Very clever… a science experiment you can drink.

The market has been flooded with “functional waters,” fortified (supposedly) with everything from vitamins and minerals to electrolytes, oxygen, fiber, and even protein. Supermarket beverage aisles can entice you along a virtual sea of beverage choices—energy drinks, vitamin waters, fitness waters, and sports/electrolyte concoctions in every imaginable color and flavor.

You can even buy a bottle of water infused with positive affirmations, said to “raise the consciousness of humanity” (Aquamantra). Or how about this one—bottled water fortified for your dog, called FortiFido?

But if you take a closer look at the labels, you’ll discover they’re spiking your punch with a lot of unsavory ingredients, many capable of wreaking havoc on your metabolism, hormones, and other physiological processes—and some of which are outright carcinogenic.

If you aren’t already a label reader, it’s time you became one, lest you fall prey to these clever marketing ploys.

Flashy labels, pretty colors, and seductive scents are not always harmless to your health—but they are incredibly alluring, especially to kids. Your child will be drawn in like an Emu to dangly earrings. So what’s in this cute little bottle of liquid “water enhancer” with the equally cute name?

Mama MIO! More Like Factory Runoff than a Beverage

Here is the ingredient list for the Mango Peach variety of MiO:

Water, Malic Acid, Propylene Glycol, Citric Acid, “natural flavor,” Sucralose, Acesulfame potassium, Potassium citrate, Polysorbate 60, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 40, Potassium Sorbate (preservative).

Basically, this is a scary mixture of TWO artificial sweeteners, THREE dyes, one preservative, and propylene glycol (PG)—a solvent that can potentially result in cell mutations and skin, liver, and kidney damage, if ingested in high enough amounts. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) rates propylene glycol as a moderate hazard.

Artificial sweeteners are bad news for your health (they can lead to impaired kidney function, depression, headaches, infertility, brain tumors, and a long list of other serious health problems) and are unnecessary food additives—because there are SAFE natural sweetener alternatives. This is such a huge issue that I wrote a book about it called Sweet Deception.

All artificial sweeteners are risky, and MiO contains TWO of them!

Let’s look at the rap sheets for some of MiO’s flavor “enhancements”:

Sucralose (an artificial sweetener otherwise known as Splenda) is associated with respiratory difficulties, migraines, seizures, gastrointestinal problems, heart palpitations, and weight gain, and the list of reported problems is growing by the day. Acesulfame potassium (or Acesulfame-K) is another artificial sweetener that has been linked to kidney tumors. Food dyes have been connected to a variety of health problems, including allergic reactions, hyperactivity, decreased IQ in children, and numerous forms of cancer—and MiO has THREE of them.

Polysorbate 60 is an emulsifying agent that, like PG, is rated as a moderate health concern by EWG and can be contaminated with ethylene oxide and 1,4 dioxane, two carcinogenic industrial pollutants.

Now, why go to the trouble of purifying your water, only to dump right back into it what you have just filtered out—a bunch of toxic chemicals?

This makes NO sense at all.

But MiO is just one example of a much larger problem. Enhanced waters have become an enormously lucrative business as people have begun to abandon soda pop for what they believe are better alternatives. Beverage battles (and now, water wars) have left manufacturers clamoring to come up with products that outdo all the rest. Are these beverages really better for you than soda? Not by a long shot.

Dysfunctional Beverages… Think Before You Drink

I don’t want you to think I’ve singled out MiO as the big villain—it’s just the most recent new recruit. Let’s look at the labels for several other varieties of “enhanced” water, to see how they compare.

The following table shows the ingredients in 10 other popular brands of “enhanced” water. I’ve highlighted the most glaring offenders in bold.

Propel Fitness Water Water, sucrose from corn syrup, natural lemon flavor with other natural flavors, citric acid, sodium citrate, potassium citrate, sucralose, vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin E acetate, niacinamide (vitamin B3), calcium disodium EDTA, calcium pantothenate (vitamin B5), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), acesulfame potassium (ace-K), vitamin B12. VitaminWater Vapor distilled, deionized, and/or reverse osmosis water, crystalline fructose, cane sugar, citric acid, vegetable juice (color), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), natural flavor, berry and fruit extracts (acai, blueberry, pomegranate and apple), magnesium lactate (electrolyte), calcium lactate (electrolyte), monopotassium phosphate (electrolyte), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine hydrochloride (B6), cyanocobalamin (B12) Voosh Water, crystalline fructose, citric acid, vitamin blend (ascorbic acid, grape seed extract, niacinamide, d-calcium pantothenate, vitamin B12, pyridoxine HCL), fruit and vegetable juices for color, natural flavors, magnesium lactate, calcium lactate, potassium phosphate Sobe Life Water Filtered water, sugar, natural flavor, citric acid, ascorbic acid (C), grape skin extract (color), sodium citrate, modified food starch, l-theanine, vitamin E acetate, calcium phosphate, gum arabic, calcium pantothenate, yerba mate extract, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride (B6), cyanocobalamin (B12) Fruit2O Relax Essentials (Cranberry Raspberry) Purified Water, Contains less than 2% of Natural Flavor, Maltodextrin (Fiber), Potassium Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Manganese Gluconate Dihydrate (Mineral), Potassium Chloride (Electrolyte), Potassium Citrate (Electrolyte), Potassium Pyruvate (Electrolyte), Vitamin E Succinate, Zinc Lactate Gluconate (Mineral), Calcium D-Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Vitamin B6, Selenium Chelate (Mineral), Citric Acid, Sucralose, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate Aquafina (Berry Burst) Sparkling water, natural flavors, citric acid, sodium citrate, potassium benzoate, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, calcium disodium EDTA

Dasani Plus (Pomegranate Blackberry) Filtered Water, Maltodextrin, Natural Flavors, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Potassium Benzoate and EDTA, Phosphoric Acid, Acesulfame Potassium, Sucralose, Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E) Niacinamide (Vitamin B3) Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6) Red 40, Blue 1, Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12)

Relatively Safe Flavored Waters

Glaceau Smart Water Vapor distilled water, electrolytes (calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and potassium bicarbonate) MetroMint Purified water and mint

OWater Water, natural lemon and lime flavor, electrolytes, and potassium sorbate (preservative)

As you can see, the majority of these “health” drinks contain a lot of dangerous chemicals that you wouldn’t want to put in your body. (Three relatively safe flavored waters are listed above.) Not only that, but sugar is a common ingredient. In fact, some of these drinks have nearly as much sugar as Coca Cola! Take VitaminWater, for example.

VitaminWater: A Candy Bar in a Bottle

Glaceau VitaminWater (made by the Coca-Cola Company) has a whopping 33 grams of sugar per 20-ounce bottle (and 130 calories), which is only 6 grams less than a can of Coke. In fact, Coco-Cola Company was sued in 2009 for promoting VitaminWater as a healthful product. Not surprisingly, VitaminWater was rated the “Worst Healthy Drink” by Eat This, Not That.

VitaminWater is not water—it’s a candy bar in a bottle. Much of the sugar in VitaminWater is the worst possible kind—crystalline fructose—which is even more damaging to your health than high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Crystalline fructose is 99 percent fructose, whereas HFCS is only 55 percent fructose.

Fructose is known to significantly raise your triglycerides, which in turn raises your risk of heart disease because it metabolizes into triglycerides and fat, not glucose. And if that’s not bad enough, crystalline fructose may be contaminated with arsenic, lead, chloride and heavy metals.

But it doesn’t end there.

Many of these so-called health drinks contain as much caffeine as 6 ounces of Starbucks coffee or 12 ounces of Folgers mountain brew. If you are curious about the caffeine content of your beverage of choice, check the following databases, Overcaffeinated or Energy Fiend. But what about the nutritional claims made by some of these companies—how accurate do you think they are? One journalistic group decided to actually have these beverage products tested.

Men’s Journal Puts Enhanced Water Claims to the Test

It’s pretty clear these beverages have tons of garbage in them that you don’t want or need in your body. But do they really offer the nutritional benefits advertised? Men’s Journal decided to test that out. They sent samples of several enhanced waters to an independent lab to investigate whether or not the beverages contain the nutrients claimed, in the amounts advertised on the label.

Guess what?

They found major discrepancies between what labels claimed and what was actually present.

For example, Fruit2O Essentials (Peach Mango) contained only HALF the vitamin B5 it claimed, and NONE of the vitamin E. Its total dissolved solids (TDS) is advertised to be less than 2.5 grams but tested at 7.0 grams. According to the lab, those solids could be anything “from flavoring to dirt.”

In general, the vitamin-enhanced waters contain negligible amounts of vitamins and minerals, far less than if you were to take an oral supplement. In most cases, the drinks provide less than 10 percent of the recommended daily serving of any one vitamin. The sugar content negates any health benefit you could hope to gain—and even worse are the artificial sweeteners.

The electrolyte waters contain insufficient amounts of electrolytes to replenish you, if you were truly dehydrated. And it’s unlikely that most people exert themselves hard enough, and for long enough, to develop dehydration and electrolyte depletion—unless you are running an all-out marathon.

But saying a sports drink contains “electrolytes” just sort of sounds good from a marketing point of view.

The bottom line is, you are far better off relying on fresh whole foods for your nutritional needs, rather than falling for ridiculous boasts by the beverage industry. If you suspect you need extra vitamins due to a less than optimal diet, you are much better off taking a good quality vitamin/mineral supplement with a tall glass of PURE water. You’ll come out ahead, in terms of both your budget and your health.

Duped by the Bottled Water Industry

The bottled water business has become a multi-billion dollar industry. But bottled water isn’t the pristine elixir you’ve been told it is.

Consider the following:

Studies show that 40 percent of bottled water is actually regular tap water with possibly no additional filtering treatment. The EPA standards that apply to public water supplies do NOT apply to bottled water. Overall, bottled water is less regulated than tap water.

There are no restrictions preventing a source of bottled water from being located near industrial facilities or waste dumps.

A recent EWG report uncovered 38 contaminants in 10 brands of plain bottled water, including DBPs, nitrate, caffeine, arsenic, Tylenol, bacteria and industrial chemicals. There is every reason to expect that, if tested, these new flavored bottled waters would be found similarly contaminated with hormone disruptors and industrial waste chemicals. Not the type of “enhancement” you thought you were paying for!

The High Cost of Plastic Water Bottles

In the time it takes you to read this one short sentence, over 8,000 empty water bottles are being thrown into the trash worldwide. According to the Container Recycling Institute, in the U.S. alone, more than 67 million plastic water bottles are discarded each day. That’s enough plastic water bottles to fill 5,500 garbage trucks each day or wrap around the Earth 149 times each year.

Plastic bottles have become an enormous problem for humanity due to the following four problems:

The sheer volume of plastic waste they create The lack of adequate recycling capability for plastics The amount of oil required to manufacture these millions of plastic bottles

The adverse health problems caused by the plastic itself

As good as it feels to haul your plastic bottles to a recycler, realize that 86 percent of plastic bottles never get recycled, leaving a massive number of them sitting in landfills and floating like massive plastic islands in our oceans. In fact, the enormous plastic “stew” of bottles discarded into the Pacific Ocean is currently twice the size of Texas and growing steadily. Only 5 percent of all discarded plastic waste is currently recycled in the U.S.

And the plastic bottle you toss out today will not finish biodegrading until the year 3011.

But waste isn’t the only problem. It takes a lot of OIL to manufacture those plastic bottles.

According to the Sierra Club, the United States alone uses 1.5 million barrels of oil to create the water bottles we toss into those landfills every year, releasing toxic by-products like nickel, ethylbenzene, ethylene oxide, and benzene into the environment. 1.5 million barrels is enough oil to fuel 250,000 homes or 100,000 cars for a year!

And to compound the issue, drinking from plastic water bottles can pose serious health risks from industrial chemicals like BPA and phthalates, which leach from the plastic itself into the contents of the bottle.

BPA (or Bisphenol A) is an estrogen-mimicking chemical linked to reproductive defects, learning and behavioral problems, immune dysfunction, and prostate and breast cancer. Phthalates are also endocrine disruptors and have been linked to a wide range of developmental and reproductive effects, as well as liver cancer.

There is an excellent 2009 documentary called “Tapped,” about the high cost of plastic water bottles to human health, as well to as the environment, which can be watched online for free

Another excellent film is the recently released “Waste Land,” which poignantly illustrates the sheer volume of our plastic waste. This award-winning documentary tells the uplifting story of how New York artist Vik Muniz teams up with Brazilian locals to artistically turn waste into money at the world’s largest landfill near Rio de Janeiro. You can watch the trailer here.

Your Bridge Over Troubled Waters

The answer to all of this is to minimize your use of plastic water bottles (and plastics in general) and refrain from buying plastic-bottled waters, enhanced or otherwise. Why not make plain, pure water your beverage of choice?

You can filter you own water at home, inexpensively and easily, and take it with you in reusable glass water bottles, which have a much smaller ecological footprint. The very best water, however, comes from a natural spring.

If you want to jazz it up with something, why not add natural ingredients that are actually GOOD for you? By avoiding the sugar, chemicals and caffeine in so-called energy drinks, you’ll be able to truly rehydrate while avoiding the energy “crash” that inevitably follows.

Here are a few suggestions for spiffing up your water without sacrificing your health:

Add fresh lemon or lime juice (or peels) to your water, whole gingerroot, or even slices of cucumber can add a refreshing twist. If you want it sweet, you can add natural stevia, which is an herb that has no downsides for your health. Try adding a drop or two of natural peppermint extract or a few crushed mint leaves from your herb garden. If you’re adventurous, there are mint-flavored chlorophyll drops on the market that can be added to a glass of water. Chlorophyll may help flush toxins out of your blood and improves your breath. If you want an electrolyte type “sports drink,” try coconut water, which is a rich natural source of potassium and electrolytes. Look for one that has no additives. Or choose a fresh, young coconut and harvest it yourself! If you want the ultimate refreshing vitamin-rich drink, make up some green juice from fresh, organic veggies. Avoid adding fruits due to their high sugar content when juiced. Add a pinch of sea salt and some lemon juice for a very refreshing beverage that is heavy on nutrition and light on calories. Iced green tea is also a great pick-me-up that’s high in antioxidants. Although green tea contains caffeine, it also contains a natural protein called theanine, which actually mediates caffeine’s adverse effects.

Here’s a recipe for a refreshing homemade fruit drink that’s actually good for you. You can even throw in frozen berries, instead of ice cubes.

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NOTE: This information is solely advisory, and should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all health care concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a health care professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.

Health Alert: Alzheimer’s Research. The global market for Alzheimer’s disease therapeutics could soar to $8 billion once therapies are approved that actually change the course of the disease. The current therapeutic market is valued at $3-4 billion and is shared among drugs that temporarily delay disease progression or address the symptoms but do not alter the underlying disease. Despite all the research on amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, there is still a debate on whether these biological phenomena are causative or symptomatic of Alzheimer’s. Once scientists can clearly and unequivocally define key factors related to the actual biology of the disease itself, therapeutic advances could take place much more quickly. Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, August 2012

Diet: Summer Time Blues! Barbequed hot dogs and sausages are common summer time treats, but are they the right choice for your diet? It’s not just the high levels of fat or calories that are cause for concern, most hot dogs, bratwurst, and other sausages are also very high in sodium. The average hot dog contains 280 calories, 15 grams of fat, and 1,250 mg of sodium. American Heart Association
Exercise: Micronutrients and Physical Fitness. Adolescents’ blood levels of micronutrients are correlated with how well they perform in physical fitness tests. For cardio-respiratory fitness, concentrations of hemoglobin, retinol, and vitamin C in males and beta-carotene and vitamin D in females was positively associated with VO2 max (peak oxygen uptake). Journal of Applied Physiology, Aug 2012
Chiropractic: Lack of Motion. Back in 1933, a study showed lack of proper joint motion can cause Degenerative Joint Disease (osteoarthritis). An immobilized joint will develop cartilage changes similar to those of osteoarthritis. Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics, 1933

Wellness/Prevention: Nutrition and IQ. Children fed healthy diets at a young age may have a higher IQ when tested at eight years old. A study looked at the link between the eating habits of children at six months, 15 months and two years, and their IQ at eight years of age. Children breastfed at six months and who had a healthy diet regularly including foods such as legumes, cheese, fruit and vegetables at 15 and 24 months, had an IQ up to two points higher by age eight. Those children who had a diet regularly involving biscuits, chocolate, sweets, soft drinks and chips in the first two years of life had IQs up to two points lower by age eight.

University of Adelaide, Aug 2012

Quote: “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

NOTE: This information is solely advisory, and should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all health care concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a health care professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.

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Quote: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

~ Albert Einstein

NOTE: This information is solely advisory, and should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all health care concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a health care professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.

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Health Alert: Bad Belly Fat! People with a high waist-to-hip ratio (those with big bellies, but a normal body mass index score) are 2.75x more likely to die from a cardiovascular event. Mayo Clinic, September 2012

 
Diet: Junk, TV, and Income. Preschoolers from low-income neighborhoods and kids who spend more than two hours a day in front of a TV or video-game console have at least one thing in common: a thirst for sugary soda and juice. 54.5% of 4-5 year olds from poorer neighborhoods drank at least one soda per week, compared to 40.8% of kids from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. Preschoolers from low-income areas also drank less milk and consumed more fruit juice, which, like soda, is linked to rising sugar intake. Researchers found similar drinking habits among preschoolers who spent more than two hours of “screen time” per day watching TV or playing video games. Kids from poorer neighborhoods sat in front of screens more often, and drank larger volumes of sweetened beverages. Just 30% of children ate recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, and only 23.5% consumed the recommended amount of servings of grain products.
University of Alberta, August 2012

 
Exercise: Exercise and Cancer Recovery? Studies have shown the powerful effect exercise can have on cancer care and recovery. For patients who have gone through breast or colon cancer treatment, regular exercise has been found to reduce recurrence by up to 50%. Mayo Clinic, September 2012

 
Chiropractic: What Causes Pain? One possibility is nerve pain. When a nerve becomes “pinched,” compressed, or inflamed due to an impinging or degenerated disk, the nerves that innervate the spine can become injured. This mechanism can lead to a radiculopathy, where pain radiates down your arm or leg.
Physical Exam Spine and Extremities, Hoppenfeld

 
Wellness/Prevention: Drink Water! Water is your body’s principle chemical component and makes up 60% of your body weight. Water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose, and throat tissues. Lack of water can lead to dehydration, and even mild dehydration (as low as 1-2% loss of normal water volume) can drain your energy and make you tired.
Institute of Medicine

 
Quote: “Great ideas originate in the muscles.” ~ Thomas A. Edison

NOTE: This information is solely advisory, and should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all health care concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a health care professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.

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Health Alert: Calcium and Vitamin D? It has been a long standing protocol for men at risk of bone loss from hormonal treatment for prostate cancer to take Calcium and vitamin D supplements. New research shows this type of supplementation does not prevent bone loss and may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and aggressive prostate cancer. The Oncologist, July 2012

 
Diet: Deep Fried? Fairs and boardwalks serve up plenty of deep-fried diet disasters. From fried cheesecake (around 500 calories), to fried macaroni and cheese (roughly 610 calories), and gigantic turkey legs (about 1,136 calories and 54 grams of fat), most eat-while-you-walk foods are a huge calorie overload, not to mention the grease!
American Heart Association

 
Exercise: Lower Your Diabetes Risk. The World Health Organization estimates that 346 million people have diabetes, and deaths related to it are expected to double between 2005 and 2030, with more than 80% of them occurring in low and middle income countries. Men who weight train 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week may be able to lower their risk for type 2 diabetes by up to 34%. Also, men may be able to lower their risk further (by 59%) if they combine weight training with aerobic exercise, like brisk walking or running. The effects are probably due to increased muscle mass and improved insulin sensitivity. Archives of Internal Medicine, August 2012

 
Chiropractic: Neck Posture and Whiplash. Abnormal, pre-injury curves of the neck increase the risk of whiplash injury to the facet capsules, and predispose the patient to accelerated post traumatic long-term, degenerative changes of the spine. Journal of Biomechanics, June 2005

 
Wellness/Prevention: 6 Tips For Injury Prevention In Young Athletes. 1) Take at least 1 day off a week to give your body time to recover. 2) Take breaks to reduce risk of injury and prevent heat illness. 3) Use correct gear that is right for the sport and fits properly, and don’t assume because you are wearing protective gear you can perform more dangerous and risky things. 4) Drink plenty of fluids before, during and after exercise to avoid heat illness. Coaches should reduce or stop practices when heat or humidity is high. 5) Use proper technique at all times. 6) Coaches should play it safe and enforce strict rules against head-first sliding, spearing, and body checking, and stop the activity if there is any pain. American Academy of Pediatrics

 
Quote: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” ~ Thomas A. Edison

NOTE: This information is solely advisory, and should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all health care concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a health care professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.

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Health Alert: Tattoo Infections? Some tattoo inks are tainted with nontuberculous Mycobacteria. This bacteria can cause lung disease, eye problems, and organ and joint infections. Tattoo inks and pigments may also be contaminated with fungi and mold. Tattoo artists should make sure that only sterile water is used to dilute the inks. US Food and Drug Administration, September 2012

 
Diet: Stroke and Diet. A poor diet may increase your risk of stroke in a few significant ways. Eating too much fat and cholesterol can lead to arteries that are narrowed by plaque, eating too much salt may contribute to high blood pressure, and eating too many calories can lead to obesity. A diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish may help lower your stroke risk. American Heart Association

 
Exercise: Less Is More? Good news, 30 minutes of exercise each day is better than one hour. On average, men who exercised 30 minutes a day lost ~8 lbs in three months, while those who exercised for a whole hour only lost ~6 lbs. One explanation is that half an hour of exercise is so doable that study participants had the desire and energy for more physical activity after their daily exercise session. Those who exercised for 60 minutes per day probably ate more, thus their weight loss was slightly less than anticipated.
American Journal of Physiology, September 2012

 
Chiropractic: What Causes Pain? One possibility for pain is disk involvement. Pain may occur when a disk becomes inflamed, herniated (bulging), or ruptured. The mechanism can be due to an acute injury like a car accident or fall, or repetitive micro-trauma (long term wear and tear). In both cases, muscle spasms can occur, potentially causing severe pain. Physical Exam Spine and Extremities, Hoppenfeld

 
Wellness/Prevention: Decrease Stroke Risk? Chronic conditions that are risk factors for stroke: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity. Behaviors that are risk factors for stroke: smoking, getting too little exercise, and heavy use of alcohol. American Heart Association

 
Quote: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

NOTE: This information is solely advisory, and should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all health care concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a health care professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.

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What if I told you that it may be possible for you to live to age 100 or even longer, in better health than you are in right now? And, if you are already experiencing the ill effects of aging, what if I told you that it may be possible for you to look and feel 20 years younger and stay that way beyond the age of 100?

Aside from the fact that you’d probably call me crazy, I have to tell you that we have never been as close as we are today to actually being able to extend human life!

In fact, the chances are that this crucial information may allow you to live long enough to take advantage of scientific breakthroughs yet to come. It may even let you extend your life span to 120 years or more, because as you will soon find out, aging is no longer inevitable.

It all began in the late fifties with a Russian doctor named Dillman, who described what he believed to be an internal mechanism (or a body clock), which was running down. The center of this body clock was in the area of the brain called the hypothalamus, – more specifically, the pituitary gland.

Dr. Dillman felt that it was a change in the hormone balance, which brought about the aging of the body. He concluded that if he could improve this balance, he could slow down, and possibly even reverse, the aging process.

Bringing this to our modern day, what has since been discovered is that the most important of these hormones is human growth hormone, depletion of which causes the degeneration of the body, more commonly known as aging.

Human Growth Hormone (or hGH) affects every cell in our body. All of us tend to have plenty of growth hormone in the pituitary gland, which is where the hormone is produced.

The difficult thing is getting the pituitary to release it. When we were young, we released it easily, but as we get older, the pituitary gland just doesn’t release it as easily as it used to.

Originally, it was thought that human growth hormone was needed only while the body grows, and once maturity is reached, the hormone is no longer necessary.

However, studies and research have documented that HGH is vital in virtually all functions of the body, even into old age. The problem is that once the body reaches maturity, the levels of the released HGH start to diminish to the point where the average person’s hGH levels reduce as much as 80% from age 21 to 61.

Therefore, as the levels of HGH diminish, so do the proper functions of the organs … and thus, we age.

“The overall deterioration of the body that comes with growing old is not inevitable.” –Daniel Rudman, M.D.

Natural Transdermal HGH Creme…For A Fraction Of The Cost!
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NOTE: This information is solely advisory, and should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all health care concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a health care professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.

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When eliciting a history from a victim of a traumatic injury, cognitive questions regarding concentration, changes in emotion and difficulty sleeping can be indications of a serious underlying condition.  Wenngren et al., stated in 2002, “Attention and concentration deficits, emotional changes and sleep disturbances are findings explained by possible damage to the basal frontal and upper brain/brainstem structures. In this case study, 5% of the patients were labeled with “severe clinical symptoms and cognitive problems.” Specific neurological testing utilizing Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response, MRI or PET Scans, can be ordered to ensure a traumatic brain injury has not been overlooked.  The importance of a precise clinical history and ordering specific objective tests are imperative to properly diagnose and treat patients with possible brainstem lesions due to trauma. These types of patients are often seen in minimal damage accidents and can occur in a single car, no-crash scenario creating a coup-contrecoup injury, which will be the focus of our next educational fax.

4328 Old William Penn Highway       Monroeville, PA       15146

Donald P. Nebel Jr. DC, CCST, DAAMLP

Back Side Pain    Upper Left Side Back pain

It has been often said that if an accident patient/client has pre-existing arthritis (degenerative joint disease- sponylosis) that the ensuing bodily injury was most likely pre-existing. That couldn’t be further from the truth. As an example, if a 22 year old body builder and a 90 year old man that is   4’2” and riddled with arthritis are both in the same accident, who will be hurt more, the person with no arthritis or the person with a significant amount of arthritis? The answer is, the 90 year old man with a significant amount of arthritis.

1) Rao et. al. 2005 2) Ehara et. al 2001 3) Kaale et. al. 2005

4) Regenbogen et. al 1986 all conclude in their research that

pre-existing arthritic degeneration causes more bodily injury then a person with no arthritis.

Beyond the research, common sense dictates the same.

4328 Old William Penn Highway       Monroeville, PA       15146

Donald P. Nebel Jr. DC, CCST, DAAMLP

Back Side Pain    Upper Left Side Back pain

Pressure on the median nerve   causing numbness, tingling and loss of motor function (power) in the thumb, forefinger and middle finger over time. There are many causes for CTS, however trauma plays a major role in causality when the transcarpal ligament overstreches and compresses the median nerve. Symptoms can be instant or develop over time and  can also be caused by a problem in the neck where a clinical evaluation correlated with an EMG/NCV are the most accurate tools to differentially diagnose carpal tunnel syndrome. In the EMG/NCV the patient does not actively participate, making the results highly accurate. From trauma, therapy or surgery are required as this problem is usually progressive over time.

NOTE: You should NOT take this as medical advice. This article is of the opinion of its author. Before you do anything, please consult with your doctor. 4328 Old William Penn Highway Monroeville, PA 15146 Donald P. Nebel Jr., DC, CCST, DAAMLP Doctor of Chiropractic

Back Side Pain, Help Back Pain, Pain Upper Back Left Side