Nutritional Medicine

Diet and Disease
The foods we eat and the way we cook and process them have profound effects on our health. The National Cancer Institute states, "Serious diseases that are linked to what we eat kill an estimated three out of four Americans each year. These diseases include heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, some types of cancer, and diabetes."

The NCI states further that, "[These] leading causes of death are largely preventable through lifestyle choices such as eating more fruits and vegetables. Eating 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day is one of the easiest things everyone can do to lower their chances for all of the diet-related diseases."

Phytochemicals
And it's not just heart disease and cancer. Many diseases-from arthritis and headaches to PMS and hot flashes-are influenced, both positively and negatively, by diet and our nutritional status. Plants provide many beneficial nutrients (phytochemicals), which may protect against disease. For example, isothiocyanates (found in broccoli, etc.) may suppress tumor growth and hormone production. Flavonoids (found in fruits), soy and lycopene (from tomatoes) also demonstrate protection against cancer and reduce inflammation.

Fast Foods
Conversely, chemicals ingested through the use of processed and fast foods (trans-fats, corn syrup, nitrites, etc.) have been shown to interfere with the health-promoting actions of the beneficial nutrients, and contribute to disease production. Did you know that the sugar contained in one large soft drink can diminish the activity of immune system cells by up to 50% for several hours?

As we get further and further from eating foods in their natural state, the way nature has provided them to us, we continue to risk deterioration to our health. A diet emphasizing fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes (beans) and nut and seeds goes a long way to providing the necessary building blocks of a healthy body and mind.

Reduce Inflammation
Many of the chronic diseases we face in present times are characterized by inflammation. Americans generally eat too many foods that foster and promote inflammation in the body (i.e., fats from animal products, hydrogenated vegetable oils and fried foods). Avoiding these, and eating more omega-3 fats and anthocyanidins, found for example in flax seeds, walnuts and blueberries, can be powerful aids in helping reduce inflammation.

Individual needs
Additionally, each individual has differing needs. It is now widely accepted that a person's state-of-health arises from the dynamic interaction of nutritional and environmental factors with his or her genetic uniqueness. These factors can positively or negatively impact the extent to which people will realize their genetic potential, maintain health and recover (or not) from disease.

Just as one person may only require only seven hours of sleep while another needs nine, nutrient requirements vary greatly from one person to another. A relative deficiency in one or more of these nutrients can hinder the recovery process. This was recognized as early as 1952, when Roger Williams, PhD and discoverer of vitamin B-5, wrote about biochemical individuality, postulating that many diseases were modifiable by personally-tailored nutritional therapies.

In this context, individualized diet and nutrition plans may be discussed with patients at the Acupuncture Center of Cary to maximize their response to treatment. After a thorough history and intake, if it is deduced that dietary changes are an important factor in recovery, these will be recommended.

Nutritional Supplements
Under some circumstances, nutritional supplements may be important factors in health and healing, and are comprised of two classes. First is the use of general vitamin and mineral support to insure adequate intake to prevent disease. This includes multivitamins to guard against deficiencies incurred by frequent dietary indiscretions, as well as the use of specific nutrients known to be required in higher doses than what is often acquired in the standard American diet. Extra calcium and magnesium protect bones, Vitamin C and pantothenic acid protect against stress, folic acid prevents neural tube defects, Vitamin D guards against osteoporosis, acidophilus offers protection after antibiotic use, etc.

Therapeutic Nutrition
The second use of nutritional supplements is therapeutic, the use of specific nutrients to safely adjust biochemical processes that have gone awry. Many plants contain nutrients that are not officially recognized as vitamins or minerals, but which provide potent health benefits. For example, 5-HTP is an amino acid that helps raise serotonin levels in the brain, which may have a positive effect on sleep, mood, anxiety, aggression, appetite, and pain sensation. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is an antioxidant that helps with cardiac conditions, including high blood pressure, breast cancer, diabetes, immune deficiency, parkinson’s, muscular dystrophy and periodontal disease. Its levels are frequently lowered by prescription drugs, i.e. statin medications used for high cholesterol.

Synergistic Combinations
At the Acupuncture Center of Cary, we frequently recommend the use of these and many other nutritional supplements for their positive health effects. We pride ourselves on staying current with the most recent advances in the use of these supplements, and provide literature to our patients explaining why we are recommending them, including studies and research validating their efficacy.

Some of these nutrients provide their benefits when used by themselves, but often, like herbs, they work better in synergistic combinations. Many of the supplements we use are formulas designed to selectively balance and enhance target functions in the body. Consider the article reproduced below regarding a study on nutrition and heart disease:

Micronutrients helpful for heart failure patients
Last Updated: 2005-12-06 15:48:25 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Micronutrient supplementation improves heart function and quality-of-life in elderly patients with chronic heart failure, according to a report from investigators in Germany and the UK.

"The vitamin story has been confused with studies examining the response to single vitamin supplements in relatively low-risk patients," Dr. Klaus K. A. Witte from Castle Hill Hospital, Cottingham, told Reuters Health.

On the other hand, "CHF patients are at higher risk and might have multiple deficiencies. Replacing just one micronutrient might expose deficiency elsewhere (the vitamin E and C interaction, for example), so a combination is important," Witte explained.

He and his and colleagues investigated the effects of long-term multiple micronutrient supplementation in 32 patients older than age 70 years with stable heart failure.

After an average of 295 days, the patients who had been assigned to get micronutrient supplements experienced significant improvements in cardiac pumping ability, the team reports in the European Heart Journal.

Also, patients taking micronutrients had an increase in their quality-of-life score, whereas the participants who had been given placebo supplements had a decrease in their quality-of-life score.

The differences in overall quality-of-life score were mainly due to improvements in scores for breathlessness on exertion, quality of sleep, and daytime concentration among the patients taking micronutrients.

"At present there are few supplements that include the constituents we used," Witte said. "I would generally recommend a combined multivitamin supplement along with zinc, copper, and selenium. I also feel strongly that a high dose Coenzyme-Q10 is important. Most currently available supplements do not have enough Co-Q10."
SOURCE: European Heart Journal, November 2005.