4 Bottom Line Truths about Health and Sickness
Do you really know why people get sick?
Do you know how people recover from sickness?
Perhaps even more important...
Do you know how to keep healthy?
There are several principles related to health and sickness that are critical for you to know...not so you can be “smarter” about health, but so you can ACT on those principles, get healthier, and stay healthier.
There are at least four truths about health and sickness that are absolutely bedrock.
Truth #1: The Most Serious Sicknesses Sometimes Take a Long Time to Develop
The vast majority of people who are chronically ill in our nation are not ill because they have contracted a deadly virus or parasite.
We are different from the rest of the world in this. Malaria is still the number-one killer worldwide, and the second most devastating parasitic disease after malaria is schistosomiasis, a disease that acts in the body very much like cancer but is actually caused by the secretions of fresh-water snails. We don’t hear much about virus-induced diseases or parasites in our American medical system, except, of course, for the virus known as HIV that causes AIDS.
The dreaded diseases in our modern world tend to be degenerative, slow-developing, and linked to lifestyle choices. Many diseases smolder just beneath the surface of seemingly good health. Among them are most neurological diseases, cancer, and heart disease.
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases have few symptoms until function is lost in seventy to eighty percent of the involved brain area. The damage may actually have started some twenty to thirty years earlier.
Cancers often have a long incubation period. Some, such as breast and prostate cancer, can remain dormant for up to forty years before erupting into a noticeable malignancy. One study found that a high percentage of women thought to be cured of their breast cancer had cancer cells circulating in their blood twenty years after they went into “remission.”
Atherosclerosis is yet another example. Studies have shown that this condition can begin during infancy and be well advanced by age 25. Until a blood vessel to a vital area of the heart is blocked off, a person may appear to be in good health.
We now know that neither the cholesterol floating in the bloodstream nor the general building up of arterial plaque are the direct causes of the sudden heart attacks that can be so deadly. Rather, the clots that block vital blood flow are triggered by the rupture of arterial plaque, which happens because the walls of the blood vessel have become highly inflamed, usually by the release of large amounts of free radicals. Inflammation and free-radical assault can be caused by:
• Intense exertion
• Emotional turmoil
• A unhealthy high-fat diet
• MSG (monosodium glutamate)
• Too many X-rays
• Silent untreated infections
Let me quickly point out that ALL of these above “causes” are treatable, and nearly all are directly related to lifestyle choices, including dietary and exercise choices.
Nutritional deficiencies also develop over time. It is not a coincidence that even as degenerative diseases take a long time to develop, the same goes for nutritional deficiencies.
Major studies have shown repeatedly that a significant number of people in our nation are deficient in one or more essential nutrients—not only the elderly, but children. Some studies are also showing that these subclinical nutrient deficiencies (those that are present at the cellular level but are not causing obvious symptoms) can trigger degenerative diseases or make them worse.
And here’s the result: People with chronic illnesses, and especially those taking prescription drugs, suffer far greater and more severe nutritional deficiencies than healthy people.
Most people have nutritional deficiencies. Nutritional deficiencies have three main causes:
1. Our foods are nutritionally deficient—we even have a common phrase for them: “junk food.” Not only have important nutrients been stripped in modern food-preparation processes, but in many cases, harmful substances have been used or “added” (hence the word “additive”) including MSG and carrageen, partially hydrogenated fats and a variety of other N-6 or (Omega-6 fats), and massive amounts of sodium (salt).
2. Our soil has been depleted of vital minerals over time in many of our prime farming areas. The result is that many of our fresh vegetables no longer have the nutritional levels they once had.
3. Our fruits have often been sprayed, our lettuces washed, and our water treated with chemicals that are known to be health hazards.
Nutritional deficiencies must be measured at the cell-function level. Medical researchers are finding that the old ways of measuring “sufficiency” are no longer valid. It isn’t enough, for example, to say that a person has sufficient B vitamins on the basis of crude blood analysis alone. The real question is: how much of those vitamins are actually made available for function in the cells of the body.
Let me give you an example of this. A study involving vitamins B-6, folate, and vitamin B-12 compared crude blood levels of the vitamin with “functionality” in the cells of a large population of elderly people. The crude method showed that 19 percent of the seemingly healthy seniors had low levels of all the vitamins, but the functional analysis recorded that 63 percent were actually deficient. For B-12 alone, the crude method found that 5 percent were deficient, while the functional analysis showed 23 percent were deficient. In those who were chronically ill, only 6 percent showed deficiency in the crude test, but 39 percent were deficient in the functional analysis.
When multiple vitamin deficiencies were studied, 60 percent were deficient using the crude blood-level method of analysis, but 82 percent were “functionally deficient.”
It is vital that a person take in nutrients in forms that can be used in the cells of the body!
But what, you may be asking, about the studies that show no benefit from taking supplements?
First and foremost, researchers often have used poor-quality vitamin supplements. They have made an assumption that all vitamins are the same, and that cheap supplements are just as good as expensive ones. They are wrong! Quality makes a huge difference. The details related to a supplement are often critical.
A friend told me about an experience she had with her father’s cardiologist a number of years ago. He recommended to her father that he take 400 IU of vitamin E daily. My friend, who was very active in helping her elderly father with his medications and nutrition, added, “He takes that. And of course, he takes natural vitamin E in the highest quality form.” The cardiologist replied, “Vitamin E is vitamin E.”
My friend persisted, “Not really. All of the studies that show benefits from vitamin E supplementation use d-tocopherol forms of the vitamin, not dl-tocopherol forms.” He stared at her for a moment and then said, “Come with me.” They walked to his office and he thrust a copy of a medical journal article into her hands.
She took the article, turned to the last page, and then pointed out to the cardiologist what he had failed to read in the tiny legal-sized type at the end of the article: “In this study, d-tocopherol vitamin E was used; the positive benefits were not found when dl-tocopherol products were used.” He was stunned. He said, “I need to have my assistant call all my patients. The four-dollar bottle of vitamin E isn’t going to help them.” They really do need a high quality item like Health Masters’ Super Potent E if they want to be helped.
Actually, when my friend told me this story I was surprised that the cardiologist had said what he said. Many times doctors refuse to admit that they don’t know, or that they have made a mistake and especially it seems, when it comes to nutritional advice.
Types of products vary for all vitamins, minerals, and herbs. You must be wise in your selection!
For example, pyridoxal 5-phosphate—the functional form of vitamin B-6 that is easily used by cells—is much more effective than crude vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine). To use pyridoxine, the body has to convert it to pyridoxal 5-phosphate, and the elderly and chronically ill often have difficulty making that conversion. That is why our Cortico B5 B6 is so effective.
As another example, the body uses forms of B-12 such as methylcobalamin. The cynacobalamin form of B-12 is much more difficult for the cells to absorb, and again, especially so for the elderly and chronically ill.
Why do scientists use poor-quality vitamins and minerals in their studies? One of the reasons is that they are cheap and are often donated by vitamin companies. Second, the scientists know little about vitamin and mineral chemistry—especially as it relates to chronic illness or brain function.
Truth #2: What We Eat Directly Impacts Thinking and Behavior
In the last decade, one of the fastest-growing areas in medical research has focused on the impact of nutrition on thinking and behavior, in both children and adults. Several of the foremost studies have involved prisoners and probation violators. One study found that more than 50 percent of parolees who had a typical American junk food diet committed antisocial acts, compared to only 8 percent who ate a healthy diet. Similar results were found for narcotic abuse—47 percent of those with bad diets abused drugs, but only 13 percent on a healthy diet were abusers.
Another study found that adult felons had very low levels of magnesium, zinc, folate, and vitamin B-6. Violent offenders had five to nine major deficiencies. In a children’s correctional center, researchers saw a 43 percent reduction in serious crimes after diets were improved.
In a study of the general population, 60 percent of adolescents in one study were deficient in iron, 57 percent in vitamin A, 43 percent in vitamin C, 39 percent in vitamin B1 (thiamine), and 10 percent in riboflavin.
In a study conducted in the New York public-school system, more than 1.1 million students were given multivitamins and the results were amazing: higher SAT scores, improved attention and learning, and less antisocial behavior.
Health Masters’ B Complex Vitamins improve brain function. Several studies have shown that a vitamin B-12 deficiency has been linked to dementia, and in some cases, dementia has been reversed with vitamin B-12 supplementation (although not in Alzheimer’s patients).
Prenatal and early childhood nutrition impacts later life. Scientific studies are providing more and more evidence that a person’s future health can be programmed even before birth. One study found that mothers, who were fed the fish oil component DHA, had female babies who had far fewer breast cancers as adults. Another study discovered that mothers who were given higher doses of choline (a vitamin-like substance) during pregnancy produced offspring who had higher IQs and better memory as adults. Health Masters’ Cod Liver Oil is a high quality concentrate of DHA.
Increasingly we are finding that early nutritional patterns—for good or bad—set up health-related results later in life. Even some of the so-called “inherited diseases” (such as atherosclerosis) can be avoided by changes in nutrition early in life. In like manner, the risk of cancer can be lowered.
Truth #3: Supplements Work...and Toxins Kill
We are often suspended between two realities when it comes to our health:
• We are taking in far more toxins than we know.
• We are taking far fewer supplements than we need.
Toxins Kill. Toxic substances are almost impossible to avoid. Over time, they kill both the body and brain.
Cigarette smoking is toxic to human lung tissue. If you are smoking...don’t.
If you are drinking fluoridated water...don’t. (Click here for my post on poisons added to your water)
If you are eating foods laced with MSG (sodium glutamate), carrageen, or any additive that has glutamate...don’t.
If you are eating foods with partially hydrogenated oil or hydrolyzed proteins...don’t.
If you are drinking beverages or eating foods that use aspartame (NutraSweet™)...don’t, Use Health Masters’ Stevia.
If you are eating foods with nitrites (most deli processed meats)...don’t.
If you are eating swordfish, shark, tilefish, and king mackerel—all of which have been shown to have high mercury levels...don’t.
These products are part of a large “elixir of death.” Toxins damage all cells, but especially brain cells, even in extremely small concentrations, sometimes as little as several millionths of a gram. Health Masters’ Chelation Therapy is our formula for removing toxic heavy metals and poisons from your system.
But, you may be saying, if these food substances you list are unsafe, the government would say so.
Not really. In the case of aspartame, once the substance was approved by the FDA, after limited short-term clinical trials, is became part of a class of substances that are virtually impossible to remove from the approval list. The reason is this: Scientific studies in human beings must show that the substance is harmful. Simple correlations of data and animal studies are insufficient to have a product removed. To conduct the high-level scientific study that must be conducted for aspartame to be pulled from the market, a researcher needs to feed one group of human beings aspartic acid, and another group a placebo. No ethical scientist will feed a group of human beings aspartic acid! That’s because researchers for years have fed aspartic acid to research animals if they wanted to induce brain abnormalities, including brain cancer, abnormal brain ganglion, and “brain holes” that are genuine gaps in brain tissue.
Even when the government knows a product is unsafe and says so, the information rarely gets to the public. Are you aware that for years, the Environmental Protection Agency has taken a stand on mercury in fish? The agency identifies the four fish that I mentioned above and says THEY SHOULD NEVER BE EATEN. Even so, you can find one or more of these items on the menus of most restaurants that offer fish.
Every month, physicians across our nation are sent letters recalling pharmaceutical products that were previously declared safe by the FDA. Just because the government says a product is safe, doesn’t mean that subsequent research will find that product to be safe. More than 100,000 people die each year from complications associated with pharmaceutical drugs. (By the way, that’s twice the number of soldiers who died in the Vietnam War in ten years of counting deaths from that war.)
Supplements Work. Countless studies, and a growing number of them every year, have provided a mountain of evidence that high-quality supplements, administered regularly over time, work to promote health.
In fact, most diseases—both chronic and acute—can be avoided and treated with simple changes in diet and a relatively few numbers of high-potency supplements. That includes diseases that might be considered behavioral or brain-related.
I could give you references for literally hundreds of medical and scientific studies that show major health benefits from supplementation, but let me share with you three principles that are foundational truths:
First, vitamins and minerals work together. Taking one isolated vitamin or one supplement isn’t adequate. You need all of Health Master’s B Complex vitamins, for example, working together. You also need to take balanced proportions of some minerals.
Second, it is vital that you build an “antioxidant network.” The antioxidants work to support one another. Health Master’s Excellent C replenishes the effectiveness of Health Master’s Super Potent E, and Super Potent E replenishes the effectiveness of the carotenoids, and so on.
Third, it is very important to understand that different vitamins and minerals impact cells in different ways. Health Master’s Super Potent E, for example, is lipid (fat) soluble and its main benefits to the cell are in the fatty membranes of cells. Health Master’s Excellent C is water soluble and its main benefits are to the cytoplasm and other “watery” parts of a cell’s structure. This is yet another reason to take a wide range of vitamins and minerals—each has specific benefit.
Does every person need supplements? In a perfect world, my answer would be “probably not.” But let me quickly define for you what a perfect world entails: your mother ate a diet of organic, freshly prepared foods even before you were conceived, you were fed this same healthy diet from the moment you were born, and you continued to follow this prescription for nutritional health all your life to this moment. Furthermore, for your world to be “perfect” you would have needed to be shielded from countless pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, as well as all fluoride, aluminum, cadmium, lead, mercury, industrial chemicals, second-hand smoke, and major air pollutants. You would need to have been given no mercury-based vaccinations or mercury-filled dental amalgam fillings. You would have had to drink only filtered or distilled water all your life. And...you must have lived and continue to live a life that is virtually stress-free, get adequate sleep every night, and exercise moderately every day. If all these things have been in place since birth, you probably don’t need supplementation.
Alas. I’ve never met a person who has lived in such a perfect world!
A total “healthy lifestyle” approach is required. Supplementation only works to its maximum benefit if it is part of a total “healthy lifestyle” regimen. That means a lifestyle rooted in a nutritional eating plan, an exercise plan, adequate sleep, and sufficient relaxation.
Truth #4: Discipline Is Required
Not long ago I reread an article I had read several years ago. I was struck again by the simplicity of this article’s conclusion.
A renowned expert in hypertension (high blood pressure) gave a lecture to a prestigious group of doctors. He confided to this group that he had developed the very condition he studied—hypertension. Then he went on to say that he had cured himself of this in a relatively short time by eating a “Mediterranean diet.” He had taken no medications.
He went on to discuss the fairly complex combinations of drugs that most hypertensive patients require—usually five or more medications. He discussed the serious complications associated with them.
Why didn’t this physician recommend a dietary approach to curing hypertension? He stated, “For most people, a dietary approach is not practical.”
What would lead a physician and researcher to this conclusion? Most people are undisciplined. They can barely discipline themselves to pop a few pills every day. To really take charge of their health nutritionally...that requires heavy-duty discipline.
Or does it?
All discipline is rooted in habit. And habits are learned. The good news is that new habits can be learned, and old bad habits can be replaced with new habits!
Good nutrition practices offer the hope of tremendous help for a wide variety of conditions—from atherosclerosis, heart attacks, strokes...to neurodegenerative diseases and autoimmune disorders...to eye diseases and behavioral problems...to many cancers.
The nutritional secrets that can radically improve health are not based on some hidden knowledge or on a secret formula that is available only to a select group of people. To the contrary! Basic nutritional advice is simple to understand. The principles can be implemented in easy ways. And, the results can be profound!
A question I have been asked often through the years is this, “If supplements are so advantageous, why hasn’t my doctor told me about them? Why doesn’t he prescribe supplements?”
The plain and simple truth is this: many doctors know very little about nutrition. They are not trained in nutrition as part of their medical-school education. Some schools of medicine now offer a single course in nutrition, but virtually no medical schools encourage physicians to become expert in nutritional science or to stay current with nutritional research.
Most practicing physicians do not stay current with medical research related to vitamins, mineral, herbs, and natural remedies. Most would stare at you blankly if you used the terms “antioxidant network,” “excitotoxins,” or “glutamate poisoning.” Most cannot tell you what nitrites do in the body, or precisely how free radicals work.
Furthermore, very few general-practice physicians know enough about vitamins and minerals to recommend dosages or products.
Certainly, if I need to have my appendix removed, or if I need to have a broken bone set, you can rest assured that I will be making my way to a physician as fast as I can get there. But if I want an answer to a very basic question, “How can I become healthier?” I am not going to limit my answer to what a physician says. In most cases, a physician might say, “lose weight” (because most people are overweight) and “lower your stress level.” (And if a person is a smoker, the physician is likely to say, “Quit smoking.”) But very few physicians are going to outline a complete lifestyle approach to better health.
Do you have the discipline required to take charge of your health—not only to get healthy but to stay healthy?
Do you know what to do and why to do what is recommended to you?
I hope your answer is a resounding YES!
All of these high quality supplements can also be purchased by calling my office at 1-800-726-1834.
I remain sincerely,
Dr. Ted Broer
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*This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Neither the information, nor any formula(s) mentioned are intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.