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  Fundamental MedicineTeresa Gryder, ND

Pesticides in your Food

11/9/2017

 
Most of us don't eat enough fruit and veggies. It's so easy to eat processed stuff and meat and cheese instead. It takes effort to eat a healthy diet. I happen to agree with Michael Pollan who wrote "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." But how can we safely eat mostly plant matter when it has toxic chemicals sprayed on it?

There are several tricks to getting or making clean food. The first and most obvious is to grow it yourself. Unfortunately gardening is time-consuming, and you can't get tomatoes in winter.  Some folks can't or won't grow food. Grow what you can when you can, and forgive yourself when you can't. Home-grown tomatoes are one of the great pleasures in life.

If you're not going to grow it yourself, perhaps you have a job that will allow you to buy clean organic produce. There's more of it available all the time. If you have a local source of produce that isn't organic certified but is still cleaner than grocery store produce, use that. Farmer's markets are nice because you can talk to the farmer about what they use to manage pests and weeds.

The plant foods that you should try to buy clean are listed by the environmental working group every year as the "dirty dozen". The 2017 list (below) includes many of our favorite fruits and veggies. 
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The EPA sets limits for pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and other chemicals on food, and those limits are not zero. There's no way you can avoid every toxin in or on commercial food, but it's worth some effort to minimize your exposures. Young people and children have the most to gain in terms of healthy life years.

Some contaminants are easier to remove than others. Strawberries are covered in little pores and it is impossible to get the pesticides off (out) of them, so it is important to buy those organic or choose another fruit. Apples are also hard to clean because they can have a coat of parrafin (to make them shiny) that seals in the pesticides. Potatoes may be less important to buy organic if you peel off a good layer and boil them too.  Boiling has been shown to remove or destroy some of the contaminants.

A review of the literature reveals that washing your veggies in tap water for 30 seconds actually removes most of the pesticides and fungicides. Unfortunately there are some that water does not remove, including chlorpyrifos (a nerve-gas pesticide) and vinclozolin (a fungicide). Thankfully these are removed by soaking in an acid solution, acetic acid being the most effective. Acetic acid is vinegar. The longer you soak your veggies the more of the chlorpyrifos is removed. My rule is to soak my cherries in a 5% vinegar solution for at least an hour.

Why do we care about chlorpyrifos? You may have heard about it in the news. It was originally developed as a nerve gas by the Nazis. Now it is used as a pesticide because it paralyzes insects. No surprise that it also wreaks havoc on the human nervous system. It was slated to be banned until Trump got elected. It's already banned for indoor use. Dow chemical (the maker of chlorpyrifos) donated a million bucks to Trump's inauguration fund to make sure that their profitable poison would remain legal. The EPA reversed course and this toxin will be sprayed on veggies and golf courses, in spite of the fact that it shrinks and deforms children's brains, lowers their IQs, and is linked to lung cancer and Parkinsons. Chlorpyrifos sticks to fruit even when it's rinsed in tap water.

For the foreseeable future we will need to work to avoid this toxin as best we can. This means seeking clean sources for our produce (gardens, farmer's markets, buying organic), washing it, peeling and boiling what can be peeled and boiled, and soaking plants that we eat with the skin on in a vinegar solution for at least an hour.

If you need a little good news to help wash off the sad feeling about all this poison, below are the kinds of food least likely to be contaminated. =-] Eat more of them.
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Naturopaths Know about Aristolochic Acid Toxicity

11/8/2017

 
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​The photograph above is a wild ginger plant in the genus Asarum. I photographed it last week in the woods near my father's house. Don't eat it. We know this. Some plants are poison. Naturopaths know about aristolochic acid because it is part of our training in botanical medicine.

Medicine in the US today is as polarized as our politics, and just as full of talking points and bald faced lies. I find it infuriating and frustrating. Today I read a hit piece attacking naturopathic doctors.
 It claimed that we push herbs that contain aristolochic acid (AA). AA is a known carcinogen in the bladder and kidneys, and a new study suggests that it's causing a lot of liver cancer too. It really ticks me off when headlines say we push people to take poison. Not so. We are here to guard against such mistakes.

Chinese herbal products have often been found to contain toxins, and to be mis-labeled or not labeled at all. Herbs containing AA can be found in Chinese weight loss formulas, among other places Here in the good old US we may complain about the shady politics in the FDA, but at some level they really are trying to protect us. They're doing better than the Chinese authorities, far as I can tell.

There's been an incredible increase in the wealth of the Chinese middle class in the last 25 years. Suddenly people have jobs, cars, and disposable income. They are eating more sugar than they ever have before, and they are getting fat, even getting diabetes. The Chinese are looking more and more like US.

Combine their new obesity, disposable income, and good supply of poorly regulated herbal products, and you can understand why the Chinese are getting cancer from AA. Lots of other people in Asia, like the Taiwanese, are having the same problem.

We've known about AA for a long time. The FDA issued a warning about it in 2001 which is when it came onto a lot of people's radar.

If you would like to know if an herbal formula or a supplement is safe to take, there is no one better to consult than a naturopath. We study on which herbs are useful and which are dangerous.

It is true that the vast majority of herbal products are not very well tested. You have to do the research to find out which ones are good, or ask a naturopath. Some companies have excellent quality assurance standards, and some do not. If you are going to take a product, you want to know if it contains what it says on the label. You also want to know that it does not contain anything toxic. Third party testing of products is expensive and most companies don't do it. If you buy the cheapest herbs you can get, you are probably choosing the ones that haven't been checked. Just so you know.

The people who are dedicated to the project of smearing alternative medicine don't know much about it, but that doesn't slow them down. It has become disgustingly normal, especially online, to just say whatever you want as if it were true, and keep saying it until the dimwitted come to believe you.

Don't let them brainwash you. Keep your wits sharp. Gather information and challenge your own assumptions. There is disinformation on all sides, and medicine is as rich a medium for BS as politics.

Just because something is natural does not make it safe.  Just because something is herbal does not make it dangerous. If you're going to experiment with herbs, do your research--or get some help from someone who has. And don't buy imported herbs online. Please.

Ten Tips for Drinkers (You Know Who You Are)

2/2/2017

 
  1. Never mix alcohol and tylenol.  Tylenol’s other names are acetaminophen and paracetamol.  It’s a common ingredient in over-the-counter cold medications (Nyquil), allergy meds, and RX pain meds like Vicodin and Percocet.  People can accidentally take too much because it’s in so many different products.  Tylenol is the world’s leading cause of fulminant liver failure, meaning severe, acute, and potentially fatal liver failure.  Mixing alcohol with tylenol is the kiss of an ugly death.  When you have a hangover and are searching the cabinet for something to treat your headache, use aspirin or ibuprofen or naproxen.  They're not quite so dangerous.
  2. Hydrate.  Most hangover symptoms are caused by dehydration.  Alcohol is a potent diuretic.  You might know this from the way that one beer makes you pee like you drank two.  Instead of taking pills for a hangover, guzzle water.  And if you know you’re going to imbibe, drink water before you even start.
  3. Take lots of vitamin C.  Especially after a binge, vitamin C helps neutralize the toxic breakdown products of alcohol metabolism, and it helps reverse fatty liver disease.  How much is lots?  Four to twelve grams a day, split up into lots of doses.  At the high end of this dose range it will cause diarrhea, but if you really binged, you will already have diarrhea.
  4. Be nice to your Gut.  Drinking alcohol causes Leaky Gut. This is when food particles leak through your gut lining instead of getting processed through the cells like they should. Leaky gut compromises your immune system and is a common factor in autoimmune diseases.  So eat a healthy diet with fruit and vegetables, and eat fermented foods like live yogurt, kefir, kraut or kimchi.  And get help if your gut isn’t working right.
  5. Know when to call 911.  If a heavy drinker suddenly spits up blood, it’s time to call.  Alcoholics can die when blood vessels in their esophagus burst, but they can live to see another day if you call early enough.  If the kids have had red bull drinks (alcohol and caffeine together) and start acting delirious, it’s time to call.  Caffeine prevents people from passing out so they’re more likely to reach a blood alcohol level that is really poisonous. Oh yeah, and definitely get help if someone turns yellow. Their eyes turn first.
  6. Eat FISH. It’s good for your brain.  Heavy alcohol consumption can cause dementia, and consuming lots of good omega 3 fats helps prevent the brain from degenerating.  So learn to love those fatty fishes—or start taking fish oil.
  7. Drink coffee.  You think I’m joking.  Coffee helps reduce liver damage caused by alcohol and by hepatitis.  It’s a powerful effect. Coffee also helps prevent dementia for other reasons.  So enjoy your cuppa joe!  It will help you sustain your Great Satan lifestyle longer.
  8. Sunbathe.  Large expanses of skin in bright sunshine makes hundreds of thousands of IU’s of vitamin D in just 15 minutes, so get a natural dose any time you can.  If you can never expose your white expanses, or if you live where the sun don’t shine, take a vitamin D supplement.  It helps prevent cirrhosis.
  9. Take a B Complex.  Thiamine is vitamin B-1, and a deficiency of this vitamin causes the severe memory loss that affects alcoholics.  You need all the other B’s too, so don’t take just one kind of B.  Take a quality B-complex in doses as big and regular as your drinking, and you’ve headed off this deficiency at the pass.
  10. Don’t be stupid.  I know it’s hard not to be stupid when you’re drunk but plan ahead when you’re not drunk so that you have a ride, a coat, and a place to crash.  Your body wastes heat after heavy drinking, so you can feel warm while you are descending into hypothermia.  Take a little extra care if you’re feeling reckless or have a tendency to behave impulsively.  Get help if you’re really headed down the drain: we need you.  

Which Sunscreen is Best?

5/20/2013

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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) releases a list of best products each year, and it has come out.  Look here before you buy another bottle!

The Key Points about Sunscreen:

1)    SEEK sunscreen that contains zinc oxide or avobenzone to protect against UVA.

2)    SEEK sunscreen with an SPF between 15 and 50.

3)    REAPPLY your sunscreen often, no matter the SPF.

4)    AVOID any type of application other than rubbing cream onto your skin.  No powders, sprays or towelettes.

5)    AVOID Super high SPF (over 50).  SPF only refers to protection against UVB (the burning rays); they may not protect against UVA which can accelerate aging and cause cancer.

6)    AVOID:
           a. Oxybenzone.  It’s estrogenic and linked to endometriosis.
           b. Retinyl Palmitate in sunscreen.  It might make lesions grow faster.
           c. Bug Repellant in your sunscreen.

SOURCE
http://www.ewg.org/2013sunscreen/what-not-to-bring-on-vacation/

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The Dirty Dozen: Pesticide Burden on Food Crops

4/26/2013

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Every year the Environmental Working Group tests fruit and vegetables from grocery stores and comes up with their list of the most pesticide-contaminated foods.  This year's list is almost entirely food that I personally eat, so I am very glad that we are growing a lot of them in our home garden.  The spinach overwintered and came up on its own!  But for the foods that are on the list, which we don't grow, I plan to buy organic.  I would recommend that you do, too.  Only by voting with our dollars can we change the market.  Without further ado, the dirty dozen:

1. Apples (99% of apples tested were contaminated)
2. Strawberries (these are bad because it goes in the pores and you can't wash or soak it off)
3. Grapes (one grape tested positive for 15 different pesticides)
4. Celery
5. Peaches
6. Spinach
7. Bell Peppers
8. Nectarines
9. Cucumbers
10. Potatoes
11. Cherry Tomatoes
12. Hot Peppers (looks like they lumped a lot of kinds of peppers together)

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Cannabis Contemplations

12/6/2012

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My patients often ask if I think medical marijuana might be helpful.  We’ve had some widely ranging conversations about the risks and benefits of this drug.  As a naturopathic physician I may not prescribe cannabis even though it is legal for medical use here in Oregon; it is not in the ND formulary.  The fact that I cannot prescribe it does not prevent me from discussing it.  The issue will not go away, regardless of the laws and the war on drugs.  Cannabis is ubiquitous, even though it is federally illegal with varying levels of state permissiveness.

Just last month Colorado and Washington were the first states in America to approve the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.  Those who fear it as a gateway drug, and those who advocate its medical use or broader legalization, are all making noise about it.  The politics often plays more loudly than the facts.  Marijuana is the #1 drug brought our way by Mexican drug cartels, and Mexican weed is likely to contain pesticides and other toxins.  Synthetic cannabinoids are being imported from Asia labelled as bath soaps and sold in convenience stores.  The war on drugs highlights our incarceration problem and the ugly politics of race.  Reasonable medical questions remain unanswered.

Our own government propagated a lot of disinformation back in the 1930’s when the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was created and cannabis was classified as a narcotic (against the advice of the American Medical Association).  The original Greek meaning of “narcotic” was any psychoactive substance that induces sleep, but in more recent times it has come to mean opiates and any drug derived from them.  Opiates are addictive and are carefully regulated by the DEA.  Cannabis is pharmacologically a world apart from opiates, and is no longer thought of as a narcotic, but it is still plagued by the negative reputation engendered by federal prohibition and propaganda, and the War on Drugs.  Cannabis was federally prohibited in 1933, the same year that the prohibition on alcohol was rescinded.

In 2009 the AMA did a review of the scientific literature on cannabis and found a few legitimate clinical trials with a grand total of less than 300 study participants.  The DEA has refused to grant permission to universities or pharmaceutical companies to research it.   The drug is approved by 18 states for medical use, but we have very little scientific information on which to base clinical applications.  Anecdotal information about the indications of various strains guide the choices of medical users.  The federal ban is still in effect, and current federal enforcement efforts are focused on importers and distributors and not on small scale possession (like they were under Reagan).  Employers are within their legal rights to require drug testing.  Law enforcement budgets rely on asset forfeitures (police can seize any cash or items likely to be related to drug trade without proof of guilt) which is incentive for police forces to continue to pursue small scale dealers.  Medical cannabis programs provide a front for a new domestic black market.  That the issue is contentious is an understatement; it is explosive.  And we still don’t know what it is good for.

A future email newsletter will focus on known and theoretical risks and benefits of cannabis use.  Sign up for the monthly missive here. 

 

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Eating Fish: Healthy or Toxic?

7/25/2011

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There's a debate raging about fish---whether or not we should eat it, what kind, and what we should do about the toxic mercury that contaminates much of the world's fish supply.  There are some who say don't worry about it, fish is so good for you that you should just eat it and don't worry about the mercury.  There are others who say that fish is so dangerous that you shouldn't eat any, and that you should supplement fish oil that has been tested and is free of mercury instead.  There is no doubt that most Americans don't get enough omega 3 fatty acids, and that we can get them from eating more fish.  So where do I fall?  Somewhere in the middle.  Because really, like all diet and lifestyle choices, it is a personal decision.

For the last century fish have carried increasing levels of mercury and other contaminants.  Carnivorous fish have more, because many toxins bio-accumulate.  Equatorial fish have more, because there are more people and hence more pollution around the midsection of the planet.  Interestingly, since the economy took a dive a few years back, the mercury levels in fish have declined.  Some say that it is because there is less coal being burned in China.  Most environmental mercury comes from coal smog.  All this is debatable, but the fact that there is mercury in fish, and that mercury is bad for people, especially people's brains, is very well documented.

So what do I do?  I eat fish 1-2 times a week, and supplement fish oil, ideally every day, though I often fall short of that goal.  I choose fish that are less likely to have a high mercury load---less carnivorous fish, smaller fish, more northern fish, instead of tuna from near the equator.  I supplement zinc, because being replete for good metals reduces one's absorption of bad metals when introduced.  And I support my liver's detoxification mechanisms in many ways, not the least of which is eating sulfur rich foods like cilantro and garlic.  I don't know exactly what balance will be right for you, but it is worth being conscious of the toxic challenges that may be in your food, and acting intentionally about it.

Here is a site where you can find out how much of what is in the fish you eat:
http://www.howmuchfish.com/

Edit 11/28/11: I just heard that fish have high enough selenium levels to bind up most of the mercury that they ingest, and possible render the majority of it non-absorbable to us.  I have not confirmed this yet, but it brings up the question: would repletion for selenium benefit humans with regard to avoiding mercury toxicity?  I do know that most humans are deficient in selenium.  And I also know that selenium is a key cofactor in the activation of thyroid hormone; if you don't have enough selenium, you will feel tired.  So it's worth considering both selenium and zinc as nutrients to bulk up on if you want to eat fish.  More updates as I learn more!
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    Author: Teresa Gryder

    Integrative Physician and Student of Life, Medicine, and the River.

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