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E-Mail Edition Volume 10 Number 4 |
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Published Fall, 2013 Published by Piccadilly Books, Ltd., www.piccadillybooks.com. Bruce Fife, N.D., Publisher, www.coconutresearchcenter.org |
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If you would like to subscribe to the Healthy Ways Newsletter |
Contents
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Are Your Pets Getting Their Daily Dose of Coconut? By Emily Labutta
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We love our pets—the creatures that we consider to be more than "just animals." Anyone who has had a pet knows just how human-like they can be. I think it starts when we give them names, even if their names are something like Lightning or Bruiser. They have personalities. Sometimes it feels like we can read their minds, and sometimes it feels like they can read ours. They become our friends and a part of our family, but do we care for them in the way we should? My golden retriever, Blaze (like a blaze of golden sun, get it?), loved microwave popcorn. Any time the tiny kernels in the bag would start throwing themselves against their paper packaging, he would come running. Even when he was older, when his hearing was all but gone, |
Boy with his huskies. |
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he would still show up at the microwave any time it was used, able to hear the buzzing if not the telltale signs, or lack thereof, of his favorite treat within. That expectant face, with his big brown eyes and the slowly starting line of drool edging out onto his lip, was hard to resist. So I didn't. He would crowd me, as if I might forget that he was there or that he wanted some, and I always had to push him aside to get to the bowl into which I dumped the popped, white kernels. Plopping down in front of the TV, I was more entertained by throwing the tasty missiles for Blaze to catch in snapping jaws than by the screen. Breaks were mandatory, given how much he popped up to snag the treats from the air and how I wanted some as well, but Blaze would end up with about half the bowl. A good evening and a good time with my pet, I thought. My dog was never been fat, either. He was a fit, Frisbee-chasing machine. From the top of the driveway I would launch that sucker all the way down to the garden, and he would catch it in the air down there too, beating its speed and estimating its trajectory. He got pretty fast, and I got pretty good at throwing a Frisbee far. As for accuracy, that's another matter. Besides all this activity, I only fed my dog two scoops of kibble once a day. He got dinner, and that was it, except when I or another family member would forget. Those were the good days for him. By his mind, I'm sure the bad days were the ones he would forget he had been fed and would come whining. So I always thought of my dog as healthy. We would play in the yard, in the house, and go on walks, although I only tried running with him once. He kept trying to get ahead of me and lead, which often meant criss-crossing my moving legs with the leash. On top of his level of physical activity, he was not overfed. He was not overweight, and nowhere near obese. He was a healthy, happy dog who, since he was born with hip dysplasia, always ran funny. At the end of his life, he lost most of his hearing and he couldn't get himself up from our hardwood floors without help. Yet I thought I raised, trained, and treated him well. Now I am learning how much better I might have done. |
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Coconut oil has recently taken the Internet health forums by storm. Proclaimed as a superfood, its fat-rich makeup is supposed to be beneficial to us, and in more ways than one. Most Americans don't get enough fat, having replaced those calories with carbohydrates that are actually more readily stored as fat than fat itself. Fat, particularly the type in coconut oil, is more readily converted into energy and utilized. Eating coconut oil also speeds up metabolism and increases nutrient absorption. As if that weren't enough, it is antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and pretty much anti-everything we don't want harming our bodies. A |
Dog enjoying her coconut. |
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by Dr. Bruce Fife Available from Piccadilly Books, Ltd.
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cut will heal faster and stay free from infection if coconut oil is applied. Athlete's foot may be cleared up with a topical application. Internal diseases and parasites are cleared out with oral ingestion. All these benefits are not restricted to humans. They apply to pets as well, and pretty much all of them. Dogs, cats, ferrets, gerbils, hamsters, mice, horses, chickens, goats, parrots, cockatiels... you name it, and coconut oil could probably bestow the same remarkable benefits on the animal as it does for humans. In a book titled Coconut Therapy for Pets by Dr. Bruce Fife, all the advantages of coconut oil, specifically the advantages for animals, are laid out. It can help dry skin or flaky beaks. It can return hair, fur, or feathers to a shiny luster such as you might never have even seen on your pet. With its metabolic abilities, coconut oil gives animals more energy and returns old animals to their youthful friskiness. Just as it can help with human infections, it can help with pet infections. Cats who eat coconut oil expel their worms after three days. Dogs that never stop scratching from fleas find relief and cure once the stuff is rubbed into their skin. Coconut oil can get rid of bad doggy breath as well. Now, if you're anything like me, you thought that doggy breath was just a part of being a dog. Getting rid of it would be impossible. I would, however, give my dog a stick to chew from an evergreen once and a while, and he would parade about the yard with the mini-tree flopping down from one side of his mouth, proud as could be. It would help for a while too, but only for so long. Clearly the doggy breath was just being masked, and I thought that was the best that could be done. According to Coconut Therapy for Pets, however, stinky dog breath, while common, is not normal. That is, it's apparently an indication of poor health, either oral or elsewhere. And coconut oil, through its antibacterial, health-promoting properties, solves the problem and restores the dog to odorless breathing once more. Besides having doggy breath, my dog's paws also smelled like corn chips now and again. To be honest, both my mom and I kind of liked it, and Blaze didn't mind us lifting a paw up so that we could take a whiff. However, according to the book, this is a sign of a yeast infection, a yeast infection that coconut oil could have kicked out of my dog's body. Adding coconut oil is also helps provide more of a balanced diet for dogs than the kibble or canned foods they're typically given. These foods are high in carbohydrate, which fills a dog's stomach without providing many of the essential nutrients that they need. A dog is a carnivore and a scavenger, and they will eat just about anything they can find if it's remotely edible. Blaze was a huge fan of dirty tissues and used napkins. The problem is that kibble doesn't imitate the diet of our dogs' ancestors. Less carbohydrate is needed — none at all really — and more fat and raw meats should be added. Even drizzling coconut oil over kibble makes it better. I only wish I had found out about the benefits of coconut oil for pets before my Blaze had died. It might have eased his last years, making them less painful, and it might have enhanced his earlier years, making them more fun. Coconut oil could even have increased Blaze's longevity as well, and increased the quality on top of the quantity of those years. I don't think I was a bad pet owner, but I might have been a better one with the help of coconut oil. With all that Blaze did for me, all the love he showed me in his idiosyncratic ways, I wish I had been able to do him the service of caring for him even better. I know that for the next dog I have, I won't be sharing my popcorn. Instead, I'll be sharing my coconut oil! ■
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Flea and Tick Treatments Can Be Harmful for Pets and Humans By Bruce Fife, ND
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by Dr. Bruce Fife Available from Piccadilly Books, Ltd.
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When the owners spotted fleas on their two cats, they put "just a drop" of topical flea treatment on each one. Within hours the cats became very sick, and one of them was convulsing. The family rushed them to Greentree Animal Clinic in Pittsburgh, but both cats died. The flea treatment that was labeled for use on dogs, but the owners assumed that a small amount would be OK for their cats. Over the next couple of weeks two more cats rushed to the Greentree Animal Clinic died in a similar fashion. In each case, the owners used canine topical flea treatment, referred to as "spot-on" treatments because just a dab applied on the animal's skin quickly kills fleas. But those products can be deadly when people don't read or precisely follow directions. "I am very upset that the warning on the canine flea topical 'Do not use on cats' is so very small. I wish it said in very large letters: This Product Could Kill Your Cat," said Leslie C. Marino, practice manager at Greentree Animal Clinic in Pittsburgh. None of the four cats were regular clients of Greentree, but all were rushed there because the clinic was closer than the owners' usual veterinary offices. People often just assume that the products they buy for their pets are safe. However, many of the over-the-counter medications and treatments sold at your local pet store are not as safe for your pet or yourself as you might assume, even when the instructions are followed to the letter. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been investigating a surge in adverse events tied to spot-on parasite-control treatments, with reactions ranging from minor skin irritations to seizures and deaths. The EPA began looking at the issue in 2009, when the number of reported adverse events in pets exposed to topical flea and tick products reached 44,000 in 2008, up 53 percent compared with the previous year. In response to the 2008 increase, the EPA analyzed 21 different products registered by Bayer, Fort Dodge Animal Health (now Pfizer), Hartz Mountain Corp., Merial, Pet Logic, Sergeant's Pet Care Products, Inc., Summit VetPharm and Wellmark. The topical parasiticides produced by these companies are considered "spot-on" because they come as liquids contained in small, plastic vials that are squeezed onto the skin of a pet's back, usually between the shoulder blades. Spot-on treatments typically are applied every few weeks during flea and tick season to prevent and manage infestations. The EPA regulates these products because they're categorized as pesticides rather than drugs (which are controlled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration). Any formula to treat fleas and ticks that is applied on the skin must be EPA-registered. The topical products in question include active ingredients in all pesticide classes: cyphenothrin, phenothrin, permethrin, imidacloprid, dinotefuran, fipronil, amitraz, etofenprox, S-methoprene, pyriproxyfen and metaflumizone. Putting pesticides on your pet doesn't sound like a very healthy idea. Even small dogs (10-20 pounds) have had adverse reactions to spot-on treatments. People too, are exposed to the pesticides when they come into contact with treated dogs. What about your children? Although cats, primarily because of their smaller size, are more sensitive to these treatments, you've got to wonder what harm theses pesticides are doing to your dogs and your family. Fortunately, there is a much better option available, one that is just as effective, if not more so, and completely harmless to your pets (both dogs and cats). The solution is coconut oil. Yes, a dab of ordinary coconut oil rubbed into your pet's coat will keep it free of ticks and fleas. If your cat or dog licks its coat, as they always do, you don't have to worry about them ingesting deadly pesticides, coconut oil is harmless. You also don't have to worry about your three-year-old hugging and petting your treated dog. One dog owner says: "We live in an area (tropical north Queensland, Australia) with many dangerous ticks including the so-called 'paralysis tick' which kills many dogs and cats every year. Since starting my dogs on virgin coconut oil I have not found any ticks on them and they have no fleas either. No need for any highly toxic (and expensive) chemical flea and tick control for my dogs." Another owner says: "I applied the oil to my dog's coat every time we went for a walk. Boy did it make her coat shine! She hasn't had any ticks or fleas since I've been using coconut oil. It gives better results than the commercial products I used to use and it's cheaper!" Coconut oil is not only an excellent flea and tick treatment but an all-purpose pet protector. Just one jar of coconut oil can replace dozens of commercial products designed to treat fleas and ticks, scabies, intestinal parasites, pet odor, dry and itchy skin, dull coats, skin rashes and infections, ear mites, injuries and wounds, eye problems, digestive troubles, liver issues, joint problems—the list can go on and on. For just a fraction of the cost, coconut oil can solve most of these issues and do a far better job of it, without any toxic side effects. Coconut oil is not only beneficial for dogs and cats, but most any pet or farm animal including ferrets, parrots, canaries, chickens, horses, goats, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, rabbits, and other animals. If you have animals and want to keep them healthy and free of annoying parasites, consider using coconut oil in their food and as a topical ointment. For more details about the use of coconut oil and other coconut products with pets and farm animals check out my new book Coconut Therapy for Pets. ■
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Your Teeth Can Predict Your Risk of Alzheimer's
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Taking care of your teeth may dramatically cut your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease says a study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. British scientists report the presence of gum disease bacteria in the brains of a high percentage of Alzheimer's patients. These bacteria, whether they are in the mouth or the brain, cause infection and inflammation leading to tissue destruction. Byproducts of this bacterium (P. gingivalis), were found in brain samples of four out of ten Alzheimer's patients, but not in samples from ten people of similar age without dementia, according to the study.1 |
Man with toothache. |
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by Dr. Bruce Fife |
P. gingivalis is commonly found in people with chronic periodontal (gum) disease and can enter the bloodstream though such everyday activities as eating, brushing, and routine dental treatments, and potentially travel to the brain. That's scary considering that periodontal disease affects about 50 percent of American adults over age 30 and 70 percent of those age 65 or older.2 This new study adds to a rapidly growing body of evidence strongly linking periodontal disease to greatly increased risk of Alzheimer's. Gum disease is the leading cause of tooth loss. The number of teeth lost provides a clue to a person's oral health and provides a clue to a person's history of periodontal disease. Using tooth loss as a marker for periodontal disease researchers first established a possible link between oral bacteria and Alzheimer's in the 1990s. One of the earliest investigations linking oral and brain health was a case control study by Kondo and colleagues in 1994,3 which found a loss of more than half of the teeth to be associated with Alzheimer's disease. A twin study conducted by Gatz and colleagues4 found that those who had lost more than half their teeth by age 35 had a greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease later in life. Stein and colleagues5 also found a low number of teeth (9 or fewer) to be associated with increased risk of dementia in participants of the Nun Study. More recent studies have moved beyond using tooth loss as a proxy for periodontal disease to looking at markers of periodontal disease in the serum. The presence of periodontal bacteria antibodies in the blood indicates a past or present infection.6 Nobel and colleagues7 found those participants with the highest levels of serum antibodies to periodontal bacteria to have significantly lower scores on delayed word recall and calculation tasks. A case control study8 found an increased number of serum antibodies to periodontal bacteria in subjects diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease compared to cognitively normal subjects. Sparks and colleagues examined serum antibody levels to bacteria of periodontal disease in participants who eventually developed Alzheimer's compared with the antibody levels in control subjects. Serum samples from 158 participants were analyzed for antibodies. All participants were cognitively intact at the beginning of the study. Over time, 81 developed mild cognitive impairment (a precursor to Alzheimer's) or full blown Alzheimer's or both. This study demonstrated that exposure to periodontal disease can occur years in advance to the development of cognitive impairment.9 In other words, no matter what your age, periodontal disease can greatly increase your risk of Alzheimer's. The recent study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease went a step further by identifying the presence of P. gingivalis in a high number of Alzheimer's patient's brains. While this may show a possible direct relationship in at least some cases, however, P. gingivalis does not need to actually enter the brain to promote Alzheimer's. It can have a detrimental effect on brain health even if the infection remains essentially isolated in the jaw. Periodontal disease is a chronic infection, which elicits a systemic inflammatory response. The chronic trickling of anaerobic periodontal bacteria into the bloodstream results in elevated levels of various inflammatory mediators in the blood. The pro-inflammatory proteins cross the blood-brain barrier, triggering an inflammatory response in the brain. This leads to chronic brain inflammation, which in turn, leads to tissue destruction, increasing the risk or progression of Alzheimer's.10-11 What can you do to prevent periodontal related cognitive decline? One thing you can do is to pay attention to your oral hygiene. A 2012 study tracked 5,468 seniors over an 18-year period and found that those who didn't brush daily were up to 65 percent more likely to develop dementia than those who brushed three times a day.12 Standard dental hygiene, however, isn't always enough. The majority of people who develop Alzheimer's brush their teeth regularly, go to the dentist, and otherwise try to keep their mouths in decent shape. Brushing, flossing, mouthwash, and dental treatments won't guarantee you protection against periodontal disease. As noted above, the majority of people over the age of 30 develop periodontal disease despite taking good care of their mouths. Another thing you can do to improve you oral hygiene is oil pulling. Studies have shown that oil pulling can reduce gum disease and plaque as well as and generally better than all the other hygiene procedures combined.13 Oil pulling is easy, all you do is swish oil (I recommend coconut oil) in your mouth like you would a mouthwash, and then spit it out. The oil attracts bacteria and viruses like a magnet and "pulls" them out of the mouth, leaving your mouth much cleaner and healthier. Oil pulling is even known to pull infections out of the gums and teeth, something no amount of brushing and flossing can do. Even antiseptic mouthwashes cannot clean the mouth as thoroughly as oil pulling.14 Oil pulling should not replace brushing and flossing, but should be added to your daily oral hygiene routine. In addition to good oral hygiene, your diet plays a significant role in your dental health. Sugar, sweets, and refined grains wreak havoc on dental health. Oral bacteria that cause tooth decay and gum disease thrive on sugar and simple carbohydrates. A diet rich in these foods promote bacteria growth. Eating sweets and refined carbs is like spreading bacteria fertilizer on your teeth. No amount of brushing and flossing can make up for a bad diet. Good oral hygiene, oil pulling, and a healthy diet are some of your best defenses against periodontal disease as well as Alzheimer's. ■
References 1.Poole, S., et al. Determining the presence of periodontopathic virulence factors in short-term postmortem Alzheimer's disease bran tissue. J Alzheimers Dis 2013;36:665-677. 2. http://www.perio.org/newsroom/periodontal-disease-fact-sheet. 3. Kondo K, Niino M, Shido K. A case-control study of Alzheimer's disease in Japan: significance of lifestyles. Dementia 1994;5:314—26. 4. Gatz M, Mortimer JA, Fratiglioni L, Berg S, Reynolds CA, Pedersen N. Potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia in identical twins. Alzheimer's Dement 2006;2:110—17. 5. Stein PS, Desrosiers M, Donegan SJ, Yepes JF, Kryscio RJ. Tooth loss, dementia and neuropathology in the Nun Study. J Am Dent Assoc 2007;138:1314—22. 6. Dye BA, Herrera-Abreu M, Lerche-Sehm J, Vlachojannis C, Pikdoken L, Pretzl B, et al. Serum antibodies to periodontal bacteria as diagnostic markers of periodontitis. J Periodontol 2009;80:634—47. 7. Noble JM, Borrell LN, Papapanou PN, Elkind MSV, Scarmeas, Wright CB. Periodontitis is associated with cognitive impairment among older adults: analysis of NHANES —III. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2009;80:1206—11. 8. Kamer AR, Craig RG, Pirraglia E, Dasanayake AP, Norman RG, Boylan RJ, et al. TNF-α and antibodies to periodontal bacteria discriminate between Alzheimer's disease patients and normal subjects. J Neuroimmunol 2009;216:92—7. 9. Sparks, SP, et al. Serum antibodies to periodontal pathogens are a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimers Dement 2012;8:196-203. 10. Holmes C, Cunningham C, Zotova E, Woolford J, Dean C, Kerr S, et al. Systemic inflammation and disease progression in Alzheimer's disease. Neurology 2009;73:768—74. 11. Engelhart MJ, Geerlings MI, Meijer J, Kilaan A, Ruitenberg A, vanSwieten JC, et al. Inflammatory proteins in plasma and the risk of dementia. Arch Neurol 2004;61:668—72. 12. Paganini-Hill, A, et al. Dentition, dental health habits, and dementia: the Leisure World Cohort Study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2012;60:1556-1563. 13. Fife, B. Oil Pulling Therapy: Detoxifying and Healing the Body Through Oral Cleansing. Piccadilly Books, Ltd. Colorado Springs, CO; 2008. 14.Amith, HV, et al. Effect of oil pulling on plaque and gingivitis. JOHCD 2007;1:12-18.
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Who Smells a Rat?
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What do you do when your scientific journal publishes a study that Monsanto doesn't like? And the industry bombards you with complaints? You hire a new editor. And retract the study. In September 2012, the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology (FCT) published the findings of the first long-term study of rats fed genetically modified corn. The study's authors, led by Gilles-Eric Séralini of the University of Caen, France, concluded that the GM corn caused cancerous tumors in the test rats. |
Lab rat. |
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The biotech industry wasted no time attacking the study, which was released about a month before Californians were set to vote "yes" or "no" on an initiative to require labels on foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The attacks were predictable. But who would have predicted what followed next? Not long after the study came out, FCT created a new editorial position—Associate Editor for Biotechnology—and appointed none other than a former Monsanto employee, Richard E. Goodman, to the post. Fast-forward to November 28, 2013, when the publisher of FCT announced it was retracting the study. Not because of fraud or misrepresentation of data. But because, upon further review, the journal's editors had decided the study was "inconclusive." The biotech industry is puffing out its chest and throwing around a lot of "I told you so's." But the scientists who don't have a vested interest in GMO technology are calling the retraction "unscientific and unethical." If there was no evidence of fraud or misrepresentation, why did FCT retract the study? Because, the journal said, "there is legitimate reason for concern about both the number of animals tested in each group and the particular strain of rat selected." But as Séralini and his supporters point out, "the offending strain of rat (the Sprague-Dawley) is used routinely in the United States—including sometimes by Monsanto to study the carcinogenicity and chronic toxicity of chemicals." What's more, Séralini told Sustainable Pulse, the FCT in 2004 published a study by Monsanto finding the same strain of GMO corn (NK603) safe after measuring its effects on only ten Sprague-Dawley rats for three months only. "Only studies pointing to adverse effects of GMOs are rigorously scrutinized on their experimental and statistical methods," he said, "while those who say GMOs are safe are taken at face value." FCT and Séralini are battling it out in the media for now. But the battle could move to the courts, if Séralini follows through on threats to sue the journal. ■
Reprinted from Organic Bytes published by the Organic Consumers Association, edited by Katherine Paul and Ronnie Cummins.
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Announcing The New Coconut Oil Miracle 5th Edition By Bruce Fife, ND |
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A completely revised
and updated guide for maximizing the health and beauty benefits of
coconut oil For years, The Coconut Oil Miracle has been a reliable guide for men and women alike. Now in its fifth edition, this revised and updated version has even more information on the benefits of coconut oil and shows readers how to use it for maximum effect, including a nutrition plan with 50 delicious recipes. Coconut oil is much more than just a fad. It is a uniquely curative elixir that has been shown to have countless health benefits. When taken as a dietary supplement, used in cooking, or applied directly to the skin, coconut oil has been found to:
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Available from Piccadilly Books
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Coconut oil has been called the "healthiest dietary oil on earth." If you're not using coconut oil for your daily cooking and body care needs you're missing out on one of nature's most amazing health products.
Dr. Bruce Fife is widely recognized as one of the leading authorities on the health benefits of coconut oil. This newest edition of The Coconut Oil Miracle is updated with crucial information, including the latest studies on links between coconut oil and benefits relating to heart function, Alzheimer's prevention, bodily detoxification, weight loss, and many other hot topics.
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Copyright © 2013, Bruce Fife. All rights reserved.
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