7 Ways Plastics Damage the Body

You can live in the most pristine place on planet earth and still find animals polluted with plastics.Plastics (or the chemical name, phthalates) are now considered the number one pollutant in the human body. They make products flexible, durable, and these chemicals are also in items you would not consider to be plastics, like pesticides, detergents, cosmetics, medications, or your shampoo. They are found everywhere. It is difficult to completely avoid them.

It is an interesting fact that plasticizers are over 10,000 to 1,000,000 times higher in our bodies than any other toxins that have been found in EPA studies.

Unfortunately once in the body, these plastics do enormous damage.

7 Ways Plastics Damage the Body

1: Phthalates damage the chemistry of fatty acids most importantly, the fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). This is the fundamental chemistry necessary for making every cell lining or membrane. These fatty acids are the foundation for brain health including memory and recall.

2: Phthalates can create a zinc deficiency which will compromise the metabolism of vitamins A and B-6. In turn this could lead to conditions such as indigestion, depression, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and accelerated aging. 

As a quick side note the combination of low zinc and low DHA can lead to chronic inflammation. Medical literature has clearly identified chronic inflammation as one of the most common underlying pathologies of most diseases leading to auto-immune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, MS) to cancer and heart disease.

3: Phthalates has been found to be responsible for damaging the pancreas leading to diabetes, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome X.

4: Phthalates has been found to lower sulfation.  This means that you are no longer able to effectively detoxify like you should. This in turn can lead to a whole host of health challenges.

5: Phthalates damage hormone function, especially thyroid hormones and testosterone.   

6: Phthalates can poison the peroxisomes needed for the control of the chemistry of cholesterol. They can cause high cholesterol while at the same time keep cholesterol from forming the “happy hormones” (neurotransmitters) of the brain. 

7: Phthalates can damage the body's ability to make catalase. Catalase is absolutely essential for devouring up the hydrogen peroxide that cancer cells make to allow them to metastasize or wildly spread throughout the body. Lack of catalase is a reason why many cancers briefly seem to be in remission after treatments, only to resurface months or years later with lethal consequences.

These are only 7 of the devastating effects of plastics in our bodies. Many diseases will never be cured until the phthalates are out. 

Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., D.A.C.B.N., M.S.

Hyperactivity & Attention Deficit Disorder: Do You Have Options?

As a parent of child suffering with this disorder.. what are you to do?? Attention-deficit disorder is the most frequently diagnosed childhood psychiatric condition in America. In the past most medical journals described this disorder as minimal brain damage, hyperactive child syndrome & minimal cerebral dysfunction. Attention-deficit disorder affects a startling 17 million people and seems to be gaining ground every year.

The common symptoms include brief attention span, poor concentration, difficulty keeping track of things, making careless mistakes, impatience, difficulty waiting or taking turns, blurting out answers when not asked, impulsiveness, hyperactivity, failure to finish things off, lack of perseverance & poor organizing. These characteristics are frequently associated with difficulties in school, in both learning and behavior. Task that require concentration are nearly impossible causing frustration, irritability, agitation and often recklessness.

There are three types of ADHD: Inattentive, predominately hyperactivity and combined type. Girls are more prevalent to exhibit the symptom of inattentiveness, whereby boys tend to be more hyperactive. As a child with undiagnosed ADHD becomes a teenager, he/she may become involved in drugs and crime and will commonly drop out of school. In adulthood the predominant features are failure to complete tasks, disorganization, difficulty paying attention and difficulty beginning tasks.

Conventional Medical Treatment

The conventional medical treatment for ADHD is almost always pharmaceutical drugs such as methylphenidate (Ritalin) or the amphetamine Adderall. A review in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry notes that two antidepressants -- bupropion and venlafaxine -- are now being used as an alternative. "Talk therapy" is often recommended in conjunction with prescription medication for ADHD.

Alternative Medical Treatment:

The causes of ADHD are many and it would serve your child well for the parents to investigate the possible underlying factors that could very-well be causing the condition.

The Functional Medicine Approach looks at the triggers of ADHD. People with ADHD often have impaired digestion, environmental and food sensitivities, nutritional insufficiencies, heavy metal toxicities, fatty acid and amino acid imbalances, sensitivity to food additives and sucrose (sugar). Some studies indicate a possible genetic predisposition. Children with ADHD usually have histories of more ear infections (otitis media) than other children with learning problems.

It is unfortunate that many people who have children suffering with ADHD are not informed of all the options. I must agree that prescription medications such as Ritalin and Adderall can make a significant impact on the symptoms of ADHD. A child who once was inattentive is now focused and doing well in school. Who can ask for anything better?!! But, are you being told everything? What are the long-term health risk for your child?

Studies done on children taking Ritalin using a PET scan revealed that although the children had a reduction in their symptoms the PET scan was highly abnormal.

Most physicians are trained to treat ADHD with amphetamine-like drugs. But nutritionally oriented physicians have known for a long time that food allergy is a primary cause. The first major scientific study to show the link between food allergy and hyperactivity appeared in a 1985 issue of Lancet, a prestigious international medical journal. Dr. J. Egger, head of a pediatric university hospital in Munich, and Dr. J Soothill, London, England, studied the effect of food on 76 hyperactive children. 79% had clear improvement in their mental activity, emotions and behavior and 28 became completely normal. To prove their findings, the researchers reintroduced the allergenic foods to the children and their hyperactive symptoms returned.

The following have been linked to ADD:

• Food sensitivities

• Heavy metal toxicity especially lead has been linked to attention deficit and learning problems. Dr. H.L. Needlemen of the University of Pittsburgh Medical School has conducted scores of studies over the last 20 years clearly establishing the link between lead levels in children and specific hyperactive and attention deficit behavior traits. Follow-up studies indicate that these effects often persist into adulthood.

• Fatty acid deficiency

• Amino acid imbalances

• Methylation dysfunction

• Intestinal dysbiosis

• Many more...

I would have to say that I have not met a parent who did not want the best for their child. The parent who is struggling with what to do to help their child, faces a major dilemma. Should you medicate your child or take the road less traveled and identify the underlying cause of your child's problem. Realize you have two sides of this sensitive issue. On one hand you have your family physician who insist that pharmaceutical drugs is the only way to go and offers no real alternative. And on the other hand, the volumes of medical research is quite over-whelming in favor of looking for the root cause(s) of your child's condition.

Article used with permission of Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O.,D.A.C.B.N., MS and the Functional Medicine University

TYLENOL and PREGNANCY????

Here is an interesting study I recently read that affects a very large group in America.  A study published out of the Journal of American Pediatrics just last month, August 2016, showed that Tylenol consumption by pregnant women increased the baby having emotional symptoms by 29%, hyperactivity by 31%, and total difficulties by 46%.  This is alarming because over half of all pregnant women consume Tylenol because and here's kicker....the current public health advice (from MDs and hospitals) considers Tylenol use safe during pregnancy. While the majority of pregnant women are consuming Tylenol as a solution for their pain what if there was a different solution that did not put their unborn baby at risk of having emotional, hyperactive, or neurodevelopmental problems?  There is also a study from the Journal of Spine. Three groups of patients who were in pain were split up and treated one group received drugs (vioxx and celebrex), one group received acupuncture, and one group received chiropractic care.  The results showed that Chiropractic Care was 5 times better than the drugs and 3 times more effective than the acupuncture! And the patients in the Chiropractic group were considered the worst in the beginning because they had been in chronic pain for the longest compared to the other 2 groups.  Once again, what people don’t know can and will hurt them.