Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

In his book Disease-Proof Your Child, Dr. Fuhrman suggests feeding children organic food when possible, to safeguard them from chemicals and pesticides. More and more scientists contend that even low levels of contaminants pose a cancer risk. Patty Curtis of The Guardian Unlimited reports:

Liverpool University scientists argue that low levels of chemicals from pesticides and plastics could affect the development of babies before they are born and increase their likelihood of developing cancer later in life.

The organochlorines also accumulate in breast milk, raising the possibility that babies are vulnerable while breastfeeding, Professor Vyvyan Howard and John Newby say.

We're talking about chemicals which could potentially cause cancer in children at parts per billion and parts per trillion levels, rather than parts per million and thousands," Professor Howard, who is on the government's advisory committee on pesticides, told the Guardian. "Preventative measures for these types of cancer have focused on educating the public about the danger of tobacco smoke, improving diet and promoting physical activity. We should now, however, be focusing on trying to reduce exposure to problematic chemicals."

In the end the study does not conclusively prove the link between low levels of pollutants and cancer in humans, but animal studies have confirmed a link.

For more information on the dangers of pesticides and other chemicals check out these posts: Is Organic Food Safer? and Early Exposure to Pesticide: Revisited

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It may seem strange, but one side effect of the popular sleeping pill Ambien is reportedly a sleep-related eating disorder, which causes some Ambien users to unknowingly sleepwalk into their kitchens, raid the refrigerator and gorge on snacks. Stephanie Saul of The New York Times reports:

"These people are hell-bent to eat," said Dr. Mark Mahowald, who is director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center in Minneapolis and is researching the problem.

He and colleagues are preparing a scientific paper based on their findings that a sleep-related eating disorder is one of the unusual side effects showing up with the widespread use of Ambien. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., have made similar findings.

By coincidence, just a couple of days ago on DiseaseProof, while discussing caffeine, Dr. Fuhrman said:

Of course, I would prefer people not engage in addictive habits in general, because that inevitably leads to eating more food to treat their addictive withdrawal symptoms, and continues their addictive relationship with food and drink contributing to their ill health in general.

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As we have blogged about before, Dr. Fuhrman has some strong ideas about toxins.

One of the big toxins to worry about is, of course, mercury. But there are others, like chlordane, the DDT Family (DDT, DDD, and DDE), dieldrin/aldrin, mirex, toxaphene. The Oceans Alive website has information about all of these pesticides. There are also whole pages on dioxins, PCBs, and mercury.

All of Dr. Fuhrman's books have ideas about how to avoid toxins, much of which is available on DiseaseProof. For instance, there are some practical strategies in this post about mercury and another about organic food.

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Lindsey Tanner of the Associated Press reports a new study is claiming that some coffee drinkers may be at greater risk for nonfatal heart attacks. Research found a genetic trait that splits coffee drinkers into two groups, those with a reduced risk of heart attack or those at an increased risk:

Research on more than 4,000 people in Costa Rica found that about half had the trait and were considered "slow caffeine metabolizers." The other half had the opposite trait, which caused their bodies to rapidly break down or metabolize caffeine, and coffee-drinking in this group appeared to reduce heart attack risks.

Among slow-metabolizers, those who drank two or more cups of coffee daily were at least 36 percent more likely to have a nonfatal heart attack than those who drank little or no coffee. Even higher risks were found for younger slow metabolizers -- those under 50. They were up to four times more likely to have a heart attack than slow metabolizers in their age group who drank little or no coffee.

University of Toronto researcher and co-author of the study, Ahmed El-Sohemy remarks:

The new study "clearly illustrates that one size does not fit all," El-Sohemy said. "Perhaps in the future we'll be making different (dietary) recommendations based on people's genetic makeup."

Here are Dr. Fuhrman's thoughts on consumption of caffeinated beverages from his book Eat to Live:

Clearly, excessive consumption on caffeinated beverages is dangerous. Caffeine addicts are at higher risk of cardiac arrhythmias that could precipitate sudden death.1 Coffee raises blood pressure and raises cholesterol and homocysteine, two risk factors for heart disease.2

Besides increased risk of heart disease, there are two other problems. First caffeine is a stimulant that allows you to get by with less sleep and reduces the depth of sleep. Such sleep deprivation results in higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol and interferes with glucose metabolism, leading to insulin resistance.3 This insulin resistance, and subsequent higher baseline glucose level, further promotes heart disease and other problems. In other words, caffeine consumptions promotes inadequate sleep, and less sleep promotes disease and premature aging. Adequate sleep is also necessary to prevent overeating. There is no subsidence for adequate sleep.

The second issue is that eating more frequently and eating more food suppresses caffeine-withdrawals headaches and other withdrawal symptoms. When you are finally finished digesting the meal, the body more effectively cleans house; at this time people experience a drive to eat more to suppress caffeine-withdrawal symptoms. You are prodded to eat again, eating more food than you would if you were not a caffeine addict.

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