| 10/30/02 | NEWSLETTER | carlstonmd.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Dear Patients | HOME | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I would like to comment on this newsletter process. First, thank you for the appreciative comments. It does take me a good deal of time to create these missives, and although I enjoy the process, it is very good to learn that you appreciate the effort. Second, as the content of these newsletters is cautionary, I hope that you apply the lessons for action rather than just soaking up fear. It is important to recognize a few truths about health and medicine. 1) Our knowledge is limited. We don�t know all the answers and as we gain information, practices that "everyone knew" were the "right" thing to do, turn out to be incorrect. This is mostly a problem of self-deception. We assume we know, and are then shocked when we learn otherwise. On the one side, the media blares the latest discovery as truth, lacking sufficient understanding to ask needed questions. On the other side, physicians tend to assume that whatever was the "truth" in medical school still is, despite the fact that no one asked questions then, and those questions remain unasked. Ignorance, and arrogance are a deadly combination. This is the reason my new book is dedicated "To those with the courage to ask questions in their desire to learn". 2) Thankfully the resilience of living beings enables our bodies to do pretty well without obsessively doing everything right. That is real important because we often don�t know what "right" is. 3) As my aging body reminds me on a daily basis, entropy catches up with us all. We just have to do our best to do the right things and go on. It is important to keep a sense of humor about it. I often say that life is too short to take it seriously. Please use these newsletters to improve the quality of your life rather than dwelling on the ill health effects of whatever. I hope that they stimulate you to think and to feel. Best, Michael Carlston |
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| In This Issue: | INDEX | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TOXINS IN FISH | TOP | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Man-made toxins in fish and omega-3 oils
Most people have heard that omega-3 oils are good for you. This is true. There is a great deal of evidence that these oils reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and many forms of neurological disease including Alzheimer�s and Attention Deficit Disorder. Eating fish twice a week reduces the risk of dying of a heart attack by 40%. That is like reducing your cholesterol by 100 points. Eating fish is the
best known way to increase omega-3 oil consumption. Recent findings add to some previous concerns about eating too much of a good thing, i.e. fish. Although seafood can carry toxins (especially mercury), the biggest problem is with freshwater fish, which have been shown to contain high concentrations of mercury, PCB's, dioxin, DDT, chlordane and other heavy metals on testing throughout the US. Dishearteningly, as of 2001, 28% of the lake surface area in the USA, 14% of river miles, 100% of the Gulf Coast, 92% of the Atlantic Coast and several areas of the Pacific Coast were under fish consumption advisories from the FDA. Brand new information shows that a significant number of people in the SF Bay Area who eat lots of fish are accumulating high levels of mercury in their bodies. What could that look like? Mercury toxicity looks like ADD or Alzheimer's. Fatigue, hair loss, headache, fine muscle coordination, muscle pains and difficulty with language skills are all symptoms of mercury poisoning. The FDA has issued guidelines recommending limitations to the amount of fish young children and child-bearing women should eat. Young children:
These guidelines represent an attempt to help reduce American exposure to methylmercury, but the effort to make the guidelines easy to follow confuses as much as it helps. Fish does sometimes carry toxins, especially freshwater fish. However, fish and the omega-3 oils they contain have many extremely powerful beneficial health effects. The average US diet is quite low in omega-3 oil consumption. Some fish have high levels of mercury and other contaminants, but others have little or none. Dropping all fish indiscriminantly would be foolish. There are other ways of getting of omega-3 oils in your diet than eating fish. Tests show that fish oil capsules rarely if ever contain mercury. Nuts and flax seeds contain omega-3 oils. The flax seeds should be ground up, as you cannot chew them adequately. The seed contains plant estrogens and phytosterols that help reduce the risk of certain cancers (breast and prostate). At the same time there is evidence that flax oil without the husk might actually increase the risk of those same cancers. Although I find evening primrose oil useful for some purposes, when omega-3 supplementation is the goal I do not recommend it because of the other oils it contains. What is the bottom line? Balance all of the information
Treatment = Detoxification
Mercury in Fish (Listed in order of descending levels) HIGH � (0.73 � 1.45 PPM mean) Tilefish (Golden Snapper) Swordfish Shark King Mackerel MODERATE � (0.23 � 0.60 PPM mean) * Red Snapper * Orange Roughy * Sea Bass Grouper * Trout (freshwater) Tuna (fillets) Lobster * Trout (saltwater) Halibut * Cod * Mahi Mahi * Ocean Perch LITTLE - (0.05 � 0.17 PPM mean) * Haddock Tuna (canned) Crab * Herring Catfish * Sole Scallop NONE (measured mean = No mercury detected) Shrimp Salmon Tilapia Oysters Clams * = minimal sampling and thus figures might be less reliable ------------------------------- Omega �3 OIL CONTENT
Endangered Sea Bass Miscellaneous concerns Escolar - Can cause severe diarrhea. Has received attention as a trendy gourmet fish because of it rich flavor and extremely high omega-3 content (one source claims it is over 25% fat by weight). Also called castor oil fish, Ex-Lax fish, butterfish. May be a problem mostly for those who eat more than a few bites. FDA formerly banned this fish and then backtracked, allowing its sale for human consumption. They are discussing banning escolar once again. Salmon - Despite the ideal combination of no mercury but high omega-3 oils, much of it is farm-raised. As with many other mammals, salmon can develop prion disease (the most widely known is "mad cow disease"). Farm-raised salmon are often fed fish meal, which is the "ideal" way to spread prion disease. I go out of my way to find wild salmon. |
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| ANITBACTERIAL SOAPS | TOP | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Antibacterial Soaps do not kill germs on hands, but might lead to antibiotic resistance. The American obsession with killing germs � antimicrobial socks, etc., etc., is foolish, because it probably doesn't work and probably
actually makes us sicker and more vulnerable to nasty infections. |
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