heart Disease flavonoid metabolites have recently been published (45,113), but a lot still remains to be done in this field. 0.004). Tea, being the main source of flavonoids in the investigation, gave similar results, while the reduction 6. A standard method of approach to assess the function in stroke associated with increased intake of p-carotene of dietary components has been to compose diets and vitamin C was not significant. without the substance to be studied, follow an eventual modulation of metabolic processes, and then follow In fact, vitamin E seemed to have a positive correlation these processes when the substance is reintroduced with the total amount of strokes, but this correlation (depletion/repletion studies). It is virtually impossible was not statistically significant. to compose a diet free of flavonoids but still adequate Evaluation of dietary flavonoids is problematical when it comes to regular nutrients. At the same time, 1. Hitherto, it has been assumed that most flavonoids such a diet has to be acceptable to the human subjects. are broken down, to a larger or smaller degree, by These aspects make human experiments difficult to intestinal bacteria, or that they undergo major structural design. The emerging results from epidemiological and changes in the gastrointestinal tract. Possibly, clinical studies indicate that these problems may be completely different metabolites are present in the body overcome, even though results may be difficult to after absorption than those ingested. Thus, nutritional interpret. The evidence obtained from clinical and consequences of the flavonoids are not necessarily a epidemiological studies so far seem to indicate that result of the flavonoids in themselves, but of enteral or flavonoids may, indeed, possess important biological post absorptive interactions and degradation products. activity. For this reason, one has to distinguish sharply between Conclusion experiments where flavonoids are given orally and by Although no flavonoid-specific biological functions other routes, and also between in vivo and in vitro have been demonstrated so far, a growing amount of studies. So far we cannot disregard the possibility that evidence indicates that the intake of flavonoids may be the health impact of flavonoids primarily is a result of of considerable importance to health. A multitude of what happens in the intestine, e.g. through their promising in vitro experiments have been carried out, influence on our immune system or intestinal bacteria. but relatively few clinical trials or epidemiological studies. As natural substances with limited 2. Flavonoids usually co-occur with other active patentability, they have attracted only moderate interest substances in foods, like vitamin C, and one has to from the pharmaceutical industry, and this has limited consider that eventual effects of flavonoids are the total research effort in the field. Recent dependent on interactions with other dietary epidemiological studies indicate that the flavonoids components. should be taken into consideration, and controlled for, 3. The effects of flavonoids seem to be mainly in epidemiological studies of coronary heart disease. preventive, and it is much more difficult to study The assessment of the impact of the flavonoids on (unknown) effects of prevention than treatment. human health is difficult because of the high 4. Flavonoids seem to have a broad spectrum of effects, complexity of the antioxidant system of the body, and and this may make rational applications more difficult, the picture is complicated further by the flavonoids also even if a broad-spectrum effect can be therapeutically having mechanisms of action which are largely beneficial. Furthermore, there does not seem to be any independent of the antioxidant system. effect for which the flavonoids constitute the only Helle Margrete Meltzer, Ph.D., Nordic School of Nutrition, responsible agent. School of Medicine, Univ. of Oslo, P.O. Box 1046, Blindern, 5. The metabolism and pharmacokinetics of flavonoids N-03 16 Oslo, Norway. in humans is not very well understood. Flavonoids can Karl Egil Malterud, Prof.* Dept. of Pharmacognosy, Institute of Pharmacy, The Univ. of Oslo, PO Box 1068, be metabolized and degraded by the intestinal Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway. microflora, but they can also be metabolized hepatically and even enter the enterohepatical circuit. In flavonoid Scandinavian Journal of Nutrition/Naringsforskning research, high priority is given to finding out how and Vol41:50-57, 1997 to what degree flavonoids are absorbed in humans (22), http://www.foodandnutritionresearch.net/index.php/fnr/arti and studies on this theme are presently performed by cle/download/1753/1660 several research groups, e.g. (127,128). ☻☻☻☻☻☻

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because they're not getting the same quality Heart Attack Deaths Higher healthcare," said Dr. Carl "Chip" Lavie, from the John in Blacks than in Whites Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans, who wasn't involved in the new research. By Genevra Pittman "The obvious implications are, we need to do a better November 7, 2012 job in African Americans of getting their risk factors Reuters treated, and probably getting them to recognize Black men and women are more likely to die of a heart symptoms of cardiovascular disease." attack or heart failure than whites in the United States, More ethnic disparities according to a new study. Another report published alongside Safford's found Researchers said those disparities could be explained heart-disease differences aren't limited to blacks and by black adults' higher rates of smoking, diabetes and whites: among Latinos in the United States, cardiac high blood pressure, and the finding that they tend to be risks were common but varied widely. heavier than whites. Of more than 15,000 Cubans, Dominicans, Mexicans, The study's lead author said the result is "distressingly Puerto Ricans, and Central and South Americans living similar" to racial differences seen in data from the in four U.S. cities, researchers found 80 percent of men 1990s, despite public health efforts to address them. and 71 percent of women had at least one "risk factor" for heart disease. Those included diabetes, high "The sad fact is, we really don't see an awful lot of cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking and obesity. movement in terms of that long-standing disparity. It's pretty much where we were the last time we looked at Heart disease and related risks were more common it," Dr. Monika Safford, from the University of among people who'd lived in the U.S. for longer, or Alabama at Birmingham, told Reuters Health. were second- or third-generation immigrants. Her team's findings are based on close to 25,000 Risks also varied by study participants' country of middle-aged and older adults who had blood and urine origin. Obesity and smoking, in particular, were most tests and a general health check in 2003 through 2007. common among Puerto Ricans, Dr. Martha Daviglus At that point, none of them had heart disease. from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her colleagues reported in the Journal of the American Over the next four-plus years, 659 people in the study Medical Association. developed any kind of heart disease, including heart attacks and heart failure. About one-third of those She said some groups of Latinos, such as Puerto "events" were fatal. Ricans, appear to have more heart-related problems than white and black Americans, while others, like Every year during the study, 4 in 1,000 black men died South Americans, tend to have fewer. from heart disease, on average, compared to 1.9 of 1,000 white men, the researchers found. Among "They can't all just be considered one generic women, 2 in 1,000 blacks died of heart disease each population," said Dr. Patrick O'Malley, an internist at year, compared to 1 in 1,000 whites. the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland who didn't participate Safford and her colleagues found the extra deaths in in the new studies. blacks could be explained by their higher heart risks to begin with. For example, close to one in three black "What we knew until now was based on a group of men and women had diabetes at the study's onset, Hispanics, mainly Mexican-Americans, and as you can versus one in six white participants. "There are no see, risk factors vary among all of the other surprises here," Safford said. Hispanic/Latino groups," Daviglus told Reuters Health. She said genetics may put black adults at higher risk for That's because people from different countries eat and uncontrolled high blood pressure. When it comes to exercise in different ways, have different degrees of high cholesterol, fewer of them are on statins. And cultural acceptance when it comes to smoking, and blacks may not be accessing quit-smoking programs - adapt to living in the U.S. differently, she said. or other preventive care - as often as whites. Addressing disparities "The question is, did they have problems before (dying Across the board, the average 45-year-old man has a 60 of heart disease) that weren't picked up? And maybe it's Continued on page 68

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Continued from page 67 - How does green coffee bean extract work? Chlorogenic acids are phenolic compounds contained percent chance of having a stroke, heart attack or heart disease sometime in his life, according to another in vegetables and fruits, but very abundant in green analysis of multiple long-term studies. A 45-year-old coffee bean extract. This extract is believed to reduce woman has a 56 percent risk. hypertension because it reduces oxidative stress and improves nitric oxide (NO) levels. Even middle-aged adults who are non-smokers, normal weight and have no other heart risks have a more than Nitric oxide penetrates the membranes of almost all the 30 percent chance of eventually developing heart cells in your body and helps regulate many cellular disease, a team led by Dr. John Wilkins of functions. In blood vessels, NO is vital because it Northwestern University in Chicago concluded. regulates the tone of the endothelial cells—the cells that line the inside of blood vessels—and helps dilate Safford and Daviglus both emphasized the importance blood vessels so that blood flow is unrestricted. If the of targeting health and education programs to people in epithelial cells are impaired, they can cause spasms or communities that need them, whatever their race or constrictions in the blood vessels, which can then lead ethnicity. to hypertension. "We need to educate these communities, we need to Free radicals in your blood vessels can also lead to provide them means to improve their lifestyle," hypertension. This theory arises from scientist’s according to Daviglus - such as with free quit-smoking observations in lab research that hypertension can be programs and exercise classes. produced experimentally by various oxidative "The good news is that we know what the fixes are - molecules, such as superoxide (also referred to as ROS, now we just have to buckle down and do them," or reactive oxygen species). Superoxide disables nitric Safford said. oxide by forming peroxynitrite, a potent constrictor of arteries.2 Consequently, the theory is that antioxidants O'Malley told Reuters Health that although doctors such as green coffee bean extract may play a role in should be more aware of higher risks for blacks and maintaining healthy blood pressure levels. some Latinos - and possibly treat those patients more aggressively - issues such as economic and educational Scientific studies disparities will have to be addressed to create Several double blind, placebo-controlled studies have significant changes in health trends. demonstrated green coffee bean extract’s antihyper- tensive benefits. In a Japanese study 117 men with mild http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/06/14975601- hypertension took green coffee bean extracts at three heart-attack-deaths-higher-in-blacks-than-in-whites?lite different potencies for one month. After 28 days, the ☻☻☻☻☻☻ results showed a significant improvement in blood pressure as compared to placebo in the groups taking Nutritional Supplements 185 mg as well as the group taking 93 mg of green That Lower Your Blood coffee bean extract. Pressure without Drugs Systolic blood pressure (the top number) in the group taking 93 mg of green coffee bean extract was reduced Green coffee bean extract —the by about 4.7 points, and in the group taking 185 mg it antioxidant for hypertension was reduced by about 5.6 points. Diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) was reduced by about 3.2 Coffee is made by roasting green coffee beans. The in the group taking 93 mg, and by about 3.9 in the extract from the unroasted bean, referred to as green group taking 185 mg. coffee bean extract, contains potent medicinal There were no adverse effects from taking the extract, compounds called chlorogenic acids. Scientific studies and the researchers concluded that daily use of green have demonstrated that these compounds can reduce coffee bean extract has blood pressure-lowering effect high blood pressure. in patients with mild hypertension.3 Don’t worry about the caffeine: green coffee bean In another similar Japanese study subjects with mild extracts contain only about 10% caffeine by weight, a hypertension received 140 mg of green coffee bean high daily dose contains no more than about 20% of the extract each day. Blood pressure, pulse rate, body mass caffeine content of a strong cup of coffee. index, routine blood test, hematochemistry, urinalysis Continued on page 83 -68- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic

Volume 7, Issue 12 NEWSLETTER November/December 2012 FEATURED ARTICLES

Towards An Africology of Knowledge Production and African Regeneration - Excerpt By Dani Wadada Nabudere – RIP Marcus Garvey Pan African Institute/University

The Cradle and the World. again from Africa, to the rest of the world, within the Dr. Louis Leakey’s archaeological discoveries in East last 25,000 years. He observes that if this new Africa dispelled any doubts about the Cradle of knowledge were to spread and pondered over by the Humanity being located in the Great Rift Valleys of next generation of scientists across the whole spectrum East Africa. It is here that humanity originates fully as of intellectual disciplines, “the outside world will learn sapiens sapiens, despite attempts to assert the contrary to think of Africa with more respect and that Africans by scientists who are ideologically driven by race themselves will face their fellows with a new theories [Diop, 1981: 25-68]. Even before Leakey made confidence” [Ibid: 252]. Oliver concludes that should the historic discoveries, the Greeks had long recognised this “hypothesis” become established, then “a major the originality of the people in the Nile Valley. Writing revision of the existing literature of prehistory would in the first century BC, Diodorus of Sicily had observed become necessary, but the resulting modifications of that the Nubian or Ethiopian people whom he visited generally received opinion should be less far-reaching seemed to be the first “to emerge from the bowels of than for the other continents” [Ibid: 26]. the earth and begin to live.” He also observed that most But this respect and confidence as well as the major of the practices adopted by the Egyptians were of revisions of literature on the prehistory of humankind Nubian or Ethiopian origin and, especially, “the college (but also of the history of the world) will not come on of priests,” which were “almost in all respects identical their own. This effort will require a new crop of in the two nations” [Quoted in Obenga, 1995: 73-4]. African scholars themselves not just to be proud of the An outstanding British historian on Africa, Roland fact that the Cradle of Humankind was located in the Oliver, with this in mind stated what most scholars Great Rift Valley of East Africa, but also to follow this have increasingly come to accept: up by demonstrating themselves as Cheick Anta Diop and those who have followed him have done: that the “It seems that we all belong, ultimately, to civilisational achievements of Egypt were achieve- Africa. Almost certainly, the Garden of Eden, in ments of those of the African people and that those which our ancestors grew gradually apart from achievements were later to become archetypes that their near relatives in the animal kingdom, lay in ‘streamed’ from the Cradle to the rest of humankind in the highland interior of East Africa, where the rest of the world. Such new discoveries will reveal equatorial forest belt is broken by mountains and that the achievements of early humankind in the Cradle high savannah parklands running south from were in fact to become the common heritage of the Ethiopia to the Cape. At the heart of this region whole world, showing their universal character. lies the Great Rift Valley, its floor strewn with spectacular lakes, its sides rising steeply to the But what is it that we are talking about here? We are high plateaux surmounted by the blue cones of a talking about the need for a mental/psychological thousand volcanic peaks” [Oliver, 1991: 1]. revolution involving the understanding of ourselves historically and in the present. The records are there for Roland Oliver adds that the recent findings of mole- us to interpret and apply to our situation. The cular biology had revealed that the planet was not restatement of the fact that Africa was the Cradle of merely first colonised from Africa: it was also “largely Humankind will not of itself mean much unless we can recolonised by the first fully sapient men spreading out, Continued on page 70

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Continued from page 69 – Towards an Africology of centuries by outsiders. Knowledge Production and African Regeneration The subject of the text was Memphis, its mythic and demonstrate that it was from here that the original ideas political significance “as the location where the that formed human knowledge and wisdom were created creation emerged from the primal waters and the and to highlight those ideas that were crucial to human seminal locus of pharaoh kingship” [Assmann, 1996: existence, but which have been used for purposes of 346]. The creator-god, Atum is referred to in the greed and self-glorification in the modern world. More Manifesto as “the Universe” and is depicted in the text importantly, research in this area should lead to the as “unfolding in the world” and at the same time creation of a new philosophy “that can reconcile man “creating it.” In this way, the Egyptian cosmologies with himself” [Diop, 1981: 361]. depicted in a combined way both an account of the Carl Gustav Jung, referred to above, was convinced of birth of the world with a report on the emergence of the originality of humanity in African when in 1925 he consciousness and the idea political rule. The elevation made his first trip to Africa starting with East Africa, in of Memphis to the royal capital of a reunified Egypt the course of his studies. For him, the only way to was, according to Assmann, a “feat of cultural understand humanity was to see it from its originality renewal,” which provided the impetus for the ensuing face to face “with men of the other epoch” and who renaissance. seemed to have put their imprint on Egypt. He was not The Memphite text also gives an account of how impressed by the so-called “Asiatic elements” in the knowledge was created from the word and language. Egyptian civilisation nor the attempt to look at Egypt Assmann calls this an “anthropological discourse” from the West, from the direction of Europe and Greece which begins with how Atum created knowledge “but from the south” [Rice, 1990: 254-6]. Among the through the “seed” and “hands” of Amun and how sub- archetypes that Jung saw “streaming out of Egypt” to gods emerged in pairs referred to in the text. These the rest of humanity were the divine kingship, the ‘Great creations are also referred to as the “teeth” and “lips,” Individual,’ the festival of renewal, the Gods, the Divine which are said to have formed the frame for the Animals, the symbolism in early Egypt, the symbolism “tongue” that in turn created everything by naming of the Tomb, the evolution of the burial customs, the them: Temple, the ancient Egyptian psyche and experiences of the species, the pyramids and the texts in the Temples as That the eye sees, the ear hear, and the nose “psychoanalytical primers.’ breathes air is in order to make a report to the Jung noted that the most important achievement of the heart. Egyptian-Africans was the knowledge they were able to This it is that makes all knowledge originates. assemble as they moved from the unconscious to the The tongue, it is that repeats what is thought by conscious. This is description of the emergence of the heart. Homo sapiens sapiens as they moved from the Cradle of East Africa northwards, eastwards and westwards. This Assmann observes that the process of creation is here description is about how the universe was formed as conceived in bodily terms, “Phallus” and “hand” – the humankind became conscious and aware of self and traditional physical symbols of creativity - are how humankind begun to engage in different kinds of represented as “teeth” and “lips.” The genuine creative activities that made them human. In this way, the first organs are heart and tongue. He adds that since the Africans built up their first civilisation in the Nile Egyptians made no distinction between “body” and Valley and established the first political society that “mind/spirit,” knowledge and language, originate in the lasted several millennia. heart on the basis of the perceptions reported to it by the eyes and the ears: “The knowledge formed in the Some of these achievements, which were later heart is communicated by the tongue,” but the ear also challenged by the invading forces were restated in the hears, which creates a basis for communication in first African renaissance recorded in the Memphite language-the basis of knowledge creation [Ibid: 352]. Theology by the Pharaoh Shabaka of the Cushite (Nubian and Ethiopian) dynasties who tried to recapture The text then relates how all the gods were “born,” how Egypt’s old glory and reassert it. This was done in 716 divine speech recorded in the hieroglyphs originated BC in a document also called the Memphite Manifesto. “from which it was thought out by the heart and In the Manifesto Shabaka, made an attempt to discover commanded by the tongue.” With this all trades and all and reinvent the past glory and preserve it. He tried to arts were carried out with the action of the arms and the remodel Egypt from the past after disruptions of several Continued on page 71

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Continued from page 70 – – Towards an Africology of Greek Enlightenment saw as the relationship between Knowledge Production and African Regeneration the word and thing. Thereby the word changed from walking of the legs, the movement of all limbs in presenting the thing to substituting for it. The name that accordance with the instructions of those words that is given and can be altered raised doubt about the truth were thought up by the heart and uttered by the tongue of the word. and thereby providing all things. Assmann points out This is how dialectics was also brought in from the that this is the most elaborate Egyptian account of Egyptians by Plato to deal with the problem they had creation by the Word, which differs from the biblical created for themselves in denying that the word/name account in two ways. was capable of producing truth. Thought in this case The first is the role of the heart that is the planned became dependent on itself and the ideas it produces conception of creation- an idea absent from the Bible. were equally independent. Hence it is not the word that The second is the role of script, the hieroglyphs opened the way to truth, but the ideas that could be mentioned on two occasions in the text. He adds that created and dialectically related in form. Thus, unlike these two points are closely related: “For what the heart the Egyptians, for the Greeks, the word (logos) is a thinks up are not the names of things but their ‘concepts’ stream that flows from thought and sounds through the and their ‘forms.’ Hieroglyphic script is a rendering of mouth. Language is peripheral to the process and that is the forms and relates to the concepts ‘thought up’ by the why at a later stage, the word is represented by a sign to heart and given outward and visible form by which meaning is attributed. Gadamer observes: hieroglyphic script” [Ibid: 353]. We shall see below how “It must be admitted that every development of true this understanding the process of language is to the scientific terminology, however, confined its use African oral literature and how this can help us to clear may be, constitutes a phase of this process. For the confusion that Plato and Aristotle brought to the what is a technical term? A world whose concept logos or the word. meaning is univocally defined, inasmuch as it God Ptah is depicted in the text as the artist and signifies a defined concept. A technical term is craftsman, who endow things their ‘design’, their always somewhat artificial insofar as either the immutable forms and which are depicted by the written word itself is artificially formed or – as is more signs. Here is introduced another god-Thoth-who now frequent-a word already in use has the variety becomes the god of the ‘tongue,’ but also of the god of and breadth of its meanings excised and assigned hieroglyphic script. According to the text, Thoth is able only one particular conceptual meaning, in to transform the thoughts of the heart into spoken and contrast to the living meaning of the words in written language. In this, creation is at the same time an spoken language [Gadamer, 1989: 414-15]. act of the articulation-conceptually, iconically, For the Egyptians, the sign represented by hieroglyphs phonetically of the world. The written signs originate at are, as we saw above, merely forms of the things that the same time as the things they stand for and the names constitute the totality of the real world. The hieroglyphs they bear. The totality of all creation is encompassed in represented the real world. Thus we can see that we are the term “all things and all hieroglyphs.” The coming to the point where we must see that the hieroglyphs are the Forms of the things that constitute restoration of the original philosophical and cosmo- the totality of the real world. Thus Thoth, the god of the logical framework, which the Egyptian-Africans script, does not have to invent words like Plato tried to attached to the world and its power of creation of the do in imitation of the Egyptian philosophy, but to find Universe. The word and its resulting in language, and what is in the structure of things. He records “all the its attribution to god Thoth as the recorder of the things that exist: what Ptah created” [Ibid: 354]. knowledge created through them becomes essential for According to Gadamer, Plato separates the name from comprehending the world of the African linguistic the thing in order to create the “Idea” for the thing to be world. Here language emerges as the living reality that understood on its own. This is because the word was is created by the beingness of Africans with meaning understood primarily as a name. We see that this was that springs from their culturally and historically also the case with the Egyptians, except that for them the constructed out of their ontological being. What we word and the name stood for real entities expressed in have to do is to construct a science of Africology, form. For the Greeks, on the other hand, the name did which can help us recover this originality of the African not represent a true being. This belief in the word (logos) Universe and thought. and doubt about it, constituted the problem that the http://www.blackherbals.com/Afrikology_and_Renewal.pdf ☻☻☻☻☻☻

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dopamine. Dopamine and norepinephrine are closely What your Heart and Brain related. "What dopamine does is it gives you that are doing When You're in focused attention, the craving, the euphoria, the energy and the motivation, in this case the motivation to win Love life's greatest prize," she said. By Elizabeth Landau This norepinephrine response has never been precisely studied in relation to romantic love, but the system February 12, 2010 seems to be more activated in people in love, she said. Poets, novelists and songwriters have described it in http://articles.cnn.com/2010-02- countless turns of phrase, but at the level of biology, love 12/health/love.heart.brain_1_heart-rate-stress-hormone- is all about chemicals. ☻☻☻☻☻☻ Although the physiology of romantic love has not been extensively studied, scientists can trace the symptoms of Scientist Predicts Eugenic deep attraction to their logical sources. Society in 5 Years: Gene "Part of the whole attraction process is strongly linked to physiological arousal as a whole," said Timothy Loving Tests to Determine Lover's (his real name), assistant professor of human ecology at Compatibility the University of Texas, Austin. "Typically, that's going to start with things like increased heart rate, sweatiness and It seems we may be heading into a new era of eugenics, so on," and in the future, instead of choosing to settle with partners we love, we may be choosing them based on When you catch sight of your beloved and your heart the compatibility of our genes, a leading scientist has starts racing, that's because of an adrenaline rush, said Dr. warned. Reginald Ho, a cardiac electrophysiologist and associate By Christine Hsu professor of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. July 13, 2012 Here's how it works: The brain sends signals to the It seems we may be heading into a new era of eugenics, adrenal gland, which secretes hormones such as and in the future, instead of choosing to settle with adrenaline, epinephrine and norepinephrine. They flow partners we love, we may be choosing them based on through the blood and cause the heart to beat faster and the compatibility of our genes, a leading scientist has stronger, Ho said. warned. The response is somewhat similar to a fast heartbeat while Professor Armand Leroi, of Imperial College London, running on a treadmill, although exercise has other predicts that the ever declining cost of DNA testing benefits, he said. means that we may be heading toward a society that is based on genetic superiority. For people with serious heart problems, love could actually be dangerous, Ho said. That's because when the Leroi told the Euroscience Open Forum 2012, in heart rate goes up, the heart uses more oxygen, which can Dublin, that he expects that in five to 10 years, it will be risky for an older person with blood vessel blockages become standard practice for young people to pay to or who has had a prior heart attack. But good medicines access their entire genetic code, according to The such as beta blockers help curb the adrenaline response, Telegraph. Ho said. Naturally, the future generation's desire to have a It is also likely that norepinephrine, a stress hormone that healthy baby will then lead them to request access to governs attention and responding actions, makes you feel view the genetic blueprint of any prospective long-term weak in the knees, said Helen Fisher, professor at Rutgers partner. University and author of the book "Why Him? Why Her? He told researchers attending the major science Finding Real Love by Understanding Your Personality conference in Dublin that with the information, future Type." couples could then use IVF to weed out offspring with Fisher's research team did brain imaging of people who incurable disease. said they were "madly in love" and found activity in the However, he added that it is unlikely that people will area of the brain that produces the neurotransmitter Continued on page 73

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Continued from page 72 – Scientist Predicts Eugenic Society in 5 Years Could your friends be have the "luxury" of using the technology to design babies making you sick? Toxic by intellect or eye color, but will instead focus on stopping genetic diseases. relationships are linked to Speaking in a session titled “I human: are new scientific cancer, depression and discoveries challenging our identity as a species”, Leroi heart disease said the cost of genetic sequencing has been falling so quickly that “it is going to become very, very accessible, very, very soon”. By Daisy Dumas 28 January 2012 As an example, he said that the cost of genetically sequencing a person has fallen from $1 billion more than a It may be wise to keep your friends close and your decade ago to about $4,000. enemies not quite so close, after all. He noted that in some ways eugenics are already here, with Relationships may be as vital to good health as a tens of thousands of babies with Down’s syndrome and balanced diet and plenty of rest, new research suggests. other illnesses being aborted every year. Scientists at UCLA's school of medicine have found "These processes are very well established in most that negative social interactions can lead to increased European countries," he told the conference on Thursday. inflammation, which may in turn cause a host of "Many of the ethical problems that people raise when they illnesses from cancer to heart disease and high blood speak of neoeugenics are nought once you offer gene pressure. selection or mate selection as a eugenic tool. We are actually beginning to identify the genes that make a human.” "The search for an essence is a 2,000-year-old myth. What we are left with is a sense of capacity and the role of genes in the way they give us these things," he added. “I am certain genome sequencing will be available on the NHS (UK health service) within our lifetimes. It is going to be very, very accessible very, very soon.” Danish neurobiologist Lone Frank predicts that some countries will embrace the idea. "Some cultures will say, 'Let’s get a lot of genomes out on the table and see who’s Call these friends? The stress caused by negative got the best one'," she said, according to the Daily Mail. relationships can lead to inflammatory diseases, say However, she added that others will see it as an attempt to scientists play God. Published this week in the Proceedings of the National Philippa Taylor, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said Academy of Sciences journal, the study gives solid that society must "recognize and resist the eugenic mind grounding to the anecdotal evidence that being upbeat set," the Daily Mail reported. "Our society’s increasing and positive - and surrounding one's self with people obsession with celebrity status, physical perfection and with that do not represent competitive or toxic high intelligence fuels the view that the lives of people with relationships - may be one way to avoid getting sick. disabilities or genetic diseases are somehow less worth Taking a group of 122 healthy young people, the living," Taylor said to the UK-based paper. California-based scientists monitored stressful events "We must recognize and resist the eugenic mind set. Our and compared them to the body's production of two priorities should be to develop treatments and supportive inflammation-causing proteins. measures for those with genetic disease; not to search them Relying on the age-old method of capturing emotions - out and destroy them before birth," she added. the diary - scientists recorded the group's competitive http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/10844/20120713/eugenics- and frictional moments and compared them with the prediction-gene-test-compatibility-couples-infants.htm chemicals found in swabs from the inner cheek. ☻☻☻☻☻☻ Continued on page 74 -73- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 73- Could your friends be making you A record of stress sick? The hair on your head is dead, but its follicle, or root, is Those who had a negative few days preceding the swab alive. Substances like cortisol, which get released into had a higher proportion of the proteins responsible for the bloodstream when you're stressed, can seep into the conditions including high blood pressure, risk of heart follicle from the tiny blood vessels in the skin of the disease, cancer and depression, according to Science scalp. As the hair grows, traces of cortisol get trapped in News. the shaft, providing a way for researchers to measure the hormone over time. Because hair grows about 0.4 inches A similar peak in the pro-inflammatory proteins also (1 centimeter) per month, most people have many occurred after participants were subjected to a stress- months' worth of records of cortisol levels sitting on top inducing numbers quiz and then asked to give a public of their heads. Previous measures of cortisol in blood or speech. urine could record only a few hours' or days' worth of the The results - which may bring a whole new light to many hormone. a bad relationship - are thought to be grounded in "[Hair] tells me what happened to you in the last 10 evolutionary survival mechanisms. months," study researcher Gideon Koren, a professor of While the modern link between stress and illness is well- pediatric medicine and toxicology at the University of documented, psychologist Nicholas Rohleder from Western Ontario, told LiveScience. "I can even see how Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, told things change monthly." Science News that inflammation fends off infections that Koren had previously used hair samples to measure drug may once have been the result of fight or flight toxicity in infants whose mothers used cocaine and encounters. heroin while pregnant. He learned that other colleagues Without the dangers humans once faced when it came to were using similar methods to detect steroids in the getting through each and every day, stress may lead to systems of bodybuilders. If hair could accurately unchecked chronic inflammation, he said. measure body-boosting steroids, he realized, it might also hold a record of other hormones, like cortisol. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2092748/Toxic- Previous research had found that the cortisol persists in relationships-linked-cancer-depression-heart- the hair for at least six months, and in the case of several disease.html#ixzz1kqgYEKk8 ☻☻☻☻☻☻ Peruvian mummies, up to 1,500 years. Hair and heart attacks Hair Gives a Heads-Up on To test the idea, Koren and his colleagues took hair samples from 120 men who checked into the cardiac unit Heart Attack Risk of the Meir Medical Center in Israel. Half of the men By Stephanie Pappas were diagnosed with heart attacks, while the other half had other diagnoses like chest pain and infection. Only 02 September 2010 men were studied because heart attacks are more Stress may make you want to pull out your hair, but common in men, and because hormonal differences those tresses could be the key to measuring just how between men and women could skew the results. much stress you're under, according to a new study. The researchers analyzed the cortisol levels in the 1.2 The study found that the stress hormone cortisol can be inches (3 cm) of hair closest to the scalp, representing measured in hair, providing the first long-term record of about the last three months of the patients' lives. chronic stress that doesn't rely on a person's memories. They found that cortisol levels were significantly higher High levels of cortisol in hair were associated with heart in men who had heart attacks compared with men who attacks, the researchers reported online today in the had other illnesses. When the researchers split the men journal Stress. [Stress and 9 other Destructive Human into quartiles based on their cortisol levels, they found Behaviors] that of the men with the lowest levels, 32 percent had The findings could provide a new way to research heart attacks. In the men in the uppermost quartile of chronic stress, according to the researchers. If the results cortisol, that number jumped to 68 percent. can be replicated, the test may eventually be used in the The results held even after controlling for other heart- doctor's office to identify people at high risk for attack risk factors like cholesterol levels and body mass cardiovascular disease. index (a measure of body fatness). Continued on page 75

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Continued from page 74 – Hair Gives a Heads-Up on Heart pluripotent stem cells, or hiPSCs, a recently-discovered Attack Risk source which can be a good replacement for the much "It's not the only one, of course, but cortisol is an important more controversial stem cells technique. Basically what determinant of acute myocardial infarction," Koren said, you do is take cells from the patient and inject new genes using the technical term for heart attack. into their nucleus, along with a ‘chemical cocktail’. Basically, these new elements reprogram the cells to Testing the test their youthful stage, and teach them to do other things as The results will need to be replicated with larger numbers well. The major advantage here is that if the body sees of patients before hair-cortisol testing goes mainstream, its own cells, it will recognize them as friendly cells and Koren warned. Other research has shown that cortisol the immune system will not attack. levels in the hair do match cortisol levels in the blood, but Koren and his colleagues aren't yet sure if their results will The bad thing is that so far, studies have only shown apply to women. They also didn't test whether hair cortisol hiPSCs from younger (under 60 years) and healthy levels matched people's subjective feelings of stress. people who are able to adapt to this new situation and transform their cells. So far, this doesn’t seem to work If the test works, however, it could be a noninvasive way out for elderly and diseased patients. But scientists are to measure stress over time. That's important, Koren said, confident in this technique, and believe it can be used in because people's long-term memories of stress aren't many more exciting cases. always reliable. “What is new and exciting about our research is that we "It could be another tool for us, if it's possible to do and not have shown that it’s possible to take skin cells from an expensive," said Alicja Fishell, a psychiatrist at Women's elderly patient with advanced heart failure and end up College Hospital in Toronto. Fishell, who has collaborated with his own beating cells in a laboratory dish that are with Koren before but was not involved in the current healthy and young,” said Lior Gepstein, a professor of study, said the findings could one day prove useful to cardiology at the Technion-Israel Institute of research in her area, reproductive health, because the effect Technology and Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, of chronic stress on pregnant women and fetuses is not Israel. well-understood. Basically, it is the equivalent to the stage of his heart "We need to have a good study that really correlates" the cells when he was just born. relationship between stress and later psychiatric problems in women at different reproductive stages of life, Fishell http://beforeitsnews.com/science-and-technology/2012/05/lab- uses-skin-cells-to-help-repair-heart-muscle-2169886.html said. ☻☻☻☻☻☻ http://www.livescience.com/8562-hair-heads-heart-attack- risk.html Heartbeat, not Battery, could ☻☻☻☻☻☻ One Day Power Pacemakers Lab uses Skin Cells to help By Deena Beasley Repair Heart Muscle November 5, 2012 By Andrei Mihai Reuters May 23, 2012 LOS ANGELES - Your own beating heart may generate enough electricity to power a heart-regulating Another breakthrough in biology and medicine was pacemaker, ending the need for expensive surgeries to reported, as scientists were able, for the first time, to take replace expiring batteries, according to an early study of skin cells from patients who had suffered heart failure and an experimental energy-converting device. make them repair the cardiac muscle. Researchers at the Department of Aerospace Engineering The technique had been tested only on rats and it seemed at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor tested an decades could pass until it would become suitable for energy-harvesting device that runs on piezoelectricity - humans, but in lack of anything better, doctors applied it, the electrical charge generated from motion, according to and it worked out remarkably fine, marking the beginning the study which was released at the annual American of a new era in the quest for replacement cells to treat Heart Association scientific conference on Sunday. tissue affected by disease, Israeli researchers declared. The approach is a promising technological solution for The research relies on a technique called human-induced Continued on page 76

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Continued from page 75– Heartbeat, not Battery, could One have all been told it is, suggests a new study published Day Power Pacemakers in the journal Nature Medicine. It turns out that pacemakers, because they require only small amounts cholesterol actually helps increase production of an of power to operate, said M. Amin Karami, the study's important component of the nervous system that lead author and a research fellow at the university. facilitates proper nerve cell communication, and prevents the onset of brain diseases such as Parkinson's The implanted devices, which send electrical impulses and Alzheimer's disease. into the heart to help maintain a normal heartbeat, have to be replaced every five to seven years when their batteries The study focused specifically on patients with a run out. condition known as Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD), in which nerve cells are unable to properly Researchers measured heartbeat-induced vibrations in the manufacture protective myelin sheaths. It is these chest. They then used a "shaker" to reproduce the myelin sheaths, which are composed of lipid fats and vibrations in the laboratory and connected it to a proteins, that allow nerves to communicate and send prototype cardiac energy harvester they developed. appropriate electrical signals that trigger movement and Measurements of the prototype's performance, based on a cognition, and that protect nerves from damage. wide range of simulated heartbeats, showed the energy Cholesterol, which is commonly dismissed as harmful harvester generated more than 10 times the power and something that people should avoid, actually required by modern pacemakers. contributes to producing and maintaining myelin The device is about half the size of batteries now used in sheaths. Without it, as evidenced by the recent studies, pacemakers and includes a self-powering back-up individuals with PMD -- and potentially all individuals capacitor, Karami said. Researchers hope to integrate -- are at a higher risk of developing cognitive illness their technology into commercial pacemakers. and brain degradation. And particularly those with PMD, low-cholesterol diets are almost sure to leave "What we have proven is that under optimal conditions, them exceptionally prone to nerve damage. this concept is working," Karami said, adding that the next step is to integrate the device into a pacemaker. "This six-week-long cholesterol treatment delayed the decline in motor coordination," wrote the scientists in The researcher, who presented the study here at a their report. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute scientific meeting of the American Heart Association, of Experimental Medicine in Germany fed a group of said the technology might one day also power other mice with PMD a high-cholesterol diet for six weeks, implantable cardiac devices, such as defibrillators. as well as another group of PMD mice a low- The study was funded by the National Institute of cholesterol diet. Those on the high-cholesterol diet Standards and Technology and the National Center for stopped experiencing cognitive decline, while the low- Advancing Translational Sciences. cholesterol mice continued to get worse. About 700,000 people worldwide who have heart rhythm Cholesterol appears to be beneficial for everyone disturbances get a pacemaker or defibrillator each year. Though the researchers attributed their findings about In the United States, pacemakers sell for about $5,000, cholesterol specifically and solely to those with PMD, which does not include the cost of surgery, a hospital stay the implications for all individuals are striking, as the and additional care. study further reinforces the idea that cholesterol is a necessary component of proper brain and nervous http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/04/14929029- system function in everyone. This unconventional heartbeat-not-battery-could-one-day-power-pacemakers?lite ☻☻☻☻☻☻ concept has been confirmed in several earlier studies, including a comprehensive study published in the High Intake of Cholesterol Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. (http://www.jpands.org/vol10no3/colpo.pdf) shown to actually Repair "Cholesterol acts to interlock 'lipid molecules,' which Damaged Brains stabilize cell membranes," writes Shane Ellison, M.S., in his book Health Myths Exposed. "[C]holesterol is a By Ethan A. Huff vital building block for all bodily tissues. Lowering June 22 2012 such a vital molecule is absurdity. To illustrate, (NaturalNews) Including high-cholesterol foods as part of imagine that your house represents your body and the a healthy diet may not be the poor dietary choice we Continued on page 77

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Continued from page 68– High Intake of Cholesterol shown tears //////." to Actually Repair Damaged Brains //////. //////. nails holding it together cholesterol. Now start pulling each and every nail out of the house. What happens? The The Gods who came into being in Ptah: house turns to a pile of rubble. The same is true for the Ptah-on-the-great-throne //////. human body." Ptah-Nun, the father who [made] Atum. Ptah-Naunet, the mother who bore Atum. Cholesterol-lowering statins are responsible for Ptah-the-Great is heart and tongue of the Nine [Gods]. destroying health, causing Alzheimer's [Ptah] ///////// who bore the gods. What this all means for statin drugs, which mainstream [Ptah] ///////// who bore the gods. medicine has ridiculously dubbed 'miracle drugs,' is that [Ptah] /////////. their cholesterol inhibiting properties can cause serious health problems down the road. By interfering with the There took shape in the heart, there took shape on the liver's natural function of producing cholesterol, statin tongue the form of Atum. For the very great one is Ptah, drugs can actually strip the body of much-needed who gave [life] to all the gods and their kas through this cholesterol, and cause serious nervous system and heart and through this tongue, in which Horus had taken cognitive damage. shape as Ptah, in which Thoth had taken shape as Ptah. The key to promoting healthy cholesterol levels in the Thus heart and tongue rule over all the limbs in body is not to take synthetic drugs, but rather to achieve accordance with the teaching that it (the heart, or: he, vibrant health through proper diet and exercise, which Ptah) is in every body and it (the tongue, or: he Ptah) is includes a diet rich in healthy saturated fats and, yes, in every mouth of all gods, all men, all cattle, all even cholesterol. creeping things, whatever lives, thinking whatever it (or:he) wishes and commanding whatever it (or:he) "Saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet are not the wishes. cause of coronary heart disease," says Dr. George V. Mann, M.D., professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at His (Ptah's) Ennead is before him as teeth and lips. They Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. "That myth is the are the semen and the hands of Atum (Atem fertilized greatest scientific deception of this century, perhaps of himself by masturbation). For the Ennead of Atum any century." came into being through his semen and his fingers. But the Ennead is the teeth and the lips in this mouth which http://www.naturalnews.com/z036258_cholesterol_brain_repa pronounced the name of everything, from which Shu ir_Alzheimers.html and Tefnut came forth, and which gave birth to the ☻☻☻☻☻☻ Ennead. Continued from page 3 – The Shabaka Texts Sight, hearing, breathing - they report to the heart, and it ////// [They heeded in time] and brought him to [land. He makes every understanding come forth. As to the entered the hidden portals in the glory of the lords of tongue, it repeats what the heart has devised. Thus all eternity]. //////. [Thus Osiris came into] the earth at the the gods were born and his Ennead was completed. For royal fortress, to the north of [the land to which he had every word of the god came about through what the come. And his son Horus arose as king of Upper Egypt, heart devised and the tongue commanded. arose as king of Lower Egypt, in the embrace of his Thus all the faculties were made and all the qualities father Osiris and of the gods in front of him and behind determined, they that make all foods and all provisions, him.] through this word, to him who does what is loved, to There was built the royal fortress [at the command of him who does what is hated. Thus life is given to the Geb ///]. Geb speaks to Thoth: ////// Geb speaks to Thoth: peaceful and death is given to the criminal. Thus all //////. //////. [Geb] speaks to Isis: ////// Isis causes Horus labor, all crafts are made, the action of the hands, the and Seth to come. Isis speaks to Horus and Seth: motion of the legs, the movements of all the limbs, according to this command which is devised by the heart "[Come] /////////." and comes forth on the tongue and creates the Isis speaks to Horus and Seth: "Make peace //////." performance of every thing. Isis speaks to Horus and Seth: "Life will be pleasant for Thus it is said of Ptah: "He who made all and created the you when //////." gods." Isis speaks to Horus and Seth: "It is he who dries your Continued on page 78

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Continued from page 77 – The Shabaka Texts papyrus that was found as pharaoh Shabaka was And he is Ta-tenen, who gave birth to the gods, and from inspecting the temple of Ptah in Memphis, Egypt. whom everything came forth, foods, provisions, divine Shabaka was a king of the expansionist Nubian dynasty, offerings, all good things. Thus is recognized and whose capital was in the Sudan. Shabaka, concerned understood that he is the mightiest of the gods. Thus about the loss of the information on the papyrus, had the Ptah was satisfied after he had made all things and all rest of the text written into this stone. However, in later divine words. years, the stone was used as a millstone and so some of He gave birth to the gods, the hieroglyphics were damaged. Nevertheless, it has He made the towns, been a fruitful source of insight into the culture and He established the nomes, religious doctrines of the ancient Egyptians. He placed the gods in their shrines, The Shabaka Stone is also noteworthy in that it places He settled their offerings, Ptah as the center of existence and as the creator god. It He established their shrines, is the principal surviving source of these traditions about He made their bodies according to their wishes. Ptah. Thus the gods entered into their bodies, Of every wood, every stone, every clay, Every thing that grows upon him In which they came to be. Thus were gathered to him all the gods and their kas, Content, united with the Lord of the Two Lands. The Great Throne that gives joy to the heart of the gods in the House of Ptah is the granary of Ta-tenen, the mistress of all life, through which the sustenance of the Two Lands is provided, owing to the fact that Osiris was drowned in his water. Isis and Nephthys looked out, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabaka_Stone beheld him, and attended to him. Horus quickly ☻☻☻☻☻☻ commanded Isis and Nephthys to grasp Osiris and prevent his drowning (i.e., submerging). They heeded in Garlic time and brought him to land. He entered the hidden portals in the glory of the lords of eternity, in the steps of What is it? him who rises in the horizon, on the ways of Re the Garlic is an herb. It is best known as a flavoring for Great Throne. He entered the palace and joined the gods food. But over the years, garlic has been used as a of Ta-tenen Ptah, lord of years. medicine to prevent or treat a wide range of diseases and conditions. The fresh clove or supplements made from Thus Osiris came into the earth at the Royal Fortress, to the clove are used for medicine. the north of the land to which he had come. His son Horus arose as king of Upper Egypt, arose as king of Garlic is used for many conditions related to the heart Lower Egypt, in the embrace of his father Osiris and of and blood system. These conditions include high blood the gods in front of him and behind him. pressure, high cholesterol, coronary heart disease, heart attack, and “hardening of the arteries” (atherosclerosis). M. Lichtheim: Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol.1, pp.51- Some of these uses are supported by science. Garlic 55 actually may be effective in slowing the development of http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/shabaka_stone.htm atherosclerosis and seems to be able to modestly reduce ☻☻☻☻☻☻ blood pressure. Some people use garlic to prevent colon cancer, rectal The Shabaka Stone cancer, stomach cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, The Shabaka Stone is a artifact from the Nubian and lung cancer. It is also used to treat prostate cancer Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, around 700 BC, and bladder cancer. incised with an important Egyptian religious text, the Garlic has been tried for treating an enlarged prostate Memphite Theology. It is a stone slab measuring 66 cm (benign prostatic hyperplasia; BPH), diabetes, in height and 137 cm in width. The text claims to contain osteoarthritis, hayfever (allergic rhinitis), travelers the surviving content of a worm-ridden, decaying Continued on page 79 -78- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 78– Garlic examples of plants employed for treatment of disease diarrhea, high blood pressure late in pregnancy (pre- and maintenance of health. Garlic was in use at the eclampsia), cold and flu. It is also used for building the beginning of recorded history and was found in immune system, preventing tick bites, and preventing and Egyptian pyramids and ancient Greek temples. There are treating bacterial and fungal infections. Biblical references to garlic. Ancient medical texts from Egypt, Greece, Rome, China and India each prescribed Other uses include treatment of fever, coughs, headache, medical applications for garlic. In many cultures, garlic stomach ache, sinus congestion, gout, rheumatism, was administered to provide strength and increase work hemorrhoids, asthma, bronchitis, shortness of breath, low capacity for laborers. Hippocrates, the revered blood pressure, low blood sugar, high blood sugar, and physician, prescribed garlic for a variety of conditions. snakebites. It is also used for fighting stress and fatigue, and maintaining healthy liver function. Garlic was given to the original Olympic athletes in Greece, as perhaps one of the earliest “performance Some people apply garlic oil to their skin to treat fungal enhancing” agents. It is of interest that cultures that infections, warts, and corns. There is some evidence developed without contact with one another came to supporting the topical use of garlic for fungal infections similar conclusions about the efficacy of garlic. Modern like ringworm, jock itch, and athlete’s foot; but the science is tending to confirm many of the beliefs of effectiveness of garlic against warts and corns is still ancient cultures regarding garlic, defining mechanisms uncertain. of action and exploring garlic’s potential for disease There is a lot of variation among garlic products sold for prevention and treatment. medicinal purposes. The amount of allicin, the active Interest in the potential benefits of garlic has origins in ingredient and the source of garlic’s distinctive odor, antiquity and is one of the earliest documented example depends on the method of preparation. Allicin is unstable, of plants used for maintenance of health and treatment and changes into a different chemical rather quickly. of disease. In this review, we consider briefly the Some manufacturers take advantage of this by aging highlights of garlic usage throughout the ages. It is garlic to make it odorless. Unfortunately, this also reduces fascinating to observe how ancient cultures developing the amount of allicin and compromises the effectiveness in isolation from one another came to many of the same of the product. Some odorless garlic preparations and conclusions about garlic’s action and efficacy. products may contain very little, if any, allicin. Methods that involve crushing the fresh clove release more allicin. Ancient Egypt. Some products have a coating (enteric coating) to protect The earliest known references indicate that garlic them against attack by stomach acids. formed part of the daily diet of many Egyptians. It was fed particularly to the working class involved in heavy While garlic is a common flavoring in food, some labor, as in the building of the pyramids. Indeed, a scientists have suggested that it might have a role as a recurring theme throughout early history is that garlic food additive to prevent food poisoning. There is some was given to the laboring classes, presumably to evidence that fresh garlic, but not aged garlic, can kill maintain and increase their strength, thereby enabling certain bacteria such as E. coli, antibiotic-resistant them to work harder and be more productive. Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella enteritidis in the laboratory. Whether garlic was also consumed with the same diligence by the upper classes is less certain. It is of http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/300.html interest in this connection that when King Tutankhamen’s tomb, which dates from ׽1500 BC, was ☻☻☻☻☻☻ excavated in 1922, cloves of garlic were clearly Historical Perspective on the identified (Green and Polydoris 1993, Kahn 1996). Use of Garlic - Excerpts What purpose did the garlic serve in the tomb? Did it have religious significance? Was it a reminder of daily By Richard S. Rivlin life of Egypt, or was it left by a careless workman during a lunch break? We do not know the answers to Abstract these questions, but the presence of garlic in the tomb is The objective of this review is to examine briefly the strong evidence that the vegetable was in use at the time. medical uses of garlic throughout the ages and the role that it was considered to play in prevention and treatment The authoritative medical text of the era was the Codex of disease. Interest in the potential benefits of garlic has Ebers, which consisted of a number of volumes. Several origins in antiquity and is one of the earliest documented Continued on page 80 -79- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 79– Historical Perspective on the Use particularly uterine. of Garlic As in the cultures discussed above, garlic appears to of the treatments authorized the use of garlic. The Codex have been consumed primarily by the lower classes. It Ebers is one of the earliest sources indicating appears not to have been a favorite food item among the prescription of garlic for the treatment of abnormal ruling classes and its presence in religious temples was growths. It is probable that these growths represented not permitted, a proscription also found in certain Asian malignancies of one kind or another. Abscesses would cultures. also have fit into this category. The Codex also prescribed garlic for circulatory ailments, general Ancient Rome. malaise and infestations with insects and parasites. As in Greece, the Romans perceived garlic as an aid to strength and endurance; it was fed to both soldiers and Biblical. sailors and was part of a ship’s manifest when it set out According to the Bible, the Jewish slaves in Egypt were to sea. With the emergence of Rome as a leading power, fed garlic and other allium vegetables, apparently to give Greek medicine and its traditions gradually were them strength and increase their productivity, as it was transferred to Rome. The leading medical authority was believed to do for the indigenous Egyptian citizens. The the Greek, Dioscorides, who served as the chief Jewish people must have developed some fondness for physician for Nero’s army. He was the author of a five- garlic, because when they left from Egypt with Moses, it volume treatise that recommended garlic because it is written that they missed “the fish, the cucumbers, and “cleans the arteries.” It should be noted that the the melons, and the leeks, and the onions and the garlic” circulation of the blood was not discovered until (Num. 11:5). It is unlikely that garlic had religious hundreds of years later, and contemporary beliefs held significance for the Jews, although this possibility that arteries transported air throughout the body, cannot be excluded. The Talmud, a Jewish religious text whereas veins were known to transport blood. Clearly, dating from the 2nd century AD, prescribes patterns of the concept that cardiovascular status may be improved behavior, including the consumption of garlic for the by garlic, presently a subject of active research, has treatment of infection with parasites and other disorders. origins in antiquity. Garlic was also recommended for Although in contemporary life one does not tend to disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, for treatment of ascribe romantic properties to garlic, its use was animal bites and for alleviation of joint disease and recommended by the Talmud to promote relations seizures. among married couples, perhaps as an aid to procreation. Medicine in Rome was greatly influenced by the Ancient Greece. writings of Pliny the Elder, a Greek physician who Excavations of ancient Greek temples have unearthed wrote the five-volume Historica Naturalis. Twenty- garlic, and the palace of Knossos in Crete, dating to three uses for garlic were listed for a variety of ׽1400–1800 BC, contained well-preserved garlic when disorders. Among these was that garlic was believed to it was excavated. As with the Egyptians, garlic was confer significant protection against toxins and associated with strength and work capacity. Garlic infections, a finding corroborated by contemporary formed an important part of the military diet, particularly investigations of the effects of garlic upon activities of when soldiers were off to battle. P450-2E1 and other hepatic degradative diseases. There is evidence that during the earliest Olympics, Ancient China and Japan. which originated in Greece, garlic was fed to the athletes The use of garlic as a food and as a medicinal agent has before they competed conceivably functioning as one of ancient origins in Asia. The best estimate is that by or the first of the so-called “performance enhancing” agents before 2000 BC, garlic was in wide use in China and used in competitive athletics. If so, one wonders whether formed part of the daily diet, particularly when there were prescribed doses, clinical trials and limits consumed together with raw meat (. Records dating placed on the amounts consumed. One imagines that from that era suggest that garlic was also used as a food there must have been someone in authority supervising preservative. the activities of the athletes as they prepared themselves for the sports competition. In ancient Chinese medicine, garlic was prescribed to aid respiration and digestion, most importantly diarrhea Hippocrates, widely regarded as the father of Medicine, and worm infestation.. As a spicy food, its regular made garlic a part of his therapeutic armamentarium, consumption was recommended but in limited advocating its use for pulmonary complaints, as a quantities. Evidence also suggests that garlic was cleansing or purgative agent, and for abdominal growths, Continued on page 81 -80- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Continued from page 80 – Historic Perspective on the Use of Garlic Study finds Heart Chelation utilized to treat sadness or depression as well. Chinese Therapy Effective but Raises medicine has historically been associated with the use of combinations of herbs to form a healing tonic, rather Questions than the administration of single agents. Allium was By Elizabeth Cohen and John Bonifield, CNN evidently frequently used in combination therapy. Fatigue, headache and insomnia were often treated with November 5, 2012 garlic. There are also indications that garlic was used to treat and improve male potency). It is believed that garlic was introduced in Japan later than in China, .probably ׽2000 years ago Ancient India. Garlic has been associated with the healing process in India from the time of the first available written records. Three ancient medical traditions, i.e., Tibbi, Unani and (CNN) -- In results that are stunning cardiologists, a Auryvedic, made extensive use of garlic as a central part new study shows a "fringe" alternative treatment for of the healing efficacy of plants. The leading surviving heart disease was found to be very effective at medical text, Charaka-Samhita, recommends garlic for preventing heart problems -- but the report is so the treatment of heart disease and arthritis 2000 years controversial even its lead author is questioning the ago as listed in. results. A later manuscript, dating to ׽300 AD, advanced the The patients in the study had had heart attacks, and were use of garlic for infections, infestations and worms, assigned to receive either a placebo or a series of weakness and fatigue, and a variety of digestive intravenous drug infusions called chelation therapy, an disturbances. This text, nearly as old as the Charaka- unorthodox treatment that has long been looked down Samhita, is known as the Bower manuscript because, upon by cardiologists. after being found in an ancient tomb, it was purchased by a British Army officer, Hamilton Bower, late in the In the report -- the first large, long-term trial of chelation 19th century, who then made it available to scholars. for heart patients -- the therapy reduced the risk of heart attacks, deaths, strokes and other cardiovascular Garlic was also observed to have a diuretic effect. It is problems by 18%. possible that the mobilization of fluid from the extravascular space may have been due to improved "If this were true, it would be significant. It would put cardiovascular function resulting from garlic treatment. this therapy in the same ballpark as high blood pressure It is now well recognized that garlic, appropriately used, drugs, or drugs used to lower cholesterol," said Dr. will reduce blood pressure, improve elevated serum Steven Nissen, chair of the department of cardiovascular cholesterol, decrease platelet aggregation (Steiner and medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, who doubts the results Lin 1999) and protect vascular endothelial cells from of the study. damage by LDL); all of these effects are of potential A doctor with the American Heart Association warned cardiac benefit. that the results "should not be interpreted as an Some religious sects did not permit the consumption of indication to adopt chelation therapy into clinical garlic or onions, rather as the Greeks and Romans practice. (The study) raises more questions that must be proscribed garlic in the temples. Garlic either was not answered before we're ready to act on the observations permitted or fancied by the upper Brahmin classes, reported today," said Dr. Elliott Antman, professor of whereas in other castes, it was applied externally to help medicine at Harvard Medical School. repair cuts, bruises and infections, and it comprised one Even the lead author of the study tempered his of a number of perceived aphrodisiacs available from enthusiasm about the results by warning that they might natural plant sources. not be valid. http://jn.nutrition.org/content/131/3/951S.full "The most exciting part of this study is that there may be ☻☻☻☻☻☻ an unexpected signal of benefit," Dr. Gervasio Lamas, Continued on page 82

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Continued from page 81 – Study finds Heart Chelation adding that chelation might sound more appealing than Therapy Effective but Raises Questions an invasive procedure like bypass surgery. chief of Columbia University Division of Cardiology at Dr. Kimball Atwood agrees. In an article about the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida, chelation trial, Atwood and his colleagues labeled the said in a press release put out by the American Heart $30 million study funded at taxpayer expense by the Association. "We need to understand whether the signal federal National Institutes of Health "unethical, is true, or whether it occurred by chance." dangerous, pointless, and wasteful" and called for it to Safety concerns be abandoned. Doctors who practice chelation welcomed the new study "These new study results will encourage chelationists, results, which were announced at the American Heart and state medical boards will be loathe to step in Association's annual meeting in Los Angeles. because the chelationists have this study on their side," These doctors believe chelation can help remove heavy said Atwood, a clinical assistant professor of metals from the body. Chelation is approved by the Food anesthesiology at Tufts Medical Center. and Drug Administration for the treatment of lead "Every now and then somebody will get killed," he poisoning, but doctors are free to use it for other added. purposes. Kalidas, the doctor who practices chelation, disagreed, "I'll be pushing this data to my patients, and I'll be saying this study would help -- not hurt -- patients. reaching out to local cardiologists, because chelation should be a part of the regular regimen for heart patients, "Chelation has been lifesaving for hundreds of my like taking an aspirin or a statin," said Dr. Kirti Kalidas, patients," he said. who charges his heart patients in Orlando, Florida, Dangerously low calcium levels around $3,000 for a full round of chelation treatments. According to the Mayo Clinic, some doctors think This enthusiasm is exactly what frightens many doctors. chelation helps heart patients because the medication Chelation is already popular -- more than 100,000 people being infused into patients binds to calcium in their said they'd used it in the past 12 months, according to a clogged arteries, sweeping it away. 2007 report from the Centers for Disease Control and But "sweeping" calcium away is a double-edged sword. Prevention -- and they fear the new study results will While it might help unclog coronary arteries, it might encourage more people to use it. also lead to deadly low calcium levels in the blood, as In 2006, the CDC reported that two children and one happened to the three people whose deaths were adult had died after receiving chelation. They all described in the CDC report. developed dangerously low calcium levels, which can That's one reason why the National Institutes of Health cause the heart to stop beating. required that the infusions be done at a slow rate -- over In this new study, one patient receiving the therapy died a period of three hours or more -- so problems like low and another had a "severe adverse event." Both events calcium levels could be caught easily. were "possibly or definitely related to study therapy," In a series of letters to the study's authors, the according to the study author's slide presentation. A Department of Health and Human Service's Office for patient who received a placebo solution also died, and Human Research Protection cited several concerns about another had an adverse event. the study, including that the researchers hadn't followed It wasn't clear from the presentation exactly how the the rules about doing the infusions at a slow rate. patients were harmed, and Lamas, the lead study author, In one letter, the government overseers expressed declined to answer questions about the study until the concern that infusions were performed in "shorter than research is published in a medical journal. recommended" times in 440 instances, involving 251 Some doctors worry patients will hear only the positive subjects. The study was stopped from September 2008 results of the study and not the possible dangers, and until June 2009 to respond to the government's concerns. would opt for it over proven treatments such as bypass A question of significance surgery. In addition to possible safety problems, there are "I'm fearful that patients will hear the sales pitch for this concerns that the study was poorly done and doesn't treatment and, not being well-versed in medicine, will actually show that chelation works. succumb to the seduction of this therapy," said Nissen, Continued on page 83

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Continued from page 82 – Study finds Heart Chelation Continued on page 68 – Nutritional Supplements Therapy Effective but Raises Questions That Lower Your Blood Pressure without Drugs In the study, researchers divided the patients into two and subjective symptoms were recorded throughout the groups. One group of 839 patients received 40 infusions study. In the green coffee bean extract group, but not the of a chemical drug solution called disodium EDTA. placebo group, blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) Another group of 869 patients received infusions with a decreased significantly during the study. placebo solution of salt and sugar water. Neither the There was no difference in body mass index and pulse patients nor the doctors knew who was receiving rate between groups, nor were there any apparent side which treatment. Among the patients receiving chela- effects. tion, 26% went on to have a cardiovascular event, such as death, heart attack or stroke. Among the placebo A study of the effect of green coffee bean extract on group, 30% went on to have a cardiovascular event. hypertensive laboratory animals found that a single dose reduced blood pressure, reduced oxidative stress and According to the authors' analysis, this four-percentage- improved nitric oxide levels. The animals were fed diets point difference was barely statistically significant, containing green coffee bean extract for eight weeks, leading Lamas to note that the difference may have been and when compared to the placebo group, showed a by chance, not because chelation actually worked. reduction in blood pressure. The researchers concluded Further watering down the report is the fact that a that dietary chlorogenic acid (from green coffee bean relatively large number of patients -- 17% -- dropped out extract) reduces oxidative stress and improves nitric of the study. oxide levels by inhibiting excessive production of free radicals in arteries, which ultimately results in Experts say patients usually drop out of studies when hypertension. things aren't going well -- when they're having bad side effects, for example, or when the therapy isn't working. Rosemary extract—protects your brain and But since they dropped out, their results can't be blood flow with antiplatelet activity included in the study. Rosemary has been used for thousands of years as a savory spice, food preservative, and in cosmetics and "This study was so badly done and the results are so hair products. It has also been used commercially as an marginal from a statistical perspective that this therapy antimicrobial food preservative for the past several can't be recommended," said Nissen, the Cleveland decades. There is not much direct scientific evidence to Clinic cardiologist. show that rosemary lowers blood pressure but a lot "Making a treatment decision about a life-threatening showing other, often related, health effects. disease based on poor-quality scientific data can be We know for certain that it has a lot to offer as a dangerous," he added. "History has taught us that when nutritional supplement, especially in the prevention of this happens, considerable harm can come to patients." some types of cancer, allergies and the progression of The future of chelation Alzheimer’s disease. Plus rosemary extract is used Kalidas, the chelation practitioner in Florida, said he widely as a folk remedy in Morocco for hypertension hopes these new study results will help persuade and diabetes. Therefore we recommend it in a insurance companies to start paying for chelation. comprehensive natural approach to high blood pressure. But insurance companies usually only pay for treatments How does rosemary extract work? that are FDA approved -- and there's little chance the • Rosemary extract offers a number of health FDA would approve chelation for heart disease based on benefits by: this study, experts say. • Preventing blood platelets from sticking "This would never pass muster at the FDA," said Nissen, together the former chairman of the FDA advisory panel that examines applications to put new heart drugs on the • Inhibiting the oxidation of LDL (bad market. cholesterol) http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/04/health/chelation-heart- • Inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme study/index.html • Providing powerful antioxidant protection ☻☻☻☻☻☻ Continued on page 84

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Continued from page 83 – Nutritional Supplements That Paleontologists spent decades prospecting in Turkey for Lower Your Blood Pressure without Drugs remains of Homo erectus, widely believed to be the first • Protecting brain cells from the normal effects of human species to migrate out of Africa. After moving aging north, the species had to adapt to increasingly seasonal climates. • Possibly slowing down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease John Kappelman, professor of anthropology at The University of Texas at Austin, and researchers from the • Inhibiting growth of cancer cells United States, Turkey and Germany found this specimen of Homo erectus as a young male based on aspects of • Helping reduce allergy symptoms, especially to the cranial suture closure, sinus formation and the size dust mites of the ridges of the brow. • Increasing potency of vitamin E They also found a series of small lesions etched into the Scientific studies bone of the cranium whose shape and location are A recent study at the College of Pharmacy, Chungbuk characteristic of the Leptomeningitis tuberculosa, a form National University, Cheongju, Korea, investigated the of tuberculosis that attacks the meninges of the brain. antiplatelet activity of rosemary extract on laboratory After reviewing the medical literature on the disease that animals and found that it has the potential for being has re-emerged as a global killer, the researchers found developed as a remedy for preventing blood platelets that some groups of people demonstrate a higher than from sticking together. average rate of infection, including Gujarati Indians who It has also been shown to inhibit the oxidation of LDL live in London, and Senegalese conscripts who served (bad cholesterol). with the French army during World War I. Another study at the University of Massachusetts, The research team identified two shared characteristics Amherst, found that rosemary extract has the highest rate in the communities: a path of migration from low, of inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) when tropical latitudes to northern temperate regions and compared to lemon balm and oregano. darker skin colour. http://www.smart-publications.com/articles/nutritional- People with dark skin produce less vitamin D because supplements-that-lower-your-blood-pressure-without-drugs/ the skin pigment melanin blocks ultraviolet light. And, ☻☻☻☻☻☻ when they live in areas with lower ultraviolet radiation such as Europe, their immune systems can be Tuberculosis is 500,000- compromised. Years-Old Kappelman said that it is likely that Homo erectus had dark skin because it evolved in the tropics. After the By Mohit Joshi species moved north, it had to adapt to more seasonal 07 December 2007 climates. The researchers hypothesize the young male’s body produced less vitamin D and this deficiency Washington: Researchers from the University of Texas at weakened his immune system, opening the door to Austin have found that Tuberculosis is 500,000-years-old. tuberculosis. They have found the most ancient evidence of the disease “Skin colour represents one of biology’s most elegant in a 500,000-year-old human fossil from Turkey. adaptations. The production of vitamin D in the skin The finding has suggested support for the theory that serves as one of the body’s first lines of defences against dark-skinned people who migrate northward from low, a whole host of infections and diseases. Vitamin D tropical latitudes produce less vitamin D, which can deficiencies are implicated in hypertension, multiple adversely affect the immune system as well as the sclerosis, cardiovascular disease and cancer,” skeleton. Kappelman said Prior to this discovery in western Turkey, which helps Before antibiotics were invented, doctors typically scientists fill a temporal and geographical gap in human treated tuberculosis by sending patients to sanatoria evolution, the oldest evidence of tuberculosis in humans where they were prescribed plenty of sunshine and fresh was found in mummies from Egypt and Peru that date to air. several thousand years ago. Continued on page 85

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Continued from page 84 – Tuberculosis is 500,000-years- salt is like white sugar, all the nutrients have been old bleached out. In addition, all oils are not the same. “No one knew why sunshine was integral to the Flavonoids like fresh garlic, onions, and spices like treatment, but it worked. Recent research suggests the cayenne need to be incorporated more into our diets. flush of ultraviolet radiation jump-started the patients’ Garlic has truly been around for a while, not only as a immune systems by increasing the production of vitamin culinary herb but in rituals from birth to death. Garlic D, which helped to cure the disease, ” Kappelman said. keeps vampires away. Wonder if that has something to do with the blood/heart? The findings are published in the Dec. 7 issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. (ANI) Sometimes we let our hearts rule our head. But this is where truth is found. Consciousness is truth. In Kemetic www.topnews.in/health/tuberculosis-500-000-years-old-2104 medicine, the heart represents duality and the four ☻☻☻☻☻☻ cardinal points of the universe (earth, air, water and fire). In the judgment of one’s sins, the heart is weighed with a WHERE IS YOUR HEART? feather on the scale of Maat. Maat signifies order, The ancient Egyptians said it is the center of the body righteousness, harmony, balance and truth. It is through and all of the senses and organs, including the brain the heart that God speaks. answer to it. The heart gives certain sounds when it is Our hearts run on electricity as well. This is where sick. The heartbeat is the first sound we hear. The beat of melanin comes in. The electrical system of your heart is the African drum was based on the heartbeat. The heart the power source that makes this possible. Your heartbeat carries the emotions, the hopes, the dreams, wisdom, the is triggered by electrical impulses that travel down a memory, the soul and the personality. special pathway through your heart. The flow of We all have heard the best way to take care of the heart electrons that allows blood to carry oxygen and carbon is to drink in moderation, stop smoking, exercise, eat dioxide throughout the body also depend upon fresh food, decrease salt and trans fatty acids and electrolytic balance. Without oxygen, the body dies. cholesterol in the diet. But what about those other Phases of the Heart problems like heavy metals, electrolyte deficiencies, Heartbroken - suffering from grief or disappointment diuretics, salt, radiation, food-borne bacteria, bacterial To have heart – to have courage infections, pollution, gmo’s, pharmaceuticals, etc.? They A kind heart - a kind/good/generous person are also causing heart disease. So it is not completely all Have one's heart in one's mouth - to be extremely our fault. Some things we have no control of or do we? anxious or fearful Phytochemicals such as flavonoids have been used since Have one's heart in the right place - to be well antiquity. Heart disease in Africa before the colonists intentioned was rare. The types of African root foods, fermented To have a heart - is to care deeply beverages such as millet and sorghum, spices, fresh Have a heart! - show some compassion green vegetables all lead to a very healthy lifestyle. To have a Heart of a Lion – to never give up People who wear their heart on their sleeve - express Increasingly, flavonoids are becoming the subject of their emotions freely and openly, for all to see. medical research. Many drugs available today are either A heart of gold - pure and sweet. from plant source or modified from the plant derived A heavy heart - sad or depressed compounds. Flavonoids are among the most ubiquitous A change of heart – A change of mind polyphenolic compounds found in nature that show wide Heartless or Cold-Hearted – Cold, cruel, without a heart range of biological activity viz. anticancer, antiviral, antioxidant, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, The Heart is life. The Heart is synonymous with love. To antiallergic, antimicrobial and antiprotozoan etc. This is live is to love and the heart is the center of it all. So we course is going to lead to increased flavonoids in the diet end this year with a heavy heart and trust that we all have by inducing the genetic modification of plants. Nothing our hearts in the right place. See you next year. is sacred here. Blackherbals – A Marcus Garvey Pan-African Hypertension in Blacks is not a new subject and it is not University’s Community Site of Knowledge just a problem in the West. As Africans adopt Western culture, high blood pressure is becoming the norm. However, we can learn to control our hypertension by controlling our diet. We need to understand that white HAPPY HOLIDAYS -85- Traditional African Clinic November/December 2012

Mission Statement Herbs of the Month

Our aim at The African Traditional Herbal Garlic to Heal your Research Clinic is to propagate and promote the awareness in Afrikan peoples at home and abroad of Hypertension and High Blood their health, biodiversity, history and cultural Pressure richness. We gather pertinent information on these issues and disseminate these freely to our people in Uganda, the rest of the continent, and anywhere in the Diaspora where Afrikans are located…. One of the main ingredients for increasing poverty, sickness, exploitation and domination is ignorance of one's self, and the environment in which we live. Knowledge is power and the forces that control our lives don't want to lose control, so they won't stop at Garlic may be useful as an alternative treatment for high anything to keep certain knowledge from the people. blood pressure, a perennial killer amongst Africans and Therefore, we are expecting a fight and opposition to African-Americans. This has been widely noted by our mission. However, we will endeavor to carry alternative health care providers specializing in the health forward this work in grace and perfect ways. of Africans and those in the Diaspora.

“Where there is no God, there is no culture. Garlic has long been known to be good for the heart.

Where there is no culture, there is no Garlic supplements have previously been shown to lower indigenous knowledge. Where there is no cholesterol and reduce high blood pressure in those with indigenous knowledge, there is no history. untreated hypertension…. Where there is no history, there is no science or technology. The existing nature is made According to studies by American scientists at the by our past. Let us protect and conserve our University of Alabama (published in Proceedings of the indigenous knowledge.” National Academy of Sciences), the key to Garlic’s positive effect is allicin, which is broken down into ☻☻☻☻☻☻ sulphur compounds so good for the heart and the blood. C ALENDAR OF E VENTS These compounds react with red blood cells and produce SPECIAL EVENT: CLINIC OPENING hydrogen sulphide which relaxes the blood vessels, and PLACE: AFRIKAN TRADITIONAL HERBAL RESEARCH CLINIC keeps blood flowing easily. TIME: ☻☻☻☻☻☻

Afrikan Traditional Herbal Research Clinic BULK RATE US POSTAGE 54 Muwafu Road, P.O. Box 29974 PAID Ntinda, Kampala, Uganda East Africa PERMIT Phone: +256 (0) 702 414 530 NO. 00000 Email: [email protected] ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED Mailing Address Street Number and Name City, Country, etc.

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