Hidden Dangers to your Child's Health

Many of you are living a holistic life if you are reading this blog. You eat well, you buy organic when you can, you exercise, you work on stress reduction, etc. But for all your well deserved pats on the back, there is a hidden danger which seemingly is seldom mentioned in the popular press. The hidden danger to our children (and ourselves) from everyday cosmetics, shampoos and lotions.

There are many, many chemicals to be worried about, but I want to draw your attention to the ones that related to synthetic fragrances, as this is a blog that has to do with essential oils and medical aromatherapy after all.

Phthalates are a type of chemical that is used to soften plastics, as well as in paints. It is also used as a "fragrance extender." It's what makes synthetic fragrances last so long and seem so strong compared to essential oils. Unfortunately, phthalates are an endocrine disruptor. They bock testosterone activity. Many animal studies have shown that it can impair the development of normal male genitalia when a pregnant mother is exposed to phthalates. In humans, there has been a doubling of malformations of "boy parts" in the last two decades.

Phthalates do not stick to whatever they are used in, so, they leach out very readily. You can inhale them (like in the fragrances), you can swallow them when the plastic is chewed, and it can go through your skin. For example, a study published in the prestigious journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Pediatrics, demonstrated for the first time that even using a baby shampoo for a few minutes a child's head lead to absorption of phthalates. The smaller the child, the faster they absorbed the phthalates relative to their body weight.

The best way to avoid exposing your children to these types of toxins is to use fragrance free bath and beauty products. A nice thing that I like to do is to start with a simple base, say, of shampoo or lotion and add my own medical grade essential oils. These essential oils not only smell nice but have many important physical and physiological effects on the body. I've raise my children with aromatherapy and it is become an integral part of their life and their identity. For example once, when my daughter was five years old, she stubbed her toe in preschool. Her teacher came running to reassure her that her toe would be all right. Turning to her teacher to reassure her, my daughter said "don't worry, my father will put lavender essential oil on it and it will be all right".

Now as my children grow up, I'm teaching them how to choose the right essential oils to shield their wounds, help fight infections, and even to cook with. This is what I refer to as the "fragrant childhood." Check out my recent article in mothering magazine, entitled "the fragrant pregnancy". It talks about how medical aromatherapy can be used throughout conception pregnancy and delivery, and forms the basis for how essential oils can be incorporated into your families life.

Organic--but is it safe?

The New York Times recently published an article entitled, "It’s Organic, but Does That Mean It’s Safer?" which raised questions about food safety related to the salmonella outbreak related to organically farmed foods.

It's important right from the outset of this blog to shatter the fantasies that we maintain about organic food as it is packaged and consumed in suburban America. The organic food industry is just that--another industry, another corporate enterprise. Many of the most visible organic food players are owned now by corporate suits like Kellogs (owns Kashi) and General Mills (owns Cascadian Farms), and Coca Cola (owns Honest Tea). What is more, the standards of organic food production allows for the use of artificial preservatives. Free range animals can be couped up except for a few hours a day when a tiny door is opened to a tine caged plot of dirt. If the chicken walks around or not is due to the vagaries of fate.

What is more, organic meats come from animals fed organic corn and organic soy beans which impart organic inflammatory products that acidify the blood and organic estrogen that may affect boys' fertility and possibly increase a woman's risk of breast and ovarian cancer in certain sub-groups. (Organic cancer anyone?)

Anything that is packaged, wrapped, or frozen is not going to be very good for you--even if it is organic. It still uses too much organic salt, too much organic fat and way too many resources like plastic wrappers, waxed paper cartons that will be thrown away and not recycled...

As a nation, we need to move beyond buzz words and sweet notions of where our food comes from how it arrives on our table. We need to become more involved in local agriculture, support regional growers and be willing to make more food ourselves from fresh ingredients. It is no longer sufficient to trust the government or big corporations to ensure not only the lack of danger but the wholesomeness of our food. For starters, everyone who is interested or passionate about food should read Michael Pollen's "Omnivore's Dilemma" (2007, Penguin paperback) which is a true eye-opener in this regard.

Adrenal Mood connection

I recently returned from a show in New York that was for health care providers. My company, Aroma MD was exhibiting. Usually at these shows, our sleep product, Sweet Sleep is the hands down best seller. It seems like everyone could use a little more sleep these days. But what is interesting is that this time, our mood and adrenal product, Mood Master was the best seller--by far.

What's the connection between mood and the adrenal glands you may ask, or between adrenal health and sleep? It's all connected, and it's only getting worse.

Adrenal fatigue is fast becoming one of the biggest health problems or seemingly healthy people. Let me explain: There is a concept in European medicine, particularly in endobiogeny, that organs can be dysfunctional while all the blood tests and imaging studies are normal. I call this "functional dysfunction." This means that you can get by, but you're only running on 3 gears instead of 5. This is the classic example of when a doctor says "You're tests are fine. You're not sick" and you think "But I feel terrible. How can I have normal labs and not feel normal?" That's functional dysfunction.

The adrenal gland is the first responder to stress. It makes adrenaline and it makes your natural cortisol hormone. Stressors--from noise pollution like city traffic, or light pollution from city life or working night shifts, emotional and physical stress that go one too long start to exhaust the adrenal gland's ability to respond to stress.

When the adrenal gland is over-stimulated and it can't make enough cortisol or adrenaline, two things happen. First, you have a hard time using your blood sugar and keeping up energy levels. Fluctuating blood sugar levels lead to swings in emotions and concentration because blood sugar is the only fuel the brain can use, so if sugar levels are even slightly unsteady, so is your Brian function. When your body needs to grab more sugar from your food, it uses too much serotonin--your good mood brain transmitter--in the gut. This is because 95% of serotonin is used in the gut for digestion. Only 5% is used in the brain for mood. So, your gut steals serotonin from the brain for the gut and then you get depressed and you're tired.

The second thing that happens from adrenal over-stimulation is that you make too much DHEA, a hormone that in high levels puts people on edge and makes them quick to anger and reduces their tolerance levels. So now you're moody, tired, cranky and depressed.

The funny thing is, even though people feel tired with adrenal fatigue, they have a hard time sleeping because they get a second wind with an adrenaline burst late at night.

So, if you are getting dark circles under your eyes, have trouble getting started in the morning, or feel a brain fog until around 10AM, or feel uncontrollably tired between 2-4pm and have altered mood or depression, you may have adrenal fatigue and minor depression.

The key is to get a good night's sleep. That's where a natural sleep aid like Sweet Sleep is helpful. It naturally increases the hypnogenic factors that help you sleep at night, and reduces stress levels. 

Mood Master helps in two ways: 

• ENERGY: Mood master contains energy-giving essential oils like grapefruit and clary sage. By taking over some of the role of adrenaline and resting part of the adrenal gland which lets it build up reserves. Over time, say 3-12 months, you should start to get more energy back and have steadier mood. 
• MOOD: Mood master contains mood-balancing essential oils like clary sage and clove, and anti-depressant essential oils like lavender and grapefruit. By improving mood, you reduce emotional stress and improve tolerance to external stressors.

Work with an experienced health care provider to help you manage your condition. You may need other supplements like vitamin C, which helps make nor-adrenaline, or SAMe, which helps make adrenaline, or B vitamins which help manage stress. There are also natural cortisol type plant products from the young shoots and buds of the sequoia and oak trees, or from dogwood and black current bud.

Here's the rub: Right for the wrong reasons

MSNBC recently reported that Vick's vaporub may actually be harmful to young children. The case in interest was a grandparent who rubbed Vick's vaborub on their 18 month infant under the nostrils even the instructions say 1) don't put it under the nostrils, and 2)don't use in on infants or children under 24 months of age. I was interviewed for on online news service, Kaboose.com and you can read my comments here.

There are only two things that I don't like about Vick's vaporub. Unfortunately, it's the only two things that make Vick's vaporub Vick's vaporub. First, it's a petroleum based product. Do you really want to be rubbing toxic petroleum derivatives on your body? This stuff may cause cancer. Is that concerning to anyone?

The second thing I don't like is that Vick's vaporub uses three extracts from three essential oils: menthol from peppermint, camphor from camphor essential oil, and eucalyptol from eucalyptus essential oil. These compounds do really decrease cough, break up mucous and kill viruses. There are many, many, many studies that demonstrate that. If you read the case study I published on the use of essential oils in the intensive care unit, I've referenced it there.

When you use a whole essential oil, containing dozens of compounds, some of the compounds act like a partial antidote to the "main ingredient" which reduces harsh side effects when used properly.

Both menthol and eucalyptol--and for that matter peppermint and eucalyptus essential oils are too harsh for babies to tolerate. I have always warned against their use in this age group for the same reason as what happened to that toddler. There is a nerve in the nose--besides the smell nerve--that detects the smell of rotten, acrid or rancid smells--like rotten milk or spoiled meat. It causes the voice box to shutter and the airway to tight and secret mucous to protect itself from harm. Because these two oils are so strong, it stimulates not only the smell nerve, but also the this other nerve (the nasal branch of the trigeminal nerve). This is what caused the ferrets in the experiment and the baby rushed to the hospital to have a bad reaction.

The "expert" in the MSNBC article states:

“When you’re talking about an agent that does no good, your tolerance for harm is very low.”

but in adults, Vicks does improve the removal of mucous. Menthol does activate cold receptors and doesn't narrow airways--but so what? Do these experts think that suffering is better than feeling better because your brain thinks you can breathe easier? It's as if these guys have some type of schadenfreude in seeing people suffer in the real world? Peppermint essential oils, on the other hand does open up the airways, unlike menthol alone. Besides, pine essential oils like pine, spruce and balsam fir are much better and more gentle vasoconstrictors that open up airways.

The reason I made Flugon is because between adverse events from Vics (not to mention the petroleum!!!) and the deaths from over-the-counter cough and cold medications that the FDA overlooked for 50 years. I wanted a gentle but effective combination of essential oils that dissolves mucus, eases coughs, supports the immune system and has proven antiviral and antibacterial properties.

Essential oils--when used whole, in the right amount for the right age are amazingly effective in treating cold and flu symptoms in children and adults. The problem is that every chemical in this world can be a poison or panacea depending on the dose, the route given, the duration given, and the patient it's used on. The MSNBC article and the pseudo-scientific study they cited in ferrets only represents ballyhoo and sensationalism, which affects both media and medicine when there is an axe to grind and an agenda to pursue.

There is no alternative medicine, pt 2

Just before the new year I discussed an article in the Wall Street Journal by Steve Salerno entitled "The touch that does not heal." Perhaps it was meant to be simply an amusing piece because it was published in the "arts and entertainment" section and not the business section or the science section. However, I must say that it turned out to be a comedy of errors.

In my previous post, I discussed the philosophical roots of the two main forms of medicine: the rationalist and empirical schools. Here, I want to discuss some of the other points that the author brings up.

Mr. Salerno says in his article:

...what was once a ragtag assortment of New Age nostrums has metastasized into a multibillion-dollar industry championed by dozens of lobbyists and their congressional sympathizers.

The last time I checked, a noble prize winners Crick, Watson and Pauling, Harvard-educated Andrew Weil, and others are not "ragtag." There are literally thousands of MD's, DO's and others practicing some type of integrative medicine that is beyond the restrictive, reductionist concepts of 17th century Europe.

As for choosing the word "metastasized"? It has taken over 100 years for the concept of nutritional supplementation to treat illnesses to really catch on. Pauling coined the term "orthomolecular medicine" in 1967 but it is only recently that august organizations such as the American Heart Association have actually come to recommend supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids and co-enzyme Q10 for congestive heart disease, lipid problems and other issues. It has taken over 40 years since the first discovery of the "molecules of emotions" until today to simply start to understand the physiology of emotions and its impact on health.

Again, Mr. Salerno writes,

Not by coincidence is CAM most avidly touted by a loose alliance of self-help gurus (Andrew Weil, Deepak Chopra, et al.) and veteran hucksters like erstwhile infomercial king Kevin Trudeau. Mr. Trudeau has been sued for deceptive business practices several times by the Federal Trade Commission. In 2004, the agency deemed his sins so egregious that it barred him from "appearing in, producing, or disseminating future infomercials that advertise any type of product, service, or program to the public.

Dr. Weil, whom I personally spent a month training with as a medical student, works at the University of Arizona and is program is training MD's and DO's in scientific-based integrative medicine. Dr. Chopra is an endocrinologist who runs a private medical center in Encinitas not too far from San Diego, California. I personally worked with the Bravewell collaborative, a group of academic physicians who run integrative medical centers and research projects out of such institutions as Duke University and Scripps Medical Clinic. Not exactly a loose collection of hucksters.

As for Mr. Trudeau, he is not a physician. He is a huckster, and to mention him with Drs. Weil and Chopra is really egregious and duplicitous because on a quick read it sounds like all three have been investigated for questionable dealings.

Finally, I want to point out Mr. Salerno's amusing comments about aromatherapy:

and aromatherapy, which relies on the supposed healing properties of about 40 "essential oils,"

There are over 100 clinical studies and thousands of scientific studies about the healing properties of essential oils. Just go to pubmed, the free database of the US Library of Medicine and type the terms "aromatherapy" or "oils, volatile" and read some of the abstracts yourself. If you want to see the clinical studies, type "AND human." You can also read some full articles here.

It's funny that he puts essential oils in quotation marks. That is, in deed what the organic hydrocarbon compounds are called: essential oils. I've spoken a lot already about essential oils, so, you can view my first post from 2008 to review the evidence.

To your health in the new year.

There is no alternative medicine, pt 1

One Chris Salerno, a self-proclaimed sham watcher, wrote a scathing article in the Wall Street Journal recently. The thrust of the article was that any medicine that does not conform to today's standard's of scientific validity, and which does not have rigorous scientific validation is a sham. This article presents some very interesting biases that have plagued medical schools, hospitals and the National Institute of Health (the single largest investor in medical research in the world) for over 100 years.

Mr. Salerno quotes a former editor of the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Dr. Lundberg as saying, "There's no alternative medicine. There is only scientifically proven, evidence-based medicine supported by solid data."

There is a monumental presumption of arrogance that Dr. Lundberg typifies and which has been falling apart at the seems for quite some time. What Dr. Lundberg, and the author by quoting him are saying is "It ain't medicine until I say it's medicine."

Au contraire, you may say. Surely, there must be some standards, right? Of course, there are standards, but when the people setting the standards used duplicity, the bully pulpit of government and economic sabotage, as the American Medical Association did in the late 1800's and early 1900's to become THE standard bearer of medicine, there is something wrong here.

Since the time of the Greeks, there has been a tug of war between the two schools of medicine: "rationalists" and "empiricists" and this continues even up until today. I will summarize it here, but for those who are really interested in this subject, I highly recommend Harris Coulter's Divided Legacy, volume IV.

Rationalists use deductive reasoning, meaning, they look at a big picture, break it down into its smaller parts, and then treat the parts. This is why we have diagnosis, that relies on symptoms. For example, a person comes to their doctor and says, "I'm depressed." The doctor asks some questions, and finds out that the person doesn't enjoy things they used to like, can't get out of bed, has increased appetite, trouble falling asleep at night, and has lost interest in sex. So, he prescribes an anti-depressant, a diet pill, a sleeping pill, and something for the sex issues. In this approach, depression is depression and once you're labeled as "depressed" you get an anti-depressant. End of discussion. Allopathic ("Western" or "Mainstream") medicine is best described this way.

Empiricists use inductive reasoning. This is where you take individual signs and build it up into a single diagnosis specific for that person. For example, in the case of depression, it is can be viewed as depression with loss of appetite, with increased appetite, with too much sleep or insomnia, etc. Each one is a separate illness and a single treatment may address all the symptoms which are related to each other. Homeopathy best fits this camp.

I was trained by the first school, the rationalist school, as all MD's and DO's are, but in truth, the more material science explores life at the level of hormones, and the vibratory, steiric and electromagnetic levels of receptor-chemical interaction, the more it validates what the empiricists were saying.

So, when Dr. Lundgren said that there is no "alternative medicine" he was right for the wrong reasons. There is only one type of medicine: a medicine that is an enterprise of healing not hurt, of health care not sick care, of prevention in its primacy, but which has answers for emergencies, a medicine that understands anatomy and physiology, but also appreciates the impact of emotions and spirit on the body. There is no alternative to healing and helping. It either works for an individual or it doesn't.

The lack of caring by busy MD's cannot make up for cure. In fact, because of the pressures put on doctors, they are forced to peg people into tidy little diagnoses and just give them some pill and get them out the door. This is why people are seeking "alternatives"--alternatives to factory medicine.

Let me give you a real example. I woman told me she was diagnosed with a thyroid problem and fatigue. She had the thyroid removed, which gave her a new disease: celiac's disease. She was given one drug for her fatigue, which gave her side effects, so they gave her another drug, which gave her side effects, so they prescribed a third drug to deal with the side effects of the second drug. Is this the medicine for which there is no alternative?

In my practice, I spend 60-90 minutes on the first visit because, as Hippocrates said over 2500 years ago, "The person who has the disease is more important than the disease the person has."

As a final note, "alternative" medicine is one of those colonial terms given by the medical establishment, like a dictator calling every dissenting voice "upstarts and rebels."

The term "complimentary" medicine came about by peace makers and medical "diplomats" if you will, who said, "Maybe this stuff isn't so bad. We should at least take a look at it." They thought, "Hey, we can use some zinc and antibiotics for colds, or massage therapy and Prozac when a person is depressed. The one compliments the other," hence "complimentary medicine. This was the uncle Tom approach. The house negro, if you will, the one who was good and compliant and tried to explain all the "alternative" therapies with purely biomechanical explanations that pleased his master at the NIH and prestigious medical schools.

Now, there is "integrative medicine" which was an addage coined by MD's and DO's who were not afraid to admit that they believed in vibrational medicine, acupuncture, and surgery at the same time, and wanted to integrate both approaches--rational and empirical--as two equals in a "power sharing agreement" if you will.

This is a really good start, but it is still not integrative because many of these MD's are still using a organ-based approach and a symptoms based approach and treating every symptom their patient has using a bag full of vitamins, herbs, massage and supplement in place of a bag full of prescription medication. Truly integrative medicine requires the ability to look at the causative factors of disease--the ultimate cause--and take an approach that restores the entire body to equilibrium by crafting a truly individualized plan to treat body, mind and spirit from the cell to the soul.

In part 2, I will take one a few of the more outlandish statements that Mr. Salerno made in his article.

Fresh Air: A report on Asthma Medications

The New York Times reported that the FDA published a warning about the use of combination asthma medication in children. These medications combine a beta-agonist that opens the airways with a steroid, that reduces swelling. Advair and Symbicort are the best selling versions of these drugs.

The FDA has been expressing its concern for some years now (read it here) that children who uses these medications are at risk of dying as a result of it. Other studies have shown that even using "rescue inhalers" like albuterol frequently increases the risk of dying and can actually worsen wheezing.

Over 10 years ago, the FDA expressed concern about the risk of death related to the use of Serevent, its maker, GlaxcoSmithKline did an internal study which is refused to publish the results of. It then took this potentially dangerous product and combined it with a steroid to get Advair now the biggest selling drug in its class. Then, in 2003, years later, it published the report which said that the FDA was right on this.

Aromatherapy can be amazingly effectively for treating mild asthma flare-ups in addition to treating the problems of asthma. For flare-ups, I nebulize the essential oils directly into the lungs. This should be arranged with a doctor experiences in this type of treatment. The convenient thing about aromatherapy is that it is effective inhaled on the skin (rub it on the chest for mild asthma flare ups) and taken internally.

I like to use a medical aromatherapy product called Aroma Aid as a compliment to my total treatment plan for Asthma. It contains lavender essential oil, which reduce histamine release that leads to swelling in the airways. It also has frankincense essential oil, which has a naturally occurring compound (leukotriene inhibitor) similar to medications like Singulair, without the side effects that those medications have. This decreases the cascade of inflammation. To deal with mucous and inflammation, Aroma Aid has peppermint essential oil.

DO NOT STOP ANY TREATMENT BEFORE CONSULTING WITH YOUR DOCTOR. IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE A PLAN TO DEAL WITH ASTHMA EMERGENCIES BEFORE STARTING TO DEAL WITH THE ROOT CAUSES OF ASTHMA. Here is a passage from my soon-to-be-published book, "Natural Cures for your child's cold and flu":

Asthma has become a national epidemic in the United States. There are many powerful medications to treat the symptoms of asthma and they can be life saving and give good relief of the discomforts of asthma. If you are interested in trying to reduce the number of asthma attacks your child suffers from go Natural treatments, below. They usually take a few months to reach their peak effects, so, continue with the treatment plan your doctor has worked out with you.

A treatment plan is more than a prescription for medication. It should include a clear, step-by-step treatment plan which includes “peak flows” for kids who are old enough to check how deep a breath they can take. For example, It would say: “If Miguel’s peak flow is less than 200, start giving him albuterol every 4 hours. If his peak flow is less than 180, start steroids and give the albuterol every 3 hours. If his peak flow is less than 150, please call my office, and go to an urgent care center or emergency department immediately.

Ultimately, it's important that the causes of your child's asthma are addressed, not just his or her symptoms. Children who suffer from asthma can have too much inflammation, too much mucous, or tight airways, or, a combination of all three factors. These factors themselves, arise from an imbalance in natural steroids, of a diet high in unhealthy foods, stress, a deficiency in key nutrients, like selenium, magnesium or vitamin C can play a role too.

To ensure that your child gets the best care possible, a pediatrician with experience in integrative medicine, or, a naturopath experienced in the care of children should be consulted to address diet, lifestyle, stress and other issues related to your child's health.