[Health&Healing] Healing Power of Full Spectrum Light

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The Healing Power of Full-Spectrum Light

Good health can be maintained and many disease conditions alleviated

with adequate exposure to full-spectrum light.

http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/light.html

 

http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles.html

 

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Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 8, Number 4

PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia. editor

Telephone: +61 (0)7 5442 9280; Fax: +61 (0)7 5442 9381

From our web page at: www.nexusmagazine.com

 

© 1995, 2001 by Joseph G. Hattersley

7031 Glen Terra Court SE

Olympia, WA 98503-7119, USA

Telephone: +1 (360) 491 1164

Email: josephhattersley

Website: www.angelfire.com/wa/jhattersley/content.html

 

 

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[Editor's Note: This article refers to several research studies

involving animals. We wish to advise that NEXUS does not condone

animal experimentation or vivisection.]

 

ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT: MYTHS AND FACTS

 

America has a phobia, an irrational fear, about ultraviolet (UV)

light. In a new science fad, unwise practices are being urged on us.

The resulting sickness and misbehaviour will mystify yet enrich

physicians, psychiatrists, dentists and criminal specialists as well

as pharmaceutical drug companies.

 

In too many scientific and medical fields, for a lot of researchers

the truth is defined only in relationship to the next grant, peer

pressure and the fight to further an entrenched view. This

essentially political process goes on despite any--in this case very

strong--evidence to the contrary.1 Much " science " research is known

to be fraudulent.2, 3 Such a flow of funded research almost

exclusively in one direction is characteristic of potentially

dangerous science fads. Almost all " scientists " are out to prove

something so as to continue their careers; to them, finding the

truth is only secondary.

 

UV intensity is now forecast in population centres daily. The US

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests that when outdoors we

should " protect ourselves against ultraviolet light whenever we can

see our shadow " . And many physicians give their patients the same

warning. This is terrible advice. If man were a machine, a doctor

could repair or replace one part without worrying about the rest of

the contraption. Man is no machine, but more like a web or hologram.

Every organ and every part affects all the other parts; in fact,

cells in every part communicate with all the other parts.4

 

As a result of the EPA's kind of advice, which is based on junk

science, the use of sunglasses is epidemic; we hide behind stylish

darkened car windows, we slather our skin with sunscreen for even

brief sun exposure. People who engage in these practices are ruining

their disposition5 and health.

 

The phobia arose after investigators anaesthetised animals, propped

their eyes open and shined intense UV light into them; this damaged

their retinas. Excessive exposure to one kind of ultraviolet

(shorter-wave, germicidal UVC) can damage tissue. But the EPA makes

the ridiculous leap from that truth to the conclusion that we should

avoid all UV. UVC is not present increasingly in sunlight; a

purported thinning of the protective ozone layer has been debunked

(see below). UVC is found in tanning salons and halogen lamps.6 In

fact, the trace amounts of UV radiation in natural daylight are

required for physical and mental health, civilised behaviour, muscle

strength, energy and learning.7 Sunlight, in moderation, improves

immunity and stimulates our metabolism while decreasing food

craving, and increases our intelligence.

 

Ozone Hole Danger Disproved

 

The following passages and references are from Richard Hobday's

book, The Healing Sun: Sunlight and Health in the 21st Century.8

 

" There have been no increases in skin cancer, eye diseases, immune

system disorders or environmental damage which can be attributed to

an increase in ultraviolet radiation. The largest South American

city close to the Antarctic ozone hole is Punta Arenas in southern

Chile. Despite reports to the contrary, there have been no ozone-

related health problems at Punta Arenas, and measurements of

ultraviolet radiation show that any increases are too small to have

any appreciable effect.[9]

 

" A paper published in 1998 by the European Science and Environmental

Forum challenges the consensus view on ozone depletion, and argues

that predictions made by the scientific establishment and the media

have been ill-founded.[10] If this is the case, and the hole in the

ozone layer is, after all, a temporary thinning of the upper

atmosphere in the early spring, then there is no reason to fear that

people will develop skin cancer because ultraviolet radiation has

become more dangerous.

 

" There is certainly no evidence to support the widely held view that

the increase in malignant melanoma in recent years is in some way

linked to ozone depletion. The trend predates the issue of ozone

loss, which may have been going on for some time before it was

noticed. A paper published in the British Journal of Cancer shows

that from 1957 to 1984 the incidence of malignant melanoma in Norway

increased by 350 per cent for men and 440 per cent for women. During

the same period there was no change in ozone levels over Norway, nor

any significant change in annual exposure to ultraviolet radiation

from the Sun.[11] Scare stories, such as the one about sheep in

Chile developing cataracts because of increased ultraviolet

radiation, are not supported in the scientific literature. The sheep

in question were later found to have had an infectious disease, and

sunlight was not implicated.[12, 13]

 

" What is clear, however, is that there is a great deal of ill-

informed comment on the subject of ozone depletion and, for that

matter, sunbathing. Should depletion of the ozone layer ever become

a cause for real concern, then some people might develop cancer who

might not have, had there been no depletion, but until this happens

there is much more to be gained from investigating the real causes

of skin cancer and encouraging safe sunbathing than in being

preoccupied with the state of the Earth's upper atmosphere and

blaming everything on the Sun. Diet and lifestyle play a far more

significant part in the genesis of cancer than is currently

recognised. The same can also be said about another condition that

is supposed to be on the increase because of ozone depletion--that

of senile cataract. "

 

Note that even low exposure to UVB significantly increases the risk

of cataracts,14 but only with the consumption of a Western junk food

diet rich in unsaturated fats and their oxidised products.15, 16

Those (including myself) who consume a more sensible diet, and

supplement it with vitamins C and E, do not get cataracts even from

lengthy sun exposure.17, 18

 

 

PHOTOBIOLOGY

 

Starting from a high-school hobby of time-lapse photography, the

late John N. Ott, DScHon,19 founded the new science of photobiology.

He was active into his tenth decade.

 

Dr Ott's last book, one of many publications, is Light, Radiation

and You: How to Stay Healthy (1990).20 In it he wrote: " Mankind

adapted to the full range of the solar spectrum, and artificial

distortions of that spectrum--malillumination, a condition analogous

to malnutrition--may have biologic effects. " In an interview

published in 1991, he noted: " There are neurochemical channels from

the retina to th e pineal and pituitary glands, the master glands of

the whole endocrine system that controls the production and release

of hormones. This regulates your body chemistry and its growth,

all organs of your body, including your brain, and how they

function. " 21

 

The critical reader will ask: where are the controlled, scientific

tests supporting Dr Ott's statements? The answer to that question

is: who can make money promoting sunlight? Think about it.

 

 

SIDEBAR:

 

Two hours of bright light in the evening can sometimes cure symptoms

such as weight gain, depression, carbohydrate craving, social

withdrawal, fatigue and irritability.22

 

 

I. Ultraviolet Deprivation Health Effects

First, let's consider the health effects of ultraviolet deprivation.

 

Indoor Lighting and Melanoma

 

Malignant melanoma is often alarmingly but wrongly blamed on sun

exposure. The dangerous kind, called skin cancer, is ultimately

fatal if not corrected. A study by the US Navy found the most

melanoma in people who worked indoors all the time. Those who worked

both outdoors and indoors some of the time had the lowest incidence.

Also, most melanomas appeared on parts of the body that are seldom

exposed to sunlight.23 The inference is that both very high and very

low exposures to UV light can be harmful--and moderate exposure is

healthful.24

 

Sunscreens and Melanoma

 

Sunscreens block out only UVA and UVB, which we all need in trace

amounts, but not the potentially dangerous, germicidal UVC. No

commercial sunscreens have been proved safe.25 Their chemicals

penetrate the skin into the circulation and add to the burden of

toxins to be detoxified.26 Commercial sunscreens increase the risk

of melanoma by causing mutations when the cells' chromosomes

interact with the chemicals and the light.27 Natural sunscreens, as

well as commercial ones, curtail needed uptake of vitamin D3

from UVB, increasing the risk of the bone-thinning disease

osteoporosis.

 

Moreover, Lita Lee, PhD, notes: " Mounting evidence indicates that

many of them [sunscreens] contain carcinogens and that the rise of

skin cancers parallels the increase in sunscreen usage. The only

sunscreen I recommend is coconut oil, although, believe me, you

cannot slather this oil on your skin and bake in the sun all day.

Adding a little iodine to the coconut oil for the first week of

summer gives added protection; however, do not use the iodine for

more than a week, as continued use will inhibit your thyroid

function. In my opinion, the only other safe (non-carcinogenic)

sunscreen would be one containing titanium dioxide. " 28

 

Fluorescent Lighting and Melanoma

 

A study published in the prestigious medical journal Lancet and a

Russian study found that fluorescent light rather than sunlight

promotes melanoma, proportionately to the time of exposure.29, 30 In

the Lancet study, among a sample of nearly 900 women, those who

worked indoors under fluorescent lighting had 2.l times higher

melanoma risk (95% confidence interval, CI, 1.32 to 3.32) than

others. Among women exposed for 20 years or more, the relative risk

(RR) was 2.6 (95% CI, 1.2 to 5.9). Relative risks were lower in

women who had been most heavily exposed to sunlight, both playing

outdoors as children and sunbathing as adults. In a smaller sample

of men, the RR for fluorescent lights with 10 or more years'

exposure was 4.4; and for those who had spent the least time in the

sun while children, the RR was 7.3.

 

And so we see that lengthy exposure to full-spectrum sunlight,

including trace UV, partially " immunised " both men and women against

later development of melanoma. These exposures had taken place in

the 1960s and 1970s, before the supposed thinning of the protective

ozone layer far above us. But as we saw earlier, UV penetration of

the atmosphere has not increased.31, 32

 

All this thoroughly explodes the claim that sun exposure causes

malignant melanoma.

 

In the 19 years since publication of Beral's carefully researched

article in the Lancet, no one has refuted the finding. But many

ignore it and could make more money if the article and its

information would simply go away.

 

Why do fluorescent lights cause melanoma? " Emissions from such light

extend into the potentially carcinogenic range. " 33

 

Dr Ott found that, specifically, the cathodes located at the ends of

the light tubes emit X-rays and other electromagnetic pollution.

Plants living under the central portion of long fluorescent light

tubes grow normally; but when placed close to the ends of the tubes,

their growth is abnormal and stunted. Laboratory animals placed in a

cage close to the ends of these light tubes become aggressive and

cannibalistic.

 

Dr Ott also found that the light from fluorescent tubes, as well as

TV sets and computer terminals, causes red blood cells to clump

together after prolonged exposure. This reduces alertness, promotes

a tired feeling and increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.34

But when the ends of the light tubes are shielded with lead and

traces of UV are added to the light, plants and animals under them

grow and function normally.35 And so wrapping the ends of

fluorescent light tubes with lead tape, says Dr Ott, is fully as

important as full-spectrum light itself.36

 

Melanoma can also result from excessive exposure to sunlamps;37

their rays and those from bright halogen lights include some of the

dangerous UVC.38 If users of sunlamps consume a junk diet, their

risk of melanoma will be increased. Halogen lamps are also a serious

fire hazard if they fall over or if inflammable material touches the

extremely hot bulb.39, [40]

 

SIDEBAR:

 

Valdemar Valerian, PhD, and his Leading Edge Research

Group " ...noticed that DNA molecules undergo erratic vibrational

patterns in the vicinity of cathode ray tubes (television or

computer monitors), and that a certain subsonic signal emanating

from computer monitors connected to the Internet make the DNA

molecules vibrate in unison, in a form of entrained pattern. We

consulted the eminent Russian researcher Professor D. S. Goldstein.

He said: 'I know that. It is a phenomenon known as electronically

induced sonochemistry. That is how mutations occur, and that is why

I stay away from the Internet.' " 40

 

Chlorination and Melanoma

 

Drinking and swimming in chlorinated water can also cause malignant

melanoma.41, 42, 43, 44 Sodium hypochlorite, used in chlorination of

water for swimming pools, is mutagenic45 in the Ames test and other

mutagenicity tests.46, 47 Redheads and blonds are disproportionately

melanoma-prone; their skin contains a relative excess of

pheomelanins48 compared to darker people.49

 

Franz H. Rampen and his associates in The Netherlands state that the

worldwide pollution of rivers and oceans and the chlorination of

swimming pool water have promoted an increase in melanoma.50, 51, 52

 

Another major factor in the increase in reported incidence of

melanoma has been physicians' continually relaxing their standards

for what constitutes melanoma.

 

Synthetic Hormones and Melanoma

 

What about oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy (HRT)?

Melanomas have increased sharply among women in the principal

Pill-taking countries of Australia, America and in Europe. In the

Walnut Creek (California) study, all the women who developed

melanomas under the age of 40 had used the Pill. By 1981, the

overall increased melanoma risk for Pill-users was statistically

significant at three times.53 The Pill also promotes development of

heart attacks, in part by depleting body stores of vitamin B6.54

 

Further, like breast cancer cells, those tumours have oestrogen

receptors. And so women on HRT are more likely to develop melanomas

than non-users. A recent study of 52,705 women on HRT found that the

risk of breast cancer increases by 2.3 per cent for each of the 11

years the average woman takes HRT. The good news is that the effect

diminishes on stopping it and disappears after about five years. The

authors comment: " These findings should be considered in the context

of the benefits and other risks associated with the use of HRT. " 55

Others challenge the assumption that HRT provides benefits.56, 57, 58

 

 

II. Ultraviolet Deprivation Health Effects

 

Certain effects of ultraviolet deprivation are equally remarkable

and tie together with health benefits.

 

FS Light & Childhood Health

 

In 1973, radiation-shielded full-spectrum (FS) lights were installed

in five classrooms in Sarasota, Florida. And what happened? Several

extremely hyperactive, learning-disabled children calmed down

completely and learned to read. Absenteeism dropped. The children in

four standard-lit rooms continued to misbehave (as tracked by

concealed motion-detecting cameras); their learning disabilities and

absenteeism were unabated.59 And after a year, students in the full-

spectrum classrooms had one-third less tooth decay than those taught

under standard lighting. Laboratory mice, which had been exposed all

their waking hours to FS light, had zero tooth decay.60 Similar

findings were reported from California, Washington state and

Alberta, Canada.61 A classroom comparison in Vermont found that

full-spectrum lighting strengthened immunity.62, 63

 

Why was there so much less tooth decay after exposure to full-

spectrum light, including trace UV? And why did immunity improve

under FS lights? According to Dr Ott: " Every nutritional substance

and medicine has a specific wavelength absorption. If those

wavelengths are missing in the artificial light source a person is

exposed to, then the nutritional or other hoped-for benefits of the

substance will not be utilised. " 63a UV functions as a nutrient and

as a co-factor (a substance required for a bodily process to occur)

in the utilisation of other nutrients.

 

So the full-spectrum lights corrected the children's deficiency of

vitamin D3 (not the same as the toxic form of vitamin D added to

milk), now considered a pro-hormone. This enabled more complete

calcium absorption--and lowers the risk of osteoporosis and hip

fractures in later life. Recent research has found that nearly half

the people of all age groups taking RDA-strength supplements have

too little vitamin D. When the body doesn't have enough of it to

absorb adequate calcium from food, it extracts calcium from bone.64

 

FS light also strengthens immunity in other ways. It helps protect

against multiple sclerosis, heart attacks and conversion of HIV to

AIDS, among other things. These are elaborated and fully referenced

in the remainder of the paper [see NEXUS website]. " Protect

ourselves from ultraviolet whenever we can see our shadow, " as the

EPA frighteningly warns? Won't doing that then constitute a full-

employment plan for dentists, orthopaedic surgeons and oncologists

as well as pharmaceutical drug companies?

 

FS Light vs Cancers

 

Cancers hate full-spectrum light. A tumour-susceptible strain of

mice lived more than twice as long under full-spectrum as under

standard lighting, and rats exposed to full-spectrum light had

significantly lessened tumour development.65 The tunnel-visioned

National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society ignore these

findings, which six major medical centres have confirmed.66

 

Terminal cancer patients, who Dr Ott knew of personally, got well in

a rocking chair in the sunshine. Dr Jane Wright, directing cancer

research at Bellevue Memorial Medical Center in New York City in

1959, was fascinated by Ott's ideas. So she instructed progressive-

tumour patients to avoid artificial lights and stay outdoors as much

as possible that summer. They were not to wear sunglasses or

prescription lenses, which block UV light. By that fall, the tumours

in 14 of 15 had not grown, and some patients had got better; the one

whose condition deteriorated sat outdoors but wore prescription

lenses. Ott has been criticised for making no scientifically

controlled human studies. Well, funding for continuation of that

study was withdrawn--that was his experience over and over.67

 

One woman with cancer ventured out with Norwegian fishermen, ate a

lot of their catch and recovered; friends ate fish but stayed inside-

-and their cancers killed them.68 Had she " protected " herself from

UV when she could see her shadow, as the EPA advises, would her

cancer have ended? And if sun-loving Arizonans threw away their

sunscreens and sunglasses and limited their sun exposure to about 30

minutes a day,69, 70 wouldn't their cancers largely disappear?

 

A Chicago-area elementary school suddenly reported five times the

national average incidence of leukaemia, a kind of cancer of the

blood. All of the afflicted children but one were being taught in

rooms where teachers kept the blinds drawn, and the children were

exposed all day only to melanoma-promoting fluorescent light. When

even the amount of UV that can get through window glass was let in,

the leukaemia cluster disappeared.71 (Raymond Peat, PhD, thinks FS

sunlight is best received through glass.72)

 

FS Light vs Arthritis and Blindness

 

Early in his research career, Dr Ott fell and broke his glasses;

soon, his arthritis disappeared. And in 1996, Marion Patricia

Connolly, executive director of Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation

(PPNF), had much the same experience. Full-spectrum eyeglasses,

i.e., lenses that transmit all ultraviolet light, are difficult to

find. I take off my glasses outdoors whenever I can.

 

Exposed to full-spectrum light, a father rat is docile and even

helpful after his babies are born. But when the same rat pair is

moved under standard light, before the birth of the next litter the

male must be removed to prevent aggressiveness and cannibalism.

Moved back to natural light for still another litter, he is gentle

again.73 Although human fathers aren't likely to eat their babies,

do we really want more domestic aggressiveness?

 

Alternating full-spectrum light and total dark cured children born

blind as a result of brain injury. The technique was advocated by W.

H. Bates about 1904 and endorsed by Aldous Huxley in 1930. Efficacy

was confirmed in the recent Annual Report from the British Institute

for Brain Injured Children.74

 

How can all this be explained? Full-spectrum light, entering the

eyes during waking hours, promotes night-time pineal gland secretion

of melatonin. This sleep-promoting antioxidant destroys carcinogenic

hydroxyl radicals--and also slows ageing.75, 76 Melatonin can

suppress growth of human breast cancer cells in vitro (in a test

tube), and can cross all barriers to enter every cell.77, 78 So

enough sleep--best achieved in total darkness79--becomes anti-

ageing, antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-heart attack therapy!

 

Except in short-term emergencies, people younger than about 50

should use supplements of melatonin cautiously, if at all.80 For

people over 40 to 45, one to three milligrams before bedtime safely

promotes both prompt falling asleep and a good night's rest, in

addition to its other benefits.81

 

In a laboratory, viruses are weakened by exposure to full-spectrum

light that includes traces of UV. Infectious organisms such as E.

coli K12 AB2480, which can cause food poisoning, dislike ultraviolet

too.82 The Morris Center in Winnipeg, Canada, promotes " amazing "

healing by shining full-spectrum light onto wounds.83

 

FS Light vs Seasonal Affective Disorder

 

The power of full-spectrum light against SAD (seasonal

depression)--again, by entering the eyes--has been amply

demonstrated. FS light benefits nonseasonal depression, too,84 but

not as much.85 Such light energises and regulates the body's entire

chemistry. Won't " protecting " millions of people from UV, as the EPA

advocates, then worsen the growing epidemic of depression?

 

Dietary sufficiency of vitamin D also needs consideration here.

" Seasonal affective disorder has been treated successfully with

vitamin D. In a recent study covering 30 days of treatment comparing

vitamin D supplementation with two-hour daily use of light boxes,

depression completely resolved in the D group but not in the light-

box group. " 87

 

The cells in the retinas of your eyes will not divide and regenerate

without a small amount of ultraviolet light. And so full-spectrum

light reduces the risk of retinal degeneration, the leading cause of

blindness among the elderly.88 Retinal haemorrhage, the most severe

phase of the condition, can also result from long-term use of

aspirin.89 (A prominent ophthalmologist declared the

outcome " unlikely " ; however, an exhaustive computer literature

search by Kirk Hamilton, PA-C, publisher of Clinical Pearls News,

found no refutation of the finding.) White willow bark provides the

same benefits as aspirin without stomach irritation or blindness, as

do three glasses daily of purple grape juice. And unlike aspirin,90

the flavonoids in purple grape juice remain effective when

adrenaline levels rise.91 Two 400-milligram capsules of white willow

bark are equivalent to one baby aspirin.92 Eating a lot of dark-

green leafy vegetables such as spinach,93 kale and Brussels

sprouts also helps avoid this condition.94, 95

 

Many dermatologists advise older patients to stay out of the sun to

avoid skin cancer. The thousands of elderly patients rotting in

nursing homes come to mind. That advice may unintentionally help to

make patients sicker and older beyond their years. Staying indoors

will cause problems a lot worse than skin cancer. Older people's

bones will crumble and break (osteoporosis); these elderly patients

will hate living (depression). Articles in the journals Cancer,

Cancer Research and Preventive Medicine suggest that avoiding

sunlight could promote the development of cancers other than those

of the skin.96, 97, 98

 

FS Light vs Neurological Diseases

 

Research by Reuven Sandyk, MD, who practises medicine in

Connecticut, shows that long-term deprivation from sunlight exposure

increases the risk of multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease

through depressed secretion of the hormone melatonin by the brain's

pineal gland. This appears to explain the south-north gradient in

the incidence of MS: the farther from the equator, the more common

it is.99 All the MS patients he tested had extremely low melatonin

levels and their pineal glands were calcified, or hardened.

 

Reduction in melatonin secretion, he found, may be associated with

zinc deficiency in ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity

disorder).100 " Since melatonin stimulates serotonin synthesis,[101]

and serotonin deficiency has been linked to aggressive behaviour,

[102] it is possible that a high prevalence of conduct disorder and

aggressive behaviour in ADHD patients could be related to reduced

melatonin and serotonin associated with (but not caused by) zinc

deficiency.[103] "

 

Dr Sandyk applies extremely weak alternating-current fields to the

brain; this stimulates melatonin secretion, bringing about

remarkable subjective and objective improvement of MS and

Parkinson's patients within one to two minutes. The magnetic field

he uses is at 2 to 7 hertz (vibrations per second), a physiological

frequency, i.e., near the rate used by brain neurotransmitters.

 

Melatonin destroys carcinogenic hydroxyl radicals by neutralising

their precursor molecules, and so it should help against Parkinson's

and Alzheimer's diseases.104 Melatonin interferes with oestrogen

receptor sites on cells; excessive oestrogen from the Pill and from

HRT causes breast cells to hyperproliferate (become cancerous), and

melatonin blocks this action.105 It also slows senescence.106 The

decline in its levels in everyone's bodies owing to longer daily

exposure to light has been suggested as one possible factor

explaining the continual spread of cancer in the 20th century.107,

108 Some of Dr Sandyk's patients with Alzheimer's disease, migraine

and pain syndromes also benefit from exposure to such magnetic

fields--suggesting that sunlight deprivation may contribute to the

aetiology of those distressing illnesses.109

 

FS Light vs CHD and Infections

 

Staying completely out of the sun may also increase the risk of heart

attacks and much more by another route. David Grimes, MD, at

Blackburn Royal Infirmary in Blackburn, UK, notes that heart attacks

are commonest in the parts of the world--such as northwest United

Kingdom--that have the least sunshine. And Asian populations in the

British Isles have a particularly high risk of death from heart

attack that cannot be explained on dietary grounds. Having come from

countries in which the sun is so strong that exposure must be

minimised, they have a cultural tendency to avoid the sun.

 

Dr Grimes traces causation of many cases of CHD (coronary heart

disease) to the microbe Chlamydia pneumoniae and low

immunocompetence from too low a level of vitamin D among those

avoiding sunshine. Sunlight could determine whether squalene, the

precursor to both vitamin D and cholesterol, converts into vitamin D

(in the presence of enough sunshine) or into excessive cholesterol

(if sunlight is deficient.)110 A deficiency of vitamin B6 promotes

infection, e.g. by H. pylori and Chlamydia, as one of its mechanisms

of increasing risk of heart attack.111, 112

 

Dr Grimes links respiratory infections and chronic bronchitis,

called " the English Disease " , to poor immunocompetence due to

sunlight deficiency, worsened by cigarette smoking. (In southern

Europe, smoking rates are much higher, but recurrent respiratory

tract infections are scarce.) Glasgow, Scotland, has high rates of

osteomalacia and rickets, which he says are definitely the result of

sunlight deficiency. Dr F. A. Spencer has noted a higher incidence

of heart attacks in winter; he has related this to low levels of

vitamin D and to depression from the winter months.113

 

Also, Crohn's disease (regional enteritis or intestinal irritation)

is much more common in cloudy northwest England than in sunny

southern Europe--that is, if we accept that Crohn's is a microbial

disease, as current research confirms, probably due to Mycobacterium

paratuberculosis. Once again, sunlight in the Mediterranean area

could be protective through immuno-enhancement.114

 

There are other risks. An Alabama researcher found that lack of

enough sunshine exposure may increase the risk of hypertension in

blacks and other dark-skinned people. Those with greater amounts of

pigment in the skin require six times the amount of ultraviolet B

(UVB) light to produce the same amount of vitamin D3 found in

lighter-skinned people.115 And Dr Esther John of Northern California

Cancer Center reported that daily exposure to sunshine, without

sunscreen, appears to lessen the risk of breast cancer.116

 

 

Addendum I

 

Skin Cancers

 

What about skin cancers? One was taken off my nose in 1989, and

another in 1997; such skin cancers are totally harmless if removed

promptly. Recent research has found at least two ways to minimise

even that occasional inconvenience, and these offer other major

benefits:

 

(a) Drink lots of green tea. In one study, cancer-sensitive mice were

pre-treated with a strong carcinogen; their only source of liquid,

green tea, lowered keratoacanthomas and carcinomas by 65 to 90 per

cent. Decaffeinated tea has been found to be nearly as effective as

plain.117 Applying green tea to the skin was equally effective

against tumour formation from a carcinogen or intense UV light.118

And in an animal tumour model, green tea ingredients induced

apoptosis (programmed cell death " for the good of the organism " )

among cancer cells.119

 

Recent research has found that tea can be high in fluoride. The tea

plants grow best on fluoride-rich soil and can suck up the chemical

from dumped fluoride as well. This fluoride is toxic and can weaken

thyroid function.119a

 

The bioflavonoids--flavone compounds that accompany vitamin C in

plant structures120--in green tea help prevent cancers,

cardiovascular and liver diseases as well as keratoses.121 And they

explain why green tea is nearly 20 times stronger an antioxidant

than vitamin E in the alpha-tocopherol form.122

 

(b) Eat a diet low in trans- fats, supplemented by fresh, organic,

refrigerated flaxseed and cod liver oils for omega-3 essential fatty

acids (EFAs).

 

One hears warnings of glaucoma (excessive pressure in and hardening

of eyeballs) from sun exposure. That is a risk if you eat a

processed-food diet. The EFAs are largely lacking in low-fat Western

diets, including the US Department of Agriculture's " food pyramid " .

Among many other health benefits, omega-3 EFAs regulate eye pressure.

 

Glaucoma can also result from the use of inhaled steroids for

treating asthma. For many older patients, inhaled steroids intended

to block or reduce inflammation, and formerly claimed not to

circulate throughout the system, promote glaucoma--the leading cause

of blindness--and cataracts. In a comparative study, the glaucoma

risk appeared to be elevated by 44 per cent compared to matched

patients not using inhaled steroids. Lea Davies of Georgetown

University Medical Center in Washington, DC, adds that inhaled

steroids may cause about one-third of the 3,000 glaucoma cases

developing each year among Americans over the age of sixty-five.123

Also, a published clinical test showed that melatonin offers still

another benefit: it lowers eyeball pressure in glaucoma patients--

and the insomnia age group, for whom its use is safe and

appropriate, is the same as the glaucoma age group.124 Flaxseed oil

is best taken with 400 international units (IUs) of antioxidant

vitamin E,125, 126 which should include the other members of the

natural-source tocopherol complex as well as the d-alpha part.127

Germany's late Johanna Budwig, PhD, developer of this therapy,128

was nominated seven times for a Nobel Prize and continued activity

into her tenth decade of life. How much flax oil? Healthy people

should have one to three teaspoonfuls a day, either out of a spoon

or in food, e.g., on salads oil must have a pleasant, nutty

flavour). And sick people? In her books, Dr Budwig told of hundreds

who recovered from cancer, diabetes, lupus, bronchial spasms,

Hodgkin's disease, atherosclerosis, stomach ulcers, prostate

disease, arthritis, eczema and immune deficiency syndromes

including multiple sclerosis. They accomplished these healing

miracles by taking three tablespoonfuls of flax oil a day with

unpasteurised cottage cheese to improve absorption. The benefits of

this diet can be strengthened by resveratrol, another bioflavonoid

found in grapes and other natural foods.129

 

No one is interested in paying for a controlled trial of flaxseed oil

therapy. Its successful proof and wide use would destroy much of

medical practice and the pharmaceutical drug industry as well as the

careers of the researchers involved and the editor of any journal

that published the findings. And since medical journals rely on

hundreds of millions of dollars yearly in revenues for advertising

from pharmaceutical drug companies, the journal itself would be out

of business in 10 minutes.

 

Raymond Peat, PhD (chemistry), a world authority, has shown that

coconut oil, consumed in the diet at an ounce [29.6 cc] or more per

day, enables the body to generate ample essential fatty acids (also

see below). He also warns that supplemented EFAs can weaken immunity

and actually poison the body; they are deliberately used in organ

transplantation to minimise risk of rejection by the recipient's

immune system.130

 

 

Addendum II

 

Selenium supplements

 

Supplemented selenium (Se) at 50 to 250 micrograms daily protects

the skin against damage from excess sun exposure.131 (Intakes above

250 mcg, which could be toxic, should be used only for short periods

under the guidance of a knowledgeable practitioner.) Two grams a day

of vitamin C, taken together with 1,000 IU of vitamin E, also

protects against sunburn.132

 

Hardly anyone will experience skin damage from our suggested 20 to 30

minutes' daily sun exposure. But the selenium supplement is worth

taking on its other merits, which are extremely important:

 

(a) A massive scientific/medical literature supports selenium's

efficacy against cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD). A map of

the United States showing areas of low soil selenium almost

perfectly matches maps showing the areas of highest incidence of

both cancer and CVD. The same is true in New Zealand and

Australia.133 Crib death (cot death, or SIDS, sudden infant

death syndrome) is also more common in areas of low soil selenium,

such as in America's Pacific Northwest and parts of New Zealand.134

(See also Dr Lendon Smith's and my work on SIDS.135, 136)

 

(b) More than 10 papers published in the past two years relate

declining selenium levels to the progression of HIV (human

immunodeficiency disease. An article in the Journal of AIDS

(September 30, 1997) found that more likely to die of causes

related to HIV than are people with enough Se.

 

Recent research has discovered that selenium at 200-250 mcg a day

can likely prevent mutation of latent, dormant retroviruses,

including HIV, into virulent forms.137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142,

143, 144, 145 This should lower and perhaps eliminate the risk of

AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) among HIV-positive

persons.

 

Dr Harold Foster argues:146 " The association of depressed CD4 T-cell

counts and depleted plasma selenium stores is not coincidental.

Rather, it provides evidence of the operation of a positive feedback

system in which a fall in serum selenium triggers a reduction in the

number of CD4 T-cells, which in its turn causes a further decline in

serum selenium. This downward spiral undermines the immune system " --

in what he dubs the " selenium-CD4 T-cell tailspin " . Accordingly,

incidence of HIV/AIDS is high in areas of Africa where selenium in

the soils is low, irrespective of people's sexual behaviour.147, 148

 

Intramuscular injections of vitamin B12,149 supplements of vitamin E

complex and N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC)150 also strengthen this AIDS

defence. NAC seems to help replenish stores of reduced glutathione,

lower inflammatory oxidative stress reactions and help protect

against mitochondrial DNA damage, in turn decreasing replication of

the virus.151, 152 Glutathione is humans' chief internally generated

antioxidant. The DNA in the mitochondria, as 2,000 times more

susceptible to oxidative damage than nuclear DNA.153 Adequate NAC

serves further to facilitate detoxification in persons who have poor

phase-II glucuronidation.154

 

Will Taylor, PhD, proposed a mechanism for selenium's action. He is

at the Computational Center for Molecular Structure and Design,

Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Georgia. Dr Taylor

sequenced the genetics of innocent, harmless retroviruses that

normally lie dormant and cause no symptoms--retroviruses such as

herpesvirus Simplex A, Coxsackievirus and HIV. (The usually benign

character of HIV has been massively documented by Peter Duesberg,

PhD, a leading retrovirologist at the University of California,

Berkeley. To label HIV " the AIDS virus " or say that it " [always]

causes AIDS " is wrong. Half of American AIDS patients are HIV-

negative; and, as Dr Duesberg wrote in 1996, probably 90 per cent of

the approx. 21 million HIV-positive people worldwide are

healthy.155, 156)

 

Dr Taylor concluded that Coxsackievirus, HIV and certain other

retroviruses are coded for the production of a selenoprotein; and he

predicted that the selenoproteins produced by those viruses act as

brakes on the viruses' reproduction. In effect, with enough Se

present, the HIV retrovirus makes its own " birth-control pill " . And

so selenium has become very popular in HIV virus clubs.157 When

there isn't enough Se (the low level may not reflect inadequate

dietary Se intake, Dr Taylor said), the virus goes wild.

Supplemented selenium, even if the HIV can't be eradicated, can

effectively put it to sleep, preventing its conversion into AIDS.158

 

Coconut Oil

 

Coconut oil, like mother's milk, is rich in lauric acid, which the

body converts to the antiviral fatty acid monolaurin. Dr Robert

Atkins writes: " This may help in disarming a number of infectious

viruses, including those that cause measles, herpes,

cytomegalovirus, vesicular stomatitis, and possibly AIDS. " However,

Dr Atkins's endorsement doesn't extend to coconut milk, which

contains too much sugar.159

 

(Excessive sugar intake is now recognised as the number one risk

factor for heart attacks in women, and number two for men; excessive

animal fat intake is number two for women, and number one for

men.160 A major part of the explanation is this: just one teaspoon

of sugar impairs the immune system by about 40 per cent for several

hours, as Emanuel Cheraskin and associates found.161 Many Americans

consume an average of two or more teaspoons of sugars of all kinds,

every hour and all day, and thus keep their immunity constantly low.

A very large number of heart attacks appear to be the result of

infection, e.g., by H. pylori and Chlamydia pneumoniae.)

 

Mark Konlee, in his newsletter, Positive Health News, wrote about how

coconuts saved an AIDS sufferer's life:

 

" Chris, an AIDS sufferer, found his viral load had reached almost

700,000. He went for a relaxing vacation, packed all his drugs and

headed for an Indian village in Surinam; there he dined on fresh

coconut meat every day. Within two days his peripheral neuropathy

was gone, and within two weeks he was 'running through the jungle'.

 

" Back home, continuing to consume at least half of a coconut per

day, his lab tests showed the viral load had dropped to just over

300,000. another month the viral load had dropped to non-

detectable. 'My doctor is completely baffled,' said Chris.

 

" PPNF members may not be so puzzled. They read about the amazing

health benefits of coconut, especially its antiviral

characteristics, in Dr Mary Enig's article in vol. 20 #1 of PPNF

Health Journal in 1995. " 162

 

---

 

Author's Note:

This paper enlarges and updates my article on full-spectrum light,

first published in Price-Pottenger Health Journal, Winter 1995, with

added details, Spring 1995. Recent research, not yet incorporated

into this paper, fully supports the statements made and conclusions

here reached.

 

Endnotes: on url