A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision sending abortion rights back to the states could have serious implications for patients on isotretinoin and other dermatologic drugs.
“There are serious ethical, moral and emotional consequences to this Supreme Court decision for patients taking medications that are prescribed to them that could hurt their developing fetus,” Jane M. Grant-Kels, MD, FAAD, vice chair of the department of dermatology and professor of dermatology, pathology and pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Health Center, told Healio.
The recent Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade could have lasting implications for many patients on acne medications.
The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision on June 24 effectively overruled the Roe v. Wade decision of 1972, which had declared abortion a constitutional right. With this new decision, the matter of abortion was sent back to the states, where several had “trigger laws” in place to immediately outlaw the practice and, for many others, legislation is now pending to do the same.
Grant-Kels, who is also the founding director of the cutaneous oncology center and melanoma program and associate director of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Health’s dermatology residency program, is one of a group of dermatologists speaking out about how practices may have to change their approach to certain medications due to this decision.
Isotretinoin, commonly prescribed for severe acne, is teratogenic, meaning it can cause serious malformations to a fetus. There is a 20% to 35% risk for congenital abnormalities in pregnant patients on isotretinoin, according to Grant-Kels and colleagues. The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision affects a host of other dermatological medications; however, isotretinoin is one most often prescribed in the dermatology world that will be affected by this ruling.
Patients of childbearing age are counseled throughout isotretinoin use to use regular birth control and are required to take monthly pregnancy tests. However, with no form of birth control being 100% effective except for complete abstinence, pregnancies do still occur. If a patient does become pregnant while on isotretinoin, termination is often recommended due to the risks to the fetus, according to Grant-Kels and colleagues.
“In those states where abortion is not an option, if a young girl on isotretinoin for acne gets pregnant, she will not have a local option for an abortion to terminate her pregnancy,” Grant-Kels said. “This is going to alter in certain states the medications we choose to use or not use. It also takes autonomy, or the right to have control over your own health care, away from these women.”
Isotretinoin is efficacious in treating severe, scarring acne, according to Grant-Kels and colleagues. Without abortion available, many dermatologists may stop prescribing it to women of childbearing age, leaving these patients with lifelong scars.
“If you take isotretinoin out of my toolbox, there are women who are going to walk around with permanent scars from acne for the rest of their lives. And if you have a child with fetal abnormalities, it can mean financial and emotional turmoil for a family,” Grant-Kels said.
In light of this decision, dermatologists need to find a new algorithm for acne treatment in the states where abortion is not available. Many dermatologists may choose not to prescribe isotretinoin if abortion access is limited, meaning patients will have to rely on other less effective medications or treatments, Grant-Kels and colleagues wrote.
These options could include long-term antibiotics, which could lead to antibiotic resistance; topical medications or cosmetic treatments such as pulsed dye lasers, radiofrequency devices or intense pulsed light sources; and photodynamic therapy.
Since many of these products are not covered by insurance, a disparity arises between those who can afford these treatments out-of-pocket and those who cannot.
“I think we need to have very long discussions with patients now,” Grant-Kels said. “There’s a whole list of medications, most of which could be lifesaving and certainly life altering, and to remove them from our toolbox, which this law does, takes away physician autonomy and patient autonomy.”
Many patients experienced significant hair loss following COVID-19 infection, according to a case series published in the Journal of Drugs and Dermatology.
“The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and primarily affects the epithelium of the airways,” Samantha Kalner, BS,and Irene Vergilis, MD, of Dermatology and Skin Surgery in New York City, wrote.
Many patients experienced significant hair loss following COVID-19 infection.
“Hair loss has emerged as a frequent noted side effect of infection with COVID-19 and has been observed in many patients who have recovered from a documented COVID-19 illness,” the authors continued.
Kalner and Vergilis conducted a retrospective study evaluating the prevalence of hair loss in patients who had recovered from COVID-19.
Of 62 patients with hair loss, histological evaluations of hair samples from 48 had telogen effluvium, 12 showed evidence of androgenetic alopecia and two showed alopecia areata.
“Telogen effluvium is the most commonly seen cutaneous complication following the recovery from COVID-19,” the authors wrote. “This is perhaps due to the physical and emotional stress that accompanies COVID-19. Furthermore, since fever is a common symptom of COVID-19, a few months after having a high fever or recovering from an illness, many people observe noticeable hair loss.”
A strong relationship between hair loss and COVID-19 was found in this study, according to the researchers, raising questions regarding the virus’s effect on autoimmune disorders such as alopecia areata.
“Regardless of its nature, hair loss seems to be a common finding following recovery from COVID-19 infection and a larger study may be needed to evaluate what can be done to reduce the number of cases of hair loss,” the authors added.
There is unequivocal evidence that regular cannabis smoking causes acute lung inflammation, but what are the long-term consequences?
“There is unequivocal evidence that habitual or regular marijuana smoking is not harmless and causes respiratory symptoms and airway inflammation.” If you take biopsies from the airways of those that smoke crack, cannabis, or tobacco, compared to nonsmokers, there is significantly more damage in the lungs of crack smokers, marijuana smokers, and tobacco smokers. And, the levels of damage seemed comparable—especially between the marijuana smokers and tobacco smokers—which is remarkable, since the tobacco smokers were smoking about a pack a day, whereas the marijuana smokers were only smoking about 20 joints a week, rather than 25 cigarettes a day. And those smoking crack were just doing a gram or two a week. So, to see similar rates of damage between marijuana smokers and cigarette smokers suggests each joint is way worse than each cigarette.
Indeed, we’ve known for 30 years that smoking three or four joints is the equivalent of smoking a pack a day of cigarettes, in terms of bronchitis symptoms and acute lung damage. How is that possible? Well, it may be the way they’re smoked. Pot smokers inhale more deeply, and then hold the smoke in four times longer, resulting in more tar deposition in the lungs. And, joints are more “loosely packed [and] unfiltered,” resulting in both “hotter smoke” and smokier smoke. So, even though in many ways smoke is smoke, the different “method of smoking” may explain how a few joints a day appear to cause as much inflammation as an entire pack a day of cigarettes.
“The visual evidence of airway injury was at times striking.” This is what your airways are supposed to look like—the tubes inside your lungs. This is your lung. This is your lung on tobacco; see how your airways get all inflamed? And, this is your lung on pot. You get the same kind of inflammation, and what’s crazy is that’s just five joints a day, compared to 26 cigarettes a day in the tobacco smokers.
If you compare the respiratory symptoms associated with marijuana versus tobacco, compared to nonsmokers, both marijuana smokers and tobacco smokers have elevated rates of chronic cough and excess sputum production, and acute episodes of bronchitis and wheezing. Now, when you quit tobacco, these respiratory symptoms eventually go away. Does the same thing happen with marijuana? What are the “effects of quitting cannabis on respiratory symptoms”?
About 30 to 40% of regular cannabis users suffer from cough, excess sputum, wheezing, and shortness of breath. A thousand young adults were followed for years, and in those who kept smoking, their respiratory symptoms got worse, or remained the same. But, those that quit tended to get better.
If we don’t quit, what are the long-term lung consequences? What about COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases), like emphysema? Even if smoking a single joint compromises lung function as much as up to five cigarettes, you’re still smoking 15 times less overall, and so, should end up with less long-term lung damage, right? That is, indeed, what’s been found.
Even long-term pot smokers don’t appear to suffer lasting lung damage. Follow people for 20 years, and an occasional joint appears to have no discernible effect on long-term lung function, though there may be some “accelerated decline” in function among those smoking joints every day for decades, and so marijuana “moderation” is suggested.
In other words, “a caution against regular, heavy marijuana usage is prudent.” But “even regular heavy use of marijuana [is nothing] compared with the grave pulmonary consequences of tobacco.” “Any toxicity of marijuana pales when compared with the greatest legalized killer in the world today.” In fact, the greatest risk to our lungs from marijuana may be that it can be a “gateway” drug to cigarettes.
One of the most obvious and easy-to-understand emotions–and its physical consequences–is the emotion of fear. (marvent/Shutterstock)
Cancer leaves many wounds. And while we have a tendency to focus only on the physical effects that cancer causes, anyone who has battled cancer will tell you that the emotional scars can be just as jarring.
Beginning the first day you hear those words, “You have cancer,” the world as you knew it is suddenly turned upside down. In a matter of minutes, your mind races to comprehend the impact of the words you just heard. And for days afterward – and any number of long, sleepless nights – a thousand thoughts may come and go, along with a crushing cascade of emotions.
“Please, walk me down from the emotions of love and joy” – said no one ever. While there are as many chemical reactions in the body that equate to these positive, desirable emotions than there are to the negative, undesirable emotions of fear, anxiety, and stress, the point is that emotions are powerful influences that affect the state of our health.
Emotions Release Chemicals Throughout Your Body
The chemistry of emotions has been well researched. An article published in the International Journal for Modern Trends in Science and Technology describes emotions as “complex chemical reactions in the body’s nervous system characterized by neurophysiologic changes associated with thoughts and behavioral responses.” Put simply, emotions are made up of chemicals and are a direct result of the thoughts we think.
No one would want to be emotion-less, or without emotions, as they enrich our life experience. If we pay attention to our emotions, we can gain insight into how our body is translating the experiences we face. It is when there is a prolonged imbalance of negative emotions that our body may become overwhelmed and respond in a negative, unhealthy manner. Put another way, a preponderance of negative emotions results in a preponderance of chemical reactions that, over time, can damage the physical body.
One of the most obvious and easy-to-understand emotions–and its physical consequences–is the emotion of fear. Fear is a survival response. And fear is very physical. Fear begins when you perceive (in your mind) a threat. In order for your body to handle the perceived threat, myriad physiological responses happen within milliseconds:
The amygdala (your middle brain) springs into action, alerting your nervous system with an all-hands-on-deck emergency alert;
Cortisol, adrenaline, and other stress hormones are immediately released into your body;
Your heart rate rises;
Your blood pressure goes up;
You breathe faster;
And believe it or not, your blood flow changes direction – it flows away from your heart and into your extremities just in case you need to run fast to outdistance an enemy.
In other words, your body is preparing itself for fight-or-flight. It’s doing what it was designed to do. (5 Things You Never Knew About Fear)
The emotion of fear is all too real for cancer patients and it can continue for long periods of time. Depression is another emotion that cancer patients often experience. According to The National Cancer Institute (NCI), one in three cancer patients experience mental or emotional distress with a reported 42% percent of breast cancer patients and 41% of head and neck cancer patients leading the way. Also according to the NCI, 25% of cancer survivors experience symptoms of depression, 45% experience anxiety, and many also experience PTSD symptoms. Sadly, cancer survivors are 2x as likely to die by suicide.
Turning the Tables on Negative Emotions
So how do we deal with these emotions that are a very real reaction to the physical threat we face — the threat of cancer? In a fascinating study reported in the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, mindfulness-based stress reduction was demonstrated to be a significant intervention for breast cancer survivors. Mindfulness simply refers to a practice that uses meditative and attention-directed exercises to minimize stress and increase awareness of the present.
The goal of mindfulness is to purposefully disengage from beliefs, thoughts, or emotions and to focus instead on the present moment. If you can teach yourself to detach yourself from the thoughts and emotions you are experiencing, you can discover a power you never even knew you had.
Another study, “Evidence for the Role of Mindfulness in Cancer: Benefits and Techniques” published by Cureus, researchers evaluated the effects of various mindfulness techniques on cancer patients. Their conclusions?
Cancer-related sleep disorders: results indicated a notable decrease in insomnia and other sleep disturbances commonly experienced by cancer patients.
Radiation therapy: participants who actively practiced Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) experienced significant improvement as compared with those who did not practice the technique.
Mindfulness and the Immune Response: T-cells of participants in the group that participated in MBSR were more readily activated. These T-cells are the heroes of the immune system, effective in fighting cancer cells and other unwanted intruders.
Practice Sitting Meditation: sit in a comfortable position and direct your full attention on the sensation of breathing.
Perform Your Own Internal Body Scan: focus awareness on individual parts of your body.
Practice Being Non-judgmental: pay full attention to whatever is occurring at the current moment, but do not judge it.
Have Patience: accept the fact that events unfold in their own time.
Develop a Beginner’s Mind: try to see everything as if it were happening for the first time.
Trust Yourself: Learn to honor your feelings rather to suppress or distrust them.
Avoid Striving Too Hard: practice having no goal other than meditation itself, accepting what thoughts come and go.
Learn to Let Go: try not to hold onto, or reject your experience.
Practice Kindness: practice being kind and warm in the face of difficulties while avoid being self-critical.
Develop Your Innate Curiosity: investigate whatever appears in your experience, without automatic judgment.
Develop the Art of Acceptance: practice being objective as you completely accept all thoughts, feelings, sensations, and beliefs that come and go in your mind’s process.
Start by steering your mind toward positive thoughts. It can take a little practice because the natural tendency is to stray from the thought at hand. When you notice your mind doing this – stop, breathe, focus, and redirect your thoughts. Allow yourself to envision a healthier body, a body without cancer.
In order to stay as positive as possible, you may find, as I did, that I needed to disengage from negative people that surrounded me and find like-minded people who encouraged me and understood what I was going through. If that is the case for you, too, realize that this may be an opportunity for you to give yourself permission to focus on what you need to fight the battle you’re fighting. And make no mistake – cancer is a battle. Why not try incorporating the art of mindfulness into your arsenal of cancer-fighting techniques?
Nutritional therapy has the potential to provide personalized treatment with a significantly lower risk of side-effects
A depiction of the brain as food. (Shutterstock)
Though medical science has made significant advances in researching and treating mental health diseases and developed new drugs each year to control the conditions and symptoms, mental illness remains one of the most persistent issues in current society.
“Mental health problems are the single largest cause of disabilities in the world,” the Pan American Health Organization reported in 2019, before the ravages of COVID-19. The organization writes that depression, dementia, anxiety, and alcohol abuse are some of the major disabilities caused by mental health problems.
Research into the root causes of mental health issues has provided promising solutions. The Walsh Research Institute, for instance, has made significant breakthroughs in research to unravel the biochemistry behind mental disorders, including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.
The successful application of research into nutrient-based therapy protocols and other alternative solutions isn’t only bringing hope to patients but is revolutionizing mental health care.
Advanced Nutrient Therapy
The Walsh Research Institute reported that most mental health diseases are associated with the chemical balance of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Patients with ADHD, depression, schizophrenia, and various behavior disorders have an obvious chemical imbalance.
While these chemical imbalances may not cause the illness and may be a concurrent result of other factors or even arise as a consequence of mental distress, they may offer an avenue for treatment. That said, some of these imbalances have proven controversial, as in the case of the ongoing debate over the theory that depression is caused by a lack of serotonin.
In this modern era, drugs designed to increase serotonin levels in the brain have been based on an assumption that this imbalance is the root of depression, an assumption that has driven one of the most significant drug interventions in the world with limited success and an ongoing list of potential side effects.
But while pharmaceutical interventions such as antidepressants present the risk of side effects, nutritional interventions are generally much safer. Another important point is that the body has specific nutrient needs and deficiencies can cause systemic issues. The nutritional basis for treatment is very different from many current pharmaceutical interventions.
Advanced Nutrient Therapy, founded by Dr. William Walsh of the Walsh Research Institute, is based on the research data of more than 20,000 patients with various mental health issues, all of whom have undergone biochemical mapping. Nutrient therapy provides nutrition-based therapy and gives people a deeper understanding of their struggles.
Perhaps most exciting is that such research is already resulting in new, nutrient-based therapy protocols and other alternative solutions that expand far beyond the realm of medication and psychotherapy.
And this is just the start. As the science behind biochemical mapping continues to improve, we may gain the ability to dial in specific nutritive solutions for mental problems on a per-person basis. Not only does this present a more cost-effective alternative, but it’s potentially 100 percent natural or bio-identical as well.
Of course, many mental health issues aren’t solely based on nutrient deficiencies or biochemical issues. People also develop depression and anxiety due to changes in their social environment and daily lives. Treating all conditions as if they’re simply biochemical imbalances is a disservice to those who need meaningful support or effective ways to resolve real-world challenges, whether it be the loss of a loved one, financial stress, or general anxiety about a world that offers far too many reasons to be fearful of what the future holds.
Excessive Storage of Certain Nutrients Does More Harm Than Good
While nutritional interventions offer a relatively safe treatment, they’re not without potential side effects.
Excessive storage of certain nutrients in the body could be more damaging and cause serious health, especially mental health issues.
Take copper, for example. According to research, elevated copper levels can drastically affect dopamine and norepinephrine production, leading to hormone imbalance. Various mental and behavioral conditions, such as ADHD, anxiety, depression, autism, poor concentration, and learning difficulty, may be associated with copper overload.
When prescribing nutrient-based treatment, we tend to avoid “enriched” foods that might contain copper, such as spirulina and those that possess it naturally, such as organ meats. Since our daily nutrient consumption ensures biochemical needs and function, many experts pave a direct path between what we eat and how we act.
Personalized Nutrient Therapy Is the Key
In recent decades, scientists began to realize that earlier research had led to over-generalizations in medicine, diet, nutrition, and medication recommendations.
Through our growing understanding of epigenetics and biochemistry, we have learned that each person—identical twins notwithstanding—has a unique biochemical makeup and highly personalized nutritional needs. When those needs aren’t met, it can impact our physical and mental health in various ways.
Due to the stark genetic differences in how our bodies process foods, following the traditional “food pyramid” or embracing any other “generalized” diet may cause a deficiency in much-needed nutrients in some people and an overflow in others.
Antibodies are studied more than other immune proteins for association with disease. This does not mean that they are more decisive in disease outcomes. Type I interferon likely has far more impact.
Antibodies Are Not the Whole Story of Immune Resilience Toward Cancer
Much is being made of a recent study showing IgG4 antibodies spiking in the blood labs of those who are triple-injected with the mRNA COVID vaccines. Journalists are speculating that this may be the cause of increased cancers in the COVID-vaccinated. But that is not the main reason that the COVID-vaccinated are getting new cancer cases, sometimes aggressive “turbo cancers,” or coming out of remission from earlier cancer. Rather, there is earlier research that provides more plausible mechanisms for cancer risk, based on abundant prior knowledge of immune function. Let’s look at both the new study on IgG antibodies and earlier research.
The popular fallacy seems to be along these lines: ‘Antibodies are easy to test for. Plus, they are the focus of vaccine development and vaccine action. So therefore we spend a lot of time thinking and talking about them. So therefore they must be important markers of disease outcomes. So therefore they must be decisive in disease outcomes.’
After focusing my own work on cancer patients for the last 16 years as a naturopathic oncologist, if I made this mistake in thinking, most of my patients would be dead by now from misdirected efforts.
No, cancer remains a mega-problem of DNA damage, immune distraction, disrupted cell signaling, frenzied growth, lack of apoptosis, weakened tissues, angiogenesis, and metabolic derangement, as the principal features of an entity that feeds itself at the expense and to the detriment of the organ and the organism. These are the principal features of cancer, and they are hard as heck to treat successfully. I discuss that very daunting challenge here.
IgG3 Versus IgG4
First, let’s look at the new study on IgG3 versus IgG4 antibodies in the triple-jabbed. Herein, let’s call it the IgG4 study. It finds that the triple-jabbed may be developing a non-inflammatory tolerance to even high levels of spike proteins. That is, rather than having typical dyspnea, cough, olfactory and other full-blown COVID-type symptoms, IgG4 is a tolerant and tolerizing antibody that allows virions and spike protein load to accumulate in the body without the usual symptomatic alarms. Thus, a COVID+ PCR result with mild symptoms, or even no symptoms, often ensues. This may partly account for the many celebrities and politicians frequently quoted in MSM saying in so many words, ‘I tested positive for COVID, but thanks to my shots, it’s mild.’ Yet their lack of effective immune defeat of SARS-CoV-2 is what prevents their developing a lasting neutralizing immunity. So they (at least at first) tolerate high spike protein loads and are perpetually vulnerable to recurrent infections. Even more worrisome, what underlies that recurrence of mild symptoms, show the IgG4 study authors, is a precarious derangement of immune function with potentially problematic stockpiling of viral load, spike proteins and antibodies, with potentially devastating consequences for their future health outcomes. Even a myeloma like abundance of immunoglobulins can create a multiple myeloma-like disease in the COVID-vaccinated, a sludgy protein-laden blood that is harmful to the fine filtration structures, glomeruli, of the kidneys.
That immune deviation, misdirection and derangement has been previously described as pathogenic priming, a maladaptation of the immune system to either ignore or to fight ineffectively against genuine threats, while at the same time focusing its resources to slay the paper tigers of non-threatening antigens. This happened in the design of the mRNA vaccines to produce a spike protein that was characteristic of the original Wuhan strain of SARS-CoV-2, but turned out to be ineffective against Delta, Omicron and subsequent strains, as some of us had earlier warned. Because the Wuhan strain had already flamed and burned out, the COVID vaccines were obsolete by the time they were offered to the public.
Under circumstances of natural infection, whereas IgM antibodies flare for a short time after infection onset, IgG antibodies, in contrast, are slower to develop, and are those that remain long after an infection has resolved. (For example, my measles IgGs are still robust on a blood lab decades after I had measles as a child, with only natural immunity, no vaccine history.)
The subclass IgG4 is a non-inflammatory one that is correlated with tolerance to antigens, similar to allergy shots rendering the immune response more tolerant to grass pollen. IgG4 has no known effector function. Likewise, IgG4 seems to be inversely correlated with anaphylaxis. Here, in the IgG4 paper, regarding the COVID-vaccinated, IgG4 increases considerably, over 38 times, after a third mRNA injection. Please note that the scale of the y-axis is logarithmic, putting the IgG4s quite far up there.
At the same time, both triple- and double-jabbed lose a considerable amount of their IgG3 antibodies, discovered at 180-day and 210-day follow-up labs, respectively. Note again the logarithmic scale, showing cratering drop-off of IgG3 antibodies, with skyrocketing IgG4 antibodies. This is from Figure 1 of the IgG4 paper:
The subclass IgG3 is sometimes thought, including by the IgG4 authors, to be pro-inflammatory, one of many immune assaults against invading pathogens. Although there is evidence to the contrary as well. IgG3 is thus sometimes assumed, including by the IgG4 authors, and interested journalists, to neutralize, or fight effectively against, antigens.
However, there is little support, other than correlation of titers, for the assertion that IgG3 antibodies may be effective warriors against pathogens. The IgG4 study authors acknowledge an earlier observation of “IgG3 responses correlating with partial protection against HIV,” and only a rise in IgG3 antibodies after natural infection with SARS-CoV-2, such as reported here, without mechanism of its protection.
One possible clue as to the IgG4 study authors’ observations of low IgG3 is the glycosylation of IgG3 as impactful on SARS-CoV-2 infection severity. (Immunoglobulins are glycosylated protein molecules generally, but hyper-glycosylation seems to be a problem. Glycosylation is generally detrimental to its optimal function; notorious glycosylation has devastated more than simply antibodies, in our junk food loving culture.)
IgG3 antibodies are a very small proportion of IgG antibodies and have not yet been well-studied. Both IgG3 and IgG4 antibodies are generally a small proportion of all our B-cells, 3% and 4% respectively.
Low IgG3 antibodies are not necessarily correlated with low disease severity. For example, in COPD, we see this correlation of low IgG3 levels with life-threatening exacerbations of COPD. All antibodies, including IgG3 and IgG4, generally rise and then fall in case of natural infection. Below I will explain why I am not so sure the cause and effect vector goes as is currently being assumed, from low IgG3 / IgG4 ratio to generalized immune dysfunction. Rather, I suspect that it may more likely be an effect of other mechanisms, described below.
There Is so Much More to Immune Function Than Only Antibodies
The first problem with the current IgG fascination is the assumption that just because antibodies consume much attention, and are easily measurable proteins on a blood lab, that they are then necessarily impactful on the vast complexity of the rest of the immune system. Metaphorically, by assuming that that which we can see is necessarily decisive, we are looking at the skin, so to speak, and assuming that we therefore know the functions of the internal organs and that the skin is the dominant cause of internal effects. Obviously, such is not the case.
Let’s first assume that the highly mobile and ubiquitous blood contains many of the cells in our immune system and are, as a whole and in parts, key to optimal immune function. Here is the proportion of IgG immunoglobulin antibodies to the rest of the immune system:
Immunoglobulins are present on the surface of B-cells, where they act as receptors for antigens. B-cells fluctuate in number, but average 5.2% of all white blood cells. White blood cells are 0.1% of all cells in the blood. Therefore B-cells are about 0.00005% or 5 in 100,000 cells in the blood.
This proportion of B-cells to other cells in the blood is vanishingly small. If you can see the very skinny red line at the far left of the band below, that is the proportion of all B-cells compared to the vast remainder of cells in the blood. (The thin red line would actually need to be a little thinner to be true to scale.)
Now let’s look at other aspects of immune function that are powerhouse fighters against cancer, but have been associated with high viral load and/or high spike protein, such as is expected to occur after COVID vaccination. These researchers found that two of our most important cancer-fighting cells, natural killer (NK) cells and CD8+ T-cells were significantly reduced in these circumstances. Reduction in NK cells is seen with more aggressive tumors.
But the major problem with the mRNA COVID vaccines and cancer risk was shown in April of this year, in the Seneff, Nigh paper.
The science community’s pre-occupation with the relatively smaller adaptive immune system, mostly its humoral portion, and unfamiliarity or disinterest in the vastly more important and stronger innate immune system has led attention away from this seminal paper. I have to recommend not only reading but thoroughly studying the Seneff, Nigh paper for the best understanding to date of the effect of the COVID vaccines on tumorigenesis, immune-failure with respect to cancer and metastatic events.
What Seneff et al found is that the most profound threat to immune function by the mRNA vaccines is the interference with Type I interferon signaling pathways. This in turn debilitates the surveillance capabilities of the immune system in cancer detection. As a result, we see both new tumors and metastases of existing cancers in the COVID-vaccinated. We see what is now called turbo cancers. Here is how Seneff et al supports that hypothesis. Their paper is enormously detailed, and my summary of it below is quite brief.
Ivanova, et al found that people who were naturally infected with SARS-CoV-2 have been able to dramatically up-regulate our arguably most crucial cytokine, Type I interferon, as seen from their peripheral dendritic cells, whereas mRNA-vaccinated people have not shown this ability, nor any such increase, nor any progenitor cells for the same. From those various findings, is evident that the COVID vaccines suppress Type I interferon signaling. The results are a devastating breakdown of many downstream immune functions, creating new vulnerability to not only viral diseases, but also to cancer. The necessity of interferons for the body’s war against cancer is further seen in the productive clinical use over decades of interferon as a therapeutic agent to cancer patients.
The most appreciated mechanisms of Type I interferon against cancers include up-regulation of the tumor suppressor gene p53, as well as kinase inhibitors, and the resulting arrest of cancer’s cell reproduction. Perhaps even more crucial is that Interferon-alpha, a type of interferon I, makes cancer recognizable, or in a way visible to other immune cells for destruction. Two other major effects of Type I interferons, specifically interferon-alpha, are cell differentiation and apoptosis, which are two of the major events that are important for a natural victory over cancer. Type I interferon also activates the essential cancer-fighting cells discussed above, CD8+ and NK cells. There are further genetic effects of Type I interferons, each of which tend to suppress tumors, notably through IRF-7 genes. These genes have impact on cancers of the breast, prostate, uterus, ovaries and pancreas. But these and oncogenes generally appear to become dysregulated by the mRNA vaccines.
Fay et al discuss G-quadruplex formations in RNA, and that role in proto-oncogene expression. This can in turn lead to cancer progression.
Cancer Incidence
Even before the boosters were rolled out to the public, the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) of the Dept of Health and Human Services (HHS) showed vastly more cancers following COVID vaccines than for all other vaccines during the 30-year history of VAERS. These new cancers following the COVID vaccines accounted for 98% of cancers reported. Here again from Seneff et al:
It should be noted that the reporting of these 2021 cancers occurred in large part prior to the US public’s (tepid) uptake of even the earliest mRNA COVID boosters (injection #3 in the fall of 2021) as here shown in Our World in Data.
That 3rd injection is the one after which the IgG4 paper authors saw the most difference in IgG3/IgG4 ratios, but not necessarily the greatest increase in cases of cancer.
Let’s consider the whole immune system, not only immunoglobulins, as necessary to protect against the ravages of cancer. Immune cells and cytokines, and their exquisitely coordinated and synergistic functions, must be protected from the destructive events initiated by irreversible experimental injections of novel products, such as the mRNA vaccines.
You’re meant to slow down, build up a little energy, and take the time to restore your health during the Winter.
Today marks the winter solstice, in which we celebrate the darkest day of the year. What we’re really celebrating is that light is slowly returning to our world in the form of incrementally longer days. There’s an element of triumph associated with the solstice, in that we made it through the darkest days of the year. What’s often missed is that these cold, dark days are an important component in sustaining our health, and the health of all living things.
Right now in Minnesota, the landscape looks dead. The trees are devoid of leaves and the fields are crispy and brown with dried leaves and litter from the grasses and wildflowers of last summer. However, the trees and grasses aren’t dead, but are in a kind of suspended animation. Yes, their leaves are gone, but there’s still life in the roots and core of each plant. This dormant period is a time for plants to stop growing for a while, take a rest, and conserve energy so they can leaf out again in the spring.
Trees and plants aren’t the only living things that go dormant in the winter. Many animals, such as bears, skunks, raccoons, reptiles, and even insects hibernate in the winter. Their body temperature cools down and their heart rate and respiration slow, all as a way to survive the cold and protect their energy stores until the warmer weather returns.
Winter solstice is an important time when the energies of the earth shift in their balance and humans follow suit.
In Chinese theory, each season is associated with an energetic task that’s hardwired into the DNA of plants and animals. And knowing the task for each season is a key to good health, but also keeps you in touch with the natural world. For example, spring is a time of expansiveness. Birds migrate north to nest, hibernating animals become active again, the sap starts running in trees and they being to sprout leaves. Summer is active with nesting, mating, and raising young. In the fall, animals look for an abundance of food to provide energy for the coming winter. And the seasonal task of winter is dormancy; to slow down, store energy, and regenerate in the coming spring.
While animals know this instinctively, we humans also feel these seasonal tasks, but our signals are somewhat muted, perhaps because we’ve lived indoors for thousands of years. But the pull of the seasons is also still deep in our DNA. It’s found in the urge to go outside to run and play on the first warm days of spring. It’s found in the bright activity of summer, and it’s found during the fall harvest when we gravitate toward heartier fare of winter squash, root vegetables, soups, and stews.
Which brings us to winter. I’ve been bemoaning the couple extra pounds my scale says I’ve gained in the last month or so. I feel just a little bit guilty for staying in bed later in the morning or shuffling off to take a nap some afternoons. And even though I get outdoors every day, I struggle to want to go outside and walk the hiking paths and trails that I so loved during the summer. Rationally, I know that this is what my body is supposed to do during the coldest and darkest days of winter—to practice dormancy. I will just say okay to the extra carbs that somehow end up on my dinner plate, and I’ll indulge in a few holiday sweets. I’ll try to be okay with weighing a little more and sleeping a little longer, because this is what’s expected of winter.
The lesson of winter is this: You’re meant to slow down, build up a little energy, and take the time to restore your health. The extra energy that you build up during winter helps to keep you warm, fuel your metabolism, and support your immune system. So allow yourself to eat heavier meals, be okay with an extra pound or two, get a little extra sleep, and know that this is what your body needs during the winter.
High intensity interval training (HIIT) has been shown to be one of the best forms of exercise in terms of both effectiveness and efficiency. In fact, the evidence shows that by focusing on endurance-type exercises, such as jogging on a treadmill, you actually forgo many of the most profound benefits of exercise.
The problem is that many are so out of shape and/or overweight, the idea of high intensity interval exercises can seem too daunting to even attempt. The elderly may also shy away from high intensity exercises, for fear of injuring themselves.
For those of you who are aware of the benefits of HIIT but haven’t been able to implement it for one reason or another, findings from a Japanese study may offer hope. Walking tends to be among the easiest exercises to perform, no matter what your age or fitness level, and walking can also be turned into an effective high intensity exercise.
The Benefits of a High Intensity Walking Program
For the last decade, Dr. Hiroshi Nose and colleagues at the Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine in Matsumoto, Japan, have developed walking programs for the elderly.
In light of the benefits associated with HIIT, Dr. Nose created a regimen of fast walking and gentle strolling, to see if this kind of program might provide greater fitness benefits than walking at a steady pace.
The program consisted of repeated intervals of three minutes of fast walking, aiming for an exertion level of about six or seven on a scale of one to 10, followed by three minutes of slow strolling. The results turned out to be very promising. As reported by the New York Times:
“In their original experiment, the results of which were published in 2007, walkers between the ages of 44 and 78 completed five sets of intervals, for a total of 30 minutes of walking at least three times a week.
A separate group of older volunteers walked at a continuous, moderate pace, equivalent to about a 4 on the same exertion scale.
After five months, the fitness and health of the older, moderate group had barely improved. The interval walkers, however, significantly improved aerobic fitness, leg strength and blood-pressure readings.”
In December 2014, the team published a follow-up report on the participants in this earlier research, noting that 70 percent of the participants were still adhering to the walking program two years after the study ended, and the health benefits remained stable.
Everyone Can Benefit from Walking More Each Day
This strategy can be an excellent entry into higher intensity training, regardless of your age and fitness level. The Japanese researchers recommend doing this “moderately-intense” interval walking for about 10 minutes three times a day, three days per week.
As you’ve probably heard by now, chronic sitting is the new smoking, raising your risk of an early death from poor health independently of your fitness and other lifestyle habits.
In fact, the medical literature now contains over 10,000 studies showing that frequent, prolonged sitting—at work, commuting, and watching TV at night—significantly impacts your cardiovascular and metabolic function.
My personal recommendation is to limit sitting to less than three hours a day, and to make it a point to walk more every day. I suggest aiming for 7,000 to 10,000 steps per day, and a fitness tracker can be a very helpful tool to monitor your progress and ensure you’re hitting your mark.
Keep in mind that this walking is in addition to your regular fitness regimen, not in lieu of it. Tracking your steps can also show you how simple and seemingly minor changes to the way you move around at work can add up. For example, you can:
Walk across the hall to talk to a coworker instead of sending an email
Take the stairs instead of the elevator
Park your car further away from the entrance
Take a longer, roundabout way to your desk
If you’ve taken such advice to heart and are getting more walking into your day, consider switching up the pace at regular intervals as suggested in the featured study, interspersing bouts of speed walking followed by more casual strolling.
In study after study we find that it is this intermittent high and low intensity that appears to produce the most significant results. So simply by exerting yourself intermittently when walking, you can dramatically increase the return of your effort without spending any extra time on it.
The Benefits of Lunch Hour Walking
Taking a walk during your lunch hour can also have a significant impact on your mood and help reduce work-related stresses, according to other recent research. To assess how walking might affect mood and work-related stress in the immediate term, 56 sedentary office workers were asked to walk for 30 minutes during their lunch break, three times per week. As reported by the New York Times:
“The volunteers completed a series of baseline health and fitness and mood tests at the outset of the experiment, revealing that they all were out of shape but otherwise generally healthy physically and emotionally. Dr. Thogersen-Ntoumani and her colleagues then randomly divided the volunteers into two groups, one of which was to begin a simple, 10-week walking program right away, while the other group would wait and start their walking program 10 weeks later, serving, in the meantime, as a control group.”
While walking is often underestimated, studies show you can reap significant health benefits from it.
Mood, stress level, enthusiasm, workload and other emotional components were assessed via a smart phone app, which included questions about how they felt in that moment. This allowed them to ascertain the participants’ moods directly before and after their walk. The final analysis showed a clear difference in reported mood on days when they walked versus days when they didn’t. As noted in the featured article:
“On the afternoons after a lunchtime stroll, walkers said they felt considerably more enthusiastic, less tense, and generally more relaxed and able to cope than on afternoons when they hadn’t walked and even compared with their own moods from a morning before a walk.
Although the authors did not directly measure workplace productivity in their study, ‘there is now quite strong research evidence that feeling more positive and enthusiastic at work is very important to productivity,’ Dr. Thogersen-Ntoumani said. ‘So we would expect that people who walked at lunchtime would be more productive.’ As a pleasant, additional outcome, all of the volunteers showed gains in their aerobic fitness and other measures of health at the completion of their 10 weeks of walking.”
Walking Eases Depression
Similar results were found in a recent Australian study, in which walking was found to improve quality of life for depressed middle-aged women. Those who averaged at least 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity exercise or just over 3.25 hours of walking each week reported feeling more energized and more social at their three-year follow up. Not surprisingly, they also reported less pain and greater fitness.
And, the more they exercised, the greater their improvements—particularly with respect to their psychological wellbeing. That said, even small amounts of exercise was beneficial. According to study author Kristiann Heesch: “The good news is that while the most benefits require 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity or 200 minutes of walking, even smaller amounts… can improve well-being.”
Walking Is Good Medicine
Many researchers are now starting to reemphasize the importance of walking. According to Katy Bowman, a scientist and author of the book: Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health through Natural Movement:
“Walking is a superfood. It’s the defining movement of a human. It’s a lot easier to get movement than it is to get exercise. Actively sedentary is a new category of people who are fit for one hour but sitting around the rest of the day. You can’t offset 10 hours of stillness with one hour of exercise.”
I believe high intensity exercises are an important part of a healthy lifestyle, but considering the fact that more than half of American men, and 60 percent of American women, never engage in any vigorous physical activity lasting more than 10 minutes per week,9 it’s clear that most people need to begin by simply getting more non-exercise movement into their daily routine. The elderly and those struggling with chronic disease that prevents them from engaging in more strenuous fitness regimens would also do well to consider moving around more.
While walking is often underestimated, studies show you can reap significant health benefits from it. In addition to those already mentioned, a 2014 study found that walking for two miles a day or more can cut your chances of hospitalization from a severe episode of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by about half. Another study published in 2013 found that daily walking reduced the risk of stroke in men over the age of 60. Walking for at least an hour or two could cut a man’s stroke risk by as much as one-third, and it didn’t matter how brisk the pace was. Taking a three-hour long walk each day slashed the risk by two-thirds. I personally walk about 90 minutes most every day, covering about 55 miles a week.
Daily Walking Is a Foundational Part of a Healthy Lifestyle
Both research and experience confirm that walking is powerful medicine, and you can make it even more powerful by incorporating principles of high intensity interval training. Simply alternating between speed-walking and slow strolling will allow you to maximize your rewards. As noted earlier, I believe aiming for 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day might be ideal for most people, and this is over and above your regular exercise program. If you’re currently not doing anything in terms of fitness, please do consider getting more walking into your day. Chances are you’ll start feeling more energized and less stressed, which may spur you on to a more regimented fitness program.
On a side note, if you live near the beach or have access to grassy areas, consider yourself extra lucky and take full advantage of it. Walking barefoot on the sand or grass has additional benefits that go beyond that of walking, as this allows your body to absorb free electrons from the Earth through the soles of your feet. These electrons have powerful antioxidant effects that can protect your body from inflammation and its many well-documented health consequences. For example, one scientific review published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health concluded that so-called grounding (walking barefoot on the earth) could improve a number of health conditions
The research team from KIOM, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, recently discovered that ingredients from mulberry barks can suppress COVID-19 virus infection.
Studies published in Nutrients and International Journal of Molecular Sciences found that compounds from mulberry twigs effectively inhibit COVID-19 infection. The clinical research has completed its technology transfer and entered a commodification stage.
Mulberry Is a Treasure From Nature
For thousands of years, mulberry trees have been used as a medicinal herb across China, South Korea, and other countries. Mulberry twigs are dried young branches of the mulberry tree (Morus alba) and widely used for treating arthritis pain, stroke, partial paralysis, edema, athlete’s foot, and skin irritation.
In Western medicine, mulberry branches are considered diuretic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antiviral, and they help prevent the development of cancer.
In the previously mentioned studies, the South Korean research team confirmed that two components in mulberry twigs, mulberrofuran G and kuwanon C, effectively block the process of viruses from penetrating host cells during the initial stage of COVID-19 infection.
Mulberry Prevents COVID-19 Infection
Once entering the human body, the coronavirus binds the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor of human epithelial cells and penetrates the host cells through the spike protein on the virus’s surface.
Through clinical experiments, the research group found that both mulberrofuran G and kuwanon C attach tightly to the spike protein and ACE2 receptor, effectively preventing the mutual binding of the spike protein and ACE2 receptor.
Additionally, the research team verified through cell experiments that mulberrofuran G and kuwanon C could inhibit infections of simulated viruses and the actual coronavirus. It blocks host cell penetration in the initial stage of COVID-19 infection.
Mulberry Suppresses Drug-Resistant Viruses
At present, COVID-19 therapeutics approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) include viral RNA replication inhibitors in small molecule form, such as remdesivir and Paxlovir. There are also virus cell osmosis inhibitors which are macromolecule based.
However, some new coronavirus variants are resistant to RNA-replicated inhibitors, and as antibody therapeutics, they can only be administered intravenously.
Dr. Choi Jang-Gi, a professor of Korean medicine application center, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, told Korean media NEWSIS that the COVID-19 virus uses RNA as its hereditary material. Therefore, the virus would most likely develop antimicrobial resistance—an occurance in which microorganisms mutate and become resistant to previously effective drugs.
Choi Jang-Gi said, “Using Mulberrofuran G and kuwanon C as osmosis inhibitors, in conjunction with currently available and approved RNA replicated inhibitor therapeutics, will improve the recovery rate against COVID-19 virus, as well as suppress drug-resistant viruses from emerging.”
Golden milk or haldi ka doodh is a warming beverage that dates back to ancient Ayruvedic tradition and was consumed to promote optimal health. You’ve probably heard of the profound health benefits of turmeric, namely it’s constituent curcumin. Curcumin, the phytonutrient responsible for turmeric’s vibrant yellow-orange hue is a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammator. Because of these powerful properties, curcumin can benefit multiple body systems and relieve many inflammatory symptoms. It has been shown to support digestion, alleviate pain, aid recovery well as reducing the risk of cancer and diabetes. Research also shows that it supports brain, skin, cardiovascular, and ocular health. The addition of black pepper is critical for ensuring the body absorbs curcumin into the bloodstream as it increases bioavailability by 2,000 percent.
It is important to note that while consuming golden milk is highly beneficial to overall health, we recommend our patients consider supplementing with one of the high quality supplements we have at the clinic.
Ingredients
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
a generous pinch of ground black pepper
a pinch of ground cardamom
a pinch of ground cloves
a pinch of ground nutmeg
8 ounces of coconut milk
1 teaspoon of a wholesome sweetener of your choice (monk fruit sweetener, raw honey, pinch of stevia)
Instructions
Heat the coconut milk in a small saucepan until it begins to simmer. Remove from the heat and stir in the herbs and sweetener of your choice. For extra health promoting properties, consider adding coconut oil, MCT oil, and/or Collagen ECM to enhance your beverage. To achieve a frothy, latte-like consistency, blend in a blender for 15 seconds and serve.
ARYAN'S BLOG 