While there are now high amounts of unbiological chemicals in our food, essential nutrients are becoming rare. John D. Hamaker in his The Survival of Civilization (Hamaker-Weaver) gives the following example of trace mineral deficiency induced by using fertilizers. In 1948 the highest iron concentration in cabbage was found to be 94 ppm (parts per million) and the lowest value 20 ppm. By 1963 the published average value had dropped to 4 ppm. The story was similar for other vegetables. The general conclusion is that the average trace mineral content of vegetables in 1963 was close to or even lower than the lowest concentrations in 1948.

The latest results show that they are much lower now. The food tables of the US Department of Agriculture for the year 2000 show, for instance, that the vitamin C content of broccoli, cauliflower and spinach is only about half of what it used to be in 1963. Also vitamins A, B1 and B2 declined sharply, calcium in corn decreased by 78%.

The content of trace minerals can vary in the same type of vegetable by more than one hundred times, depending on the quality of the soil in which it is grown. The highest and lowest values for manganese in lettuce, for instance, were listed as 169 ppm and 1 ppm respectively. The selenium content in wheat was found to vary from 0.6 mcg/100 g in parts of New Zealand to 130 mcg/100 g in parts of Canada. The vitamin content can fluctuate to a similar degree. The vitamin and trace mineral values listed in food tables are therefore often completely meaningless, especially when the original values are decades old. The trace mineral content of our arable land is by now extremely low and rapidly declining even further because of heavy cropping without replacing what has been taken out.

Trace minerals in the soil originate from disintegrating rocks. In order to re-mineralize the soil, crushed rock would need to be distributed over our cropping land. Then trace minerals do not leach out during heavy rainfalls and they can be dissolved with acids released from plant roots and be absorbed. Furthermore, the improved conditions must be maintained by returning to the soil whatever has been taken out, using composting and organic farming methods.

Heavy use of water-soluble fertilizers allows cropping in poor soils, so plants become deficient and offer little resistance to disease and insect attacks. This then justifies the liberal use of highly toxic agricultural chemicals, part of which remain in the plants and fruits and are ingested by us. The most commonly affected are commercially produced fruits.

Agricultural chemicals may accumulate in the body, especially in fat tissue, and they may also damage the liver. Organo-phosphate insecticides, for instance, may cause weakness, muscular trembling, cold sweats (an early sign of liver damage), irritability, tightness of the chest (asthma), nausea and abdominal pain.

Organo-chlorine insecticides, which include DDT, lindane, 2.4-D and 2.4.5-T, are even more toxic. They affect mainly the nervous system and can cause a wide variety of symptoms including convulsions, numbness of extremities, uncontrollable excitement, apprehensions, allergies and birth defects.

More recently pesticides and herbicides used on farms and in households are increasingly linked to neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Development of symptoms due to low-level chronic exposure is gradual. It has been suggested by researchers that long-term exposure to sub-toxic levels of chemicals is much more likely to lead to neurological disorders than to physically based diseases. In animal experiments chronic systemic pesticide exposure reproduces the features of Parkinson’s disease.

People who used pesticides in their homes were twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease as people not exposed to pesticides. Also a combination of different pesticides is more likely to cause greater toxicity problems than individual chemicals.

Paraquat, a common herbicide and maneb, a common fungicide did not affect mice that were exposed to either one of them. However, when both chemicals were used together, dopamine neurons began to die at rather low exposure levels or at only a fraction of what is normally being regarded as toxic. Ongoing exposure lead to progressive neurotoxicity. There are countless combinations of low-level toxic residues in our food and water and no one knows what health effects they produce.

Only one hundred years ago cancer and Parkinson’s disease were relatively rare and affected only old people. Now they are epidemic and even children and juveniles develop these degenerative diseases. Cancer and especially breast cancer has been strongly linked to pesticide accumulations in the body.

Some widely used fumigants may pose an additional hazard. Organic bromides, especially methyl-bromide, destroy the pantothenic acid (an important B-vitamin) in fumigated grain and can cause serious deficiency disorders. Later on, the fumigant may not be detectable in the grain, which is then regarded as completely safe. However, the germination power of such grains may be very poor, which shows they have been damaged.

Our unsound farming, refining, processing and cooking methods ensure that we receive only a fraction of the vitamins and trace minerals that we would get from unprocessed raw food grown in good soils. However, these extremely low values are now regarded as normal by health authorities because the classical symptoms of serious deficiencies are still absent in most people. No thought is given to the long-term effects of multiple subclinical deficiencies.

Meat, poultry and eggs may contain residues of antibiotics, pesticides and synthetic hormones acting as growth promoters. Hormones are supposed to be destroyed during digestion and therefore are regarded as harmless. However, this may not be so with synthetics or when the digestive system is weak. In addition, a surprising number of nutrients can be absorbed through the mouth tissue, including giant molecules such as vitamin B12; this may also include hormones. Secondary sex changes have been reported due to the habitual consumption of hormone-treated chicken.

Besides liver degeneration and various forms of allergy and leukemia, chemical overload has also been linked to chronic fatigue syndrome or ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) and motor-neuron disease. Individuals with these diseases seem to have a liver that is less able to detoxify unbiological chemicals.

Added Chemicals

An even greater health hazard is the multitude of chemicals directly added to food products. These include preservatives, colors, flavors, emulsifiers, stabilizers and so forth. Such chemicals need to be detoxified in the liver and contribute to liver damage. Many chemicals are fat-soluble and are thus stored in our fat-tissue. During prolonged fasting or disease resulting in weight loss these may be released into the bloodstream in excessive amounts and cause rather distressing symptoms.

Nitrates and nitrites are added to most processed meat products. They can damage the blood, the thyroid and the fetus, cause severe vitamin-mineral deficiencies and may be transformed into cancer-causing nitrosamines in the intestines. Sulfites (for example, sulfur dioxide, metabisulfite) are widely used in processed foods, for instance in frozen foods, dried fruits and fruit juices, wine and beer and restaurant foods. In susceptible individuals they may cause swellings of hands, feet and larynx, dermatitis, abdominal distress and respiratory problems that will especially affect asthmatics. Appropriately, also some asthma drugs contain sulfites.

Another widespread health hazard is hydrogenated fats and oils containing unbiological trans-acids, and oils with added synthetic anti-oxidants. Chemical antioxidants interfere with the oxidizing enzymes of our energy metabolism and make it even more inefficient. If traces of dishwashing detergent are inadvertently consumed, they can damage the intestinal walls.

In addition to any of the health problems described so far, food chemicals frequently cause allergies and trigger hyperactivity. This applies especially to synthetic coloring. These are also a problem in medical drugs. Artificial sweeteners and especially aspartame have been linked to a high rate of brain tumors, serious metabolic and neurological complication in diabetics, epilepsy, toxic thyroid and emotional disorders. For further details see www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/. While most of these chemicals are added only for convenience, the food industry could easily use vitamins C and E as well as lecithin and other biological chemicals as antioxidants, preservatives, emulsifiers and so forth.

Excitotoxins are taste or flavor enhancers that release glutamic acid or glutamate. Also aspartic acid and cysteine are brain-active amino acids. The best known example of an excitotoxin is MSG or mono-sodium glutamate, a salt of glutamic acid. High blood levels can cross the normally protective blood-brain barrier. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that is present in the extra-cellular fluid only in very low concentration. If levels are inappropriately raised then neurons fire abnormally, and at higher levels brain cells begin to die. Oxygen deficiency and lack of fuel (hypoglycemia) both interfere with the energy production of brain cells to make them susceptible to damage by these excitotoxins. This may be an important factor in the development of neurological diseases.

Excitory amino acids cause problems mainly when they are used either in high concentrations or in free form while bound as in most natural foods they are slowly released and therefore harmless. Most processed foods contain excitotoxins, especially if any kind of commercial taste or flavor enhancers has been added, such as hydrolyzed vegetable protein, soy protein extract, yeast extract, beef stock and caseinate; commercial soups, sauces and gravies are usually most affected. On the label any of these products may just be called ‘natural flavoring’. Aged proteins, processed meat, cheeses and tomato puree have higher levels of free glutamate as well but fresh tomatoes are fine. All of these should be avoided by sensitive individuals and minimized by others.

Chlorination

Chlorination of our drinking water is yet another instance of a substance added that is detrimental to our health. Besides microorganisms in the water all other organic matter present will be chlorinated. This produces a wide range of chlorinated chemicals with carcinogenic and other disease-causing properties.

Reluctantly, even health authorities now admit that there is a health problem, but they play it down by focusing only on Trihalomethanes (THMs). These are very small compounds, consisting of one carbon atom with several attached chlorine or bromine atoms. The most prevalent of these is chloroform (trichloromethane), a THM that is carcinogenic to rats and mice. You cannot protect yourself against THMs, as they are absorbed through the skin if you swim in a chlorinated swimming pool, or have a hot bath or shower. A hot shower may raise the level of THMs in the blood ten times higher than drinking a quart of chlorinated water.

While a large number of studies found an association between chlorinated water and secondary chlorination products with an increased risk of cancer, especially cancer of the bladder, I regard this only as the tip of the iceberg. The association of THMs with bladder cancer shows that they are relatively harmless, because they are being excreted. I contend that the main health damage is caused by long-chain chlorination products that remain in the body.

The level of chlorine in treated water is about one hundred times higher than the level of THMs. There is no doubt that chlorine reacts with all organic matter, but especially with sensitive biochemicals, such as unsaturated oils, cholesterol and vitamins. This reaction occurs when food is washed or cooked, when bread is baked, when commercial fruit juices or soymilk are made, and it occurs within your body if you drink chlorinated water. These chlorination products have long carbon chains and remain stored in the body, just like chlorinated insecticides (e.g. DDT) to which they are closely related. In the same way that health authorities did not believe that ingesting pesticides would cause health problems, so they now believe that these long-chain chlorination products do not cause problems. I regard this as being complacent and incompetent in protecting the health of the public.

All or most chlorinated organic compounds that have been tested have been found to damage our health. It is also a fact that our liver is not equipped to detoxify chlorinated chemicals. Putting all of these facts together leads to the inescapable conclusion that chlorinated water damages our health to a considerable, although unknown, degree. In the next chapter I provide more information on the connection between chlorinated water and cardiovascular disease.

Focusing only on THMs, health authorities maintain that the anti-microbial benefits of water chlorination outweigh its health dangers, and that there is no reasonable alternative to keep water supplies safe. I strongly disagree. I do not regard water as being safe that causes cancer and very likely contributes to most other chronic and age-related diseases. There are thousands of water treatment plants in Europe that provide safe water without chlorine, using ozone, ultraviolet light, membrane filters, and slow sand filters instead. While this may be initially somewhat more expensive than using chlorine, in terms of preventing chronic diseases it will be immeasurably cheaper for individuals as well as the public purse.

In the meantime, you need to protect yourself from the dangers of chlorinated water. If you live in the country you may have access to rainwater or bore water; otherwise use filters or reverse osmosis to purify water used for drinking and cooking, and install a shower filter. Distilled water needs an additional carbon filter to remove chlorine and THMs. For temporary use, when these are not available, you can remove most of the chlorine and THMs by shortly boiling the water and use it after it has cooled again. Also a bath may be filled with hot water and the room ventilated before getting into the bath. Skin contact with chlorinated water not only allows the absorption of THMs, it also ages the skin. You can counteract this by rubbing the skin afterwards with reduced ionized water or with a diluted vitamin C solution.

Fluoridation

Equally shortsighted is the official campaign to fluoridate our water supply. Modern dentistry tries to retard the growth of plaque bacteria that causes caries by mechanical means and by poisoning the bacteria with fluoride. Fluoride is a strong enzyme poison. When present in sufficient concentration during development of the teeth, it is incorporated into these, mainly as insoluble calcium fluoride. The lactic acid produced by plaque bacteria after the ingestion of sweet food dissolves traces of calcium fluoride from the teeth and this poisons their enzyme systems, retarding the development of caries.

However, the fluoridation of our water supply and the liberal use of fluoride toothpaste introduce dangerously high concentrations of fluoride in a very active and toxic form. This endangers our enzyme systems and greatly contributes to a weakened metabolism in many people, and thus to the development of allergies, arthritis, cancer and hypoglycemia. Excessive fluoride exposure has also been linked to hip fractures, hypothyroidism, Alzheimers disease, and reduced IQ. The bulk of scientific research shows that added fluoride does not protect the teeth of adults or children.

In natural ground water, such as bore or spring water, fluoride sufficient for tooth protection (up to 1 ppm) occurs mainly in the form of calcium fluoride. While this is insoluble in high concentrations, it is sufficiently soluble in the minute amounts required for tooth protection. In this form, and also when the blood level of calcium is high, fluoride is less toxic. Fluoride causes most damage in calcium-deficient bodies, usually children and hypoglycemics or fast oxidizers.

Seafood and especially kelp are high in a safe form of fluoride. However, using these in addition to fluoridated water and toothpaste might exceed safe fluoride intake levels. Caries, and the health problems due to artificial fluoridation, can be avoided by using kelp and restricting the use of sweet foods.

The United States is one of very few counties that still promote water fluoridation. Most of Western Europe has outlawed it; even most of U.S. communities, when allowed to vote, have rejected fluoridation; this happened in over 50 communities since 1999. For further information on the health dangers of fluoride and a good bibliography of the scientific literature on fluoride see www.fluoridealert.org.

Aluminum

Another mineral harmful to our health that is added to our drinking water, to precipitate impurities, is aluminum. This is not a so-called heavy metal, but it causes health problems nevertheless. We may also ingest it with some brands of baking powder, and free-flowing salt, or from aluminum hydroxide antacids, but most commonly we absorb it through using aluminum cooking utensils. Most dangerous to our health are acidic foods that are left in contact with aluminum surfaces. Aluminum easily dissolves in weak acids, which are present in fruits, tomatoes, cucumber, rhubarb and beets. Even tap water or rainwater can be acidic. Heating water in an aluminum pot was shown to add 1,600 mcg of aluminum per liter of water, which is 3,200% over the recommendation of the World Health Organization with a limit of 50 mcg per liter.

In the body aluminum acts as a neurotoxin, causing brain disorders, though symptoms develop slowly. They may include senile dementia (Alzheimer’s disease), Parkinson’s disease, reduced memory, slow learning, motor neuron disease, overactive parathyroid glands and fatigue. Aluminum lowers the permeability of the blood-brain barrier to other harmful chemicals and increases the incidence of epileptic fits. You can protect yourself from aluminum ingestion by using filtered water, and glass, ceramic or enameled cooking ware.

Mercury

Chronic mercury poisoning can originate from certain pesticides and fungicides, calomel laxatives, predatory fish, and especially amalgam tooth fillings. Such fillings release mercury from broken off pieces that dissolve in the stomach and also from evaporation that is caused by pressure on the fillings during chewing. Old fillings are thus much lighter than new fillings, because they have lost most of their mercury. Acidic foods increase the rate at which mercury fillings disintegrate. The mercury loss from several amalgam fillings over 10 years has been calculated at about 560 mg, or 150 mcg per day, and almost all of this is absorbed and stored in body fat, especially in the brain.

Symptoms of mercury poisoning may include: fatigue, lethargy, depression, irritability, shyness, loss of short-term memory, allergies, respiratory infections, decreased immune response, increased salivation, gingivitis, loose teeth, mouth ulcers, nervous heart problems, digestive problems, dermatitis, as well as changes in hearing, vision, speech and writing. Most prominent are nervous system disorders with serious mental disturbances. Many symptoms are actually the same as in multiple sclerosis. The present epidemic of autism has been linked by some researchers to a high level of organic mercury compounds used as preservatives in some vaccines.

Case reports for patients after removing all amalgam fillings include cure of leukemia and Hodgkin’s disease, re-gaining vision after 23 years of blindness, cure of moderate to severe headaches that had persisted for 50 years, cure of arthritis, and a reversal of general malaise with fatigue and depression. Minimize amalgam-related health problems by refusing any new fillings containing mercury, and contemplate replacing any old amalgam fillings, for this see a holistic dentist. For more details on dental health review Dental Problems.

Mercury exposure from eating fish has greatly increased in recent decades. Even health authorities acknowledge that there is now a problem and advise avoiding large predatory fish, especially for pregnant women. Some studies show that on average more mercury is accumulated from fish than from amalgam fillings. The same health problems, previously outlined for mercury from teeth, also are caused by mercury from fish. Only non-predatory fish or small predatory fish are reasonably safe to eat on a regular basis. You may check the safety of commonly used fish species at www.ewg.org.

Cooking

Cooked food has been a hallmark of civilization. Cooking breaks down cellulose in vegetables and connective tissue in meat and thus makes these foods easier to chew and more palatable. Bacteria are destroyed at the same time, making these foods safer to eat, but only if eaten immediately after cooking. During storage, raw food remains much more resistant to microbial contamination than cooked food.

The price we pay for this convenience is a loss of vitamins and minerals, the destruction of enzymes and plant hormones, denaturing of proteins, oxidation of lipids, loss of vitality or life-force, and formation of harmful chemicals at temperatures above the boiling point. Vitamins are destroyed by the combined action of oxygen and heat; minerals react to heat in ways that make them less easily absorbed; and both vitamins and minerals are lost if cooking water is discarded.

When food is heated above 80⁰-90⁰C (180⁰ F), protein becomes denatured or unbiological; it changes its internal structure, the way it is folded, and the immune system reacts as if it is attacked by foreign invaders. The digestive system is flooded with white blood cells after eating this food. This is called digestive leukocytosis. The white blood cells or leukocytes try to prevent food toxins from reaching the bloodstream. The higher the food is heated or the more refined it is, the stronger is the resulting leukocytosis. This defense reaction against toxic food does not take place after eating raw food. Leukocytosis is a continued strain on our immune system and is an aggravating factor in leukemia and immune deficiency. Animals and humans evolved on raw food only; cooked food is a recent invention in evolutionary terms.

When food is heated above the boiling point, chemical reactions take place that create toxic chemicals in the food. For a long time it has been known that carcinogenic substances are produced in highly heated meat, but the more recent discovery of similar chemicals in heated cereal or grain products has come as a shock to the food industry. When foods are heated to above the boiling point, advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are formed, some of these are known as acrylamides. These toxic products result from a reaction of carbohydrates with proteins. They are produced at a slow rate at low temperatures, but in high amounts when food is highly heated as in frying and baking. Acrylamides are known to be cancer-causing in animals and to cause DNA damage with gene mutations.

Another scientific finding is that acrylamides are pro-inflammatory, the more of these chemicals are in the diet, the more inflammation they cause. Almost all diseases are associated with inflammations, including arthritis, cancer, diabetes and heart disease. The more inflammation the worse is the disease and associated pain. This may be a main reason why most diseases greatly improve, and chronic pain tends to disappear on raw diets.

AGEs are yellow-brown, like another group of chemicals related to heat and oxidation, the lipofuscins, which are composed of oxidized fats and proteins. Together, these chemicals accumulate as waste material in nerve and skin cells and impede their functions. Sometimes they can be seen as “age spots” or “liver spots”.

Equally damaging is the total destruction of all the enzymes in cooked food. Raw food contains a complement of enzymes specifically designed to digest it. Starchy foods contain large amounts of the starch-digesting enzyme amylase; fatty and oily foods are provided with the fat-digesting enzyme lipase, while protein foods contain the protein-digesting enzyme cathepsin. According to the food composition there may be mixtures of these and other enzymes.

If food enzymes are destroyed, we must produce considerably more digestive enzymes, and our overall enzyme capacity declines much more rapidly with advancing years than it would on raw food. Thus we age much sooner and develop degenerative diseases that may otherwise be avoided. Food enzymes and digestive enzymes not only break down and absorb food, but also keep our inside free of inappropriate accumulations of fats and proteins, and avoid or reverse atherosclerosis and cancer. High-dose supplements of protein-digesting enzymes are frequently used in natural cancer therapy to break down tumors.

Not only animal experiments show the profuse development of degenerative diseases of cooked foods, and the good health and longer life that result when on raw diets. There are numerous reports of human cures from all kinds of degenerative diseases – including advanced cancer – on raw diets of organically grown food. My own successes of healing patients in advanced and difficult conditions have often been due to raw-food diets.

Modern processed foods generally combine the negative health effects of cooked, refined and chemicalized food. Tinned food, for instance, causes even more leukocytosis than normal cooked food, indicating that it is more toxic. Equally harmful is microwaved food, as this process violently shakes and twists the delicate molecular structures. Abnormal changes in the blood and immune system were noticed after ingesting microwaved food.

Fortunately, it is relatively easy to protect yourself from the dangers associated with cooking: avoid or minimize the use of processed food; heat food only to the boiling point, and maximize ingesting raw, fresh and organic food. Before eating heated food, have some fresh, raw food beforehand, and also together with the cooked meal. In this way digestive leukocytosis can be reduced or even eliminated.

I noticed that for many people cereals are especially difficult to give up. These cause problems for many individuals, contributing to overweight, diabetes and hypoglycemia. However, some individuals and therapists report that raw grains do not seem to cause these problems. Therefore, if you are so inclined, you may experiment with soaked non-gluten grains as an addition to breakfast or a salad.

Harmful Eating Habits

The way we eat our food can also negatively affect our health. Commonly the food is not sufficiently chewed while our mind is busy with other matters. Thus the food is not properly broken down and mixed with the starch-digesting amylase in saliva. This greatly adds to the burden of an already overworked pancreas. The composition of the required digestive juices is already signaled from the mouth. If food is eaten too fast, especially cooked food, the signals are inaccurate and we also do not receive the signal when we have had enough; we tend to overeat.

Overeating is not only unhealthy because we become overweight; excessive amounts of metabolic waste products are formed that stress the enzyme systems and the organs of elimination. In addition, food remains partly undigested in the intestines, which encourages putrefaction and an overgrowth of harmful microbes. The overall effect is not only a shortened life span but also an early onset of degenerative disease. Many animal experiments have confirmed that life span as well as health can be greatly enhanced if the quantity of food is restricted. Rats, for instance, doubled their life span on half the normal diet and earthworms lived 16 times longer on a starvation diet.

A famous example of a long and healthy life through restricted eating is the Italian nobleman Luigi Cornaro who lived about 400 years ago. He was born with fragile health and by the time he was 40, he had severe arthritis and many other afflictions and was close to dying. He cured himself within one year by restricting his food intake to about twelve ounces daily, consisting of bread, meat, egg yolk and soup. He continued with this in good health until his seventy-eighth year when he gave in to the persuasions of his family and increased his food intake by 2 ounces. Within days he became very sick. Again he escaped death by returning to his old frugal habits. From then on he lived in good health, with excellent mental faculties and without knowing fatigue until his ninety-ninth year. In his last years he wrote a comedy and treatises on longevity and health.

Eating meat or a large meal is especially unhealthy in the evening when our digestive powers are much weaker than in the morning. What we eat during the daytime is usually converted into energy for the activities at hand, but the evening meal is mainly converted into fat deposits and an increase in the accumulation of wastes.

Equally harmful is indiscriminate food combining. High-protein foods such as meat require different digestive juices from those used for a starch meal. The digestion of starch initiated by the salivary amylase is prematurely stopped if the starch is mixed with meat in a meal. Amylase is also inhibited when starches are mixed with acids and the release of salivary amylase is suppressed when eating sweetened starches. Mixing incompatible foods overloads the pancreas and our health suffers – and not only from indigestion.

Stimulants

Stimulants such as coffee, tea, cocoa, smoking, alcohol and various drugs are widely used and often overused. I do not suggest that stimulants should be completely avoided but, similar to sweet foods, it is much better for our health if we restrict their use, and use them in a non-addictive way.

Whether stimulants are harmful to you and to what extent depends greatly on your state of health and how frequently you use them. Someone who habitually takes a specific stimulant several times daily will be most affected by it and is likely to be allergic and addicted to it. This applies to coffee and tea as much as to alcohol, tobacco and other stimulating drugs. While the health dangers of alcohol and tobacco are well publicized and generally appreciated, the frequency of allergies to coffee and tea is often underestimated. The most common symptoms are headaches, migraine, irritability and menstrual problems.

However, coffee and tea can also make positive contributions to our health, provided that we are not addicted and allergic to these. Tea, especially green tea, is high in antioxidants and useful in the prevention and treatment of cancer. Black as well as green tea stimulate the respiratory system and are helpful with breathing problems, such as asthma. Coffee, on the other hand, acts mainly on the brain, not only to keep us awake, but it can also prevent a threatening migraine attack. Also coffee drinkers appear to have a lower incidence of Parkinson’s disease.

A dry red wine with a meal can actually be beneficial, and also old-fashioned beer in moderation might not be too harmful. Unfortunately, modern beer and many wines are rather chemicalized and not so beneficial. Alcoholism appears to have a chemical basis; after each binge the digestive tract becomes overgrown with harmful microbes. Bacterial toxins resulting from this are mainly responsible for the hangover symptoms, which do not occur if the same amount of alcohol is introduced intravenously.

Cannabis probably is not worse than other recreational drugs. It actually has some useful medicinal properties with a strongly relaxing and pain-relieving effect on the body while stimulating specific parts of the brain. Habitual use is most harmful for those who are already too relaxed and without much drive or enthusiasm. Generally these are those with a weak blood-sugar regulation, lack of energy and low blood pressure. Prolonged use can is claimed to cause genetic changes and infertility in offspring.

Signs of addiction are a craving during periods of abstention or bingeing when a tempting opportunity arises. In order to improve your health, in these cases it is essential to avoid the addictive stimulant for a very long time, preferably for several years.

If your health is reasonably good, it will not be too damaging to use stimulants in moderation. Someone in good health rarely becomes addicted. The main thing to watch out for is that it does not become a habit or a craving, and also that alcohol is not used to excess. Regular smoking is almost always an addiction with no redeeming features at all.

If you do have a specific stimulant regularly, more than once or twice a week, I recommend that you stop using it for one week every few months and carefully observe yourself during abstention and when it is reintroduced for any signs of craving, discomfort or allergy. This advice to interrupt occasionally does not apply, however, to regular smoking, hard drugs or binge drinking. For these, permanent abstention is the only solution. Pregnant and nursing women best abstain completely from alcohol, smoking and drugs.

People in poor health, especially if their system is rather acid and they have a disturbed sugar metabolism, easily become addicted and allergic to any stimulant that is used for a prolonged period.

Yeasts and Molds

Yeast, molds and mushrooms are all fungi. Yeasts are widely used in baking and brewing and also as concentrated yeast extracts and food yeasts. Molds are used in some cheeses and to produce antibiotics. We all have some yeast cells resident in our intestines. Normally these are harmless as the intestinal bacteria keep them subdued. However, in many people these days the fungi have taken over; drugs and dietary changes have contributed to this condition.

Yeast proliferation is stimulated by birth-control pills and sweet food – sugars are the only energy source for yeasts – but the main reason that it has become a widespread health problem at present is the general use of antibiotics and drugs that suppress the immune system. Antibiotics decimate the normal intestinal bacteria but leave the yeast cells unaffected. These can now proliferate and take over the space normally occupied by intestinal bacteria. From the intestinal tract, the yeast cells may invade other mucous membranes, especially those of the vagina, the mouth and the lungs. They may also penetrate the intestinal wall and enter the bloodstream.

The most common form of intestinal yeast is Candida albicans. Locally it may cause gastritis, colitis, cystitis, bloating, oral or vaginal infestation (thrush), menstrual problems and asthma. Allergies with a wide variety of symptoms result when the yeast penetrates the intestinal wall. Apart from skin and breathing problems, severe mental and emotional reactions are common, especially depression. Autism, neuroses and mental diseases, including schizophrenia, have reportedly been cured with antifungal therapy. Usually in such cases the patient has a history of Candida problems and using antibiotics.

The toxicity of Candida to the nervous system is largely due to an excessive production of acetaldehyde. This substance is formed when yeast cells metabolize sugars and there is a deficiency of oxygen. Multiple sclerosis is another disease that has in some cases been successfully treated with fungicides.

Another important aspect of systemic fungus infestation is severe damage to the immune system, leading to autoimmune diseases and immune deficiency states, including lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and, most likely, AIDS. After the immune system has been severely damaged by the fungus, it is easy for bacteria and viruses to invade the body and cause serious and even lethal diseases.

Dietary yeasts and molds as well as mushrooms greatly increase the difficulties of susceptible individuals, frequently causing allergic reactions and flare-ups of Candida infections. In addition, some molds may damage the liver, for instance a mold that frequently grows on peanuts and is present in peanut butter. Molds commonly grow on dried fruits and on poorly stored grains and nuts, also on the outer leaves of cabbage and the skins of various fruits.

A study in the UK in 1977 found that molds and their poisonous myco-toxins (fungal toxins) were in all 318 samples of flour tested. This mold contamination is due to insufficient drying in the process of combine-harvesting grain. Wholemeal flour, bran and wheat germ are even more affected by mold than is white flour. Rice is also frequently contaminated.

Even if the fungi are killed during cooking, the products of their decomposition may still cause allergies. Washing whole grains and nuts, susceptible fruits and vegetables before cooking or eating helps to remove molds; drying in the sun destroys fungi and prevents their development. Preferably remove environmental molds, for instance those on walls and bathroom tiles.

Frequently antibiotics are routinely added to animal feed for meat production; this applies especially to poultry and pigs. Antibiotic residues may impair the intestinal flora of the consumer of such products and thereby encourage the spread of Candida. In addition, the meat itself may be infested with Candida or other fungi because of the prolonged use of antibiotics while, on the other hand, resistant strains of harmful bacteria may be present. I do not recommend habitually eating such meat. As a general rule I recommend to avoid meat from feedlots.

Source:health-science-spirit.com

Those who eat a lot of red meat tend to develop the opposite characteristics and health problems to those on a sweet diet. Red meat has a stimulating effect on the sympathetic nervous system and on the adrenal hormones. This improves the ability to ‘push through’ and provides ‘drive’; heavy meat eaters may become powerfully assertive and even aggressive.

Another important effect of eating red meat is a tendency for the blood pressure to rise because of its effects on the adrenal hormones and the nervous system. Eating beef has the strongest influence on blood pressure. All this can be beneficial for hypoglycemics with low blood pressure, lack of drive, and weak adrenal glands but for others, especially stressed males, it may mean hypertension and kidney problems.

The high phosphorus content of meat stimulates the parathyroid glands and raises the calcium blood level, in some cases by activating calcium from the bones. In combination with a prevailing over-alkalinity, this leads to stone formation, such as kidney stones, kidney damage, arteriosclerosis, stiff joints, ankylosis and arthritic bone deformations.

Carnivorous animals in the wild do not have the problem of an excessive intake of phosphorus, because they also eat the calcium-rich bones. We, too, can avoid this problem by using bone broth or other foods and supplements high in calcium.

Heavy meat eaters have been found to excrete up to four times more calcium than normal with the urine; this is the cause of kidney stones and other kidney damage. It is even worse when high meat consumption is combined with a high sugar intake. This can increase the loss of calcium and corresponding kidney damage up to tenfold above normal, while at the same time greatly accelerating osteoporosis and tissue calcifications, such as arteriosclerosis. The probability of forming kidney stones is 700% higher in habitual meat eaters than in vegetarians.

Meat, because of its high phosphoric acid content, is regarded as an acid-forming food. However, in habitual heavy meat eaters or in those with a weak digestive system the metabolic and hormonal stimulation resulting from red meat consumption gradually declines and eventually leads to a sluggish metabolism. These individuals are called ‘slow oxidizers’. With a slow metabolism, a deficiency in metabolic acids develops and this makes the whole body too alkaline.

Furthermore, because of the over-alkalinity, histamine remains tightly bound to tissue proteins, and the skin, as well as the whole body, becomes rather insensitive. This insensitivity is also a sign of the typical schizophrenic (low-histamine type). For such people, even the emotions are sluggish and the individual appears unresponsive with little outward expression.

With low histamine levels, inflammatory responses, required for many self-healing actions of the body, are suppressed. Allergens entering the bloodstream will not cause a warning allergic reaction; instead, autoimmune diseases may develop from a continued invasion of allergens. Histamine dilates the blood vessels, causing the blood pressure to drop. This is a problem of hypoglycemics. However, lack of histamine in slow oxidizers greatly contributes to the development of high blood pressure.

In one study 98 vegetarians were compared to a matched group of non-vegetarians. The average blood pressure of the vegetarians was 126/77 as compared to 147/88 for the non-vegetarians. Only 2% of the vegetarians had hypertension compared to 26% of the non-vegetarians.

A diet high in meat, together with weak kidneys, often leads to the accumulation of uric acid in the muscles, causing gout and rheumatism. General over-alkalinity leads to a lack of gastric acid in later life, resulting in poor absorption of minerals and an incomplete digestion of proteins. Intestinal putrefaction and eventually cancer may follow, aided by chronic constipation and a depletion of pancreas enzymes.

One main problem of a diet high in meat and actually of all high-protein diets is the accumulation of protein fragments in the spaces between tissue cells that causes or contributes to water retention or edema. In addition, the basement membrane becomes clogged, preventing efficient nutrient supply to the tissues, and lymph glands congested with protein fragments are breeding grounds for bacteria and weaken the immune system. All these complications aid the development of degenerative diseases and cancer.

Heavy meat eating is the more harmful, the more sedentary the life-style and the older the individual. Carnivores not only have stronger protein-digesting enzymes, they also eat their meat raw, except for domesticated animals who have no choice. There is a significant amount of protein-digesting cathepsin in raw meat, which greatly aids its digestion.

With cooked food generally, and especially with meat eating, the weight of the pancreas has been shown to increase with a permanently raised requirement for digestive enzymes. The pancreas of animals on cooked diets is about 300% heavier than it is for those on a raw-meat diet. While animals on raw meat remained healthy, those on cooked diets developed a variety of degenerative diseases typical of human conditions. Permanently raised enzyme requirements appear to be responsible for early enzyme depletion and, with this, to early aging and its related diseases.

This shows the folly of feeding pets the glowingly advertised tinned and dried foods that are not only lacking in enzymes but also contain a high degree of starches that carnivores cannot digest well. The results are arthritis and other degenerative diseases. To remain healthy, dogs and cats need a raw-meat diet that includes offal and bones.

Formerly Eskimos remained healthy on partly predigested raw meat and fish; with the introduction of Western cooked food their health has now deteriorated. In our society the enzyme-depleting effect of cooked meat is accompanied by an accumulation of toxic chemicals and hormones. Chemical contamination is much worse in grain-fed feedlot beef than in grazing animals. Nevertheless, even chemical-free meat produces vastly more metabolic waste than any other food; this can be an important factor in the development and treatment of kidney failure.

Beside Eskimos, several other cultural groups eat predigested meat by hanging it for long periods before consumption or wrapping it in papaw leaves. If one cannot obtain the meat of healthy, chemical-free animals and eat it raw – for instance minced or marinated – or add digestive enzymes from other sources, then it is better for our health to eat meat only sparingly. Furthermore, free-living carnivores not only eat their meat raw, they also eat the bones and they have a very active lifestyle and efficient elimination of metabolic residues. If we want to remain healthy on a diet high in meat, then we have to adopt the same principles.

POLYUNSATURATED OILS

Another major problem often associated with the consumption of red meat is the excessive intake of saturated fats. Fat is an important source of energy and some of its components – the polyunsaturated fatty acids and lipotrophic factors – are essential for our health.

While in a classical sense all fats and oils are often grouped together as ‘fats’ or ‘lipids’, commonly we speak of fats when they are solid at room temperature and of oils when they are liquid at that temperature. Fats and oils are composed of fatty acids, chemically linked with glycerol.

Fatty acids with one free binding capacity are called ‘unsaturated’ and with several free binding capacities, ‘polyunsaturated’. Animal fats consist mainly of long-chain saturated fatty acids with a high melting point. Beef and mutton have the hardest animal fats; butter is only marginally softer.

A high consumption of these hard fats poses two basic problems. If no special attempt is made to use sufficient polyunsaturated oils that provide the necessary essential fatty acids (EFA) and lipotrophic factors (for example, lecithin, vitamin E), then a deficiency of these is likely to develop. The other basic problem is that the liver may not be able to metabolize an oversupply of long-chain saturated fatty acids.

The EFA and lipotrophic factors are important in forming cell walls, for the immune system, for platelet aggregation in blood clotting to prevent bleeding but also unnecessary clotting. They also form tissue hormones, called prostaglandins and other important bio-chemicals.

Deficiencies in these nutrients cause the following: a weak immune system; blood vessel and cardiovascular diseases; blood clots causing heart infarcts, paralysis and strokes; skin problems, often starting with scaliness and including eczema, acne and psoriasis; poor growth; impaired reproduction; and bronchial diseases.

Many degenerative diseases have been linked with an oversupply of saturated fats and a subsequent deficiency in EFA, such as atherosclerosis, nerve and brain disorders, schizophrenia, psychoses and neuroses, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. However, an oversupply of polyunsaturated oils may have its dangers as well, especially if it contains chemical anti-oxidants or if ample vitamin E is not available. Polyunsaturated oils easily oxidize in contact with air to form oxides and peroxides that have a high potential for causing cancer and liver damage. This danger is greatest when these oils are heated as in frying.

Poultry cause less of a problem in its fat composition than butter or beef. Chicken, for instance, has 14% linoleic acid (with two reactive double bonds), while beef has only 2% and butter 1%. Fish and seafood are even better in that they provide the fatty acids of the ‘omega-3 series’ with three unsaturated bonds. However, even beef can be quite high in omega-3 fatty acids, provided that it is from grass-fed animals that have not been in feedlots.

OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS

There are two groups of essential fatty acids. The common oils from warm-climate seeds (for example, sunflower, safflower) contain mainly the omega-6 series of EFA, based on linoleic acid with two unsaturated or double bonds. Cold-climate plants and fish oils, on the other hand, contain mainly omega-3 fatty acids. Linolenic acid in linseed with three double bonds has the shortest carbon chain in this group. In fish oils the longer DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) predominate.

Except if eating much seafood, the omega-3 fatty acids have generally been neglected in modern nutrition. This has led to widespread deficiency symptoms, often as part of a chronic disease. Their fundamental importance can be seen in the fact that DHA is the main unsaturated fatty acid in the retina and the brain and is exceptionally high in the thymus and the reproductive glands, especially the testes. DHA is obviously most needed during pregnancy and early infancy for brain and gland development. It is up to 30 times higher in breast milk than in cow’s milk or formula. This may bear some relation to epilepsy and eye weakness in infants and has also been linked to colic, inflammation of the lungs, digestive tract, joints and kidneys; also to crib death (SIDS), skin diseases and a predisposition to frequent infections. A recent scientific study reported an eight-point higher intelligence quotient in pre-term babies fed breast milk as compared to those on cow’s milk formula. As explanation the deficiency of DHA in cow’s milk was cited.

Fish oils are now commonly used to prevent heart disease, while linseed oil with its 45% alpha-linolenic acid has been successfully used with various mental diseases. Even severe cases of schizophrenia and manic depressive illness have reportedly been overcome or controlled with linseed oil. However, often it can only be used within a narrow range for in these diseases: One or two tablespoons of linseed oil daily may overcome depression but twice that amount may cause a manic episode with racing thoughts.

Generally, however, this dosage can be increased about tenfold before negative symptoms develop. Not only mood swings, irritability and anxiety are relieved but premenstrual tension and other menstrual problems, and vaginal lubrication after menopause are improved; prostate enlargement, arthritis, eye problems, immune deficiency, hair loss (alopecia areata), obesity and skin problems are all relieved.

The EFA and especially the omega-3 fatty acids regulate the fluidity or softness of the cell membranes. A deficiency is noticeable in a hardening of the skin, as with dry, scaling and flaking skin, patchy eczema, acne and skin sensitive to the sun. Most common is phrynoderma with rough, hard skin on buttocks, thighs and arms. The colder the climate the more omega-3 fatty acids are needed for membrane fluidity.

The omega-6 series predominantly forms prostaglandins that increase inflammation and with this pain in many diseases, while the omega-3 series forms anti-inflammatory prostaglandins. Thus omega-6 fatty acids aggravate allergic reactions, including asthma and rheumatoid arthritis, while omega-3 fatty acids reduce these. Another important function of both groups of EFA is their production of oxidative energy. This can be seen in the normalizing effect that linseed oil reportedly has on the energy production of cancer cells. Also the ‘brown fat’ that produces and regulates our body heat is mainly stimulated by omega-3 fatty acids. This is especially important for overweight individuals who want to convert body fat into body heat and for those who habitually have cold hands and feet.

While individuals with deficiency symptoms related to omega-3 require a higher intake for some time, it is generally estimated that a normal diet should provide 2-3% of calories from omega-3 and 5-10% from omega-6 fatty acids. The average modern diet provides about 0.4% of calories from omega-3 and 10% from omega-6 fatty acids.

While using polyunsaturated oils instead of saturated fats has been found to reduce the cholesterol level and cardiovascular diseases, the rate of cancer has risen. Besides the damage due to peroxides and free radicals (highly reactive molecule fragments) formed from polyunsaturated fatty acids, the common seed oils also have a strong inflammatory influence as they tend to form pro-inflammatory tissue hormones.

This not only increases allergic reactions and arthritic inflammations but potentates the growth of tumors. In addition, it has been reported that melanoma sufferers had a higher rate of polyunsaturated fatty acids in their skin than non-affected individuals. A high intake of polyunsaturated oils also requires a greatly increased intake of antioxidants, especially of vitamin E. However, refined oils as well as our normal diet are very low in vitamin E. Therefore ultraviolet rays striking the skin can easily peroxidize its polyunsaturated fatty acids. This, in addition to a low intake of bioflavonoids and carotenoids, is probably the main factor in the present high incidence of skin cancer.

More health problems are caused because of the unbiological production of polyunsaturated oils. These oils are very delicate substances that should be produced and stored at cool temperatures and excluding oxygen and strong light. Instead, they are either extracted with chemical solvents or cooked and pressed hot and then refined with bleaching and deodorizing at very high temperatures. Even many cold-pressed oils are refined in this way. This causes not only oxidative damage to the oils, but also a structural change by which a high percentage of the natural cis-fatty acids form unnatural trans-fatty acids. Finally, oils are sold in clear plastic bottles instead of in brown glass bottles; they are thus exposed to light and dissolve chemicals out of the plastic.

However, there is one oil reasonably high in omega-3 fatty acids that should be avoided. This is canola or rape seed oil. There are warnings that an ingredient, erucic acid, apparently can agglutinate (clump together) red blood cells and reportedly contribute to loss of vision or blindness, emphysema and other respiratory problems, anemia, also problems with the central and peripheral nervous system. While this may no longer be much of a problem with modern canola oil low in erucic acid, I would not use it, except if it were certified organic, cold-pressed and definitely not genetically engineered.

SATURATED FAT

The liver has only a limited potential for handling fat. When the liver is flooded with a consistently high supply of saturated fats, it cannot metabolize it all. And fats do not come only from fatty food – any surplus of sugars, too, can be converted into saturated fat.

Normally fats are broken down into keto-acids in the liver and transported by the bloodstream to other cells where they combine with products from the sugar metabolism to create energy. When fats are oversupplied, there may not be enough glucose to efficiently produce energy, either because the glucose intake is insufficient or because the effectiveness of insulin is reduced with the high epinephrine levels induced by meat eating. A surplus of keto-acids may then be resynthesized to saturated fatty acids and cholesterol.

Another difficulty is that not all the fat may be able to be converted into keto-acids and a high percentage of fatty acids and fat molecules are then released directly into the bloodstream. The body may reduce these surplus fats by storing them in adipose tissue, forming fat deposits. This happens especially with heavy meat eaters who have become slow oxidizers. However, to keep this in perspective, I have no doubt that most excess weight is due to a diet high in sugars and starches.

Some of the fatty acids and cholesterol may react with the usually elevated calcium levels of slow oxidizers to form fatty plaques, also called ‘sludge’, in the blood vessels. Technically speaking, fatty deposits are called ‘atheromas’ and consist mainly of smooth muscle cells filled with sludge, similar to fatty tumors. Such deposits cause arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases.

Not only animal fats, even peanuts and peanut oil have properties that cause atherosclerosis: peanut oil contains some saturated fatty acids with unusually long chains – arachidic and behemic acid. However, it is just these fatty acids that seem to be beneficial for arthritic joints. Again, keeping clogging of the ateries in perspective, atheromas usually contain more polyunsaturated than saturated fatty acids.

In those with a sensitive skin, especially during adolescence, the body tries to cleanse itself by removing fatty sludge through the sebaceous glands, causing acne and an unclean skin. Eating sweet food is as much to blame for this as is fat intake.

Fats in the feet, for instance, have a melting point of 33⁰ F, while fats of the inner organs melt at 114⁰ F. If the diet contains too much saturated fat and sweet food, then the melting point of the outer fats will be raised. In cold parts of the skin, those that are exposed or with poor blood circulation, the fats will harden within the sebaceous glands and block the outflow of sludge or normal skin oils. This causes inflammation of these glands such as with acne and other skin problems.

Even worse than natural hard fats are those that are chemically hardened, such as margarine. During the hydrogenation process unbiological fatty acids are formed – trans-fatty acids – which the body cannot properly metabolize and which also interfere with the utilization of essential fatty acids.

Besides cardiovascular diseases and an increased incidence of cancer, fatty degeneration of the liver is also a frequent outcome of a diet habitually high in red meat and saturated fats. It has been reported that the blood becomes more viscous or sluggish after a fatty meal. This causes a reduction in tissue oxygenation and increased susceptibility to arthritic pain, heart pain or shortness of breath. In addition, the blood flow to the brain is reduced, producing tiredness and decreased mental alertness.

Some of the adverse effects of fatty foods result from a deficiency of lecithin, which is a natural emulsifier of fats. Lecithin can be synthesized in the liver but often a deficiency develops because naturally occurring lecithin or choline are lacking in refined food. This is a main cause of fatty degeneration of the liver, which can be reversed, however, with cleansing and lecithin supplements.

Another problem on a high-fat diet is the destruction of naturally occurring lipase in cooked food. Lipase is important as our main fat-digesting enzyme and we rely to a significant degree on natural food lipase to supplement our pancreas lipase. With the destruction of food lipase by heating we gradually develop a lipase deficiency on high-fat diets, which leads to the development of fat-related diseases.

Formerly various cultural groups such as inhabitants of Bulgaria and the Caucasus lived on high-fat diets without developing fat-related diseases, even on an abundance of full-fat milk products. They were famous for their health and longevity; they generally used unheated fats. Also the Masaii traditionally live on high-fat diets while maintaining excellent health. Again, their health secret is that the fats largely remain unheated.

Here is another example of the significance of natural lipase in our diet. The skin disease psoriasis is generally aggravated by fatty foods, and fats must be avoided to cure it. However, earlier this century an American doctor reported to cure psoriasis routinely with an intake of two pounds of raw butter per week for six weeks and with reduced amounts afterwards. Modern pasteurized butter definitely aggravates psoriasis but raw butter cures it – what is the key difference? Raw butter from free-ranging cows is very high in lipase and pasteurized butter is devoid of it.

The healthiest saturated fat may actually be coconut oil. This is due to its high content of short-chain fatty acids that can easily move into cells to be converted to energy. The long fatty acids of other fats, in contrast, require L-carnitine for this process. Individuals who have added coconut oil to their diet generally seem to have more energy without putting on extra weight.

There is research evidence that diets high in saturated fats cause less cardiovascular disease than those high in polyunsaturated oils. However, I see the healthiest option in a diet that provides a variety of fats and oils predominantly in an unrefined and unheated form.

To sum up the main problems with fats and oils that may lead to diseases:

· Heating and refining destroys enzymes, changes the chemical structure, removes antioxidants and increases rancidity

· Imbalances from using too many saturated fats or omega-6 fatty acids and not enough omega-3 fatty acids lead to deficiencies, inflammations and fatty degeneration of arteries and organs

· Problems can be avoided and health deterioration reversed by using mainly unheated fats and oils, plenty of antioxidants and sufficient omega-3 fatty acids

CHOLESTEROL

You may read about HDL and LDL in connection with cholesterol and heart disease. HDL is short for high-density lipoproteins and LDL for low-density lipoproteins. Lipoproteins are biomolecules composed of proteins and lipids; they can be used to transport cholesterol between the liver and tissue cells. Those that carry cholesterol from the cells to the liver, are the high-density lipoproteins, and regarded as beneficial. The cholesterol in them is called HDL cholesterol. Low-density lipoproteins carry LDL cholesterol from the liver to tissue cells, a low level of these is regarded as good.

The aim of medical intervention is to increase the value of HDL cholesterol, and lower the value of LDL cholesterol in the blood. However, I am not aware of evidence that these medical strategies are successful. Therefore, I tend to disregard measurements of HDL, LDL and cholesterol, and specific interventions to normalize values; instead I focus on a natural lifestyle to improve health in every way.

Cholesterol is now portrayed as the great villain in causing cardiovascular disease and heart attacks by clogging the arteries and especially the coronary arteries of the heart muscle with fatty sludge. However, cholesterol is an extremely valuable biochemical. It forms, for instance, the base of steroid hormones and vitamin D and is especially highly concentrated in the brain as well as in the liver, adrenal glands and nerves. Hypoglycemics or fast oxidizers usually have low levels of this important nutrient.

Recent studies link low cholesterol levels with an increased risk of cancer. Excess cholesterol is normally excreted with the bile but may form gallstones if there is a lack of lecithin and taurine needed to form bile salts. The cholesterol content of food is not normally a problem in itself. Most cholesterol in the body is formed in the liver from breakdown products of saturated fats, and the more cholesterol that is ingested with food, the less is it synthesized. Thus the overall cholesterol level normally remains stable.

Cholesterol overproduction arises partly from the stimulating effect of high epinephrine levels but mainly from an oversupply of saturated fats and a deficiency of chromium. The body tries desperately to lower the keto-acid and fatty levels in blood and liver, and cholesterol overproduction provides a temporary solution. Even elevated glucose and fructose levels may be reduced by conversion into cholesterol. In this way sweet foods, too, contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases Sugar ingestion raises the insulin level and a key enzyme that synthesizes cholesterol is actually regulated by insulin. The higher the sugar intake, the higher is the insulin level, and the more cholesterol is synthesized in the liver.

A higher intake of polyunsaturated oils in males has led to some decrease in cholesterol levels, however in women it has led to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. In animal experiments it was found that high-sugar diets were less damaging in the presence of saturated fats such as beef tallow or coconut oil. Despite huge efforts, medical research so far has not conclusively shown that a high-cholesterol diet or high-cholesterol blood levels cause heart disease. As we can see from the following published scientific facts and observations, it is often to the contrary.

· Medically supervised trials with low-cholesterol diets were unsuccessful in significantly lowering blood-cholesterol levels or reducing the risk of heart disease.

· Low blood cholesterol does not mean freedom from heart disease. Some drug treatments to lower cholesterol have resulted in increased rates of heart disease.

· About 50% of men under the age of 55 who die of heart attack do not have elevated cholesterol levels or any of the other risk factors such as hypertension, smoking, obesity or diabetes.

· Some other cultural groups have a low risk of heart disease despite a high intake of cholesterol and so had Western populations before the compulsory pasteurization of milk products and chlorination of water supplies.

Recently an evaluation was published of six major trials entailing the lowering of cholesterol in the blood and involving tens of thousands of individuals over many years. The result was surprising. There was on average a cholesterol reduction of about 10% and indeed a small reduction of 14% from death of coronary heart disease. However, the total number of deaths was significantly higher in those patients who had their cholesterol lowered compared to the control group. This included not only higher mortality from cancer but on average a 67% higher mortality rate from violent death, such as accidents, homicides and suicides. This high rate of death from violent causes was found in every one of these trials.

In looking for an explanation for this increased violence, researchers found that monkeys on a diet low in cholesterol and saturated fat became more aggressive. Studies on humans found lower cholesterol levels among criminals, individuals with aggressive or violent behavior or limited self-control and those involved with homicide and suicide. This is probably due to a more erratic sugar metabolism that results if cholesterol and fats are curtailed in an inappropriate way. Erratic blood-sugar fluctuations tend to induce uncontrollable mood swings, including aggressive behavior. Criminal and aggressive individuals have been shown to frequently have an erratic or hypoglycemic-type sugar metabolism.

After decades of habitual sugar and meat consumption, the insulin level rises permanently because of a reduced efficiency in controlling glucose levels. Then cholesterol levels also remain chronically high. Reducing cholesterol in this situation, as with drugs, means that less sugar is converted into cholesterol. Therefore blood-sugar levels become more erratic and behavior is more aggressive. Thus low-cholesterol diets are only appropriate if they are also low in sweet food.

There is, however, a connection between cholesterol intake and atherosclerosis and heart disease. If cholesterol in food is heated, especially with access to air, then cholesterol is oxidized to oxy-cholesterol and this damages the blood vessels to cause atherosclerotic lesions. Once such lesions exist, normal cholesterol in combination with high calcium levels may also contribute to a further build-up of plaques. In experiments using animals it was found that with high intakes of either cholesterol or oxy-cholesterol, atherosclerotic degeneration occurred only with oxy-cholesterol, not with cholesterol.

Oxy-cholesterol is also carcinogenic. This means that the high disease rate from cardiovascular disease and atherosclerotic aging processes are mainly due to the heating – especially frying – of meat, eggs and milk products. Avoiding chlorinated water and using high levels of antioxidants would also insure that cholesterol does not become oxidized inside the body.

In conclusion, to avoid cholesterol-related health problems:

· Minimize the use of sweetened food, heated fats, oils and chlorinated water

· Maximize the intake of unheated fats, oils, antioxidants, and fresh raw foods

·

Lower high cholesterol levels with cleansing periods and plenty of lemon juice

Source:health-science-spirit.com

The main problem with sweet foods is that sugars are absorbed too quickly. The body tries to maintain a fairly constant blood-sugar level close to 100 mg of glucose per 100 ml of blood, and this becomes rather difficult with the habitual consumption of sweet foods.

When we have a starch meal, it takes several hours until all the starch is converted into glucose. The absorption through the intestinal wall is gradual and the liver can easily regulate the blood-glucose level by forming glycogen or fat from surplus glucose. It is equally safe to eat raw cabbage or raw carrots that may contain equal amounts of sugar to a spoonful of honey. Again, it takes hours for the glucose from raw vegetables to enter the bloodstream while from honey or fruit juices it may take less than 30 minutes.

However, when sweet food is eaten during or after a protein meal, the sugar is absorbed considerably more slowly. The same applies when sweet food is combined with fat. Sweetened starches, on the other hand, cause digestive and metabolic problems and are not recommended for habitual use.

In former centuries only limited amounts of sweet foods were commonly available in middle and northern Europe. More sweet food was used in Mediterranean countries and descendents from these populations generally have a stronger sugar metabolism. In addition, formerly it was much more common to work hard physically and in this way burn up the glucose as quickly as it entered the bloodstream after a sweet snack. Food was largely unprocessed and rich in those vitamins and minerals that are needed to maintain the blood-sugar regulation and sugar metabolism.

Minerals required for metabolizing sugars are zinc as a component of insulin and of several enzymes, chromium as part of the glucose tolerance factor that allows glucose to enter the cells and manganese, as an important enzyme factor. In addition to these trace minerals, we need sufficient potassium and magnesium for producing energy from sugar. The vitamins most important for producing this energy from glucose are B1, B2, nicotinamide and pantothenic acid.

In contrast to former centuries, most people now suffer from vitamin and mineral deficiencies that make good blood-sugar regulation nearly impossible and severely weaken the energy metabolism. On top of this, large amounts of sweet food are consumed almost daily, and all the work that many modern people do after a sweet snack is raising a cup or staring at the television screen.

The combined effect of all these negative factors is a rather erratic blood-sugar level. It rises higher and higher after the ingestion of sweet food and falls steeper and lower shortly afterwards. Depending on our metabolic constitution, this has different effects on different people.

If you look at the table below you will be surprised at the variety of symptoms that may occur and the number of chronic diseases to which a weak sugar metabolism contributes. The reason that sugar can cause such a very wide range of problems is that glucose has a central position in producing our daily energy requirement. If our cells cannot efficiently produce energy, basically all organs and body functions are affected.

DIABETES

The disease most widely associated with a breakdown of blood-sugar regulation is diabetes. When diabetes develops during childhood or in young adults, the main problem is usually a deficiency of the hormone insulin that is produced in the pancreas. Insulin is required to channel the blood glucose into the cells. Therefore a deficiency of insulin leads to a rise in the blood-glucose level.

Currently accepted medical opinion does not see a connection between the over-consumption of sweet food and the development of diabetes. However, experiments have shown that the insulin response decreases with frequent use of sweet food. Starting with a raw-food diet that excluded all sweet food as well as other problem foods, I have been able to help diabetics of both types to improve their blood-sugar regulation so that insulin injections or drugs were no longer needed.

In so-called maturity-onset diabetes there is usually sufficient insulin available but its effectiveness is greatly reduced. The main reasons for this are the ‘disaccharide effect’ as explained below and a deficiency in chromium, which is part of the glucose tolerance factor. Insulin and the glucose tolerance factor work together like key and keyhole to let glucose into the cells. A deficiency of chromium prevents glucose from entering the cells.

There are two main reasons for chromium deficiency: the habitual consumption of, first, refined food and, second, sweet food. Refined food is deficient in chromium, while eating sweet food raises not only the blood-sugar level but also the blood-chromium level; this causes more chromium to be excreted with the urine. The foods highest in chromium are brewer’s yeast and liver.

Another effect of chromium deficiency in diabetics and others is the excessive formation of cholesterol after eating sweet food and the subsequent development of arteriosclerosis. Furthermore, the same factors also lead to the formation of cataracts. A diet high in fructose is especially implicated in causing eye diseases in diabetics. Fructose and glucose are the two components of sucrose – the normal household sugar – and also of honey. Fructose (best from fruits only) can enter the cells without requiring insulin and thereby can help to normalize the diabetic metabolism, but this is risky if mineral deficiencies are not corrected at the same time, especially deficiencies in magnesium, zinc and chromium.

However, the main cause of decreased insulin production in insulin-dependent diabetes is a chronic inflammation of the pancreas caused by a hidden food allergy, in particular to cows’ milk combined with an overgrowth of the intestines with unfriendly microbes as explained in the section on Cows’ Milk & Lactose. In addition, a more recent epidemic increase in the number of children diagnosed with this condition has been linked to vaccinations. It has been concluded that this increase in the different age groups correlated with the number of vaccines given in various countries.

While sugar may not directly cause insulin-dependent diabetes, it greatly aggravates the seriousness of the condition. In animal experiments an excessive intake of sugar resulted in greatly enlarged pancreas and pituitary glands, both of which are involved in blood-sugar regulation. A group of Aboriginal diabetics who lived for several weeks on bush food all quickly returned to a normal blood-sugar regulation. Indians living in Natal (South Africa) have a high sugar consumption and high levels of diabetes and heart disease compared to Indians living in India who use very little sugar and have very low rates of these diseases.

The great majority of diabetics have type 2 diabetes. It used to be called maturity-onset diabetes because it commonly started after the age of forty. However, now it is also common in overweight children. It is mainly due to the reduced effectiveness of otherwise normal levels of insulin. Type 2 diabetics are generally treated with tablets to lower blood glucose levels.

As with insulin, also these hypoglycaemic drugs do not protect the patients against the various harmful effects of long-term diabetes, such as degenerative eye changes especially involving the retina, degeneration of the peripheral nervous system and atherosclerosis especially affecting the legs and heart. On the contrary, studies seem to indicate that these drugs accelerate such degenerative changes.

Doctors W.A. Philpott and D.K. Kalita point out in their book ‘Victory Over Diabetes’ (Keats, 1983) that the overwhelming evidence of recent studies shows a shortened life expectancy and more serious complications from using diabetic drugs. In fact, the death rate actually doubled in those taking oral diabetic drugs. Most of these same drugs are still in use now.

From a biochemical point of view this is only logical and to be expected because if sugar levels are lowered without converting them into energy, then they have to be converted into fat and cholesterol that then cause many of these problems.

When the liver and bloodstream are already loaded with lipids then it is difficult to convert excess glucose into more lipids. Therefore, obese or overweight individuals have greatly decreased insulin sensitivity, while insulin becomes much more effective if they lose weight. Other studies show that the blood sugar regulation is best maintained with a diet high in vegetable fibre, especially from legumes, while a high intake of simple carbohydrates or sugars tends to make insulin less sensitive.

Sugar added to the diet of research animals or increased in the diet of healthy volunteers has been reported to disturb the glucose metabolism and cause diseases of the eyes, kidneys and blood vessels. Even if combined with a high-fibre, low-fat diet added sugar still adversely affects the glucose tolerance.

However, short-term studies may not show the harmful long-term effects of sugar in the development of type 2 diabetes. This is because household sugar or sucrose consists of one molecule of glucose and fructose. Only glucose elevates the sugar level in the normal way while fructose affects it only slightly. Therefore, in the glycaemic index, which measures the effect of different foods on the blood glucose level, sucrose is listed as a good food.

Instead, the danger of fructose lies in causing an exaggerated insulin response, mainly when it is together with glucose in the same meal, be it from sucrose, honey or even starches, but to some degree even when ingested on its own as a sweetener. However, fructose in whole fruits is generally fine, provided it is not ingested close to a meal containing starches.

Lets look at the common habit of eating sweetened starches as in bread with jam, marmalade or honey, cakes, biscuits, muesli or breakfast cereals. The fructose contained in the meal causes a strong rise in the blood insulin level. At the same time a large amount of glucose from the breakdown of starches enters the bloodstream. The excess of insulin quickly channels the glucose inside muscle cells, which are now overloaded with glucose. Only a small amount is needed for energy production, the rest may be converted to lactic acid, causing overacidity, or to body fat. Gradually cells learn to protect themselves by becoming less responsive to insulin and making it harder for glucose to enter.

Until 1980 the rate of obesity and type 2 diabetes was fairly stable. However, when the health authorities in the U.S.A. started vilifying foods containing fats and cholesterol and recommend eating carbohydrates instead, obesity increased from 13 to 14% of the adult U.S. population to 25% within one decade and continues to rise. Type 2 diabetes became an epidemic as well. In addition, for the first time in history a large number of obese children developed type 2 diabetes. Since then it is no longer called maturity-onset diabetes.

While an exaggerated insulin response and resulting loss of insulin sensitivity is most pronounced in obese individuals, it gradually develops also in others after prolonged use of sucrose. The damage is the greater the more sucrose is eaten in a gorging pattern instead of in small, spaced out meals.

Surprisingly, sucrose has a worse effect than eating its two components, glucose and fructose, at the same meal. This is called the ‘disaccharide effect’ and applies also to other sugars with two components, such as maltose with two glucose molecules. A hormone in the duodenum (G.P.I.) releases more insulin after ingestion of disaccharides than after monosaccharides, such as glucose or fructose.

While increased insulin levels are desirable for type I diabetics, with type II diabetes they just mean more glucose is converted into fat and cholesterol. However, there is a way to increase insulin sensitivity of muscle cells naturally – with regular aerobic exercise.

HYPERACTIVITY AND ADD

Much more widespread than diabetes or hyperglycemia is the opposite condition – low blood sugar or hypoglycemia. The most common milder form is reactive hypoglycemia in which the blood-sugar response after eating non-sweet foods is normal. However, when sweet food is eaten, including sweet fruits, too much insulin is released and glucose floods the cells.

Glucose cannot be stored in cells and has to be metabolized. Which way this happens depends on the condition of the metabolism. The first stages are easy and result in the glucose molecule being split in half. This process is anaerobic: it does not require oxygen. However, oxidizing enzymes are necessary for the next stage and these are usually deficient in adults with this condition. Children, on the other hand, often still have a reasonable supply and are able to convert most of the glucose to energy.

This creates an energy burst that just has to be used, whether it is needed or not. The result is extreme restlessness: the muscles must move to use the surplus energy, and the brain is racing as well. When the straw fire of excess energy is used up, not enough glucose is left to sustain normal activity and attention. Mental and physical exhaustion follows until a sweet snack lights another straw fire of hyperactivity.

This temporary speeding-up of the energy cycle is exaggerated, and in other cases triggered off, by various factors that cause stress on the nervous and hormonal systems. The most frequent cause of such stress is a hidden allergy to food additives and to common foods such as wheat and cow’s milk products. Usually children’s favorite foods are also to blame. Additional triggers may be fluorescent lighting, television viewing, strong electromagnetic radiation, petrochemical fumes, tobacco smoke and emotional stress.

In adolescents and adults such energy bursts, especially when combined with dietary allergens or stimulants, lead to periods of uncontrolled violence. Many studies, involving thousands of institutionalized male juvenile delinquents, have shown a large drop in the incidence of antisocial behavior in those on diets low in sugar and allergens. While the average improvement rate was almost 50%, repeat offenders improved by more than 80% and the suicide rate fell 100%.

Females, because of their lower adrenaline levels, tend less towards violent behavior. Instead, the effects of the strong blood-sugar fluctuations after ingesting sweet food are more internalized. In sensitive individuals, emotions closely follow the blood-sugar levels, often up and down in quick succession, alternating between elation and depression.

PROBLEMS OF HYPOGLYCEMICS

The speedy metabolism that results in hyperactivity and violent behavior explains why the name ‘fast oxidizer’ has been coined for those who burn sugar too quickly. ‘Fast oxidizer’ and ‘hypoglycemic’ mean basically the same thing: someone with a speeded-up glycolysis (the breakdown of glucose inside the cells), which ultimately results in a lower than normal blood-sugar level.

Contrary to hyperactive children, most adult hypoglycemics have a shortage of oxidizing enzymes and this interrupts the normal energy that is produced at the end of glycolysis. Instead of energy, lactic acid is produced in a final anaerobic stage. Thus only 20% of the total energy is produced that would be available if glucose was completely oxidized to carbon dioxide and water.

This results in overacidity and chronic lack of energy, which is typical of hypoglycemics who are on sweet diets. Additional energy is required to remove the lactic acid via the kidneys. Lactic acid must be partly neutralized and this depletes the body of positive ions, especially calcium. A further result of overacidity is a high histamine level, which makes us susceptible to strong allergic reactions and frequent inflammations, while the skin becomes oversensitive to stings and all forms of irritation.

High histamine levels together with a calcium deficiency cause low blood pressure, which contributes further to a lack of energy and poor circulation, with cold hands and feet. Calcium is withdrawn from the blood vessels, resulting in varicose veins. Calcium deficiency also creates menstrual problems and weakens the eyes, making us shortsighted.

Shortsightedness or myopia actually results from a deficiency of two minerals, and both are induced mainly by a high consumption of sugar. Chromium deficiency arises from eating much refined food that lacks this mineral, and also from increased excretion of chromium in the urine, which occurs after eating sweet food when the blood levels are raised in response to high levels of insulin.

The ciliary muscles in the eyes need chromium to accommodate the lens for near-vision focus. If the ciliary muscles become fatigued from a combination of chromium deficiency and prolonged close-focus activity, then the eye relieves this muscle strain by increasing the intra-ocular pressure; this pressure in turn leads to an elongation of the eyeball and thus to myopia.

Increased intra-ocular pressure, however, leads to an elongation of the eyeball only in those of younger years when the body has a high requirement for calcium and a relatively soft tissue structure. With increasing age, the tissues become more and more calcified and rigid. In this situation the eyeball cannot expand with increased intra-ocular pressure and may glaucoma result.

Scientific studies have shown that the excretion of calcium in urine increases up to fourfold in those with a strong insulin response when given large amounts of sugar; this is because plasma-calcium levels are increased after eating sugar. The most common sources of the calcium excreted are the bones and teeth; this contributes to osteoporosis and caries. In elderly individuals high plasma-calcium levels also accelerate irreversible bonding with collagen and elastic protein structures, leading to increased rigidity and bone deformations as in arteriosclerosis and arthritis.

A high calcium concentration in the urine leads to an increased risk of kidney stones as well as kidney damage from the calcification of the filtration mechanism. A scientific study revealed that young men had increased levels of female sex hormones on a high sugar intake.

Lactic-acid formation that occurs after eating sugar contributes to strong inflammations such as in rheumatoid arthritis and gingivitis (inflammation of the gums). Normally the saliva is nearly neutral, which is less favorable for the growth of plaque bacteria than the acid saliva of hypoglycemics. Sugars are the only energy source of these bacteria. When we are strictly on non-sweet diets, plaque bacteria are denied energy and they cannot multiply. This effectively prevents caries.

Giving up sweet food, however, is extremely difficult for our children and for many adults, because they are thoroughly addicted to it. This addiction is in principle the same as later addictions to stimulants and drugs. A main feature of addictions is a weakening of the adrenal glands.

Another effect of general overacidity is an inability to alkalize the gastric content when it enters the duodenum. This makes the pancreas enzymes inefficient, which require an alkaline medium, and in time may lead to deficiencies and digestive problems.

SYMPTOMS OF ALLERGY AND BLOOD-SUGAR PROBLEMS

Allergies and blood-sugar problems reinforce each other, and can cause the same symptoms, or contribute to the same chronic diseases

FRUCTOSE AND THE DISACCHARIDE EFFECT

It has been estimated that about half of all ingested carbohydrates in the USA are in the form of sucrose, the common household sugar, which supplies about 15-20% of the total calories of the diet. One half of the sucrose molecule consists of fructose and the other half of glucose. The daily fructose intake is approximately 70 g.

Fructose is metabolized more slowly than glucose and also induces a much stronger insulin response, especially in the presence of glucose. This means that reactive hypoglycemia occurs mainly when fructose is part of a meal.

Another effect of habitually high insulin levels is a gradual decrease in the sensitivity of blood-glucose levels to insulin. Higher insulin levels also cause an increased loss of chromium in the urine. The result is the gradual onset of maturity-related diabetes.

The higher the insulin levels, the more are sugars converted into fat and cholesterol. Biopsy samples of the human liver showed that fructose was converted into fatty acids at rates 3 to 24 times faster than glucose. Fat levels after fructose consumption rise especially high in those who have a tendency towards atherosclerosis; this can lead to diabetic complications and cardiovascular diseases.

These negative effects of a high fructose intake also occur after eating sucrose. Other health problems arising from the fructose component in sucrose are raised blood pressure, caries, elevated uric-acid levels and obesity.

Controlled experiments with various species of animals as well as with human volunteers revealed significant rises in blood pressure not only after long-term ingestion of sugar but even after a single dose. If taken on an empty stomach the blood pressure rose 9-10 mm Hg for one to two hours.

After sucrose ingestion there is also an increase in uric-acid levels. Uric acid is produced in the liver from breakdown products of fructose. A raised uric-acid level in the blood is a feature of gout, some forms of arthritis and also of heart disease. Men generally produce more uric acid after eating than women.

Experimental studies on animals and humans have shown that sucrose is possibly the most caries-producing substance in our diet. Plaque bacteria convert sucrose to polymers that stick to the teeth. Some individuals have inherited fructose intolerance and must avoid all fructose and sucrose; they have been found to have substantially less tooth decay than the general population.

Various animal and human studies have also shown that a diet high in sucrose can lead to a greater accumulation of fat deposits in susceptible individuals – generally those with a strong insulin response. Monkeys fed a diet high in sucrose had produced three times as much deposited fat than those fed an equal amount of glucose.

Surprisingly, eating a certain amount of sucrose produces a stronger insulin response than eating the same amount of mixed fructose and glucose. The same is true for maltose, which consists of two molecules of glucose and other disaccharides. Disaccharides are composed of two simple sugars. The increased insulin effect of disaccharides compared to that of their component simple sugars is called the disaccharide effect. The reason for this effect seems to be that disaccharides liberate about twice the amount of a gastric hormone called GIP (gastric inhibitory polypeptide) than that of simple sugars.

In practical terms this means that it is harmful for most of us to have fructose and glucose at the same meal. Examples are: having honey, dried fruit or fresh fruit for sweetening cereals or starches; as dessert; as muesli; or as sweetened coffee or tea after meals. Most harmful are the sweetened starches, such as cakes, sweet biscuits and sweetened breakfast cereals. Beware especially of mixing fructose with starches if you want to lose weight.

NATURAL SWEET FOODS

Unfortunately natural sweet foods such as honey, dried fruits or fruit juices are no better for diabetics or hypoglycemics than food sweetened with white sugar. It only seems to matter how much sweet food is used and how quickly it can enter the bloodstream. Fruits that are acid as well as sweet may be even worse, especially for hypoglycemics, than plain sugar because the fruit acids reinforce the existing overacidity. However, by neutralizing fruit acids with dolomite, they can become beneficial , and eating the whole fruit is better than drinking the fruit juice only. Also, raw honey has a high concentration of the beneficial starch-digesting enzyme amylase, which is lacking in heated commercial honey. Likewise, sun-dried fruit are healthier than heated commercial dried fruit.

While fructose from fruits can be helpful for diabetics, with hypoglycemics it only increases the lactic-acid overload. Lactic-acid overproduction from the combined effect of strong muscle activity and sweet food is also responsible for reported cases of allergic reactions after jogging. The resulting overacidity simply brings already existing hidden allergies into the open. Cancer cells have lost the ability to use oxidizing enzymes. They produce their whole energy simply by converting glucose anaerobically into lactic acid. Apart from the loss of calcium, another side effect of lactic-acid build-up is a tendency to anxiety neuroses, phobias and even panic attacks.

It is preferable to have sweet food only occasionally and with a protein snack or meal. Removing the sweet taste from the tongue as quickly as possible helps minimize the insulin over-reaction. Alternative sweeteners such as the sugar alcohols manitol, sorbitol and xylitol are not recommended either. In larger amounts they may cause diarrhea or, if absorbed, may contribute to the development of cataracts or simply fuel the glycolysis. Also, they keep the craving for sweetness alive and will in time lead to another binge on sweet food.

This is also a problem with the herbal sweetener Stevia. Its leaves are 15 to 30 times as sweet as sugar and an extract can be 300 times as sweet. It is not known if large amounts over long periods cause unacceptable side effects, nevertheless, I regard it as for safer than aspartame or other artificial sweeteners. It should be all right to use occasionally in small amounts but not to use it in an addictive way instead of sugar.

Other sweeteners such as saccharine and aspartame or nutrasweet may cause allergies or worse. Theoretically, sweeteners based on sweet amino acids should be harmless, but often they are not. Fructose is the sweetest sugar, followed by sucrose. Glucose and maltose are less sweet but somewhat safer for most people, especially combined with starches. Maltose is available as barley sugar. Preferably use maltose instead of sucrose for sweetening starches.

Those who have a low fasting blood-sugar level – possibly feeling weak or dizzy on an empty stomach – must be more strict than reactive hypoglycemics and are advised to avoid all sweet food for several years so that the sugar metabolism has time to recover.

As a general rule, for most individuals it is best to reserve sweet food as a rare treat for special occasions rather than use it as an everyday food. However, if you do not have a craving for sweet food, then it is not likely to be a problem for you.

Source:health-science-spirit

Gluten is a mixture of two groups of proteins – gliadins and glutelins. Wheat has the highest content of gluten, especially hard wheat, and makes it possible to bake leavened bread and cakes. Under the conditions of baking, gluten forms a network of molecules, similar to a wire mesh. This molecule mesh traps small bubbles of carbon dioxide gas and prevents them from escaping. This makes the baked product light and easy to chew.

However, in this way we create a problem for our digestion because the gluten network is more difficult to break down. The gluten network is only partly digested, especially if the food is not very well chewed; this is a main cause of intestinal inflammation and wheat allergy.

MALABSORPTION

Gluten seriously weakens the intestinal wall. Its effect on the tiny absorption villi in the small intestine may be compared to the action of sandpaper on wood. Animal experiments have shown that the intestinal absorption villi are long and slender before they come into repeated contact with wheat protein. Afterwards, they become blunt and broad, with a much-reduced ability to absorb.

Therefore, people on wheat diets absorb nutrients less well than those reared on wheat-free diets. This greatly contributes to the widespread incidence in our society of people with problems of malabsorption and who are missing out on vital nutrients. In such people, not only are the absorption villi blunted, the irritation caused by the sandpaper effect of gluten produces a protective mucus coating over the intestinal wall and this makes it still more difficult for nutrients to pass through the intestinal wall.

Thus we find gluten, and especially wheat gluten, implicated not only in the cause of typical malabsorption diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, celiac disease and sprue, but frequently also with arthritis, autoimmune diseases, cancer, diabetes, kidney problems, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia. In addition, the irritation caused by gluten is a main factor in causing appendicitis, colitis and inflammation of the small intestines (for example Crohn’s disease) as well as gastric and duodenal ulcers.

The degree of damage to the intestinal wall is proportional to the amount of gluten used. Most affected are close relatives of those with gluten allergy. But even so-called normal and healthy volunteers on high-gluten test diets showed a deterioration of their intestinal walls and that their ability to absorb nutrients had been reduced.

Malabsorption is even more of a problem if white bread is used because it has lost about 80 per cent of its vitamin and mineral content compared to that of wholemeal bread. What makes it even worse is the modern fast-baking method: instead of fermenting the bread for four to seven hours, it is now whipped with chemicals for two minutes. Thus the few remaining minerals stay tightly bound to phytic acid and cannot be absorbed.

GLUTEN ALLERGY

When the intestinal wall deteriorates it becomes permeable so that molecules bigger than normal can pass through. This allows partly digested proteins and bacterial toxins to enter the bloodstream, causing allergies and a deterioration of the immune system. Thus gluten is actually the main agent causing allergies. Without a weakening of the intestinal wall, other potential food allergens would be prevented from reaching the bloodstream, except in the case of babies with intestinal walls that are still immature.

Young babies also are unable to digest starches. Feeding them wheat products, which is very common indeed, almost automatically leads to the development of wheat allergy. Therefore cow’s milk and wheat are the two primary food allergies in our society; not only do they precede the development of other allergies, but their initial appearance makes it so much easier for secondary allergies to develop.

It has been estimated that about 90 million Americans suffer from gluten sensitivity, while celiac disease, a severe form of malabsorption caused by gluten, has now been found 50 times more prevalent than previously suspected. About 1.5 million Americans are thought to suffer from it. In its conclusions, the report states that celiac disease occurs frequently not only in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, but also in relatives and others with numerous common disorders, even in the absence of gastrointestinal symptoms.

All these problems caused by gluten are greatly intensified by the tough network of gluten molecules formed in baking with gluten-rich flour. In former centuries only low-gluten wheat was available; high-gluten wheat is a modern achievement. In addition, the amount of wheat baking, especially with high-gluten wheat, has greatly increased in our society compared to former centuries, while at the same time our digestive powers have very much declined.

As this trend has existed already for several generations, most of us are by now sensitized to some degree against wheat gluten, and wheat-baking products have become problem foods for most individuals, including wholemeal wheat bread and not just the white variety. Our ancestors used mainly millet, rye and oats as staple grains in addition to low-gluten wheat and spelt. They also used grains more in the form of porridge or wafers than as leavened bread. However, when leavened bread was used, it was mainly as sourdough bread, except in the cities where yeast baking gradually dominated.

Rye, barley and oats contain less gluten than wheat and the protein composition is slightly different in these grains; thus even if you have a wheat allergy, you may still be able to eat these grains. However this is often not the case and it is preferable that you avoid these for an extended period if you have a wheat allergy and use gluten-free grains instead. These are rice, millet and maize. Buckwheat is not a cereal grain – it belongs to the rhubarb family – but it contains a gluten-like protein that requires allergy testing before being used by individuals allergic to gluten.

Processed food, including tablets and soy sauce, often contain added wheat starch or gluten. If you have a wheat allergy and use processed food, then read labels carefully. Wheat grass, however, is safe to use; wheat-germ oil needs to be tested.

IRIS DIAGNOSIS

Blue-eyed individuals with wheat or gluten intolerance usually have a whitish color in the area of the iris denoting the intestines. This reflex zone that surrounds the pupil indicates the irritation and mucus covering of the intestinal wall. Frequently, the white fans out to other parts of the iris, but especially to the head and brain reflex areas that are in the upper part of the iris (between 10 and 2 o’clock). This indicates gluten-induced mucus congestion of the head and irritation of the brain tissues. Such people are vulnerable to emotional irritability, bursts of temper and, in the case of brain allergy, to epilepsy and mental disease. They cannot relax easily, and attending emotional workshops or seeking psychiatric help will do little permanent good if the nutritional cause of the problem is not corrected.

In addition, these individuals often have oversensitive sense organs and tend towards far-sightedness. As long as there is no serious mucus congestion in the head, the sharpened senses provide good eyesight and excellent hearing. The disadvantages are oversensitive taste buds, an oversensitive sense of smell, and distress caused by loud noise. Magnesium supplements will help but not remove the basic cause. In later life, mucus congestion may lead to deafness and eye diseases. If there is, in addition to wheat or gluten intolerance, difficulty in digesting fats, the white iris areas will become increasingly yellow.

Baked wheat products, especially in combination with sugars, are the most ‘fattening’ food for susceptible individuals. The metabolism of such individuals becomes inefficient and the wheat starch is mainly converted into body fat instead of energy. Frequently individuals allergic to wheat, gluten and beer have a distended abdomen (potbelly).

For many individuals, gluten products especially wheat and beer, are strongly mucus forming. Generally, the whiter the iris, the more mucus-forming is the gluten. Wheat and gluten are often a problem for those with asthma and hay fever. If you have any problem with mucus, avoid all gluten products initially together with all foods containing lactose. After sufficient improvement you may introduce small amounts of rye and oats and explore how much of these your body tolerates.

Most ‘improved’ or ‘health’ breads contain added gluten, skim-milk powder, or dried whole grain and are worse than plain wholemeal bread. Most recommended are rye sourdough bread and rye crispbread. However, rye sourdough bread often contains added wheat described as wholemeal or bread-making flour.

Oats are high in proteins and nucleic acids, while the fiber (oat bran) is useful for binding and expelling surplus cholesterol from the intestines. Barley has an even higher cholesterol-reducing effect and both oats and barley are superior to wheat. However, oats are also rather high in gluten and easily cause the same problems as wheat in gluten-sensitive individuals. It may be no coincidence that Scotland has the highest rate of multiple sclerosis as well as a diet traditionally high in oats in addition to vitamin D deficiency due to lack of sunshine.

Source:health-science-spirit

What chiefly makes a particular food a problem is the presence of one or several components that may cause metabolic or digestive problems if used indiscriminately. Because we use and have used problem foods in excess, our metabolism has been weakened to such an extent that it cannot safely process even small amounts of certain foods without becoming distressed. This can be demonstrated with food muscle-testing.

However, for individuals with a suitable metabolism, most problem foods may be acceptable and sometimes even beneficial in moderation; this does not apply to heavily chemicalized food. It is advisable, nevertheless, for nearly everyone to minimize the intake of problem foods in general. It is also best to avoid more strictly the problem foods that you can identify from those described in this chapter and from personal experience as being a cause of your health problems.

Some problem foods frequently cause food allergies and may be the primary allergens or causative agents that sensitize us to a range of other allergens. This applies especially to the gluten in wheat and to proteins in cows’ milk. When the body is still young or overacid and sensitive it tends to respond strongly to these foods. However, problem foods cause even more serious problems when the body is older, alkaline and insensitive, but then there are no ‘alarm reactions’ to warn us. This leads to the development of chronic degenerative diseases such as autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

In addition to specific health problems being caused by specific foods, the overall impact on the adrenal glands of habitually consuming problem foods may raise the basic stress level to such a high degree that a relatively small additional stress from emotional or social problems may trigger severe reactions. These may include asthma, epilepsy, migraine, depression, irritability, hyperactivity, phobias, nervous breakdown and mental disease.

The main problem foods in our society are:

· Lactose and cow’s milk products

· Gluten and wheat products

· Sugar and sweet foods

· Red meat and fats

· Chemicalized food, stimulants and yeast or molds

In addition, the fact that we cook too many of our foods and hence have insufficient enzymes in our diet, greatly contributes to the development of chronic degenerative diseases and premature aging.

Have a closer look at cow’s milk products and lactose. In some form they can be beneficial but as commonly used they tend to create a lot of problems for our health

COW’S MILK PRODUCTS & LACTOSE

The three problematic ingredients in dairy products are lactose (milk sugar), butterfat, casein and other proteins. While lactose is a problem in all animal milk, including goat’s milk, difficulties with casein and butterfat are specific to cow’s milk.

Bottle-feeding with cow’s milk has far-reaching effects. The earlier it is substituted for breast milk, the more damage is caused. The baby’s digestive system is still immature and relies on enzymes provided in mother’s milk. It cannot properly digest cow’s milk, especially if it has been pasteurized and is without enzymes.

In addition, in the first few weeks or months the wall of the small intestine is not yet fully developed and allows only partly digested proteins to pass through and this causes allergies. In a recent investigation all infants and most older children had antibodies against cow’s milk in their blood. This means they were allergic to it, even in the absence of obvious symptoms. However, usually unspecific symptoms are present, such as restlessness and crying at night, dermatitis, tender abdomen, tantrums, weak eyes, low energy, hyper-activity, indigestion and a high incidence of colds, ear and respiratory infections. A contributing factor that makes these babies prone to infections is the absence of immuno-protective agents in bottle milk that are present in breast milk, especially in the colostrum.

In one Scandinavian study it was shown that no purely breastfed baby developed early middle ear infection, and also was protected against it in later life. In contrast, early introduction of cow’s milk predisposed children to this and was exclusively found in children who received cow’s milk before the age of 6 months.

Furthermore, bottle-fed babies suffer from zinc deficiency. Zinc is essential for activating the immune system. The zinc content in cow’s milk is actually higher than that in mother’s milk. However, in cow’s milk zinc is bound to a protein from which the baby’s immature digestive system cannot release it.

Other trace minerals are also difficult for the baby to absorb from cow’s milk; iron is especially problematic. A resulting iron deficiency in babies contributes to the development of anemia, a weakening of the immune system and retarded mental and cognitive development.

An allergy to cow’s milk and subsequent mucus congestion of the lungs, combined with zinc and iron deficiencies of the immune system, cause frequent colds and respiratory infections in babies. This, in turn, depletes the baby more and more of vitamin C. The effect of all this is a high incidence of crib deaths in bottle-fed babies. Crib deaths sometimes occur shortly after immunizations, which further drain the already dangerously low levels of vitamin C. Toxic gases from synthetic mattresses cause further distress.

Archie Kalokerinos, in his book Every Second Child (Keats), relates that in some Aboriginal communities every second child given a vaccination died of crib death, but when fed high doses of vitamin C before and after vaccinations, not a single child died.

Is it a coincidence that New Zealand has the highest rates of asthma and crib deaths in the world but also the highest consumption of cow’s milk? Until some years ago all New Zealand school children received free milk at school. This would leave many mothers with a milk allergy that can easily be passed on to the fetus and later, with breast milk, to the baby.

Crib deaths are uncommon in breast-fed babies. However, even breast-fed babies can develop allergies if the mother has a high intake of cow’s milk products or is allergic to it herself. Full-term babies in the first two weeks and premature babies in the first one or two months may become allergic to almost any substitute for mother’s milk. If breast-feeding by the mother is not possible during this time and a wet nurse is not available, then fresh raw goats’ or sheep’s milk is the least harmful alternative.

LACTOSE

Approximately 90 per cent of the world’s adult population – that is, all but the majority of the Caucasian race – cannot split lactose into its two components – glucose and galactose. After the age of 3 a deficiency of the lactose-splitting enzyme lactase develops, and this can cause more or less severe indigestion and diarrhea if the diet contains appreciable amounts of lactose. This condition is known as lactose intolerance.

Lactose intolerant people can tolerate lactose better if fermented milk is used, as in the form of yogurt or kefir, where the lactose is partially split by lactic-acid bacteria. Alternatively, lactose-splitting enzymes are now commercially available and may be added to milk. However, lactose intolerance is only a minor problem compared to the much more serious health problems caused by galactose. Lactose intolerance actually appears to be a wise precaution of nature rather than a regrettable accident, because it protects us from the great danger of galactose overload.

Most European adults and older children who can digest lactose are unable to use galactose efficiently. Babies need galactose as an important building component of the brain, the central nervous system and of many proteins. Thus mother’s milk is even higher in lactose than animal milk to ensure the baby does obtain sufficient galactose.

In later life, very little galactose is needed and this can easily be synthesized from other sugars. Therefore, most of the ingested galactose is converted in the liver to glucose and used as body fuel, but the amount that can be converted is rather limited, even in a healthy liver.

This conversion is a slow and complex process requiring four different enzymes. One of these is sometimes missing from birth, giving rise to a condition known as galactosaemia. Continued milk-feeding leads to a build-up of galactose in the baby and causes cataracts, cirrhosis of the liver and spleen and mental retardation.

If the liver is not healthy, it becomes less able to convert galactose. This fact is sometimes used as a criterion for a clinical liver-function test. If galactose is injected into someone with a defective liver, most of the galactose will later appear in the urine.

MUCIC ACID

Unfortunately, under normal conditions only part of the galactose is expelled with the urine. If there is a deficiency of protective antioxidants, then the rest is mainly oxidized to galactaric acid, commonly known as mucic acid. The great health danger of mucic acid is that it is insoluble. The body cannot let it pile up in vital areas and block organ functions or blood circulation. Therefore, it forms the mucic acid into a sticky suspension in water, called mucus. Thus mucic acid is a main component of pathogenic (disease-producing) mucus.

It is the function of the lymphatic system to remove dangerous substances, such as mucus, from areas of vital importance and transport it to the organs of elimination. Mucus is too dangerous to dispose of through the kidneys or with bile through the liver, but it has a special affinity to the mucous membranes that line the insides of our body openings. Such areas, and of prime importance, are the lungs, the respiratory tract and the hollow head spaces, the sinuses and the Eustachian tube (a passage between the mouth and the inner ear).

The mucus accumulates in these hollow spaces until external factors help to sensitize the mucous membranes sufficiently to allow the mucus to pass through. This is relatively easy in young individuals and those with a poor sugar metabolism as they have high levels of histamine and inflammatory adrenal hormones. Even minor irritations of the mucous membranes, be it from cold air, dust, air pollution, pollen or germs, will sensitize these to let some of the mucus flow out.

Such mucus cleansing may be experienced periodically as a cold, hay fever, wet cough or running nose. In others, the accumulation of mucus, which provides a favorable breeding ground for germs, causes chronic infections in specific areas such as the sinuses, the middle ear, the respiratory tract and the lungs. This may allow a permanent trickle of mucus through the affected mucous membrane. In addition, a dead front tooth may be responsible for chronic sinus problems.

With a high lactose intake, the lymph channels and lymph glands are usually congested with mucus as well. This allows influenza and other infections to spread from the sensitized mucous membranes through the mucus-filled hollow spaces into the lymphatic system, causing lymph gland swellings and inflammations. I have found that in many people the number of colds, influenza and other respiratory infections can be varied at will from none to several per year just by varying the lactose intake. Mucus congestion is also the main cause of ear infections and hearing problems, especially in children.

In most cases it is not a lactose allergy but a galactose overload that is responsible for this excessive mucus. While in the case of those suffering from cow’s milk allergy somewhat more lactose may be tolerated when it comes from goat’s milk, in most individuals the lactose in goat’s milk or in tablets will be equally as mucus-forming as that from cow’s milk.

ASTHMA

When more mucus accumulates in the lungs than can be expelled, asthma is likely to develop. Often lung congestion is combined with a strong subconscious fear element that may, for instance, result from insecurity or lack of love in early childhood. Another contributing factor is hypoglycemia coupled with weak adrenal glands.

Many cases seem to be predominantly mucus-induced. I remember a patient who was fond of yogurt and, for health reasons, prepared it from skim-milk powder. This produces yogurt with a much higher lactose content than yogurt from full-fat milk (see Table 4-1). When I persuaded her to use somewhat less yogurt and prepare it only from whole milk without additional skim-milk powder, her asthma disappeared for good. The asthma-causing skim-milk yogurt provided approximately 50 g of lactose per day, while she was asthma-free on whole-milk yogurt with about 5 g of lactose daily.

The lung irritation caused by accumulated mucus also means that the lungs are more prone to be affected by food allergies and chemicals. This could result in inflammatory swellings of the bronchial tubes. Mucus accumulating in the lungs allows bacteria to infiltrate. Some strains of these bacteria convert sugars into alginic acid, another sticky mucus. Often there is Candida or fungus infestation as well, which sensitizes the mucous membranes to airborne molds. Mucus-releasing colds in this setting can be a blessing in disguise, provided they are not treated with antibiotics. Also dead teeth may induce copious mucus.

The mucous membranes of asthmatics, which are highly sensitized by mucic acid, react strongly to air pollutants such as smoke, pollen and sulfur dioxide. The adrenal glands are weak and histamine levels are high because of a sweet diet and allergies. To overcome asthma, we need to reverse these negative conditions by using a low-allergy diet with a minimum of sweet or mucus-forming food, while the respiratory tract should periodically be cleared of mucus. Also breathing exercises help.

CHRONIC DEGENERATIVE DISEASES

A serious consequence of a lymphatic system badly congested with mucus is the development of leukemia. This happens when the immune system has been sufficiently damaged by frequent mucus-related infections combined with other factors such as toxic chemicals, a sweet diet, allergies and vitamin-mineral deficiencies.

It may not be a coincidence that Nathan Pritikin, famous for his much-publicized diet to cure cardiovascular diseases, developed leukemia. The original Pritikin diet is high in skim-milk products and, therefore, imposes a severe galactose overload on the body. Either leukemia or another galactose-related degenerative disease is more likely to develop as a long-term effect of a high intake of skim-milk products. Cardiovascular diseases can be prevented or cured nutritionally without causing other health problems.

Leukemia stands in between the acute mucus-related infections of childhood and the usual chronic degenerative diseases that develop with advancing age. When our metabolism slows down as we become older or are on an unsuitably heavy meat diet, the body gradually becomes too alkaline and the mucous membranes become more insensitive. In this condition mucus released through colds and other respiratory infections becomes rare and most of the mucic acid is stored in the body.

Lactose intolerance, and thus enforced avoidance of foods containing lactose, can also reduce the incidence of another disease – cataracts of the eyes. Even infants may develop cataracts when they cannot convert galactose to glucose. Therefore, galactose overload is also an important cause of cataracts in adults. In addition, high blood glucose and fructose levels may contribute. These simple sugars are reduced to sugar alcohols that cause cloudiness in the lens. Another form of cataract is mainly caused by a chronic deficiency of the vitamins A, B2, C and E, and the minerals chromium and selenium. Radiation exposure or drugs can also cause cataracts.

Besides cataracts, there are other diseases that are usually considered to be typical for the aging body but that occur already in infants with galactosaemia. These include liver degeneration, edema and reduced memory or senility (the latter being equivalent to mental retardation in infants with galactosaemia).

Cancer (carcinoma) reportedly can result from galactosaemia. A recent report shows that women who consumed yogurt had a higher rate of ovarian cancer than controls that consumed the same amount of lactose from other milk products. Because of the activity of the lactic-acid bacteria, yogurt contains more readily available galactose than other milk products. Another cancer-related problem is the high estrogen content of milk. This is likely to stimulate the growth of breast and ovarian tumors. However, as estrogen is fat-soluble it can be expected to remain with milk fat and skim milk products should be alright in this regard.

A frequent complaint is increasing deafness because of mucus congestion of the Eustachian tube and the middle ear with subsequent infection and inflammation. In children this condition has been called ‘glue ear’. This is especially a problem with children of non-European background because they can still absorb lactose but cannot very well convert galactose into energy, especially from cow’s milk.

With lactose-induced mucus congestion, degenerative lung diseases may also develop, such as emphysema. While smoking is generally considered to be the greatest hazard for lung cancer, it may actually rank equal with galactose overload, and most at risk are heavy smokers with mucus-congested lungs. Sometimes the lungs simply fill up with mucus. Actually, a patient died in my presence because his lungs and breathing passage were filled with sticky mucus. He literally drowned in it. With each breath I could hear the air bubbling up through the mucus.

A combination of mucus accumulation in the lungs and the digestive system is seen in cystic fibrosis, which is mainly due to an overproduction of an abnormal mucopolysaccharide – a long-chain carbohydrate that normally supplies the physiological mucus required by the body. Cystic fibrosis sufferers also may be unable to convert galactose and, as they are usually deficient in protective antioxidants, they may also produce large amounts of mucic acid. Like galactose overload, cystic fibrosis is a disease of the Caucasian race.

In part, excessive mucus formation stems from an infestation of the lungs with bacteria that produce an abnormal amount of sticky alginic acid. The important point is that alginic acid is synthesized from a simple sugar – mannose – which these bacteria can convert from an excess of any other sugar, such as galactose, fructose or glucose. Therefore, mucus-forming as well as sweet foods must be avoided.

LACTOSE IN FOOD

Preventing excessive mucus accumulation in the body is much easier than trying to remove it afterwards. If you are concerned about your future wellbeing, it is a wise precaution to reduce your intake of lactose to a minimum. See the following table for the lactose content of some common dairy products.

LACTOSE CONTENT OF DAIRY PRODUCTS

With a lactose content of 52 per cent in skim-milk powder, you may now realize how dangerous the current fad is for using low-fat ice-cream, yogurt, cottage cheese and so forth, instead of full-fat products. Such low-fat foods are made from skim-milk powder and contain three to five times as much lactose as the equivalent full-fat foods. Sometimes skim-milk powder is even added to butter. Therefore read the label and avoid butter that lists ‘non-fat milk solids’ as one of the ingredients.

Skim-milk powder is also a favorite additive to many other commercial foods, such as bread and other baking products, sausages and margarine. The health-food industry is equally fond of adding lactose to many products such as soy milk and dandelion coffee. Lactose is often used as filler in white tablets. Cell salts are almost pure lactose. Try to avoid white tablets if the label does not state that they are free of lactose or are low-allergy tablets.

I suspect that the average daily amount of lactose that healthy adults can handle without the danger of long-term galactose overload appears is less than 10 g or the equivalent of a glass of milk. However, those who do have occasional mucus problems or are afflicted with a galactose-related disease do well to have a much lower lactose intake. With lactose allergy it is often necessary to avoid lactose completely for several months or years.

PROTEIN AND FAT

Casein is the main protein in cow’s milk and constitutes about 3 per cent of it. Human milk, on the other hand, has only 0.5 per cent casein content. The high casein content of cow’s milk causes it to form a very tough, rubbery curd in the stomach; the casein binds the calcium as an insoluble salt. Thus it is extremely difficult to digest and is a frequent source of indigestion. Mother’s milk and goat’s milk, on the other hand, form finely dispersed soft curds that are easy to digest.

Thus the protein in cow’s milk frequently is only partly digested and becomes a major source of intestinal putrefaction and toxemia. Incompletely digested protein may pass the wall of the small intestine and cause allergy. Worms in children are often due to intestinal putrefaction from undigested cow’s milk. Breast milk also contains high levels of fat-digesting lipase and other enzymes. Therefore breast milk is nearly self-digesting in the baby’s gut while pasteurized cow’s milk is very difficult to digest.

In a recent double-blind study 24 out of 27 babies with colic became free of symptoms when put on a diet free of cow’s milk protein. The babies, when given cow’s milk protein, cried on average 3.2 hours daily and when taken off cow’s milk cried for only 1 hour. However, I believe that breast-fed babies that have all their needs met hardly cry at all.

Allergy-prone mothers are able to pass allergens to their babies with their breast milk. This is often caused by beta-lactoglobulin, which is in the cow’s milk. When such mothers avoided cow’s milk (and thus its proteins), the babies’ colic disappeared.

Colic is due to an inflammation of the intestinal wall, which in turn is triggered by an allergic reaction against the protein in cow’s milk. This chronic inflammation erodes the micro-villi through which the food is absorbed, thus resulting in malabsorption. Incompletely digested proteins may also pass through the damaged intestinal wall into the bloodstream and produce various allergic reactions, such as dermatitis or brain irritation.

A general consequence of such cow’s milk allergy is a weakening of the immune system, which in babies is further aggravated by a lack of protective immune factors that are normally transmitted with breast milk. This is why infants on cow’s milk have frequent colds and respiratory infections; and it may also lead to sudden infant death or immune deficiency diseases in later life.

Cow’s milk appears to disturb the calcium metabolism. Calcium becomes trapped in undigested casein, while the long-chain saturated fatty acids form insoluble soaps with calcium. In addition, cow’s milk has a more unfavorable ratio of phosphorus to calcium as compared to breast milk.

Several studies have also shown that cancer patients consume more cows’ milk than do matched controls. Taurine is a sulfur amino acid that is high in breast milk and low in cow’s milk. It is required for brain, heart and liver functions; it regulates the sensitivity of cell membranes and protects against epilepsy.

Professor (of Geochemistry) Jane Plant (Your Life in Your Hands) may have discovered the connection between cow’s milk and cancer. Her breast cancer had re-grown a fifth time and she had been given up to die. At this stage she found out that the rate of death from breast cancer in China is one in 10,000 compared to about one in ten in most Western countries, and also that Chinese do not use animal milk or related products. Putting the two together she avoided all milk products, her tumor disappeared and for 13 years she is now free of cancer.

As Chinese have normal rates of some other cancers, there must be a special factor that causes these low breast cancer rates. Also the largely milk-free Japanese have low breast cancer rates, but when Chinese or Japanese women adopt a western lifestyle, their breast cancer rates start approaching the level in western countries. Increasingly, there are now studies appearing that link milk consumption to breast and prostate cancer.

The problem appears to be a special protein, called insulin-related growth factor, IGF-1, which stimulates hormone-related division of cells and affects especially breast tissue to grow during puberty and pregnancy. It also affects the prostate gland. Clinical studies showed that higher levels of circulating IGF-1 in the blood were not only a strong risk factor for women to develop breast cancer, but also for men to develop prostate cancer. However, IGF-1 levels were not elevated with benign conditions. The crucial factor is that cow’s milk is very high in IGF-1, and it is also present in the meat of dairy cows. High-yield milk production as commonly induced with synthetic hormones increases the IGF-1 levels in the milk.

A study of several hundred newly diagnosed diabetic children revealed an immune response to a fragment of cows’ milk protein in all of them. What is more, this protein fragment has the same composition as one called P69 on the beta-cells. Juvenile diabetes is much higher in those who have been bottle-fed rather than breast-fed and it is lower in communities, which consume less cows’ milk products. It appears that this is only a problem with milk from Frisian cows (called A1 milk) but not with milk from other, lower-yielding, breeds that produce A2 milk. Most of presently consumed milk is A1 milk.

P69 is usually protected inside the beta-cells and comes only to the surface during microbial and especially viral infections. At that time the immune system can mistake it for cows’ milk protein and attack it and destroy the beta-cell in the process. The problem is that bottle-fed infants are very susceptible to colds, respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. It is regarded as normal for them to have six and more infections a year while these are rare with breast-fed infants.

But it does not end there. Bottle-fed infants also frequently receive antibiotics that then encourage overgrowth of the intestines with undesirable microbes and a tendency to chronic pancreatitis. One type of E. coli bacteria is harmless in the large intestines but it has the potential for causing great damage in the small intestine. That is because it produces a molecule that is very similar to insulin. When the immune system becomes activated against this molecule, it may then also direct its attack against related features at the beta-cells.

Therefore, several other mechanisms besides cows’ milk allergy can trigger an attack on the beta-cells. Also gluten allergy may be implicated and in one instance even potato allergy was described as causing very high blood sugar levels, except if high-level vitamin-mineral supplements were given at the same time.

Tannin in tea or coffee has a harmful effect on the casein of added milk. It produces a denatured protein, similar to the manufacture of leather that cannot be digested and may cause digestive distress.

While milk and lactose may cause mucus congestion visible in the iris as whitish discoloration, cheese and butterfat cause the iris to turn yellow or brown in susceptible individuals. Yellow is the first stage of a white area becoming brown. When patients have avoided fats and cheese, I have noticed the brown color becoming lighter. From muscle testing I gained the impression that processed hard cheese is the main offender in those with irises that have turned brown. This may be due to liver damage caused by the high casein content of cheese combined with its saturated fat.

According to my observations, individuals with irises that have changed to brown generally have weak, under-active liver and gall bladder functions, especially as related to the fat metabolism. Those with irises changed to white, on the other hand, are more prone to acute and sometimes painful liver and gall bladder problems. In these individuals acne, psoriasis, blackheads and an unclean skin may also result from the over-consumption of fats and especially cheese.

Fermented cow’s milk products in the form of natural yogurt, kefir and natural cheeses produce a fine curd and cause less health problems than unfermented milk. However, even these should be used with care and only if they do not cause allergies or mucus problems. Generally, the corresponding goats’ or sheep milk products are much more preferable. The least harmful milk product is cottage cheese made from fermented goats’ or sheep milk.

The most damaging aspect of commercial milk products, apart from oversupplying the body with lactose and casein, is the destruction of natural enzymes by pasteurizing the milk. Raw butter, for instance, has formerly been used to cure psoriasis but pasteurized butter causes or aggravates it. The healing effect of raw butter is due to its high content of the fat-digesting enzyme lipase. The same is true for heart and liver problems, which are caused or aggravated by processed cheese and butter fat.

Such health problems did not occur in the inhabitants of the Caucasus and Bulgaria with their high intake of raw milk products. Cholesterol did not harm anyone in former times when mainly unheated milk products were used; cardiovascular diseases were almost unknown. Raw butter and cream would be a far healthier food than refined polyunsaturated oils or margarine.

Raw milk was formerly used to cure tuberculosis but pasteurized milk is more likely to cause it. Carnivorous wild animals have diets high in fat and cholesterol but no signs of atherosclerosis and heart disease. In contrast, dogs on canned food and cooked meat develop the same diseases as we humans.