Tonight's FIGHT: The Fish vs. The Pill

Good Evening Everyone!

       That's right folks.... The fish are at it again in the news!  They seem to have a personal vendetta against nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) (i.e. Anacin, Bufferin, Alka-Seltzer, Bayer, Excedrin, Aspirin, Tylenol, Acetaminophen, Advil, Motrin, Nuprin, Mediprin, Ibuprofen, Aleve, Naprosyn, Anaprox, Napreian, Bextra, Celebrex or Vioxx).  The fish claim that their omega-3 oil is more effective than NSAIDS in treating non-surgical neck and back pain.  

       Investigators from the University of Pittsburg have heard the statements made by the fish and have done a study to see if there is anything fishy about their claims :) .  Dr. Joseph Maroon, a neurosurgeon and specialist in degenerative spine disease at the University reported the findings of the study at the 73rd  meeting of the Association of Neurological Surgeons: 

• The study consisted of 250 patients who had neck/back pain and they were taking daily doses of NSAIDS. 
• After 75 days of taking high doses of omega-3 fish oil, 59% had stopped taking drugs for their pain.  
• At the end of the study, 88% reported that they were very satisfied and will continue to take the fish oils.  

Another argument won by the fish and yet another reason why natural, highly filtered and high dose omega-3 fish oil should be taken each day.  And remember guys... taking daily NSAIDS is a major contributor to the development of Erectile Dysfunction.

Yours in Health,

Dr. Jeff
Bruce Chiropractic Center, LLC
856-547-6587

Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.

We Are Being Sabotaged!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

      Over the past few decades, the average person in our country has been getting larger and larger.  According to a book that I've reviewed, widespread obesity and chronic disease which add to the bulk of deaths in the world are less the fault of the individual and more the fault of government and multinational corporations which have extreme power to shape our everyday lives.  Our government puts aside $50,000,000,000.00 each year to help farmers produce corn, wheat, soybeans, meat and poultry products.  Corn, wheat and soybeans have no need to be in the human diet (we can eat them, but we can do even better without them).  The book references that 40,000 years ago is when man ate in the healthiest manor as hunter/gatherers.  The majority of food at this time came from plants with the remainder coming from animals (no corn, soy or wheat).
      Today, it all comes down to money (I don't mean to bring up conspiracy theories, but it's true).  The farmers would loose a lot of money if they decided to use their land to grow vegetables and fruit.  The farmers across the mid-U.S.  are greatly motivated to grow corn, wheat and soybeans. These crops will then produce most of the caloric sweetener and over 80% of the vegetable oil used in the U.S..  They are then used to drive the beef and poultry industry (as feed for the animals).
      So basically, government subsidies for farming help to produce beef, poultry, corn, soybeans, wheat and sugar (which then help produce cheap, low quality and for the most part unhealthy food).  That's fine for us since the grocery bills stay low, but this has been at the expense of producing healthy plant foods such as fruits and vegetables.

Conclusion:
Government Farming Subsidies result in:
   - cheaper, low quality, fattening foods which result in:
          - poor health and increasing obsesity which result in:
                  - rapidly increasing health care costs
                           

Yours in Health,

Dr. Jeff
Bruce Chiropractic Center
856-547-6587


Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.

Give Me A "D"!!!

Good Afternoon Everyone,

     First of all, sorry for missing last week's blog...The holiday week got ahead of me.  This week I'm going over some information from an article I reviewed on Vitamin D.  Here are four eye-opening statistics:
1)  Vitamin D Deficiency is a pandemic that puts over half of the world's population at risk
2)  About 50% of healthy North Americans are vitamin D deficient and 80% of the population with chronic diseases are deficient in vitamin D
3)  80% of health Caucasian infants are vitamin D Deficient.  African American and Hispanic children have an even greater rate of this deficiency
4)  People with vitamin D deficiency will have 39% higher health care costs per year.

Vitamin D deficiency can cause:
osteoporosis
cardiovascular disease
cancer
autoimmune disease
multiple sclerosis
Pain
loss of cognitive function (brain function)
decreased strength
increased mortality for all-causes

Ask your doctor to make sure and test your vitamin D3 levels on your next blood test/check-up.

If your levels are low, supplementation with vitamin D3 should be done.  According to the article, up to 20,000 IU/Day should be done for 3-6 months and then maintained with 5,000 IU/day there after.  Naturally, one of the best ways to get your vitamin D is to have exposure to sunshine at least 15-20 minutes each day (using sunscreen  of course).

Yours in Health,

Dr. Jeff
Bruce Chiropractic Center
856-547-6587

Source:
"What We Have Learned About Vitamin D Dosing?" Integrative Medicine, Vol. 9, No. 1, Feb/Mar 2010
 



Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.