Fwd: HEALTH TIPS, NOVEMBER 18, 2003

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Nicholas Regush <nregush wrote:Tue, 18 Nov 2003 14:53:25

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HEALTH TIPS, NOVEMBER 18, 2003

 

" Nicholas Regush "

 

 

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2003

 

http://www.redflags.daily.com

 

TWO SUPER SAVER OFFERS FOR MEMBERS

HEALTH TIPS

MALNUTRITION: Who Is At Risk?

 

(Part Two)

 

Many doctors and surgeons are seriously challenged when it comes to nutrition,

and especially ignorant of the needs of hospital patients.

 

Nutrition is not just about setting up a reasonable menu for the recovering

patient. It should be focused on helping to prevent and fight disease – and that

includes building up the body sufficiently so that it is less vulnerable to

hospital-acquired infections.

 

One reason for this major lapse in health care, aside from the obvious one –

namely that insufficient attention is paid to nutrition in medical school – is

that there is a lack of team work in dealing with nutrition. Not enough

specialists involved, working together to solve a problem. Often, the patient’s

nutritional plan is left to the mercy of an inexperienced dietician or a doctor

who needs a good shot of continuing education about nutrition.

 

There are at least two major “red flags” here: the first is the lack of a

wide-scale view of nutrition. Doctors, in particular, get bits and pieces of

information from, say, biochemists and physiologists; the second is the abysmal,

retarded approach to the entire subject – often years behind the developing

scientific literature.

 

For example, the lack of adequate supplementation of vitamins, minerals,

essential fatty acids and amino acids is appalling. Studies have shown that

emergency and trauma patients who receive extra C and E do better in fighting

off pneumonia and respiratory distress than those given the RDA levels of the

vitamins. This kind of supplementation, it has been shown, also is helpful in

preventing organ failure.

 

But that’s only the tiny tip of an iceberg of information that should have risen

to more visible levels in medicine. For example, what about providing

supplements such as L-arginine and omega-3 essential fatty acids to surgical

patients? One study showed that surgical patients given these supplements had a

better chance of fighting off infections.

 

Then there is co-enzyme Q10. When have you heard of hospitalized patients,

particularly heart surgery patients, receiving Q10? Many should.

 

Q10 is used by cells to produce energy. It is also known for its antioxidant

properties, thus protecting cells against damage, including their DNA, from

reactive chemicals called “free radicals.”

 

And as we age, levels of Q10 drop off. At 80, it has been estimated that levels

are cut by at least half. Now consider the huge numbers of hospital patients who

are in their 70s and 80s, recuperating from heart surgery – coronary bypasses

and valve replacements, for example.

 

There have been more and more studies in recent years pointing to a simple fact:

Q10 depletion is associated with illness. Given its important role in producing

energy for cells, this should not be surprising.

 

Along these lines, there has been a lot more scientific attention focused on the

impairment of a vital process of energy production in the mitochondria (small,

rodlike or threadlike particles of living substance in cells) and how this may

result in disease. Q10 is vital to this “power plant” in cells.

 

According to Dr. Richard Fiddian-Green, the former chair of general surgery at

the University of Massachusetts (and a RFD columnist), malfunctioning of the

energy-producing process in the mitochondria may lead to a wide range of chronic

illness.

 

Fiddian Green also emphasizes that other micronutrients, such as vitamins B12,

folic acid, B6, niacin, C, E, iron and zinc that have the potential to improve

mitochondrial function, may enhance the therapeutic effects of Q10.

 

All the more reason to consider supplementing vulnerable (and often elderly)

hospital patients with Q10. But sadly this appears to be still a long way off.

 

-Nicholas Regush

 

 

 

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