In the Stress v. Fertility blog post, I detail one of the factors that impairs a woman’s ability to get pregnant. If you’re like the vast majority of Americans – experiencing sustained, high doses of stress – then take a few moments today for the 4-7-8 (or Relaxing Breath) Exercise:

This exercise is utterly simple, takes almost no time, requires no equipment and can be done anywhere. Although you can do the exercise in any position, sit with your back straight while learning the exercise. Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth, and keep it there through the entire exercise. You will be exhaling through your mouth around your tongue; try pursing your lips slightly if this seems awkward.

1. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.

2. Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.

3. Hold your breath for a count of seven.

4. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.

5. This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.

Note that you always inhale quietly through your nose and exhale audibly through your mouth. The tip of your tongue stays in position the whole time. Exhalation takes twice as long as inhalation. The absolute time you spend on each phase is not important; the ratio of 4:7:8 is important. If you have trouble holding your breath, speed the exercise up but keep to the ratio of 4:7:8 for the three phases. With practice, you can slow it all down and get used to inhaling and exhaling more and more deeply.

This exercise is a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system. Unlike tranquilizing drugs, which are often effective when you first take them but then lose their power over time, this exercise is subtle when you first try it but gains in power with repetition and practice. Do it at least twice a day. You cannot do it too frequently. Do not do more than four breaths at one time for the first month of practice. Later, if you wish, you can extend it to eight breaths. If you feel a little lightheaded when you first breathe this way, do not be concerned; it will pass.

Once you develop this technique by practicing it every day, it will be a very useful tool that you will always have with you. Use it whenever anything upsetting happens – before you react. Use it whenever you are aware of internal tension. Use it to help you fall asleep. The exercise cannot be recommended too highly. Everyone can benefit from it.

This post is Part I in a series of blog posts addressing the multitude of factors that affect a woman’s fertility. In Part I, we discuss the first adversary of pregnancy: STRESS! Check back for upcoming posts on nutrition, environmental factors, and numerous actionable tips that will help you take charge of your own reproductive health.

Stress v. Fertility

It’s widely known that more women than ever are struggling with fertility. In fact, one out of every six women has difficulty getting pregnant. In our grandparents’ generation, fertility was never an issue. Now, it’s a topic that’s hotly discussed among the news media, healthcare practitioners and women who are hoping to start (or add to their) families.

But why?

Let me ask you this: if a lion were chasing you, would your body busy itself with fertility? Unlikely.

That question may seem bizarre or dramatic – there aren’t many lions prowling the city streets – but your physiology doesn’t know that.

Our “lions” today seem mildly less threatening – at least in the life-or-death way – but your body doesn’t detect much difference between a real-life lion and a looming layoff, a foreclosure notice, or a seemingly endless to-do list with impossible deadlines to meet. Today, people experience sustained, high-doses of stress. This puts our bodies in a constant state of alert.

Many of my clients arrive at my practice because they’re struggling to get pregnant. In most cases, they are also struggling with constant (albeit typical), high levels of stress. What’s more, their stress is exponentially worse; on top of the run-of-the-mill stressors I referenced above, they’re experiencing the stress and distress of trying to get pregnant. It’s a vicious cycle that plays out over and over again – and gets worse at every turn.

Said very simply, the human organism doesn’t want to make a baby when a lion is chasing it. Under stress – be it a lion or modern stressors – the body diverts energy away from the viscera, which is responsible for digestion and reproduction. Blood flow is diverted instead to the soma – hands and feet – and energy is directed to the adrenal glands. Your heart beats faster, your breathing rate increases, and your body is flushed with adrenaline. This response has a dramatic, negative impact on your body’s reproductive ability.

The good news is, there are solutions to this vicious cycle. While it’s no secret that an average 22-year-old will get pregnant more easily than an average 45-year-old, many other factors affecting fertility are entirely within our control.

Many of my patients are also in the care of fertility doctors and endocrinologists; we work as a team to improve patients’ nutrition, lifestyle and stress levels. In my practice specifically, I work with patients to mitigate their bodies’ stress response; determine which foods support the body’s ability to function at its highest level and produce healthy offspring; and evaluate options for purification and cleansing programs to help the body detoxify and rev up. Acupuncture brings all of this together, helping patients to achieve balance and homeostasis. In other words, we help you activate the “off-switch,” which significantly impacts the down-cascading functions affecting reproductive health.

Take matters into your own hands. Are you under a lot of stress? What can you do to calm your mind and your body? Try the relaxation technique described in the 4-7-8 Relaxing Breath exercise.

Are you meals nutritionally-sound? Read the Dr. Oz post for more information about healthy eating, which will help you function at a higher level, and check back for a new post detailing ideal foods for pregnancy.

Finally, take heart knowing there are many options available to improve your opportunity for a successful pregnancy.

Until next time, be well.

Robert

TURNING BACK THE REPRODUCTIVE CLOCK: New Science, Old Wisdom:

Regarding the human egg: How old is too old? Perhaps we are asking the wrong question. Remember the psychological argument about nature vs. nurture? Let’s rephrase the topic altogether. How can we help women in their mature reproductive years produce healthy children? I propose that the answer is found in the nature vs. nurture discussion. Nurturing the follicle in the 120 days before ovulation will produce a healthy egg, free of transmutation, free of the need for medical intervention.

Scientists have told us that in about 45 years all the eggs that we’re born with will have deteriorated. Yet, the latest evidence is challenging our previous doctrine. Now, they pronounce, mammalian ovaries may have specialized stem cells that make new eggs throughout the female’s life. And this could, they say, lead to powerful new treatments for infertility. Women who heretofore have been told that their eggs are “too old” to become babies, are renewed with hope, just as they were when cytoplasmic transfer was a promising solution a few years ago. Yet, as scientists and politicians snatched that possibility away from us, we were left once again with the hopeless pronouncement that old eggs have a dismal possibility of propagating. Letting a youthful woman donate her fresh, perfect eggs to replace our shriveled, dying ones has been the only answer for women with “poor quality” eggs. Poor quality eggs mean the ones that won’t act in response to Western medicine’s attempt to force a pregnancy in a reproductive system that seems resistant to artificial hormonal stimulation. They call us “poor responders”, “clomid failures”, or “IVF failures”.

I have been treating poor responders, older women with high FSH, those with premature ovarian failure, poor quality eggs, and yes, even those dismal “IVF failures” for years. Yet because of their successful response, I no longer believe the dogma that our eggs deteriorate, that they go bad, or that we are failures. I believe Western reproductive medicine sometimes fails us. Why? Because when I have been able to embrace a woman whose only desire in life is to become a mother, using the ancient wisdom of Chinese medicine, within a few months of gentle ovarian balancing therapy, her body responds. Her ovaries seem to wake up in reply, somehow liberating “healthy” eggs.

In an effort to understand what this process really was, I had to shift my own paradigm. After completing my medical school academics, I too was told I was infertile. Barren was the word that came to mind, and panic set in. I could tell that this terror was worsening my already bleak diagnosis. But, fortunately, I held a kernel of disbelief within that wouldn’t accept my doctor’s pronouncement. By this time I had enough medical knowledge to realize that since the endocrine system worked via feedback, that taking external hormones may force ovulation, but wouldn’t resolve the underlying disorder. After all, if my ovaries weren’t producing the right hormones, how could they be producing healthy eggs?! That’s what I had to find out on my own. And somehow I knew deep inside that the answer was natural and healthy, if I could just find it.

Let me explain what I have come to know about the amazing female reproductive system. First of all, it is perfectly created. The biology of the ovary itself is remarkably intelligent and interactive with the rest of the body. It is, after all, the source of all human life on this planet. Our body knows how to protect it, too. If a little boy gets mumps or a high fever, he may become permanently sterile. Not so a little girl. Her ovaries, although deep within her body, are protected from their surroundings before the process of meiosis is initiated.

This may make her ovaries temporarily unresponsive, but as her eggs are protected, so are they innately fruitful and responsive when the conditions are right. We have just been viewing them through scientific lenses which have no vision for what our role can be, not through the lenses of our deep, internal sense of knowing we have more potential than we are ever given credit.

“If we remain obsessed with seeds and eggs,
we are married to the fertile reproductive valley of the Mysterious Mother,
but not to her immeasurable heart
and all-knowing mind.”

- Hua Hu Ching

Let’s look at the immeasurable heart and all-knowing mind of the Mysterious Mother, that which is capable of bringing life into being. Take off the glasses of the scientific “truths” you have been commanded to believe, and put on your glasses which allow you to see from that internal place where our intuitive wisdom resides.

Whether we have a million egg cells or continually regenerating germ cells really isn’t the issue. What happens to the follicle, the egg’s miniature dwelling, as it’s cycling through its many phases of receptivity is extremely important to the health and future quality of its residing egg. Look at the following diagrammatic representation of the process within the human ovary at every reproductive stage. Puberty initiates this process, which continues until about age 52, the average age of menopause in the U.S.

Each follicle remains mere potential until it reaches its growth phase. Only NOW will its outcome be determined. Our multitudes of elemental follicles, in their initial dormant state, have not yet begun the phase of division. Then, by some mysterious ongoing signal, which even reproductive science doesn’t understand, hundreds of follicles are awakened from their primordial state of rest, about five months before one will be selected for ovulation. At this stage, they remain in a state of biologic perfection, until they begin to interact with their environment. Let’s follow one active follicle and its residing egg through this miraculous process of folliculogenesis.

About four months before this particular egg’s domain is selected to be the lucky ovulatory one, a chamber of fluid appears within the follicle. The follicle quadruples in size, and undergoes many stages of proliferation as the fluid filled chamber expands. Now hormone regulating factors within the ovary itself (which is responding to our own internal environment) start to influence the contents of the follicular fluid. The ovary’s messages to the follicle, which are affected by blood flow, nourishment, and hormonal cues within the body, influence the state of the follicular fluid. Regulatory proteins, hormones and growth factors begin to appear about the time the egg starts to undergo division. In a perfect, non-stressed milieu, the messages will be clear, and the egg will be healthy. However, if any of three factors are substandard, the health of the egg will reflect the state of the rest of the body:

1) If nourishment is poor,
2) if the hormonal cues have been interrupted, or
3) if the blood flow has been compromised.
The egg’s health is determined during the growth phase, when protein synthesis occurs - after the egg has started to communicate and become responsive to hormonal and environmental factors: 3 months before it is released. This is what determines egg quality!


If blood flow to the ovary has been compromised through stress or age (as we approach menopause the ovarian blood flow is around five times less than when we were in our reproductive prime), the follicular fluid will contain rising levels of vascular endothelial growth factor, the same chemical found in a damaged heart muscle, which signals the body that the organ is asphyxiating and needs more blood flow.
Further, poor diet begins to show its effects the older a woman becomes. This is the time her system can become revved up with nutritional supplements.
And, as a woman ages, her hormone levels start to fluctuate. The lack of communication between the brain, the pituitary gland, and the ovaries makes the follicles resistant, and they quit paying attention to follicle stimulating hormone.
All of these changes are reflected in the follicular fluid, which will determine the health of the egg.

Western reproductive medicine can only manipulate the follicles during the selection phase, after the quality and health of the residing oocyte has been determined! I knew my reproductive system was not healthy. When I was faced with my own fertility challenges, I had to find other methods to improve this scenario which had occurred inside my own body. I found three methods that worked:

1) Blood flow - Fortunately, I found that certain acupuncture and acupressure techniques are known to improve blood flow to the ovaries. Better circulation to any organ improves its function, and this is especially true of the ovaries, the follicles, and their residing eggs. The femoral massage, ovarian massage, and electroacupuncture to the low back dramatically reduce the stress and age induced constriction of the uterine and ovarian blood vessels.

2) Nourishment - Certain dietary supplements like wheat grass, blue-green algae, and royal jelly are known to affect the nutritional state of follicular health, and therefore the state of the egg. Avoiding coffee (tea is O.K., it doesn’t release stress hormones), refined carbohydrates, and for most people – avoiding dairy and hormonally treated animal products will clear out the toxic effects of poor diet.

3) Hormonal balance – our delicate endocrine systems operate via feedback, meaning that the hormones won’t work appropriately unless the brain senses the right cues from our tissues. Properly prescribed herbal formulas, which address the underlying pattern of imbalance, can restore our own hormonal functioning. By stimulating the body’s own reproductive tissues at different parts of the reproductive cycle, herbal medicine is a gentler, healthier, more organic response to fertility problems. Herbal formulas are combined in sophisticated preparations which actually create greater effects than the same herbs would if taken alone. Most of the ingredients in our herbal formulas prescribed for fertility challenges have little or no direct hormonal effects, but the effect of the whole formula will substantially increase hormone levels. This synergy of different herbal combinations is at the base of many of the Chinese patented herbal formulas. These are either unaided or are employed in preparation for assisted reproductive techniques.

When hormone levels are balanced, and when adequate blood flow, oxygenation and nourishment are provided during the follicular growth phase, women become pregnant naturally, with their own healthy eggs, as I did with mine (it took three months). If they opt for Western reproductive methods, the likelihood of success is substantially increased. When we encourage a woman’s body to return to more youthful reproductive condition, then the ovaries produce and release eggs in the same way they did when we were younger. This assumption was confirmed in a recent scientific study where the ovaries of menopausal rats were transplanted into hormonally youthful rats’ bodies. Guess what? The ovaries resumed ovulation!

This isn’t a process of struggle, of swimming upstream against all odds, of “forcing” a pregnancy. You can’t force a pregnancy, I can’t force a pregnancy, and your RE can’t create a life without the cooperation of the same universal forces that our bodies respond to. Life is allowed to manifest, which is a process of acceptance. We hear examples of this universal truth all the time. When we let go of our tight hold, and loosen up our grip on the outcome, (through giving up, through adoption, through being told we’re hopeless, too old, or whatever else ends the struggle), we can finally unclench; we can lift up our hands and let go. Only then does the space open up for our reproductive energies to become receptive. Only then can Life say, “O.K., now you’re ready!”

Hailey was one such woman. This 44 year old desperately wanted a child, and thus went through multiple cycles of hormonal stimulation and inseminations, always to fail. Despite her doctors telling her there was no hope; she was just too old, she kept going, kept searching, not accepting “no” for an answer. She came to see me and began a regimen of dietary adjustment, acupuncture stimulation and herbal therapy. She enrolled in a mind-body wellness program for stress reduction. The last doctor she consulted told her at her age, he would only help her if she considered a donor egg in-vitro procedure, using another woman’s younger eggs. Hailey gave up her quest. Yet she continued on her regime of healthful living, as the combined methods seemed to be allowing her to accept her state of heartache better. Hailey became pregnant naturally. She gave birth to her son during her 45th year.

As in Hailey’s case, it is important for women of all ages to be able to empower themselves and trust their own inner wisdom. There is much that can be done to preserve, enhance, and increase our fertility at almost every stage of life. Yes, we can extend our childbearing years if needed, but we also must learn to celebrate the stages of our lives as they occur, to accept our full potential and also our limitations, and to maintain our health at its highest level no matter what our age or stage in life.

 By: Dr. Randine Lewis MSOM, L.Ac. Ph.D

Dear Readers of this blog: I have posted this article by Stephanie Seneff a research scientist at MIT because like her I share a passionate interest in the current epidemic of Autism and chronic illness in children around the world today. While the majority of my work centers around understanding optimal prenatal nutrition and the barrieres to conception my larger goal is finding the most expedient path toward allowing the optimal genetic potential of each child. As I like to think of it "making the foundation strong." The following is a diagnosis of the current practice of the misguided advice to eat lowfat and the equally misguided suggestion to take a bath in suncscreen before heading out into the daylight. While many of you know of my interest in this subject and my concern regarding over-vaccination i have always maintained that the problem is multi-factoral - the account below I believe may add a few more significant pieces to the puzzle. FYI. RK


Monday, November 3, 2008 by Stephanie Seneff
Sunscreen and Low-fat Diet: A Recipe for Disaster
1. Introduction
Just about everyone in America is convinced of two well-established tenets for how to live a long and healthy life:

-- Eat a low-fat diet,
-- Avoid the damaging rays of the sun

My goal in this essay is to convince you that these two tenets, taken together, are extremely bad medical advice, and that the consequences of our government's success in selling this well-intended but misguided recommendation to the American public are devastating and long-lasting, particularly to our nation's children.

In fact, I have now formed a mental profile of the prototypical mother of an autistic child: she would be a woman who is extremely conscientious about avoiding foods that are high in fat content, she would be very vigilant to protect herself from the harmful rays of the sun whenever she ventures outside, and she would be very careful to stay pencil thin and to keep herself physically fit. In short, to most Americans, she would be the epitomy of good health.

One of the earliest signs of the onset of puberty in girls is the development of shapely curves. Men find such curves to be sexually attractive, an inate instinct that plays into mother nature's goal of assuring a healthy supply of fat for a potential pregnancy. Biological processes intentionally program men to be turned on by curvaceous women in order to assure that women with inadequate body fat (thin and/or muscular women) will be less likely to become impregnated.

The onset of menstruation will not occur until the body fat content rises above 17%. Young female athletes often find that menstruation is delayed, or that their menstrual periods are suddenly shut down, likely because their exercise has upset the ratio of muscle to fat to the point where mother nature considers it a bad bet to risk a pregnancy. Ballet dancers and gymnasts, who must stay thin but still be very strong, are at great risk of having their menstrual cycles shut down completely [1].

Human biology wants fat not just on the person, but also in the diet, if a pregnancy is in the wings. This fact has been proven quite conclusively by a recent analysis of data from the Nurses' Health Study, an ambitious long-term study involving over 18,000 nurses, which has yielded a wealth of data on issues related to womens' health. Dr. Jorge Chavarro at the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed data on their dietary practices over an eight year period, and looked for correlations with various health issues (Dairy Fat Fertility) . Of all the dietary associations that were investigated, the one associating fat in dairy consumption with fertility gave the most striking and statistically significant results. Women who said they ate low-fat diary (e.g., skim milk and low-fat yogurt) increased their risk of infertility by 85%, whereas women who consistently ate high-fat dairy (whole milk and ice cream) decreased their risk by 27% [2].

Consider this: chicken eggs are now considered "unhealthy" due to their high concentration of cholesterol. They are also one of the best food sources of vitamin D. This is to say, a mother hen supplies her unborn chick with nutritional supplements that include a rich supply of cholesterol and a rich supply of vitamin D. Cow's milk is also high in fat, unless it's been manipulated into skim milk, and would be high in natural vitamin D if it weren't pasteurized (the high temperature destroys the vitamin D). We now artificially restore synthetic vitamin D to replace what's been destroyed by pasteurization, a process that can't work well with skim milk, since vitamin D is only soluble in fat, and there is none.

We can conclude that a mother cow loads up the milk she feeds to her newborn calf with fats and vitamin D. Even fish supply their offspring with plenty of vitamin D and cholesterol, as evidenced by the fact that caviar (fish eggs) is high in fat and a good source of vitamin D. Human milk has an even higher fat content than cow's milk; 55% of the calories in breast milk are from fat. It would also be loaded with vitamin D if the mother had not aggressively protected herself from the "damaging" rays of the sun. Mother nature considers it important for newborns, whether chicks or calves or fish or human infants, to be well supplied with fats and vitamin D, in order to assure healthy development.

The most crucial role for both vitamin D and cholesterol in the embryo is in the development of the brain and central nervous system. The human brain makes up only 2% of the body's weight, but it contains nearly 25% of its total cholesterol [3], so it's easy to imagine that the supply chain had better be loaded with cholesterol. One of the critical things that happens during the development of the embryonic brain is the growth of millions of nerve fibers or "axons" to form connections among all the neurons in the developing brain. These axons are coated with a thick fatty substance called the myelin sheath, which provides insulation that keeps the signal intact and allows for fast and long-distance transport with minimal loss. This myelin sheath has very high cholesterol content -- higher than that of any other brain tissue.

According to Ursula Dicke and Gerhard Roth [4], it is the extra length and extra thickness of the myelin sheaths around the nerve fibers of the human brain that most clearly differentiates it from the brains of other mammals. While we do also have more cortical neurons, the difference in their counts between humans and elephants and whales is only about 5%, not enough to account for the observed distinct differences in intelligence. Thus, humans uniquely need even more fat in the baby's milk for a good reason: the infant needs to grow substantially more, longer, and thicker myelin sheaths than any other animal.

2. Cholesterol and Vitamin D: A Brief Introduction

Everybody in America thinks they know what cholesterol is: it's that bad stuff that gums up all your arteries and leads to sudden death by heart attack. If you have too much in your blood, you should be very worried. The argument is then that, to lower the level, you need to adopt a low-fat diet. If that doesn't work, you'll have no choice but to start taking a cholesterol-lowering drug like Lipitor.

There is actually only a weak correlation between high cholesterol and heart disease. Many people with high cholesterol never get heart disease, and, conversely, many people with heart disease have low cholesterol levels. And the ever-so-popular statin drugs lead to many disturbing side effects that should convince the informed reader that they can't possibly be good for you [5] (Statin Side Effects) .

Vitamin D is also familiar as the "sunshine" vitamin: most people remember the story about 19th Century Great Britain and the rickets epidemic, brilliantly solved by the realization that rickets is a consequence of vitamin D deficiency, a problem which can easily be solved by getting out in the sun. Recently, researchers are finding out more and more critical roles that vitamin D plays, far beyond strengthening the bones, in diverse systems throughout the body. One thing most people may not realize is that vitamin D and cholesterol are chemically almost indistinguishable. Vitamin D is manufactured in the body from cholesterol , specifically, from 7-dehydrocholesterol, through a very small change in chemical structure (which involves dropping a single hydrogen molecule) [6] (Vitamin D from Cholesterol) . This happens in the skin, and only happens if a catalyst in the form of ultraviolet rays from the sun, is present. If you're wearing a sunscreen with an SPF level of 8 or greater, then you're pretty much guaranteeing that you won't generate any vitamin D.

Furthermore, cholesterol is the predecessor to a host of other factors that the body uses as catalysts for all kinds of biological processes. For example, testosterone, the male hormone. And cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands that plays a critical role in managing stress. Furthermore, the myth that high cholesterol is bad is not borne out by the facts. In 1990, researchers from 19 studies worldwide met in Bethesda, Md, to compare results on cholesterol studies, and produced plots summarizing their conclusions ([7], p. 81). For women, there is, over the entire curve, an inverse correlation between cholesterol levels and mortality rates. That's right: the lower the cholesterol reading, the more likely she is to die. It is true that men with very high cholesterol (> 240 mg/dl) have an increase in mortality due to an increased incidence of heart disease; however, mortality increases on the low side as well (below 160 mg/dl), due to increased risk of cancer and respiratory and digestive diseases. This means that both men and women have higher mortality if their cholesterol levels are too low. Women should worry only about low cholesterol, never about high cholesterol.

But my concern is not so much about the longevity of the adult, but rather the health of the unborn child; specifically, the unborn child whose mother conscientiously adheres to the regimens of a lowfat diet and sun avoidance. If her cholesterol levels are high, she will likely lament that fact. But one thing she won't do, if she's planning on having a child, is take a statin drug like Lipitor to lower her cholesterol readings. The reason is simple, although not widely advertised by the drug industry. Statin drugs will with high probability render her unborn child non-viable. Researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health found severe abnormalities in the central nervous system, as well as limb deformities, in nearly 40% of the babies in a study of women who took statins during the first trimester of pregnancy [8] (Statins in Pregnancy) .

Statins are labeled as a category X drug with respect to pregnancy by the Food and Drug Administration, the same category as that given to Thalidomide. If you are above a certain age, you will remember this infamous drug that swept Europe by storm in the 1950's. Widespread use of Thalidomide led to an epidemic of infants being born without arms; without legs; without ears; deaf. They eventually traced the source to the new wonder drug that was supposed to be a calming tranquilizer with essentially no side effects. A pregnant woman who takes Thalidomide between the 4th and 7th week of her pregnancy has a 20% or greater risk of producing a baby that is missing significant body parts. But at least these children were mentally sound. Their brains were generally fine, and they grew up to have normal intelligence, which allowed them to lead productive lives. The effects of statin drugs are so potent that there's little hope for survival, let alone anything resembling a normal life. This outcome is due to the disruption of a critical step in a biological pathway that leads to the production of cholesterol, an essential building block of the nervous system.

A serious disorder known as ("Smith-Lemli-Opitz") " syndrome (SLOS) is characterized by a genetic defect resulting in an inability to synthesize adequate cholesterol. Most fetuses that are unfortunate to be conceived with this genetic defect don't make it to 16 weeks of gestation before the pregnancy ends in a miscarriage. If they do manage to make it to term, they typically suffer from major brain defects, resulting in autism or other forms of mental retardation [9].

Thus far, I've spoken about the roles of cholesterol/vitamin D in preventing rickets and in brain development. I will return to the topic of brain development in a moment, but first I'd like to list only some of the conditions/syndromes/illnesses that are, in my view, associated with vitamin D deficiency in children. I will argue that many conditions frustratingly growing in prevalence in today's youth in America can be explained by a simple theory that combines vitamin D deficiency with fat deprivation. Some are a consequence of the poor regimen of the mother while the child was in the womb and/or nursed. Others are principally due to the continued deprivation that the child experiences after it's born. Surely many are influenced by both the mother's and the child's deficiencies. The list includes childhood obesity, teenage adult-onset diabetes, increased incidence of broken bones, increased frequency of everyday illnesses such as colds and flu, autoimmune disease, teenage depression, asthma, allergies, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

3. The Rise of Autism in America

While all the items I listed above are not trivial problems, they pale by comparison to the impact of the rise in rates of autism. I will cover these other conditions in a separate essay, and explain more fully my reasons for believing that they are caused by the cholesterol/vitamin D deficiency syndrome. But here I want to focus on autism. While I believe that genetic predisposition plays an important role, I also think that many of the new cases could have been avoided with only minor changes in lifestyle.

In America, the rates of autism spectrum disorders (which include autism and the milder form, Asperger's syndrome) have increased alarmingly over the last thirty years: in the 1980's, there were at most 4-5 cases reported per 10,000 population. Today it's estimated to be 66 per 10,000, a relative increase of 1200% or more [10] (Autism Statistics) . Many autistic children will never be able to function independently as an adult. In the most severe cases, the IQ tests below that of a Down's syndrome child. They live in self-imposed isolation, and it is extremely challenging to try to teach them basic skills of life. Asperger's is a much milder form of the disease. Asperger's children often test to have IQ's that are above average, but they lack intuitive social skills and come off as odd and awkward in social settings.

Dr. John Cannell, who is a psychiatrist and prominent advocate for vitamin D, believes that our nation's aggressive efforts to protect ourselves from the sun through excessive sunscreen and sun avoidance may be behind the epidemic rise in the incidence of autism. He has founded a non-profit advocacy group called the Vitamin D Council , and has published extensively on the Web to educate our population about the many benefits of vitamin D. He seeemingly fights a losing battle, however, against the powerful lobbying powers of the well-oiled sunscreen industry, who are raking in the dough due to a 30-fold increase in sales of sunscreen products since the 1980's.

Dr. Cannell points out that the skyrocketing rise in autism rates coincides with the introduction of widespread practices to avoid unprotected exposure to sunlight, a message that has been pounded into the American public since the late 1980's. I would add, however, that coincidentally, the appearance of a multitude of products advertising the virtues of their low-fat content was, in my view, an equal contributor to the problem. The deadly combination of a simultaneous switch to low-fat diet and sun avoidance is the real culprit.

4. The Roles of Cholesterol and Vitamin D in the Brain

As I've already mentioned, the human brain is characterized by an overabundance of well-conditioned nerve fibers. All of these fibers are coated with a fatty myelin sheath that is critical to their ability to carry a signal from one neuron to another one, especially one that is some distance away. The human infant must construct this marvel of nature from raw materials it obtains from the mother's supply chain.

Not only is cholesterol a core building block of the brain, but also vitamin D plays a critical although not well-understood role in brain development. Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia have studied brain development in embryonic rat brains in order to assess whether low maternal vitamin D might affect brain development [11]. First of all, the vitamin D receptor (VDR) is prevalent in brain cells, a clear indicator that vitamin D plays some role (Vitamin D in Nervous System) . These researchers determined that the VDR appeared simultaneously with the well-described stage when there is an increase in apoptotic cells and decrease in mitotic cells during brain development. Apoptosis is a natural process that programs the cell to die; mitosis is the process of splitting to become two cells instead of one. Thus, these processes are controlling which cells live on to become integral parts of the final brain and which cells are judged to be useless and therefore pruned.

In addition to the nerve fibers, a substantial component of the brain is made up of so-called glial cells, which intermix with the neurons and are thought to provide nutrients and to regulate apoptotis and mitosis, i.e., which nerves live or die during pruning stages. In 1997, it was discovered that a factor secreted by glial cells played a critical role in facilitating the growth of synapses, which are the locales of junctions between nerve fibers. By 2001, this unknown factor had been identified as cholesterol. A decisive study showed that externally supplied cholesterol could substitute for this glial substance to produce highly efficient functioning synapses. Furthermore, if cholesterol was removed from the glial secretion, it lost its ability to stimulate synapse growth.

Another critical role that cholesterol plays in the nervous system is in forming areas in the cell membrane where certain proteins important to cell signaling are anchored. In a 2004 study, it was found that these so-called lipid rafts stimulate and guide the growth of nerve axons. Cholesterol deprivation has been demonstrated to destroy the axon's ability to grow in the proper direction.

Professor Bartzokis, professor of neurology at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, has been conducting very fascinating research over the past several years on the role of myelin sheath in neurological disorders [12] (UCLA Study) . While Alzheimers is perhaps his main area of interest, increasingly of late he has come to believe that defective development of the myelin sheath in the nerve fibers of the developing fetus's and/or infant's brain could be one of the critical factors that leads to autism. He also suspects that ADHD could be caused by a disruption of brain growth during early childhood. He hypothesizes that ADHD and autistic spectrum disorder could be due to the same toxic chemical, but that the exposure occurred at different points in the child's development. I.e, that different parts of the brain are myelinated at different times, and, depending on when the damage was done, the symptoms could manifest as either autism or ADHD. While he seems to suspect a toxin in the environment, I believe that it could be attributable to an absence rather than a presence: the absence of an adequate supply of both vitamin D and cholesterol.

In an interview, Professor Bartzokis was quoted as saying "The thicker and heavier the cells' coat, the faster and more effective their communication. Myelination, a process uniquely elaborated in humans, arguably is the most important and most vulnerable process of brain development as we mature and age."

As I said before, the myelin sheath, which insulates all the nerve fibers in the nervous system, is made entirely from fat. In a series of experiments, researchers in Bartzokis' lab have demonstrated, very logically, that a thinning and breakdown in the myelin sheath can expose the nerve beneath, with the likely consequence of a multitude of neurological and behavioral problems. Without adequate insulation, cells won't be able to communicate intact signals to one another.

A recent study which measured cholesterol levels for children with autism found a striking correlation between low cholesterol and symptoms of either autism or Asperger's syndrome (Cholesterol Deficiency and Autism) . Autism has also been shown to correlate with a brain developmental defect that is manifested as an over-emphasis on local as opposed to distant communications in the brain. It makes sense that long nerve fibers would be more vulnerable to defective growth simply because they are long, so it could be a smart strategy to focus on the short connections, given insufficient resources. Thus, the most affected nerve fibers would likely be the long distance communication networks linking up with neurons present in the external sensory system: the eyes and the ears, for example. Sound signals (e.g., speech) picked up by vibrations at the ear drum are encoded by the cochlea in the inner ear and then transported to multiple way stations in the brainstem, the thalamus, and finally the primary auditory cortex in the temporal lobes at the sides of the head. Backwards pathways relay feedback from the auditory cortex all the way back to the inner ear, to provide excitatory and inhibitory influences, contextualizing the interpretation of the incoming signal. All of these pathways require a high quality myelin sheath to assure signal integrity along the way. Similar long distance and multiple station pathways exist for the visual system.

Defective myelin would affect a child with autism all along these pathways, leading to an inability to process the speech he is hearing or the visual scene in his field of view. This garbling of the signal's message would naturally result in a tendency to want to shut out all external stimuli, due to the noise and confusion they provide.

5. Brain Development in the Young Child

A human child's brain undergoes tremendous development outside the womb: mostly from birth to two years of age. As the child experiences sensory inputs from the eyes, the ears, the skin, it sprouts a massive overgrowth of nerve fibers and connects these up at millions of synaptic junctions throughout the brain. For this growth to take place, it needs, as I've just said, an abundant and steady supply of both cholesterol and vitamin D, which it should be getting from its mother's milk supply, as well as its own exposure to the sun.

On a good supply of fatty mother's milk, the human baby quickly fills out with layers of fat on its thighs and upper arms. It's almost instinctive to react to a fat baby as a healthy baby. I believe one of the biggest roles all this extra fat plays is to maintain a reserve supply of nutrients to help feed the rapidly growing brain. By the age of two the child has typically thinned out, but in the mean time this body fat has served as an excellent buffer to maintain a consistent supply of fat to nourish the explosive growth of myelin sheath throughout its brain.

As you will see in the next section, calcium acts as a catalyst to increase the efficiency of fat metabolism, and vitamin D is critical to calcium absorption from the gut. So a child with insufficient vitamin D would need substantially more fat cells to accomplish an equivalent delivery rate to the brain. Furthermore, the process of nerve growth and synaptic attachment both depend on vitamin D and cholesterol to perform correctly, as was described in the last section.

At around the age of two, the normal child's brain undergoes a massive pruning stage. Through the sensory experiences it has accumulated during its first two years of life, the glial cells in its brain have been constantly making note of which fibers transmitted useful signals to which neurons at which synapses. It has been adjusting synaptic weights correspondingly, and it is now prepared to identify those nerve fibers that turned out to be counterproductive. A process of apoptosis (cell death) ensues on a magnificent scale.

In studies on the brains of autistic children, it has been observed that one of the most striking anomalies is that their brains seem to be unwilling to perform the massive pruning through apoptosis at age two [13]. This could be because their brain's glial cells don't know which nerve fibers are unproductive. Signal transmission was unreliable throughout their first two years of life due to the poorly constructed myelin sheath. As the signal tried to travel down a pathway, noise eventually overtook it, and the distinction between productive and unproductive pathways was hopelessly blurred. To compound this problem, as we have seen, the signaling to control apoptosois depends critically on both cholesterol and vitamin D, so that, even if a glial cell was aware that it should prune a particular axon, it might not be able to execute on that plan.

6. What about Calcium?

Milk provides at least three critical nutrients to the newborn: fat, vitamin D, and calcium. Obviously, calcium is needed in rich supply for the developing bones and teeth. But calcium also plays an important role in many biochemical processes throughout the body, particularly in the immune system and the developing nervous system [14] (Calcium Role in Neonatal Brain) . In the brain, communication among distant nerve cells depends on the active transport of calcium across cell membranes. Defects in calcium transport have been associated with autism spectrum disorder in several rare genetic diseases. This is one of the few areas where the search for specific genetic factors for autism has born fruit [15] (Calcium Autism Genetics) . For example, Timothy syndrome, known to be associated with calcium transport defects, causes a multitude of problems, including immune system disorders, congential heart disease, seizures, irregular sleep patterns, small and decaying teeth, etc. It is suspected that as many as 80% of people with Timothy syndrome have autistic spectrum disorder.

Skim milk is obviously missing the fat. The vitamin D artificially added to skim milk will be poorly absorbed due to the lack of associated fat. But what about the calcium? The good news is that calcium is water soluble, so when the fat is removed, all the calcium stays behind in the milk. The bad news is that, as for vitamin D, the lack of fat interferes with the absorption of the calcium through the gut. If you pour the milk over a bowl of bran flakes, you further reduce your ability to make use of the calcium. In a study involving 142 women [16] (Calcium Absorption in Women) , researchers found that those who had the highest ratio of fat to fiber in their diet were best able to utilize dietary calcium, while those who ate the least fat and the most fiber wasted a good part of their calcium intake. Of course, vitamin D deficiency itself, easily a consequence of sun avoidance, has a severe impact on calcium absorption. Promoting the absorption of calcium in the gut is the best-known biological function of vitamin D.

7. Gestational Diabetes

I am now going to take a moment to discuss more generally the topic of nutrition and food science. Once I have laid down the groundwork for basic nutrition, I will return to the subject of the pregnant mother, jeopardized by her inadequate diet and lack of sun exposure, whose body, when faced with nearly insurmountable obstacles, desperately attempts to maintain a steady supply of fat to the developing fetus' brain. I will try to make the arguments as simple as possible, although the biological mechanisms at play are not simple.

First, I would like to recommend a great book, Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes [7], for those who want to seriously examine the issues of diet and health. Most of what is written in this section was gleaned from reading that book, although I have added a few embellishments, based on my own reasoning. The main message of the book is that our country has been grossly misled into believing that a low fat diet is a healthy diet. This message is now so thoroughly entrenched that it is nearly impossible to overturn. While his main focus was on diets that would be effective for weight loss, he also argued persuasively that a high fat diet (or at least a low-carb, high-quality fat diet) is a healthy sustainable nutritional practice even when you're not trying to lose weight. He advocates a diet that eliminates as much as possible refined sugars (white sugar) and refined carbohydrates such as white bread, white rice, and pasta.

The biggest problem with these foods is that they are digested too easily. This causes a spike in the blood sugar level which in turn causes the pancreas to get into high gear,overproducing more than enough insulin to break down these sugars, so that they can be stored by the liver as glycogen for future energy needs. One consequence is that the insulin receptors become increasingly less responsive to insulin, leading over time to type II diabetes: an inability to efficiently utilize insulin. Diabetes is easily diagnosed by measuring the levels of sugar in the urine, because the excess sugar that was not broken down due to insufficient insulin eventually is excreted by the kidneys as waste material.

Insulin plays a critical role not just in the processing of carbohydrates, but also in the processing of fats. Interestingly, high levels of insulin in the blood promote the storage of fat in fat cells. Conversely, low levels promote the release of fat from fat cells into the blood stream. This makes good sense, because, when there is plenty of sugar in the blood, the cells can use that sugar for their energy needs, or it can be converted to fat and stored in the fat cells for later use. During fasting conditions, insulin levels drop, and the fat cells are encouraged to release their fat stores to supply the energy needs of the muscles and brain [7, p. 432].

A typical person goes through a wake/sleep cycle every day. Insulin levels fluctuate throughout the day depending on the times and contents of the meals. However, at night, while a person sleeps, the insulin level drops, and low insulin acts as a catalyst to allow the stored fats to take their turn in supplying the body's nutritional needs during the long fast. Calcium plays an important role in fat metabolism, and vitamin D therefore plays an indirect role by promoting the absorption of calcium into the blood stream from the digestive system. A person with inadequate vitamin D (or with inadequate calcium in their diet) would need to carry a larger reserve of body fat to maintain an equivalent rate of fat delivery during fasting [17] (Fat Metabolism) .

The reason why I have taken the time to describe these nutritional regulatory mechanisms is that I think they can be used to explain a well-known phenomenon called gestational diabetes, while at the same time lending support to the idea that the pregnant mother's body may become preoccupied with supplying adequate fat to the growing fetus. Gestational diabetes is a poorly understood phenomenon where a woman who had shown no signs of diabetes in the past suddenly starts passing sugar in the urine while she is pregnant. It seems to me that a possible explanation can be found if we make the simple assumption that the mother's body is trying desperately to maintain an adequate supply of fat for the embryo. If she is practicing a low-fat diet regimen, then it will be imperative to extract fat from the fat cells in her body and release it into her blood stream, whence it will eventually reach the placenta and make its way into the baby's blood stream, and, ultimately, delivery to the baby's developing nervous system. However, as we've just seen, in order to get the fat cells to release their fat, the insulin levels will need to be low. A vitamin D deficiency will compound the problem: with inhibition of calcium uptake, even lower insulin levels will be needed to achieve a comparable effect.

Because of inadequate insulin in the blood, sugars entering the blood stream from the digestive system cannot be fully broken down. The consequence would be waste sugar showing up in the urine, manifesting itself as gesticular diabetes. However, not all of the excess sugar would be wasted: some of it would make its way into the fetus's blood supply, which would then trigger its fledgling novice pancreas to produce its own private supply of insulin. The baby would then be able to convert the excess sugar into its own personal supply of body fat, which will turn out to be extremely useful to it once it is born.

Any baby who is unusually large at birth is often a sure sign of gestational diabetes. But also, in my view, this excess fat at birth is a clear clue as to why gestational diabetes is useful to the fetus: gestational diabetes is invoked as a mechanism to help the fetus survive in the face of a severe shortage of fat supply from the mother. The child is likely to face a continued shortage of fat supply from the mother's milk after it's born. The same mother who had an insufficient amount of fat in her diet during pregnancy will likely continue to do so after the birth.

In summary, it seems to me that the reason that gestational diabetes occurs is that the mother's body is willing to waste some of the sugar that's ingested during pregnancy so that the mother's fat cells can release their stores of fats into the blood stream to supply the baby's immediate needs of fats for its developing brain. At the same time, the fetus can utilize the excess sugar to protect itself from future fat deprivation. If the mother, in addition to eating inadequate fats, is also deficient in vitamin D, it will be that much harder to get at the nutritional lodes of the fat cells, leaving her child in grave jeopardy. If, finally she has very few fat cells to begin with, then there just may not be another alternative besides severely compromising the child's developing nervous system.

8. Demographics of Autism and Vitamin D Deficiency

The Vitamin D Council has compiled an 11-page document detailing a persuasive theory that vitamin D deficiency causes autism [18] (Vitamin D Deficiency and Autism) . In this section, I will just highlight a few of the points discussed there.

There are interesting demographics with autism, both in terms of gender and race, that can be explained by differences in vitamin D responses. Boys are four times as likely as girls to be diagnosed with autism. This could be due to the striking differences in the effects of estrogen vs testosterone on vitamin D metabolism. Estrogen appears to have "multiple enhancing effects" on vitamin D metabolism, whereas researchers have been unable to demonstrate any relationship between testosterone and vitamin D.

An astounding 96% of black pregnant women have been found to have vitamin D deficiency. This is likely due to the fact that their dark skin contains so much melanin that they are unable to efficiently generate vitamin D from sun exposure. Blacks in America have also been found to suffer from a substantially higher incidence of autism.

Autism rates in Europe are strikingly higher among dark-skinned immigrants. The incidence of autism in Sweden for children whose mothers immigrated from Uganda was 15% -- 200 times higher than the rate in the general population. Immigrants from Somalia to both Sweden and, in the United States, Minnesota, also show extraordinarily high rates of autism [19] (Somali Autism) . 25% of the children in Minneapolis' early childhood autism program are from Somalia. I think this is a very interesting statistic, because, in both Minnesota and Sweden, fish is an important part of the diet, yet the traditional Somali diet does not include seafood [20] (Somali Diet) . Fish is an excellent source of both vitamin D and omega 3 fats. The Somali children are likely doubly disadvantaged both due to their dark skin, living in a northern climate, and their inadequate consumption of fish.

Another way to infer a link between autism and vitamin D is to study associations of autism rates with weather patterns. A recent study conducted by Michael Waldman at Cornell University investigated the relationship between the amount of rainfall and autism in the West Coast states of the United States [21] (Rainfall and Autism) . It was found that autism rates correlated remarkably well with precipitation rates. The counties that had the highest rainfall showed a 30% higher rate of autism than counties with the least rain. The most straightforward explanation for this result is the truism that children in rainy environments experience less sun exposure, and hence are more likely to be vitamin D deficient.

9. Autism and Infertility

As of 2001, 1% of the children born in the U.S. were conceived through IVF. This population group forms an interesting set to study, because, logically, if infertility is a common consequence of excessive diligence in maintaining a thin, muscular body and a low-fat diet, then we would expect the infertile population to include a significantly larger percentage of such mothers than the fertile population. Furthermore, if these practices lead to an increase in autism, then there should be a larger than normal number of autistic children among the offspring of IVF pregnancies.

There have not been sufficient research funds devoted to the question of studying the health of children born from IVF. Nonetheless, one compelling study was recently conducted by Mary Croughan of the University of California, San Diego, funded by the federal government [22] (IVF-Autism) . In this study, which was presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) conference, she compared children resulting from IVF with children conceived naturally. She examined more than 19,000 medical records, and the only cases of autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder showed up in the IVF children. She also found an increased risk of certain birth defects, cognitive delays, and behavioral problems among the IVF children. These results could be due to some damaging aspect of the IVF process itself, but it's also plausible that the source of the infertility and the source of the autism are the same thing: inadequate fats and vitamin D.

10. Autism and Twins

One excellent way to tease apart the nature v.s. nurture debate on any syndrome is to study twins. Several studies have been conducted on autism demographics, and these have uncovered some intriguing statistics concerning twins. One very informative study investigated families where exactly two of the children had autism [23] (Autism in Twins) . The investigators determined, as might be expected, that the identical twin of an autistic person was twelve times as likely to have autism as a mere sibling of an autistic person. However, if autism were solely due to genetics, then the concordance for identical twins should be 100%. Instead, one third of children whose identical twin has autism do not. More intriguing however is the result they obtained for fraternal twins. If your fraternal twin has autism, you have four times the chance of also having it, compared to someone whose sibling, born at a different time, has it. Since fraternal twins are no more closely related genetically than siblings, this has to be interpreted to mean that being a twin is a risk factor for autism.

This statistic narrows down the possibilities enormously, and strongly suggests a role for the shared environment of the twins. Two things immediately come to mind: (1) they share the mother's womb during the fetal stage, and (2) they compete for the mother's milk in infancy. A mother who is deficient in fat, vitamin D, and calcium will face an even more insurmountable problem when tasked with carrying to term and then nursing two infants than would be the case for a singleton birth. A scarce resource is made twice as scarce by the simple fact that there is now double the demand. And thus twins would easily be expected to be more susceptible to autism than singletons.


11. Sunscreen Isn't Working

Since the 1970's, our country has witnessed a 30-fold increase in the sales of sunscreen products, alongside a 30% increase in deaths from melanoma[24]. You might think that this is just due to cases in the elderly that were caused by bad practices many years ago. However, the incidence of melanoma has been consistently rising in children by about 3% per year since the 1970's [25] (Melanoma in Children) . Isn't it time to admit that sunscreen is not useful? Even the sunscreen executives will admit that they have never been able to find evidence that sunscreen prevents melanoma. However, it's unfortunately easy to sell the simplistic idea that, because the sun's UV rays can cause cancer, and because sunscreen blocks these rays, then sunscreen must, quite logically, prevent cancer.

The reason this formula is incorrect is very simple: sunscreen also blocks a mechanism that biology put in place many millions of years ago, also for the purpose of protecting us from the sun's rays. Biology's own mechanism, however, is far more effective than sunscreen, because it produces products that linger on our skin (melanin) and in our blood stream (vitamin D) long after the particular outing to the beach has passed. In the spring, if we go outside without sunscreen, we will slowly pick up a protective tan, while also generating a good supply of vitamin D. By the time the summer comes around, the tan affords protection from the sun's harsher rays, and we continue to accumulate vitamin D, which will be able to carry us through the lean winter months, when sunlight is in short supply.

Melanin in the tanned skin prevents the sunburn in the summer. Vitamin D in the blood stream protects us not just from skin cancer, but from just about any cancer you can name. If you type "vitamin D" into a search engine along with "prostate cancer," "breast cancer," "ovarian cancer," "pancreatic cancer," etc., you will find that the entire first page of the result is filled with pointers to studies that show vitamin D affords significant protection from that cancer. For instance, a controlled study conducted at the Creighton University in Nevada showed that people who were given supplements of Vitamin D and calcium experienced a 77% reduction in cancer incidence over those given a placebo [26] (Vitamin D Prevents Cancer) .

You might think that you could get the best of both worlds by liberally applying sunscreen and taking lots of Vitamin D orally. But this is a tricky game to play. Sunscreen may give you false security by preventing the sunburn that provides a warning signal to get out of the sun [27] (Issues with Sunscreen) . And oral vitamin D may not be properly absorbed if it's not accompanied by ingested fats to dissolve the vitamin D. If you just take excessive amounts to compensate for this problem, you can run into toxic reactions and a suppression of the immune system, the opposite of the effect of sunlight [28] (Issues with Vitamin D Supplements) . Better to trust biological mechanisms which have had millions of years to perfect the natural process that exploits the sun's rays to beneficial effect. In my view, a large part of the reason that we are losing the war against cancer is that we are increasing the base rate significantly through the excessive use of sunscreen products.

12. Low Fat Diet Isn't Working

The American Medical Association started aggressively campaigning in the 1970's that a healthy diet is one that is consistently low in fats. and they have maintained that message as the "party line" ever since. Today, you can't go to the grocery store without seeing row upon row of foods advertising themselves to be "low fat", "nonfat" or "fat free," constantly bombarding you with the subliminal message that fats are bad for you. Meanwhile, forty years later, America is facing an epidemic of obesity that is contributing to a host of health problems, not only for aging adults but also for young children.

Is there, then, a relationship between low-fat diet and obesity? Gary Taubes, for one, thinks so. In his book, Good Calories Bad Calories, he presented an overwhelming amount of evidence to show that the easiest and most effective way to lose weight is to adopt a high-fat, low-carb diet. A high-protein diet can not be sustained, because after a while the dieter just can't face another lean pork chop. With a high-carb diet, the dieter is constantly suffering from hunger pangs, while losing little if any weight. But a high-fat diet, such as the Atkins diet, works relatively painlessly, in part because fats take longer to digest, and leave you feeling more satiated.

It might seem logical, since fatty tissue is made of fat, that a low-fat diet might help prevent you from becoming fat. Ironically, exactly the opposite is true. Humans are fully capable of manufacturing fats from carbs -- a process that takes place in the liver with the help of insulin. These manufactured fats are then dispatched to distributed locations throughout the body, where they can be stored away in fat cells for later use. My belief is that, once biological monitoring mechanisms recognize that there is a distinct shortage of fats in the diet, the appetite is automatically adjusted upwards, to compel the person to consume more calories in a given day than they can burn off. This has the intentional effect of accumulating a store of reserve fats on the body, a metaphorical silo, which can then provide a steady stream of fat nutrients to the muscles and brain to overcome the glaring deficiency in the diet.

If, in addition to consuming a low fat diet, the person also aggressively avoids the sun, then the problem will be compounded, and they will likely gain even more weight. This is because of the role calcium plays in the efficiency of fat metabolism, and the role vitamin D plays in the absorption of calcium.

It has now become evident that not all fats are created equal. The culprit that's responsible for the "fats are bad" message is partially hydrogenated oil, or "trans fats." These synthetic fats are created by loading up liquid vegetable oil with hydrogen and then heating it, along with a metal catalyst, to a high temperature. The result is a fat that stays solid at room temperature and survives a long time on the shelf. Once companies figured out how to do this well, all kinds of processed foods, most notably margarine, but also crackers and cookies, started appearing on the grocery shelves. These products don't get rancid at room temperature because even the microorganisms that would spoil them are smart enough not to consume them. If you consume them in large quantities, your "LDL" (bad) cholesterol levels will go up, and your "HDL" (good) cholesterol levels will go down [29] (Wikipedia) . A survey issued by the Food and Drug Administration in 1999 [30] (Trans Fats Survey) determined that these fats constituted 95% of the cookies, and 100% of the crackers found on supermarket shelves. Companies are now scrambling to find ways to replace the trans fats in all their products.

The media recently has begun to sing the praises of "Omega 3" fats, found in large amounts in fatty fish such as sardines and salmon. Researchers have discovered that eskimos, whose diet is extraordinarily high in fat, have excellent health with respect to heart disease prognosis. A recent study by Fombonne et al. found that the Inuit of northern Quebec appear to be completely free of autism [31]. Not a single case was found among their children. This fits well with the theory presented here, since they eat an extremely high fat diet, consisting of large amounts of seal blubber and fatty fish like salmon. These are both excellent sources of both fats and vitamin D.

Unfortunately, pregnant women have in recent years been discouraged from eating fish, due to the high contamination with mercury, which is believed to cause damage to the developing fetus. It is frustrating that mercury contamination (a valid concern) stands in the way of getting adequate omega 3 fats for the baby. However, recent studies have pretty much dispelled the theory that mercury might cause autism. Several studies have now confirmed no link between mercury and autism. In fact, in California, after mercury was eliminated from the vaccines, the incidence of autism continued to rise [32] (Mercury and Autism) .

Although fish is the best source, a surprising number of pallatable foods also contain Omega 3 fats, including walnuts, strawberries, tofu, cauliflower, spinach, and scallops [33] (Food Sources of Omega 3 Fats) .

As has been convincingly shown by the Nurses' Study, if you want to become pregnant, you will significantly improve your chances by enjoying plenty of whole milk, butter, and ice cream. You will also, in my view, significantly improve the chances of producing a healthy child by continuing to maintain a high fat diet throughout the pregnancy, and while you are nursing the baby. It is important, however, to choose foods carefully so as to assure a good steady supply of omega 3 fats, and to religiously avoid consuming trans fats. There is no place for a low fat diet during pregnancy and lactation.

13. What Can be Done To Fix the Problem?

If you have read this far, I hope you are convinced that there may be validity to the main thesis of this essay: that low-fat diet, combined with inadequate vitamin D, both in the mother and the child, are major contributors to the autism epidemic in America. I have been researching this topic off and on over the last 20 years, exploring plausible explanations for the alarming rise in the incidence of autism in America. To me the evidence I've found is pretty compelling, and I felt it would be unethical to stand by and watch more and more cases of autism appear without at least attempting to articulate this theory to the best of my ability, to put it "out there," with the hope that others may also be persuaded and spread the word.

However, I will concede that thus far there is no definitive study that would leave no doubt that this hypothesis is correct. This, more than anything else, is what's needed to really convince people to dramatically change their practices, to unlearn all the misguided advice they've been given previously about the benefits of sunscreen and low fat diet.

This country is capable of responding quickly once a convincing study dramatically changes expert opinion. Witness the case of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), widely recommended to menopausal women to help them cope with hot flashes and, it was claimed, to improve their odds against cancer. A large randomized clinical trial of estrogen and progestin, based on the Women's Health Initiative, was aborted prematurely because the results so clearly favored the women who did not take the drugs. The study showed clear evidence that the drug contributed to increased risk of developing both breast cancer and heart disease [34] (Breast Cancer and HRT) . The response was immediate and dramatic: prescriptions were left unfilled, the stocks of drug companies plummeted, and within a short time survival rates for breast cancer started improving.

I'm confident that a similar study could be done on autism and its link to vitamin D deficiency and low-fat diet. It could be that a meta analysis of the Nurses' Health Study is all that would be needed. It might require further interviews to determine whether the mothers of autistic children tend to practice low-fat diet and over-zealous sun protection. Blood tests could be performed to measure the levels of vitamin D among autistic children and their mothers. Individual children could be put on a program to make sure they get enough vitamin D and fat (especially omega 3 fats) in their diets. These children could be subsequently monitored to see if their autistic symptoms show any improvements -- although it might be too late to correct the damage already done to their brains. If such studies were to obtain convincing results, the American people would respond quickly and effectively, as they have before in the case of hormone replacement therapy.

Lately, and with increasing frequency, the media have been drawing our attention to the alarming discovery of an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency among our nation's children. [35] (Vitamin D Deficiency Epidemic) . My belief is that this is directly attributable to the well-intentioned but over-aggressive application of sunscreen. At the same time, experts are beginning to sort out the complex situation with the many kinds of good fats and bad fats that exist naturally and through artificial chemical manipulations -- they have come to appreciate that the issue is not so much low fat but high quality fat in the diet. The public is slowly becoming educated about these new revelations, and, hopefully, major lifestyle modifications will soon ensue, with positive outcomes.


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Low-fat Diet and Sunscreen: A Recipe for Disaster by Stephanie Seneff is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Did you see Dr. Oz?

Last week, I tuned in to the Dr. Oz Show to see his interview with special guests Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Deepak Chopra. Their comments on the show echoed my own sentiments about nutrition and wellness, and, most specifically, each individual’s pivotal role in his/her own wellbeing.

Dr. Weil, considered the granddaddy of integrative medicine, and trail-blazer Dr. Chopra are rewriting the story of health and wellness in America. Their focus on prevention – rather than reaction – is, surprisingly, a huge shift from the status quo.

The show centered on type II diabetes and its role in cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in America. They talked about how food in this country is sourced – where it comes from, the soil in which it grows, the preservatives used to increase shelf life, etc. The doctors provided simple, straightforward strategies to address common health issues. These tips, if heeded, would reverse the staggering rates of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular illness in America. It’s hard to fathom that these diseases are killing people – LOTS of people – and yet they’re completely preventable!

Here’s the irony – and a major factor that keeps obesity alive and well in this country. During every commercial break, my living room was flooded with ads for the worst of the worst foods. Junk food that’s highly processed, high in sugar and high in sodium. And despite claims of “healthy,” whole grains and low-fat, these foods offer almost nothing in the way of nutrition.

Dr. Weil, Dr. Chopra and other proponents of truly nutritious (v. pseudo-nutritious) food are going to have to keep screaming to be heard above the din of junk-food advertising. In my practice, this fact is abundantly clear. I work with patients on the full gamut of health and wellbeing – stress levels, environmental factors, day-to-day nutrition, etc. – and my patients have the most difficulty making changes to their eating habits.

Like most people, they’re under the dangerous misperception that “healthy” means low-fat/no-fat. Unfortunately, low-fat/no-fat is often synonymous with high-carb/high-sugar. Sugary and high-carb, processed foods spike their blood sugar; instead of feeling sated, they feel hungry again very soon after. Even Drs. Oz, Weil and Chopra seemed to be stuck on the low-fat model, but with an emphasis on plant-based foods. More on the low-fat perception/misperception in an upcoming post.

In the meantime, as we begin to alter the mindset of healthy eating in America, here are a few actionable tips:

1. Take a look at NourishingOurChildren.org. In approximately 70% of families with children, both parents work. Those junky processed foods are hugely convenient (and incredibly tempting!) for moms and dads juggling careers, homework, diapers and dance recitals. Nourishing Our Children offers practical tips that won’t overburden you, but will allow you to provide meals for your family that are really and truly nutritious.

2. Stick to the 80/20 rule. Make sure 80 percent of your nutrition choices are sound; if the other 20 percent aren’t perfect, don’t beat yourself up about it. This is real life – we’re busy, we’re stressed, we’re juggling more than ever before – the 80/20 mindset is practical and effective.

3. The old Chinese mantra goes something like this: “Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to dig a well.” In other words, we need to make good choices now to maintain good health and prevent illness. It’s not all about painkillers and antibiotics – health is created with proper nutrition, sufficient sleep, exercise, and an infrastructure of information. Continue learning, continue seeking, and take charge of your own wellbeing.

Until next time, be well.

Yours,
- Robert Koagedal

Nutrition and Mental Development










Written by Sally Fallon Morell



March 17 2011 07:15



Presentation given at Fields of Athenry Farm by
Sally Fallon Morell
June 19, 2010

Thank you to Elaine Boland of Fields of Athenry Farm for inviting me to address this group today. I am delighted to see so many young women of childbearing age in the audience—our current and future mothers. I have an important message for you young ladies: the entire future of our planet is on your shoulders, and nobody else’s. Because if you don’t learn the principles of good nutrition, and then take the time and effort to eat properly and feed your children properly, there will not be another generation of human beings, certainly not in the western world.

Our future is in the hands of the young women and future mothers of this world. This fact gives us a whole new way of looking at what’s important, and who most needs our support—it is the young women and future mothers. And the role of all the rest of us as parents, siblings, as partners and husbands, as aunts, uncles and grandparents, is to provide whatever support is necessary to these young women, whether it’s information, whether it’s the food itself, whether it’s financial support or emotional support. For example, I love the idea of raw milk grannies--grandmothers being the ones who bring the raw milk every week for their children and grandchildren.

Today we are seeing an epidemic of behavior problems and learning disorders in our children. While treatment of these conditions is very costly for our society—not only in terms of the financial cost, but also in terms of emotional cost—very little attention is focused on diet and nutrition for the treatment—and prevention—of these tragic conditions.

Most discussions on the mental and emotional development of children ignore the fact that the brain is an organ of the body, and just like every other organ of the body, it requires good nutrition. And when we talk about the brain, we also need to talk about the second brain--the small intestine, where digestion and assimilation take place. If you think about it, the brain and the gut look similar. The brain looks like smushed up guts, and they are similar in many other ways. For example, there are just as many nerve cells in the gut as there are in the brain, and most of the nerve cells in the gut connect with the brain.

So, the nutritional requirements of the gut and the brain need to be considered together when we talk about emotional and mental health of our children. And we need to have this conversation very soon because we are facing an incredible crisis, the likes of which we have never seen before in the history of mankind. Some children are damaged so profoundly that they cannot even make emotional contact with their parents and their siblings. In the old days, we had a certain number of children who were retarded--we used the word “retarded.” But these retarded individuals could express emotions. Today the horrible condition called autism—along with other manifestation of brain starvation such as learning disorders, mental problems, inability to concentrate, behavior problems, violence, addiction and mental retardation—threaten the fabric of our culture.

I am not going to mince words here. These problems are the direct result of the dietary guidelines coming out of the Department of Agriculture since the early 1980s, along with the advertising for industrial fats and oils and the foods made with industrial fats and oils. These problems are the tragic fallout of industrial foods and government guidelines. And now what are we going to do? How do we get back to having normal children, and how do we help the children who have these problems?

I’d like to start—as I always do—with an introduction to the research of Dr. Weston A. Price. Weston Price was a dentist who traveled throughout the world during the 1930s and 1940s, studying healthy traditional peoples. He found fourteen healthy groups scattered in different locations, all eating very different foods, but all exhibiting excellent dental health, which served as a sign of excellent overall health. They had no cavities, no dental deformities, their faces were broad and their teeth were naturally straight. Everybody in the community! Nobody needed braces! He also noted the cheerful, optimistic outlook of these people--how spiritual they were, how well they got along. He did not observe any mental illness among healthy traditional populations. He wrote about his discoveries and published his fascinating photographs in his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.

PARADISE LOST
One particular place that he visited was the South Seas. The first Europeans to visit these South Sea Islands were Captain Cook and his sailors. When they arrived in Tahiti, they had scurvy and tooth decay and were just barely holding on to life. The South Sea Islands, with their beautiful, happy people, seemed like a paradise on earth, as they seemed to Dr. Price. The best bone structure that he found was in the South Seas--such beautiful, smiling, healthy people.

These people ate a mixed diet based on seafood and pork. The most important plant food in the diet was coconut. So it was a high-fat diet, as pork and coconut are high-fat foods. Like all the cultures he studied, the South Sea Islanders had at least one sacred food. Sacred foods were foods consumed by men and women before conception, by women when pregnant and breast feeding, and by all children when growing. Unlike our fatalistic society, which blames any problem in a newborn or in our children on two things--germs and genes--the South Sea Islanders knew that the health of their children was their own responsibility. They understood that growing children needed abundant nutrition--not minimum daily requirements, or minimum daily allowance—there was nothing about minimum in these cultures. They knew that nature could provide for abundance, abundant nutrition, especially during that time when the baby was being formed and growing.

One sacred food in the South Seas was shark liver. They didn’t need to hunt the sharks for food; they had plenty of food and hunting sharks was dangerous. But they hunted sharks to get their livers so that they could have healthy babies. The livers were removed from the sharks and put inside the stomachs of the sharks and hung up inside the trees and allowed to ferment. The oil that came out was fermented shark liver oil, very similar to the fermented cod liver oil that we recommend, and this was taken by the young adults who were about to get married and by women when they were pregnant, and also given to growing children. In addition, the men ate the male reproductive organs and the woman ate the female reproductive organs of the shark. So they had foods specific for men and woman to ensure fertility.

We received a sad letter a few years ago from a gal whose father had been a dentist and a big admirer of Weston Price. He had taken his children to the South Seas in the 1950s. At that time, she said, it was indeed a paradise on Earth. The people were so beautiful, so happy, always smiling and healthy in every way. In the 1970s, she took her family on a cruise to the same island. When they got to the port, the ship sat in the harbor for half a day, and they weren’t allowed off. When she queried the captain about why they were waiting, he replied, “Oh, we have to unload the Sara Lee Coffee Cake first.” The captain added that the whole shipment of coffee cake would be bought and eaten within two days. When they finally got off the ship, she was utterly shocked at what she saw. The people were unhealthy looking; they had tooth decay. But the most startling difference was the change in behavior. She had never heard a child cry when they visited in the 1950s; but on this trip the children were crying and fighting on the docks. So, there was not only a change in the way the way the people looked, but also a change in the way they acted--all because of the incursion of western foods. What she observed was most definitely paradise lost.

CHOLESTEROL AND THE BRAIN
Focusing now on the nutrients needed for our brain, as well as our second brain, the main nutrient we find when we analyze the brain is cholesterol—something that is very bad for us, right? The brain contains more cholesterol than any other organ in the body. But we are not supposed to eat cholesterol, right? Young women are supposed to eat a lowfat diet, even when they’re pregnant, even though animal fats are our main source of cholesterol. And according to government guidelines, a child is supposed to be put on a lowfat diet when he or she turns two.

A recent study showed that women who ate lowfat dairy foods tended to be infertile, while women who ate high-fat dairy foods had no problem getting pregnant. And so the scientists said, if you can’t get pregnant eating lowfat dairy foods, eat the high-fat dairy foods until you get pregnant and then go back to the lowfat dairy foods during pregnancy! Doesn’t it seem rational to conclude that the same kind of diet needed to get pregnant is also needed for normal fetal development?

Mother’s milk contains a lot of cholesterol along with a special enzyme to ensure sure that all that cholesterol is absorbed--because babies can’t make all the cholesterol they need to properly form the brain and the second brain. The second brain has lots of cholesterol in it, too. The cells lining the gut need a lot of cholesterol to work properly. So, the number one way we have gone wrong is the endorsement of lowfat, vegan and vegetarian diets for women of childbearing age. And our children are paying the price!

FATS AND THE BRAIN
Now, if we look at the fats in the brain, the two major fats are saturated fat and a fat called arachidonic acid. But we’re not supposed to eat saturated fats, right? Yet saturated fats like butter, meat fats, lard, and coconut oil are the kinds of fats your brain wants and needs. And if you don’t eat those fats, your body says, “Well, give me the next best thing: refined carbohydrates.” Your body can make saturated fats out of refined carbohydrates. And that’s how people get cravings for refined carbohydrates—especially pregnant women and growing children. Unfortunately, eating refined carbohydrates robs the body of nutrients, while natural saturated animal fats provide some very important nutrients.

The other really interesting fat in the brain is arachidonic acid. Aracadonic acid is an omega-6 fatty acid that is found only in animal fats, such as in butter, egg yolks, organ meats and meat fats. Like saturated fats, arachidonic acid has been the victim of demonization. The popular author Barry Sears warned against eating butter, liver and other fatty foods, claiming that these foods caused inflammation. Many other health writers have picked up on this false information. If anything, arachidonic acid moderates inflammation.

What Barry Sears didn’t tell you was the fact that the brain is 11 percent arachidonic acid, much higher than the levels in our other organs. Arachidonic acid is really critical for brain function. The best source is butter, followed by liver.

Arachidonic acid is critical for the second brain also because it is needed for tight cell-to-cell junctures. Arachidonic acid ensures that your cells are nicely scooted up to each other, which gives you that good impermeable gut you need so that allergenic proteins don’t get through to the bloodstream.

VITAMIN A AND THE BRAIN
We’re going to move on to my favorite vitamin, one that should be at the top of the vitamin hit-parade; unfortunately, mainstream thought puts it at the bottom of the vitamin hit-parade. That vitamin is vitamin A. Dr. Price was really interested in vitamin A because he found that traditional cultures put a big emphasis on foods that were high in vitamin A. Liver was a sacred food in every culture that he studied, and liver is our richest source of vitamin A. Primitive peoples considered liver very important for pregnant women. The fat of grass-fed animals, especially butter, can be rich sources as long as the animals are outside eating green grass; so will egg yolks if they come from chickens raised outside.

By the way, the yolk is the most important part of the egg. You can throw the whites away if you want to. And the whites tend to be the allergenic part, not the yolks.

Another excellent source of vitamin A is cod liver oil.

Now, we’ve been hearing that vitamin A is toxic, and the government warns pregnant women against consuming liver, cod liver oil and other vitamin A-rich foods, claiming that vitamin A causes birth defects. The RDA for vitamin A is extremely low. As a result, we have a national deficiency in vitamin A.

Yet vitamin A is the main vitamin that you need while your baby is being formed! This is something we have learned from stem cell research. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells in the embryo, which turn into the differentiated cells of the heart, the brain, the stomach and so forth. The first organ to form in the fetus is the heart—stem cells get a signal and become heart cells. After the heart come the lungs, the brain, the kidneys, the skin and all the other organs.

By the sixth week of gestation, all the organs have been formed—key organs have formed even before a woman knows she’s pregnant. Those stem cells are turning into organs, including the brain and the gut. Now, there is something that tells those stem cells what to do, whether they should become a heart cell or a brain cell or whatever, and that something is vitamin A. So, if a woman gets pregnant and she has been on a lowfat diet, avoiding liver and not taking her cod liver oil, or eating a lot of lean meat, which rapidly depletes vitamin A, or taking protein powders, which is the quickest way to deplete your body of vitamin A, then she doesn’t have enough vitamin A for those stem cells to know what to do. The heart may not form at all, and she has a miscarriage; or the heart forms with a defect in it. Or the brain doesn’t form well, or the gut doesn’t form well.

Since most of the organs are already formed by the time you know you are pregnant, it is critical to have good levels of vitamin A before you get pregnant. Because by the time you know you’re pregnant, they key organs have formed. And that’s what traditional cultures knew instinctively. They didn’t have PhDs and they didn’t have government officials telling them what to do, but they knew enough to load up on vitamin A-rich foods before they got pregnant. I can’t stress enough the importance of preparation for pregnancy!

Since vitamin A is the number one focus of the Weston A. Price Foundation, we had to find out whether it is toxic, as claimed. Looking at all the studies on vitamin A, we discovered that the vitamin is only toxic if it is taken without the co-factors. And the two main co-factors for vitamin A are vitamin D and vitamin K2. These vitamins typically come in the same foods as vitamin A, so if you’re getting your vitamin A from foods, no problem. But if you are taking vitamin A as a supplement, or eating foods “enriched” with vitamin A, such as cereal or milk, then yes, vitamin A can be a problem. In Europe, vitamin A is added to a lot of foods, and researchers there found a connection of vitamin A with osteoporosis, especially in Scandinavian countries. What vitamin A does in these situations is create a vitamin D deficiency, hence the problem with bone loss.

Vitamin A plays a fascinating role in mental health. Chris Masterjohn wrote an article called “Nutrition and Mental and Emotional Development,” now posted on the Weston A. Price Foundation website. He describes research involving rats, which found that if the animals have plenty of vitamin A in their diet, they will complete tasks. For example, when the rats are given the task of climbing a hill to get to some cheese at the top, they will do it. And if they are deficient in vitamin A, they won’t make the effort to get the cheese. Studies in humans also indicate that vitamin A is very important for planning and completion of tasks, which is what makes us human and mentally healthy. Planning and carrying through of tasks is what builds civilizations, so vitamin A is critical, not just for primitive people, but for civilized people as well.

VITAMIN D FOR THE BRAIN
The companion of vitamin A is vitamin D, which we get mostly from the same foods, namely certain seafoods and the fats and organ meats of animals raised outside in the sunlight--this is why we are so insistent on pasture-raising of animal foods. If the animals consume green green grass, they will have plenty of vitamin A in their fats and organ meats; it they live outside in the sunlight, they will have plenty of vitamin D in their fats and organ meats.

Now vitamin D has many roles in the body but the one I want to focus on today is its role in making endorphins. Endorphins are feel-good chemicals. One of the most amazing things scientists have discovered in the past ten years is that our bodies, when they are healthy, make exactly the same chemicals that we find in opium and marijuana. The opiates and cannabinoids that your body makes are precisely the same as those found in the plant world. And we have receptors for these chemicals in our brains—which is obvious because when people take drugs, they get high. Actually, the body was designed to feel high all the time, to feel good all the time, and without any negative side effects, without addictions except the addiction to feeling good all the time.

So let’s connect the dots here! Why do people take drugs and get addicted to them? It’s because they are trying to feel normal! They’re trying to feel the way we are supposed to feel all the time, but don’t because the receptors aren’t working and they are not making their natural cannabinoids and opiates. Vitamin D is absolutely critical to this process. Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin; sunshine makes us feel good, and vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, helps us make these opiates and ensures they work properly.

We are designed to feel good from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed. And we are designed to feel happy when we complete a task, whether it’s washing the dishes or writing a book. And I think we now have a lot of children and adults who never feel that way. So they look to thrills, to drugs, to junk food, to childish behavior, as a substitute.

VITAMIN K2 FOR THE BRAIN
Another vitamin for brain health is vitamin K2. Dr. Price studied this vitamin, but he was never able to name it. He called it Activator X because it seemed to be a very important vitamin for using minerals in the body, as well as for growth, neurological function and protection from cavities.

Dr. Price tested many foods for Activator X and found that the richest source was butter from cows eating rapidly growing green grass in the spring and fall. He called it “high-vitamin butter.” Dr. Price always gave cod liver oil, rich in vitamins A and D, together with high-vitamin butter, rich in Activator X. He often got miraculous results with this combination, such as reversing tooth decay. He actually cured a child of seizures with this combination.

We finally figured out that Activator X is vitamin K2, the animal form of vitamin K. We looked into the literature and, lo and behold, we found that vitamin K is critical to the formation of the myelin sheath and the nerves in the brain.

So Dr. Price’s fat-soluble activators, vitamins A, D and K2, are critical nutrients for the brain to be formed, to function properly, for good mental health and for the completion of tasks and the feeling of satisfaction that comes from completing tasks. And where do we get these vitamins? Do we get them from vegetable oils? No. Do we get them from flax oil? No. We don’t even get them from coconut oil. Do we get them from margarine? Only a little bit of synthetic vitamin A added to the margarine. We get them from the fat of grass-fed animals--the very food that has disappeared from our diets. We’re afraid to eat these fats and even if we do eat these fats, if we obtain them at the supermarket, coming from confinement cows, they are not going to provide a lot of the fat-soluble activators.

That means, if we want to have intelligent, happy and well-adjusted children, we will need to seek out sources of these foods. We’ll need to make an effort to purchase our animal foods—our milk, butter, eggs and meat—from a farmer practicing grass-based animal husbandry.

B12 AND THE BRAIN
Another important vitamin for the brain and nervous system is B12, in fact it is critical for neurological health. Vitamin B12 comes from animal foods. You need it for your nervous system to function normally, and deficiencies manifest as psychiatric disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive behavior, irrational anger, depression, manic depression, Alzheimer’s and dementia. We only get vitamin B12 from animal foods and, in the case of land animals, only if there is cobalt in the soil. Seafood is an excellent source of B12—clams, oysters, mussels, crab, shrimp.

CHOLINE FOR THE BRAIN
Another very important nutrient for the brain is choline. When the baby is growing and developing, there are certain periods when the body says “time to make some connections up there.” And to make those connections in the brain, you need choline. If the mother is deficient during pregnancy, and the baby is not getting enough choline during growth, then those connections will not form. And you can’t go back later and make the connections. The window of opportunity has passed.

The best source of choline is egg yolks; the second best source is liver—so once again, critical nutrients for the brain are found in the high-cholesterol foods our government doesn’t want us to eat. I have been listening to the USDA webinars on the new dietary guidelines. One man on the guidelines committee was insistent that we lower the daily allowance of cholesterol from 300 mg to 200 mg. (We could only hear the discussion--we were listening through the computer--we couldn’t see the committee members.) Two hundred mg of cholesterol translates to less than one egg a day for animal food. One of the women on the committee said, “Yes, but what about choline?” These children need choline for their brains to form. And the man said, “Well the problem with choline is that it comes with cholesterol.” That’s the attitude of our government officials. They are willing to sacrifice good nutrition on the altar of the cholesterol theory.

Studies with rats show that if you give them ten times the daily allowance of choline, their brains form so well that they are impervious to decline in old age. Moreover, they are totally protected from excito-toxins like MSG. And they are also protected from the new threat—EMFs, all these waves in the air from cell towers, cell phones and computers. So choline is really important for making those connections in the brain and for having a really good, solid well-built brain that works properly into old age.

SALT AND THE BRAIN
Another key nutrient for the brain is salt. Years ago a company making soy formula decided they were going to make it “healthy” and also save money by leaving out the salt. Giving baby formula based on soy is bad enough—for one thing, there is no cholesterol in soy formula—but taking out the salt made it worse. It was called Low-Sodium Formula; babies brought up on this formula had poor mental development; they had lots of problems compared to those who had soy formula with salt. My colleague, Mary Enig, was an expert witness in a trial against the formula company. The plaintiffs won their case, got a big settlement and that company went out of business. The formula industry learned the lesson to always put salt in the formula. But what about a nursing mother who is on a low-salt diet, thinking she shouldn’t eat salt? Or a pregnant woman who believes she shouldn’t eat salt? La Leche League’s book for nursing mothers recommends a low-salt diet, so there’s not going to be much salt for the breastfeeding baby. What salt does is stimulate an enzyme that helps form glial cells. Glial cells are the cells that make you capable of creative thinking.

MINERALS FOR THE BRAIN
Two key minerals for mental development are iron and zinc. These are found mostly in animal foods, especially red meat and liver, and both require vitamin A for proper assimilation. Zinc is involved in over one hundred enzymatic processes in the body. Lack of iron leads to mental retardation. Babies and children with iron deficiency anemia tend not to smile, not to have social interaction. This is not a fate we want to impose on our babies! It is very important for mothers to eat iron-rich foods like liver while pregnant and nursing, and for baby to get iron-rich solid food by the age of six months.

THE SECOND BRAIN
Now, let’s consider our second brain and discuss what the digestive tract needs to be healthy--because if there are problems in the gut, there are going to be problems in the head.

We have seen an amazing paradigm shift during the last ten years. We now know that for the gut to be healthy it needs to be coated with a bio-film. If you have a healthy gut, you have six pounds of beneficial bacteria coating every surface of the small intestine. You have more bacteria in your gut than you have cells in your body.

Your biofilm does many things: it keeps out toxins, it helps digest our food, it produces feel-good chemicals and keeps bad micro-organisms at bay, pathogens like candida, fungi and some of the horrible microorganisms that we are finding in the guts of unhealthy children, especially in autistic children. Some of these fungi and yeasts can produce veritable nerve toxins. One of these nerve toxins produced by pathogenic yeasts in the gut is identical to the toxin the people in the Amazon use to coat their spears to anesthetize animals. In humans, it causes a strange way of walking that we often see in autistic children, where they flap their hands in a spastic way. And some yeasts produce alcohol, so the child is basically hung over all the time.

We need to feed not only ourselves, we also need to feed our bio-film to make sure it’s healthy. That means eating lacto-fermented foods like sauerkraut, full of beneficial bacteria. All traditional cultures had these types of fermented foods or beverages to constantly replace the bacteria in the intestinal tract. We don’t mean pasteurized sauerkraut or sauerkraut made with vinegar, but cabbage that’s fermented to produce lactic acid and lots of good bacteria. There are a host of recipes in Nourishing Traditions for making these delicious foods. The idea is to eat a small amount day, hopefully with every meal, in order to feed that bio-film.

At the same time, we don’t want to hurt our bio-film. The first thing that hurts the bio-film is antibiotics, and there is a very big correlation between autism and mothers having been on many courses of antibiotics. Fluoridated and chlorinated water also really mess up the bio-film.

One more thing: in order to be kind to our biofilm, we need to make sure that we don’t eat things that are indigestible. When we eat foods that are indigestible, the good bacteria make way for candida and yeasts, because they can break down indigestible foods, and that’s when our problems start.

Grains are indigestible—human beings cannot digest grains. We can predigest them though, and all traditional cultures did this by soaking the grains, fermenting the grains, or using a sourdough culture to prepare the bread. So we soak our porridge overnight; we soak our flour to make pancakes, we use only genuine sourdough bread. Beans are a nutritious food but also are very hard to digest; they need to be soaked several times and rinsed thoroughly before cooking.

Another thing that is hard on our ecosystems is pasteurized and ultrapasteurized milk. Also, vegetable oils, both liquid and hardened, are a huge assault on our internal flora.

Many vegetables are impossible to digest, especially for those with an immature or sensitive digestive track. Very high-fiber vegetables such as dark leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables need to be thoroughly cooked.

And then there’s sugar and white flour—these are empty foods for humans but candida and yeasts go crazy over them. That’s why it’s important to keep these refined foods to an absolute minimum—which is very difficult to do in modern society.

BROTH FOR THE SECOND BRAIN
One other food that provides amazing support for your intestinal tract is gelatin-rich bone broths, made from the bones and cartilage of animals—the famous chicken soup of our ancestors. They never threw away the bones; instead they made soup with them. For example, Native Americans never drank water, they always drank bone broth. Very interesting! That’s something we’ve gotten out of the habit of doing in our modern culture. Bone broth is important for many reasons—it helps digestion and supports detoxification. But most importantly, bone broth is the magic healer for the gut, in fact the most healing gut food there is.

THE DIET FOR A HEALTHY BRAIN
So what does our diet look like in practice--a diet for creating a healthy baby and helping that baby to have optimal development? It’s a diet that needs to start before you get pregnant.

First of all, let’s focus on the foods to avoid, namely industrial foods, foods containing industrial fats and oil;, pasteurized processed dairy products; foods containing MSG, artificial sweeteners and other neurotoxic additives; lowfat products; foods containing sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Try to get off sodas and caffeine. It’s worth the effort, I guarantee you!

Now let’s focus on the positive. The diet for preconception and a healthy pregnancy contains one quart of whole raw milk from grass-fed cows per day, plus lots of butter. You should eat at least two egg yolks per day. You can have the whole egg if you want but the important part is the yolk.

The diet should include cod liver oil every day, cod liver oil to provide 20,000 units of vitamin A and 2,000 units of Vitamin D. If you take fermented cod liver oil, or a product called high-vitamin butter oil, you will also get Activator X, vitamin K2. By the way, it’s easy to take cod liver oil. I’m a very picky eater yet I have no trouble taking cod liver oil. The key is not to take it on a spoon; that’s the worst way to take cod liver oil! Instead, mix it with a little water, a little milk, a little fresh juice, something like that, then just take it in one gulp.

The diet should contain some kind of organ meat two or three times a week. Liver is the most nutritious organ meat, and the best way to eat liver is as paté. I had never eaten liver in my life until I went to Europe and ate paté. Then my body gave a sigh of relief because it was getting what it needed. I have enjoyed paté ever since. It’s easy to make chicken liver paté and chicken, goose or duck liver is probably the best kind of liver to eat because it contains a beautiful balance of A and D and it’s also very high in vitamin K2. You get all three in poultry liver.

Cheese! Cheese is a great food to consume during your pregnancy. Raw cheese that comes from pastured animals has everything you need in it. You could live on raw cheese and nothing else. It’s a very rich source of vitamin K, very good source of A and D, wonderful source of calcium and all the minerals! Did you know the USDA is targeting cheese in the new dietary guidelines? They are going to tell you not to eat cheese because it contains what they call “solid fats.”

You can include meat in the diet and also seafood. We’re not afraid of seafood! People are afraid of seafood because they have been told it contains mercury. But you have a powerful protection against mercury if you have a good biofilm in your gut. That biofilm keeps out mercury—but it won’t keep out the mercury out-gassing from your fillings. It might be a good idea to have those out if you are trying to get pregnant. But a good biofilm will keep out the mercury in the fish you eat—after all, there has always been mercury in the sea. And numerous studies have shown that mothers who eat seafood have smarter babies.

You’ll want to eat lacto-fermented foods to support that good biofilm. And broth every day to help digest your food, give you lots of nourishment, and support a healthy gut.

Remember to include lots of butter in your diet, and you can cook in lard; you can have all the animal fats you want. And you can have fruits and vegetables, you can have natural desserts. Also, we like to point people to natural, healthy soft drinks like kombucha and healthy lacto-fermented ginger ale and root beer.

Be sure to include salt, you can have as much salt as you want, preferably unrefined salt. So you can eat salty foods, fatty foods, sweet foods, you can have nice bubbly drinks--you can have all those things but in the form that’s going to be nutritious for you. So, you won’t be depriving yourself at all, this is a really delicious and satisfying diet.

This diet continues during pregnancy and during breast feeding. And most of our gals just sail through their pregnancies on this diet.

I do want to say something about morning sickness. If you have morning sickness, the very best food for you is raw milk. It’s very high in vitamin B6, needed to combat nausea. You just sip that raw milk all day long, and in most cases it works very well.

The result will be a beautiful, healthy baby. You will notice that these babies are very alert from the moment of birth. They seem to be aware of things very early on. They take directions easily. They are strong, they have strong muscles. They digest their food well.

The ideal is to breast feed for at least a year, maybe even two years. But I do want to warn about exclusive breast feeding past the age of six months. Breast milk is low in iron for a reason, because it competes for zinc, needed for the nervous system. Fortunately, every single bit of the iron in breast milk or in raw milk is absorbed because an enzyme called lactoferrin insures that all the iron is utilized. But by six months, baby needs more iron; he will not get enough from breast milk. And in traditional cultures, the first food was usually liver, which the mother chewed and gave to the baby.

So, we recommend some puréed liver as a first food. You can add butter and salt to it. And the other first food for baby is egg yolk, starting slowly, maybe just a teaspoon at first, and then gradually build up to one egg yolk a day.

If you are feeding your baby this way while you are nursing, by the time your baby is ten or eleven months, he or she will be sitting up and wanting to eat like a big boy or a big girl. And so you gradually introduce other foods. Please don’t hold back if your baby wants solid food. You’ll find that these babies are very mature quite early. They have good digestive systems. And then as they grow, you can feed them just the way you have been eating, the same foods for creating a healthy baby are what baby needs to grow properly and be healthy.

THE BIG CHALLENGE
Of course we live in the modern world, and there are all sorts of temptations out there. And the big challenge as the child grows and starts to have friends and goes to people’s houses and to school is creating that balance of being careful about the diet while also allowing your child to have a normal social life. This is a big challenge for moms. You can’t be too extreme and not let them go to friends’ houses where they’re going to eat garbage, because if you do, they will rebel. But if you have started out right and protect them with a good diet at home, I think your children themselves will realize that these foods aren’t good for them. At least they will only get the occasional bad meal when eating at their friends’.

We had a rule in our house as the children were growing up: they had to eat six out of seven dinners at home. I made their lunches and made their breakfast. And I figured if one meal out of twenty-one was not a good meal, they were protected by all the others.

That balance is very hard to achieve because you want to protect them, but you don’t want to be too strict, always saying no. Finding that balance is another burden that falls mostly on mom.

CHILD SPACING
In his book, Dr. Price described a fascinating custom: throughout the South Seas and Africa, it was considered shameful to have a child more than once every three years. This is a very wise practice because it allows the mother to recuperate her nutritional stores before the next pregnancy. While this practice was instinctual among traditional cultures, it is totally validated by modern science. We now know that the ideal spacing for prevention of birth defects is three years; and the ideal spacing for the emotional development of the child is also three years. Three years allows each child to have lots of attention from mom, and then when that child wants his independence, and might be smothered by too much attention from mom, mom has another baby to focus on. So, three-year spacing works out very well for both mother and child. We explain how to do this without hormones in the book Honoring Our Cycles, which presents a scientific way of using the rhythm method that is remarkably effective.

DIET FOR THE PROBLEM CHILD
The diet that we are advocating for preconception and pregnancy is the same diet for a child that has developmental or emotional problems, although you may need to make the changes slowly. Just switching from pasteurized to raw milk could make a huge difference in your child’s behavior. Getting them on cod liver oil, starting to make good, old fashioned chicken broth, and using it in soups and sauces, will help them with their digestion--these principals apply to everyone and can help almost any medical condition.

Sometimes you have to be sneaky. If you’ve been eating the standard American diet but now want to change, don’t give them kidneys for dinner! It’s not going to work! But, for example, we get organ blend from our farmers, and we put some in meatloaf along with ground beef, a nice spicy meatloaf that will cover any strong flavors. They never know they are eating organ meats! Chopped up fine in soups, in chili, you can add heart, or you can add ground heart to hamburger. There are ways of getting these organ meats in kids without them knowing it.

And most kids are fine with foods like milk, cheese and butter.

Cod liver oil is a little tricky. Here’s what we did with our daughter and three boys. When our horsewoman and three little cowboys came down to breakfast in the morning, they had to have their cowboy whiskey. Each one had a shot glass, and they came up to the bar and drank their slug of cowboy whisky, which was cod liver oil mixed with water or a little fresh juice. I explained to them why they had to take their cowboy whiskey--that it would make them healthy, it would help them be good in sports, have good grades and not get sick. And then, when they get to be older, when they get to be teenagers, you can explain other benefits from the cod liver oil.

So, that’s the recipe. It really is a recipe for good health, and I can tell you that it works. Please go to our Healthy Baby Gallery at westonaprice.org to see the beautiful babies born to mothers who followed our diet. These babies are not only attractive but also intelligent, they behave themselves and they can study and concentrate. Another plus is that they won’t need braces.

There is a process going on right now in our society that I call the “natural selection of the wise.” The people who do not change their diet will die out. That sounds pretty harsh, but that’s Mother Nature’s way of getting rid of the unfit. They become infertile or the children do not reach adulthood. And this is what we are seeing today--most tragically.

We can’t change everybody but we can certainly educate the people who come to us. Start by being a good example and then provide further information if they show an interest.

By the way, you’re not going to change the school lunch program; don’t waste your time. It is not going happen—the schools must follow the atrocious USDA dietary guidelines, and most people involved in school food have very little knowledge about nutrition, or even about food! But you can make your children’s lunches and help educate the few parents who notice that your child is healthy and become interested. Then convince them to make their children’s lunches also. With time, no one will eat the school lunches—but this won’t happen for a while.

All this might seem very complicated, but I urge you to make a start. It soon becomes second nature, very easy. And eating this way is worth the effort, I guarantee you. There is no greater blessing on earth than healthy children—and your own good health to enjoy them.

Supplementation of mitochondrial nutrients may improve the availability of energy production for the maturing oocyte and the developing embryo and thus reduce aneuploidy and assist in clinical pregnancies and live birth rates.    Ovulation leads to resumption of meiosis in the oocyte.  This means that there is an alignment and separation of chromosomes by the nuclear spindle. The mature oocyte then contains 23 chromosomes.  23 chromosomes are isolated outside of the zona- pellucida in the first polar body.  When penetrated by a euploidic sperm a second polar body is extruded and the zygote then has a normal diploid complement of 46 chromosomes. The process of extruding chromosomes outside of the oocyte as well as expulsion of the second polar body requires energy. The energy required for metabolic function of the oocyte is provided by mitochondria and ATP. The egg has more mitochondrial  cells than any other tissue in the body.  During recruitment of follicles mitochondrial DNA increases from 6000 copies to about 200,000.

 

Mitochondrial DNA is very vulnerable to mutations and deletions.  The inheritance of mitochondrial DNA is strictly maternal.  We can see from a TCM perspective that  this is a clear depiction of yang within yin since the absence of the female's yang qi would mean a complete lack of mitochondria/ATP.   Mitochondria is where the power cells, ATP are stored. As a woman ages her mitochondrial function (yang qi) declines and, as a result there are mutations and deletions in the nucleotides which is where mitochondrial DNA is stored. Oxidative phosphorylation is a metabolic pathway that uses energy released by the oxidation of nutrients to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Although oxidative phosphorylation is a vital part of metabolism, it produces reactive oxygen species such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, which lead to propagation of free radicals, damaging cells and contributing to disease and, possibly, aging (senescence). Free radicals are harmful to egg and sperm quality.  One of the more frequent nucleotide deletions is the "common" deletion of 4977 base pairs, almost a third of the whole mitochondrial DNA genome. This deletion was shown to have a high prevalence in unfertilized oocytes and oocytes from older patients.     As women and eggs age, mitochondrial energy production diminishes. Many processes of oocyte maturation especially nuclear spindle activity and chromosomal segregation become impaired.    It appears that free radicals along with reduced ATP and mitochondrial anomalies cause follicular damage and aneuploidy in the older woman.   Supplementation of mitochondrial nutrients may improve the availability of energy production for the maturing oocyte and the developing embryo and thus reduce aneuploidy and assist in clinical pregnancies and live birth rates.     There are two ways to supplement these nutrients; exogenously and endogenously.  For example, exogenous supplementation with Coenzyme Q10 helps to create ATP. It is also a major antioxidant. Natural systemic CoQ10 decreases with age.   An endogenous means of supplementation has less to do with directly affecting the function of the ovaries than  improving systemic function so that ovarian function will improve naturally.   In order for a family to function in a healthy fashion all members of the family must be healthy. Let's look at this statement from a different perspective: if one family member is sick, it will affect the others members of the family, either physically, emotionally or both. So the family dynamic must be treated; not just the sick individual. This is a more organic and holistic approach to treating the root and not the branch or the etiology as opposed to the symptoms. This is the goal of endogenous supplementation with, for example, herbal medicine.   An herbal formula that may be used to treat poor egg quality endogenously, due to yin-essence vacuity with depletion of yang  might be composed of: Xiang fu, dang gui, bai shao, shu di, rou cong rong, rou gui, shan yao, dang shen, mai dong and  lu rong.        Of course, a formula must be created based upon a differential diagnosis and must strictly follow a treatment principle but this formula elucidates the pathology being treated: yin-essence vacuity with yang qi depletion.   There are two herbs, dang gui and xiang fu which will help 'move' the other herbs so stagnation will not occur but dissemination will.  There also two herbs to help benefit the kidneys through supplementation of the spleen qi; shan yao and dang shen.  Mai dong is used to benefit metal so as to promote water. Rou cong rong, rou gui and lu rong warm the kidneys, promote yang and benefit essence.   These methods of treatment involving benefitting the kidneys through supplementation of the spleen qi and benefitting metal  to promote water; are referred to as treating 'one step removed'. In other words we don't just treat the organ or channel involved but we also treat organs that have a direct effect on other organs. It's similar to using lung acupuncture points as part of a protocol to positively affect the large intestine.   Aging is a natural process and in the present culture health-care providers are often faced with the challenge of trying to reverse the reproductive clock with assisted reproductive interventions. These techniques such as IUI and IVF are often successful but more often they are not.   The main reason that ART fails more than it succeeds is because ART is primarily a mechanical process which cannot improve the components required to facilitate a clinical pregnancy and a live birth - egg and sperm.   Though CoQ10 has shown promising results, it still is not a full system approach. In other words it works on egg and sperm but not lining and other presentations which can alter the perfect balance, integration and function of the entire body to allow for pregnancy.   Acupuncture and herbal medicine are less involved per se in improving one area of function but more to the point, they improve all systems and functionality of the human organism -psycho-emotionally and physically.   Let's use an analogy. If you lived in a rickety old house which was literally falling apart and it had very drafty windows you could spend $20,000.00 replacing the windows with state-of-the art windows and the drafts would be gone. But the house would fall apart anyway in a short time.  In order for the house to be healthy the entire house must be addressed, not just the windows. IUI and IVF are really just dealing with the windows. TCM rebuilds the house.   The lungs, spleen and kidneys are the primary organs which, according to the theory of  TCM, contribute to the creation and dissemination of energy or qi in the human being.  As a person grows older their aerobic capacity decreases, their digestion worsens, their lower back and knees weaken, and their sexual and urinary functions worsen. That's because these named organs are becoming deficient in qi which is a natural part of aging. If these organs could be nurtured, supplemented, and regulated their functionability may improve.   Improvement would be witnessed as improvement in the functions associated with each organ that I mentioned above.  However, these three organs have far greater responsibility than that which is associated with the organs themselves.  Egg quality, sperm quality, lining quality and the emotional state can all be improved with their respective improvement.    Then, when an IVF ET is performed the products (egg, sperm and endometrium) that the REI are mechanically manipulating will be superior in health and have a higher possibility of manifesting in a live birth. The best outcomes for pregnancy and live births will come not from improved IVF techniques or more powerful drugs to facilitate greater folliculogenesis but through the improvement of the quality of the necessary components to achieve pregnancy: sperm, egg, and lining along with the down-regulation of pathogenic factors that can mitigate fertility such as immunological factors, blood clotting factors and inflammatory processes (endometriosis without pelvic distortion for example).   Acupuncture and herbal medicine has been effective in treating many cases of infertility for more than two thousand years.

Acupuncture and embryo transfer, Fertility and Sterility

Fertility and Sterility, the official publication of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine publishes juried original articles of scientific excellence in clinical and laboratory research relevant to reproductive endocrinology and physiology.

The studies below have all appeared in the journal Fertility and Sterility. Ten of them found that acupuncture performed close to the time of embryo transfer improved chances of pregnancy. Three reported no effect, and one found a negative effect (which was put down to the fact that the patients had to drive across town after their embryo transfer to reach the acupuncture clinic). More studies are underway to investigate the mechanism behind the effect of acupuncture on implantation of the embryo.

If any provisional conclusions are to be drawn at this stage, it is that acupuncture appears to confer an advantage to clinical trial groups which have an expected pregnancy rate of around 35% or less. Where chance of pregnancy is 50 - 60% then acupuncture applied at the time of embryo transfer may not offer so much benefit. 

Acupuncture and Embryo Transfer Studies
Authors and References		Effect of acupuncture on pregnancy rate
Paulus W et al, Fertil Steril 2002 Vol 77, pg 721-724		+ve
Smith C et al, Fertil Steril 2006 Vol 85, pg 1352-1358		+ve
Westergaard L et al, Fertil Steril 2006 Vol 85, pg 1341-1346		+ve
Dieterle S et al, Fertil Steril 2006 Vol 85, pg 1347-1351		+ve
Benson M. R. et al, Fertil Steril 2006 Vol 86, Suppl 1, pg S135		+ve
Udoff L. C. et al, Fertil Steril 2007 Vol 86, Suppl 1, pg S145		+ve
Teshima D.R.K et al, Fertil Steril 2007 Vol 88, Suppl 1,pg S330		+ve
Magarelli P,Cridennda D,Fertil Steril 2004Vol 81,Suppl 3,pgS20		+ve
Quintero R et al, Fertil Steril 2004 Vol 81 Suppl 3, pg S11-12		+ve
Youran D et al, Fertil Steril 2008 Vol 90 Suppl 1, pg S240		+ve
Domar A et al, Fertil Steril 2006 Vol 86 Suppl 2, pg S379		=
Domar A et al Fertil Steril 2009 Vol 91 pg 723 - 6		=
Fratterelli JL et al Fertil Steril 2008 Vol 90 Suppl 1, pg S105		=
Craig L. B et al, Fertil Steril 2007 Vol 88, Suppl 1, pg S40		-ve

	Influence of acupuncture on the pregnancy rate in patients who undergo assisted reproduction therapy Paulus W et al, Fertil Steril 2002 Vol 77, pg 721-724 Fertility and Sterility View Abstract

	Influence of acupuncture stimulation on pregnancy rates for women undergoing embryo transfer, Smith C et al, Fertil Steril 2006 Vol 85, pg 1352-1358 Fertility and Sterility View Abstract

	Acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer significantly improves the reproductive outcome in infertile women: a prospective, randomized trial Westergaard L et al, Fertil Steril 2006 Vol 85, pg 1341-1346 Fertility and Sterility View Abstract

	Effect of acupuncture on the outcome of in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a randomized, prospective, controlled clinical study Dieterle S et al, Fertil Steril 2006 Vol 85, pg 1347-1351 Fertility and Sterility View Abstract

	Impact of acupuncture before and after embryo transfer on the outcome of in vitro fertilization cycles: A prospective single blind randomized study Benson M. R. et al, Fertil Steril 2006 Vol 86, Issue 3, pg S135 Fertility and Sterility View Abstract

	The effect of acupuncture on outcomes in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) Udoff L. C. et al, Fertil Steril 2007 Vol 86, Issue 3, pg S145 Fertility and Sterility View Abstract

	The effect of acupuncture in assisted reproduction techniques Teshima D. R. K et al, Fertil Steril 2007 Vol 88, Suppl 1, pg S330 Fertility and Sterility View Abstract

	Acupuncture & IVF poor responders: a cure? Magarelli P,Cridennda D, Fertil Steril,2004;81 Suppl 3 S20 Fertility and Sterility View Abstract

	A randomized, controlled, double-blind, cross-over study evaluating acupuncture as an adjunct to IVF Quintero R et al, Fertil Steril 2004 Vol 81 Suppl 3, pg S11-12 Fertility and Sterility View Abstract

	The impact of acupuncture on IVF outcome Domar A et al, Fertil Steril 2006 Vol 86 Suppl 2, pg S378-379 Fertility and Sterility View Abstract

	The impact of acupuncture on in vitro fertilization outcome. Domar A et al Fertil Steril 2009 Vol 91 Issue 3 pg 723-6 Fertility and Sterility View Abstract

	Acupuncture lowers pregnancy rates when performed before and after embryo transfer Craig L. B et al, Fertil Steril 2007 Vol 88, Suppl 1, pg S40 Fertility and Sterility View Abstract

	Acupuncture performed before and after embryo transfer improves pregnancy rates. Youran D et al Fertil Steril 2008 Vol. 90, Suppl 1, pg S240 Fertilty and Sterility View Abstract

Laser acupuncture before and after embryo transfer improves ART delivery rates. Fratterelli JL et al Fertil Steril 2008 Vol 90, Suppl 1,pg S105 Fertility and Sterility View Abstract

            Reduce stress                          

 Perform reproductive and femoral massage

            Take anti-oxidants                   

Eat organic, natural fruits and vegetables

            Get adequate rest                    

 Practice internal deep breathing techniques

            Acupuncture                            

Keep yourself in supportive environments

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Acupuncture and Exercise May Bring Relief, Reduce Risks in Women With Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Exercise and electro-acupuncture treatments can reduce sympathetic nerve activity in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), according to a recent study in the online version of American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. The finding is important because women with PCOS often have elevated sympathetic nerve activity, which plays a role in hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. The study also found that the electro-acupuncture treatments led to more regular menstrual cycles, reduced testosterone levels, and reduced waist circumference.

Exercise had no effect on the irregular or nonexistent menstrual cycles that are common among women with PCOS, nor did it reduce waist circumference; however, exercise did lead to reductions in weight and body mass index.

One of the researchers, Dr Elisabet Stener-Victorin of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, said that the study’s findings could indicate an alternative nonpharmacologic approach to reducing cardiovascular risk in women with PCOS.

PCOS is one of the most common endocrine disorders, affecting approximately 10% of women of reproductive age. Among the problems associated with the condition are elevated levels of androgens (such as testosterone), ovarian cysts, irregular menstrual cycles, and infertility. PCOS is associated with increased sympathetic nerve activity in the blood vessels, part of the “fight or flight” response that results in blood vessel constriction. Chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system increases the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke.

The researchers wanted to find a long-lasting treatment for PCOS that would have no adverse side effects, so they looked at whether acupuncture or exercise could decrease the sympathetic nerve activity in women with PCOS. The study included 20 women, average age of 30 years, divided into the following groups: low-frequency electro-acupuncture (9); exercise (5); and untreated controls (6).

The acupuncture group underwent 14 treatments during the 16-week study. Acupuncture points were located in abdominal muscles and the back of the knee, points thought to be associated with the ovaries. The needles in the abdomen and leg were stimulated with a low-frequency electrical charge, enough to produce muscle contraction but not enough to produce pain or discomfort.

The exercise group received pulse watches and were told to take up regular exercise: brisk walking, cycling, or any other aerobic exercise that was faster than walking but that they could sustain for at least 30 minutes. They exercised at least 3 days per week for 30 to 45 minutes, maintaining a heart rate above 120 beats per minute.

The researchers instructed the control group in the importance of exercise and a healthy diet, the same instructions the experimental groups received, but the control group was not specifically assigned to do anything differently.

The researchers measured the muscle sympathetic nerve activity before and after the 16-week study. After treatment, they noted the following results.

• Both the acupuncture and exercise groups significantly decreased muscle sympathetic nerve activity compared to the control group.
• The acupuncture group experienced a drop in waist size, but not a drop in body mass index or weight.
• The exercise group experienced a drop in weight and body mass index but not in waist size.
• The acupuncture group experienced fewer menstrual irregularities, but the exercise group’s irregularities did not change.

Additionally, there was a significant drop in testosterone in the acupuncture group. This is an important indicator because the strongest independent predictor of high sympathetic nerve activity in women is the level of testosterone.

The study has some limitations, including a small sample size, so further research is necessary.