NETKING

"Skim milk is not helpful for losing weight, as numerous studies have revealed, and in a recent study of 10,500 school-age children, it was actually harmful in terms of weight gain and loss of calcium absorption as a result of the “skimming” process. The fat content in whole milk slows sugar absorption and improves calcium uptake."

Cut to the present, and the idea that corn, soy and other vegetable oils are preferred for optimal health continues to be dominant, yet the United States still has high rates of cardiovascular disease. We are overweight and unhealthy despite five decades of low-fat and no-fat health advice and faddism. How could the medical community, our Food and Drug Administration and so many others be so wrong about dietary fats? Read his full article here.

Last Saturday, The Times newspaper here in the UK carried a piece I wrote about the relative merits of butter, margarine and cholesterol-reducing spreads. I think it’s great we have got to the point where a major, ‘serious’ newspaper is commissioning and publishing pieces that challenge nutritional orthodoxy and do not swallow food industry misinformation […] Complete article

Several scientific studies have found a reduction in prostate cancer associated with increased omega-3 intake.^1-11 A recent report purportedly showed the opposite.¹²
This report was based on a single blood test of plasma fatty acids in a group of 834 men who were followed up to six years to assess prostate cancer risk (low- and high-grade disease). A smaller group of 75 men was followed up to nine years to assess only high-grade prostate cancer risk.
The results showed that slightly higher omega-3 plasma percentages from this single blood test were associated with a greater risk of low-grade (44%) and high-grade (71%) prostate cancers over the multi-year follow-up.
This report was turned into news stories with headlines blaring “Omega-3 fatty acids may raise prostate cancer risk.”
Omitted from the media frenzy was the fact that this study was not about fish oil supplement users. The authors admitted they did not know how the study participants achieved what turned out to be very low omega-3 plasma percentages in all groups.
In fact, omega-3 plasma levels were only about 40% of what would be expected in health conscious people taking the proper dose of fish oil.^{12 ,13} The insufficient levels of plasma omega-3s in all the study subjects were overlooked by the media. Had these very low plasma levels of omega-3s been recognized, it would have been apparent that this report had no meaning for those who boost their omega-3 consumption through diet and supplements.
Also absent from the reporting was that more men with slightly higher omega-3 plasma levels had confounding risk factors for greater risk of contracting prostate cancer at baseline, such as having higher PSA scores and a positive family history. Although the authors attempted to statistically control (through a statistical model called multivariate analysis) for some of these risk factors in their analysis, the concern remains that the baseline data was confounded and therefore the statistical analysis invalid, and that the reported results are compromised by higher rates of preexisting disease along with a genetic predisposition, not because of the miniscule variance in the amount of their plasma omega-3.
Prostate cancer sharply increases by 120% to 180% in men who have a first-degree relative who had contracted prostate cancer. Nearly double the men who contracted prostate cancer in this study had a positive family history, and although the researchers attempted to statistically control for this confounding factor, this fact was conveniently overlooked by the mainstream media as omega-3s were instead labeled the culprit.
Associating a one-time plasma omega-3 reading with long term prostate cancer risk is ludicrous. That’s because plasma omega-3 changes rapidly with short-term dietary changes. It does not reflect long-term incorporation of omega-3 into cells and tissues. In this report, differences in baseline omega-3 blood measures were so trivial that if a man had just one salmon meal the night before, he could have wound up in the “higher” omega-3 group even if he never ingested another omega-3 again.¹⁴
Numerous flaws in this report render its findings useless for those who supplement with purified fish oils and follow healthy dietary patterns. This article represents Life Extension^®’s initial rebuttal to this spurious attack on omega-3s that was blown out of proportion by the media.

Prostate cancer is a slow developing malignancy that can take decades to manifest as clinically-relevant disease. Commonly recognized risk factors for contracting prostate cancer are diet, body mass, race, family history, hormone status, and age.^15,16
An under-recognized risk factor associated with developing prostate cancer is coronary artery disease.¹⁷ We at Life Extension long ago observed that men with clogged coronary arteries often developed prostate cancer (and vice versa). A renowned prostate oncologist named Stephen Strum, M.D., made a similar observation and established a common factor behind coronary heart disease and prostate cancer, i.e., bone loss.
Coronary artery disease is clearly linked with osteoporosis,¹⁸ as lack of vitamin K prevents calcium from binding to bone and instead allows it to infiltrate and harden the arteries. The ensuing bone loss results in the excessive release of bone-derived growth factors that fuel prostate cancer propagation and metastasis.
Long after Dr. Strum published his elaborate correlation, a 2012 study of 6,729 men showed coronary artery disease to be associated with a 35% increased risk of prostate cancer.¹⁷
The reason we bring up the connection of heart disease and prostate cancer is that the authors of the controversial study apparently failed to assess overall baseline health status of the study subjects. We initially suspected that men in the higher group of plasma omega-3 (which turned out to be low by our standards) were more likely to have coronary heart disease. That’s because men with heart disease are told by their cardiologists to eat less red meat and more cold-water fish. So it would not be surprising if the plasma percentage of omega-3 was higher in men with prostate cancer as they may have been trying to eat healthier to avoid bypass surgery or a sudden heart attack.
When we asked the authors of the report if they assessed the baseline cardiovascular status of the subjects, their reply was, “No, I don't believe this to be the case.”

• Supply shade. 
• Supply enough water. One quart of water with 1 TBSP raw apple cider vinegar helps people in hot weather and it is safe and helpful for your pets too. Plus it deters fleas and other pests. 
• Use a cold and wet kerchief tied loosely around their neck. 
• Thoroughly wet their ears, and if needed, the area under their legs. 
• Keep off hot concrete as it can burn their paw pads.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is extraordinarily sensitive to killing by a vitamin C-induced Fenton reaction. 

Nat Commun. 2013;4:1881. doi: 10.1038/ncomms2898.

Vilchèze C, Hartman T, Weinrick B, Jacobs WR Jr.

Source

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1301 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.

Abstract

Drugs that kill tuberculosis more quickly could shorten chemotherapy significantly. In Escherichia coli, a common mechanism of cell death by bactericidal antibiotics involves the generation of highly reactive hydroxyl radicals via the Fenton reaction. Here we show that vitamin C, a compound known to drive the Fenton reaction, sterilizes cultures of drug-susceptible and drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent oftuberculosis. While M. tuberculosis is highly susceptible to killing by vitamin C, other Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens are not. The bactericidal activity of vitamin C against M. tuberculosis is dependent on high ferrous ion levels and reactive oxygen species production, and causes a pleiotropic effect affecting several biological processes. This study enlightens the possible benefits of adding vitamin C to an anti-tuberculosis regimen and suggests that the development of drugs that generate high oxidative burst could be of great use in tuberculosis treatment.

PMID:

 

23695675

 

[PubMed - in process]

Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) crystals. Courtesy Visuals Unlimited

Researchers looking for options to control multi-drug resistant tuberculosis were surprised to learn that vitamin C given along with iron, could wipe out a wide variety of strains---at least in vitro.
Reporting in Nature last month, Dr. William Jacobs, Jr., professor of microbiology, immunology & genetics at Yeshiva University, NYC, said, "Mycobacterium tuberculosis is extraordinarily sensitive to killing by a vitamin C-induced Fenton reaction."
The findings suggest that tuberculosis could be prevented or treated in populations with subclinical infections using simple and inexpensive nutritional supplements---an important discovery in a time when antibiotic-resistant strains are on the rise. This has not yet been tested in infected humans, but it's certainly plausible.
"The bactericidal activity of vitamin C against M. tuberculosis is dependent on high ferrous ion levels and reactive oxygen species production, and causes a pleiotropic effect affecting several biological processes," Dr. Jacobs and his colleagues noted.
Making a Killing
"We started our research about two years ago, when we made a surprise discovery," he Dr. Jacobs told Holistic Primary Care. "We predicted that if we added isoniazid and cysteine to isoniazid-sensitive tuberculosis in culture, the bacteria would develop resistance. We knew isoniazid acts as a reducing agent, generating reactive species, so we tried another agent, vitamin C, to replace cysteine, but instead of causing resistance, we ended up killing off the culture--- something totally unexpected."
He cautioned that scientists don't yet know whether patients vulnerable to tuberculosis should take vitamin C. "We know that for this killing to occur, you also need to take the element iron along with vitamin C; this is something that could be explored, maybe in synergy with existing drugs, since one third of the world's population is sub-clinically infected with tuberculosis."
The problem, he says, is that "it would cost a lot of money to research further, and drug companies are not inclined to do that research because they can't get a return on their investment, since vitamin C is not patentable," he explained.
Meanwhile, the researchers at Yeshiva are trying to replicate their findings in vivo. "We've done the experiment in mice just a few months ago, and it did not work," said Jacobs. "But mice metabolize vitamin C differently from humans; mice make vitamin C, whereas humans can't."
Dr. Jacobs' team has also tested Vitamin E, but it didn't kill tuberculosis."
He is hoping to continue the work on vitamin C, suggesting that the combination of ascorbic acid and iron might help boost the efficacy of drug regimens.
"Vitamin C is safe and inexpensive, so drug companies should go head and do a clinical trial, although we don't know how the vitamin C would get to where tuberculosis is, in a macrophage in the patient's lungs," he said.
No Resistance

Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Image courtesy CDC

TB doesn't appear to develop resistance to vitamin C. "In a genetics lab, we typically discover things by isolating resistant mutants. We tried to find resistant mutants to vitamin C numerous times, but we've been unsuccessful, which is exactly what you'd want in a good drug," Dr. Jacobs explained.
However surprising, these findings are not the first time a study has shown that vitamins are helpful in combating TB. "For example, vitamin D actually turns on macrophages to kill TB, but that is a different mechanism; vitamin D actually stimulates an immune response," Dr. Jacobs said. The vitamin C and iron combo has a more direct cytotoxic effect.
"We need more funds to explore this; right now is a very difficult time at the National Institutes of Health to get grants. Typically the NIH will fund 25% of grants, but because of budget cuts they're only funding 6% of grants, and typically to develop a drug for use in people would cost half a billion dollars," explained Dr. Jacobs. However, it shouldn't be nearly as expensive to research the viability of vitamin C as a therapy for TB.
"If I had the money, I would go ahead and think abut doing this as an early bacteriocidal therapy. First, I would just monitor the amount of vitamin C in a patient's blood, when we gave it to them. Before a patient newly-infected with TB started on standard therapy, I would like to do a two-week trial with vitamin C as one of agents. That way, we could test a new regimen, to see if the tuberculosis got killed or not, and then go back and start them on standard therapy."