Dr. Beecher’s May 2011 Monthly Chiropractic Newsletter
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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 5
In Good Hands
A Free Monthly Newsletter For The Friends and Patients of Ward Beecher DC
“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” – E. E. Cummings
Is Cutting Your Risk Of These 4 Deadly Diseases IN HALF Really This Easy?
New research shows a simple way you may be able to decrease your risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, multiple sclerosis and Type 1 diabetes by a whopping 50%!
Also in this issue:
- What you must know if you use sunscreen or try to stay out of the sun
- New study shows diet may help ADHD kids more than drugs
- WARNING: Research shows exercise may be harmful to your health? Really?
- Shocking new research on anti-depression medications and a possible way to beat depression!
Plus, the story that will touch your heart: What does a blind man do when his guide dog goes blind – the answer is amazing.
Houston – We’ve all heard it, but who really lives by these wise words “An ounce of…” in the first place?
Maybe we are all just a little lazy and like to take the easy way out, at least most of the time?
Come on – you are amongst friends – you can admit it! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?
Maybe “cures” are “sexier” than simply preventing the mess in the first place? J
Or, maybe it’s because “prevention” can be a pain in the you know what? Always finding and preparing the right foods can be time consuming and expensive.
Exercising is exercising! It’s no mistake the word “work” is in workout!
But, what if there was an easy way to be healthier than you are right now?
What if there was a simple way to decrease your risk of 4 deadly diseases by 50% that took almost no time and was inexpensive…
Would You Do It?
Well, according to a new study, there may be.
Now, this is not a substitute for eating right, exercising, reducing stress and getting check-ups. But, it is something everyone should look into because it might help you a great deal.
Here’s what this is all about: The current government recommendation for Vitamin D intake is 400-600 international units (IU) per day. 400 IU was found to be the minimum amount of Vitamin D needed to prevent rickets over a century ago.
But “minimum” and “optimum” are two very different things…
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, have reported that markedly higher intake of Vitamin D is needed to reach blood levels that can prevent or markedly cut the incidence of breast cancer and several other major diseases than originally thought.
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The results were published on February 21 in the journal Anticancer Research.
According to a EurikAlert press release on February 22, 2011, “We found that daily intakes of Vitamin D by adults in the range of 4000-8000 IU are needed to maintain blood levels of Vitamin D metabolites in the range needed to reduce, by about half the risk, several diseases; breast cancer, colon cancer, multiple sclerosis, and Type 1 diabetes,” said Cedric Garland, DrPH, Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. “I was surprised to find that the intakes required to maintain Vitamin D status for disease prevention were so high – much higher than the minimal intake of Vitamin D of 400 IU/day that was needed to defeat rickets in the 20th century. I was not surprised by this,” said Robert P. Heaney, MD, of Creighton University, a distinguished biomedical scientist who has studied Vitamin D needs for several decades.
“This result was what our dose-response studies predicted, but it took a study such as this, of people leading their everyday lives, to confirm it.”
The studies also said only about 10% of people have this new appropriate level of Vitamin D in their blood – and these are mostly people who work outdoors.
Trading Skin Cancer For
More Deadly Cancers?
With recent recommendations for people to stay out of the sun or use high SPF sunscreens, people are sure to fall very short of the Vitamin D intake they need.
According to the press release, “Now that the results of this study are in, it will become common for almost every adult to take 4000 IU/day,” Garland said. “This is comfortably under the 10,000 IU/day that the IOM Committee Report considers as the lower limit of risk, and the benefits are substantial.” He added that people who may have contraindications should discuss their Vitamin D needs with their family doctor.
“Now is the time for virtually everyone to take more Vitamin D to help prevent some major types of cancer, several other serious illnesses, and fractures,” said Heaney.
Research: The Dangers Of
Second-Hand Smoke In Cars With Children
“While the evidence is incomplete, there is enough available to support legislation against letting people smoke in cars with children,” states an article in Canadian Medical Association Journal (as reported by Science Daily on January 10, 2011).
Even though second-hand smoke was not shown to be 23 times more dangerous as some had claimed – “It can still be very harmful to children.”
Groundbreaking Study: Anti-Depressants
No Better Than Placebo
Napoleon Hill, author of the self-help bible “Think and Grow Rich”, is quoted as saying: “What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” He also said we become our dominant thoughts. Research is showing he may be 100% accurate with those statements… especially the latter.
Here is why: Starting in 1998, studies began to raise questions about the “scientific proof” behind the widespread use of antidepressants versus placebos. University of Connecticut researchers, Irving Kirsch and Guy Sapirstein, found
antidepressants seemed to get results, but so did placebos.
In 38 studies conducted with over 3,000 depressed patients, placebos improved symptoms 75 percent as much as legitimate medications.
“We wondered, what’s going on?” said Kirsch in a
2010 interview with Newsweek. The medical community, skeptical of his analysis, asked him to instigate a more comprehensive study with the results of all clinical trials conducted by antidepressant manufacturers, including those unpublished – 47 studies in total.
Over half of the studies showed no significant difference in the depression-alleviating effects of a medicated versus non-medicated pill. With this more thorough analysis, which now included strategically unpublished studies from pharmaceutical companies, placebos were shown to improve symptoms 82 percent as much as the real pill.
According to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International: “However, if experts and antidepressant manufacturers are aware of this, the general public certainly isn’t … Millions of people every year feel better, simply because they believe they’ll feel better.”
To all of our patients who wish to read our monthly newsletter and weekly health news updates online, we have 2 options.
You can go to BeecherChiropractic.com/blog
or www.facebook.com/BeecherChiropractic
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Presented by Beecher Chiropractic Clinic 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston TX 77062 (281) 286-1300
Inspirational Story Of The Month –
(Names And Details Have Been Changed To Protect Privacy)
What Does A Blind Man Do When His Guide Dog Goes Blind?
The answer to that question is an incredible story that will warm your heart and may even change your life…
Have you ever faced a situation that made you feel depressed?
Maybe it was a difficult choice you had to make in your life? Or you were facing tough times and you couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel?
At the time, things seemed so miserable you didn’t know what to do. Maybe you even felt like throwing your hands in the air and walking away.
Quitting
Who knows… maybe you are even facing a situation in your life like that right now. Many people are. Well, the truth of the matter is:
Nothing In Life Is Either As Good… Or As Bad… As It First Seems
And even though you cannot always control the things that happen to you – you can always control your reaction to those things and their long-term end results.
A wise man once said, “If you wrote down all of your problems on a piece paper and put it in a hat with 10 other people’s problems… and everyone picked someone else’s problems out of that hat… in no time flat everyone would want their own problems back!”
For example, think about all your problems and write them down. Put them in a hat and trade them with Graham Waspe. Graham is blind. He has very limited vision in only one eye after two incidents earlier in his life. But, I bet if you picked Graham’s list from that hat, he wouldn’t have even listed blind as a problem. Well, maybe he would’ve, but I doubt it.
Actually, I bet when you picked Graham’s list, it would’ve been blank. Why? Because the smart money says Graham doesn’t view anything in his life as a problem… he only sees potential solutions.
For example, because Graham cannot see, he has a guide dog named Edward. Graham and Edward did just about everything together. Edward was literally Graham’s eyes for six years of faithful service. Then disaster struck, or at least what most people would consider disaster. Edward developed an inoperable problem and had to have both of his eyes removed. How did Graham react? Did he pout? Throw his hands in the air and quit? Did he curse the day he was born?
No, No and NO!
Graham solved the problem – for both of them. Graham got Opal. Opal is another guide dog who now guides Graham and Edward! Just imagine, a guide dog leading a blind guide dog leading a blind man.
You see, when you hear a story like that it makes you realize a couple things. The first is: no matter what you are going through, there is always a solution. The only way you don’t find a solution is if you stop looking.
Second: Life is short and you should make the best of every situation and enjoy every moment of your life. It really is the small things that truly make us happy. Like Graham going for a walk with Opal and Edward, or the smile and laugh of a child, or opening your eyes tomorrow to a new and wonderful day, as wonderful as you choose to make it. Or maybe more correct – as wonderful as you choose to interpret it. There is beauty all around us… many times we just forget to recognize and acknowledge it. Make it a point to do something fun and wonderful each and every day… you won’t regret it.
We love helping our patients and their friends and relatives through their tough times and getting them feeling better! We are here to help you stay feeling better and looking younger! Don’t be a stranger. You really can afford Chiropractic care! Don’t wait until you can no longer move!
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Presented by Beecher Chiropractic Clinic 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston TX 77062 (281) 286-1300
Did You Know?…
The average cost of developing and bringing a new prescription drug to market is $802 million. It usually takes between
10 and 15 years to develop and bring a new medication to market. • Over 90% of drugs entering clinical trials fail to make it to market. • Large manufacturers spend twice as much on advertising and marketing costs than they do on research costs. • Each year in the United States, more than 160 million prescriptions are written for antibiotics. Annually, humans consume 235 million doses of antibiotics. It is estimated that 20%-50% of that use is unnecessary. • Why is it so difficult to find a powerful pain-killing medication that does not also produce addiction? Over the years, pharmaceutical companies have tried to separate these two pharmacological qualities. Perhaps because the brain areas involved with pain reduction and those involved with drug dependence are connected, it has been almost impossible to find powerful “non-addicting” painkillers? On the other hand, perhaps dependence on drugs and pain reduction are two different phenomena that will someday be separated, as more refined research evolves in this important area? • By law when a physician prescribes drugs for a patient, the physician is required to ensure the patient is fully informed of the drugs risks and benefits and consents to the drug therapy with full informed knowledge. Statistics show that this occurs in less than 20% of the patient population.
Tip Of The Month – Has Research Proven That Exercise Is Bad For Your Heart?
Exercise is good for you… right? Everyone knows eating right, exercising, reducing stress and routine maintenance check-ups are the key to living up to your genetic potential.
Well, a new study just found a certain type of exercise seems to be bad for your heart. Here’s the scoop: Not too long ago, researchers conducted a study on the heart health of a group of very fit older athletes — men who had been part of a National or Olympic team in distance running or rowing, or runners who had completed at least 100 marathons. All of the men had
trained and competed throughout their adult lives and continued to strenuously exercise. The results were not good. Half of these lifelong athletes showed evidence of heart muscle scarring. None of the younger athletes or the older non-athletes had fibrosis in their hearts. The affected men were the ones who had trained the longest and hardest. Now, a new study done on rats has reproduced similar findings.
In this study, published in the journal, Circulation, Canadian and Spanish scientists prodded young, healthy male rats to run at an intense pace, day after day, for three months, which is the equivalent of about 10 years, in human terms. At the beginning of the study, the rats had perfectly normal hearts. At the end of the training period, heart scans showed that most of the rodents had developed diffuse scarring and some structural changes, similar to the changes seen in the human endurance athletes. A control group of rats did not develop the heart changes, but when the rats stopped running, their hearts returned to normal within 8 weeks.
What Does All This Mean For You?
According to Dr. Paul Thompson, the Chief of Cardiology at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, and an expert on sports cardiology, in terms of exercise, unless you are going to the extreme like the elite athletes in the study, probably not much. He was one of the peer reviewers for the British athlete study. He said, “How many people are going to join the
100 Marathon club or undertake a comparable amount of training? Not many. Too much exercise has not been a big problem in America. Most people just run to stay in shape, and for them, the evidence is quite strong that endurance exercise is good [for the heart].”
So, What IS Important For You In All Of This?
One word: Moderation. Health really seems to be all about moderation. That goes for the foods you eat, the exercise you do and the stress you deal with. Not enough is not good, but too much can be just as bad. Sadly, most people think if something is good – more is better. There is an optimal level or range for everything. Above or below that level – for any length of time – leads to abnormal stress, strain and problems. When you are looking to get in shape and be healthy, you must first discover the proper definitions of in shape and health.
Remember, we’re always here to help your body heal and maintain the health and function that you deserve.
This information is solely advisory, and should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all health care concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a healthcare professional who is familiar with your updated medical history. We cannot be held responsible for actions you may take without a thorough exam or appropriate referral. If you have any further concerns or questions, please call our office at 281-286-1300.
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Presented by Beecher Chiropractic Clinic 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston TX 77062 (281) 286-1300
