Dr. Tanelian's Weblog

To Soy or not to Soy?

For the past several years I have been endlessly asked, “Does soy cause breast cancer?”  I have looked through the medical literature and concluded on my own that I see no evidence to substantiate this.  Nonetheless, the media fuels this fire,

Irrespective of what the press says based on a few nonhuman “studies” this question remains.  However, common sense dictates this makes little if any sense.  The incidence of breast cancer in Humans in the 2002 Worldwide IARC CancerBase No. 5 shows that breast cancer incidence in soy consuming countries (China and Japan) is 18.7 and 32.7 per 100,000, respectively; whereas in Western nations (U.S. and U.K.) the breast cancer incidence is 101.1 and 87.2, respectively.  Strange anyone would say that soy based isoflavones are to blame for breast cancer, how about the American lifestyle?

To back this thought process up is an excellent review of soy isoflavanoids and breast cancer published in the Nutrition Journal (7:17, 2008) from the Wake Forest School of Medicine.  The authors conclude that there is little evidence that dietary isoflavones have a clinically relevant effect on breast tissue either positive or negative

Just this month in the clinical Journal of Nutrition (89: 577-583, 2009) and on Dr. Tanelian’s Medical News is a prospective study from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine showed that soy food intake was inversely associated with colorectal cancer such that soy foods decreased the relative risk of colorectal cancer risk to 0.67.

Let us review the medical literature before jumping to conclusions on all media fostered sensationalism – some may be valid, but you really want to know the whole story!

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

Protein

The idea that eating protein produces “big” muscles is primitive, unsubstantiated and in the realm of pseudoscience.  Hopeful you will become Popeye if you exercise, but unless you are deficient in the fundamental amino acids necessary for protein synthesis this will not happen by consuming more protein  (see the HealthConnexin Medical News).  Real muscle development requires natural exercise and a full complement of natural nutrients.  We are not simply a steak such that one can add protein powders or solutions and it gets heavier – this is the equivalent thinking with a clay pot mentality; that if one wants a larger pot simply add more clay.  Yes, making it will make for a heavier pot, but will it be fashioned correctly?

Actually, Popeye made sense in that he advocated spinach – a highly alkalinizing food that prevents the breakdown of muscle.

Just remember Popeye was right and for more than one reason.

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

Benefits of Vitamins?

Of course vitamins (13 acknowledged molecules called “vitamins” are essential for our health) and so are a multitude (1,000’s) of other molecules, but only if you are deficient in them.  Yet, we take the approach that “the more, the better” – not true.  More of any vitamin or mineral maybe better than, the same as, or worse than the amount you are already taking.  More does not necessarily mean better, yet this is our societal assumption!

 I have written numerous blogs and medical news articles about this reality.  Nonetheless, we see articles like today’s news story, “Little benefit is seen to vitamin pills”.  Sounds informative, but is that statement true?  NO.  Yes, it may be true if you already have the full complement and optimal amount of vitamins and minerals, but what if you are deficient.  According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s studies many if not most Americans are deficient in essential nutrients, up to 90% deficient!

The problem with all vitamin studies is that: 1) Researchers do not know where a person is starting or has been with respect to any given vitamin, 2) Is a given person deficient or exposed to an excess of any given vitamin on a regular basis, 3) Studies are too short to fully evaluate whether any vitamin is beneficial for any disease or not (this could require 60+ years of controlled data or more), and there are 100’s or more confounding factors not controlled for in any nutritional study.

Nonetheless, it is safe to say that most Americans could and would benefit from some vitamins and minerals since our foods (even organic) and water (tap, mineral or bottles) are severely lacking.

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

Are You Prepared to Perform?

Performance requires advance preparation, not just, “I will wait until I have a problem, then fix it”.  Ultimate performance requires advance preparation!  In the case of Health this is called Prevention, in Athletics it is called Training.  Regardless, the basic truths are the same.

Humans are not a car.  Therefore, “fix it” is simply a fantasy.  Humpty Dumpty was written as a children’s nursery rhyme, but nonetheless remains the leading lesson of good health and all types of performance.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;

All the king’s horses,

And all the king’s men,

Couldn’t put Humpty together again

 The Molecular Fitness program is designed to enhance your performance in Health and Athletics, as well as in many other aspects of life.

 Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

Molecular Fitness

Molecular Fitness is about helping your body perform better through optimization of the natural molecular and cellular components that are essential for life, health, mental and physical performance.

The potential benefits are vast and encompass prevention of disease as well as athletic performance and just plain feeling good and having more energy.

As for which benefit(s) are most important, this is a personal priority.  Obviously, “I feel good” seems to be most important in our “immediate gratification society”, but what about the totality of your life? 

Life is definitely about “I feel good”, but what about “I feel bad” when you are actually ill?  What about those 8 well known diseases of modern man (heart disease, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, ocular disease, obesity and Alzheimer’s) that you will one day succumb to?  Is there a magic cure or any cure for any of these diseases? NO!

Will you succumb to one if not all of these diseases if you live long enough?  YES

So why not feel great now, have more energy now, perform better athletically now and at the same time be preventing the multitude of diseases that potentially await you?

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

Exercise and Acidosis

Acidosis causes many adverse conditions that impair optimal athletic performance (decreased endurance, poor bone health, poor muscle performance, poor wound healing, arrhythmia generation, decreased heart performance, decreased alertness and mental acuity, and many other essential impairments).

It is also very important to know that studies done on humans have shown that saline [sodium chloride (NaCl or common table salt)] ingestion leads to the generation of metabolic acidosis, which in turn reduces the bloods oxygen carrying capacity and ability to remove carbon dioxide. In comparison, an alkalinizing beverage such as MineralConnexin can prevent metabolic acidosis from developing and significantly enhances the oxygen carrying capacity of our blood and its delivery to our tissues, while simultaneously helping to remove excess carbon dioxide.

Overall, one of the many significant advantages of an alkalinizing beverage, such as MineralConnexin, is that it will enhance athletic performance and endurance by helping to deliver more oxygen to all tissues, including muscle while simultaneously helping to conserve energy through enhanced carbon dioxide removal; thereby, leading to a slower breathing rate and less unnecessary expenditure of energy.

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

You Are What You Eat

“Two Miracle Foods”, “Seven Miracle Foods”, “Seven Anti-aging Miracle Foods”, “Miracle Food Cures of the Bible”, “10 Miracle Foods”, “10 Miracle foods to Look Younger”, “The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating”, “The New Miracle Foods”; what’s next, the 17 Luckiest Foods in the World? At this rate everyone should be living healthy to 1,000.

THE ONLY THING THAT REALLY MATTERS ARE THE MOLECULES AND THEIR QUANTITIES available in the water and food you ingest and their value to the cells in your body.

Just remember more of any nutrient; molecule, vitamin, mineral or food is not necessarily better! More can be beneficial, more can be less beneficial or actually harmful, or more can be the same. There is an optimal quantity (concentration) range for all molecules; that is how our biochemical reactions and enzymes work. Unfortunately, we do not know the optimal range for most molecules or chemical reactions in our body.

When eating foods remember that a food is a food is a food. The bottom line is that what really counts is what and how much, what type and the quantity of a given molecule you are receiving from that food.

This is not simple to determine. It depends on many variables, here are a few: is the food organic or has it been processed with many foreign substances added (salt, sugar, trans-fats, etc.); are their pesticides or other potentially toxic molecules in the food; under what conditions was the food grown; did the soil or water the food was grown in contain minerals and what kind; how has the food been processed (boiled, raw, high heat, low heat, frozen, fried, etc.).

At the end of the day you need to know what types of molecules are in your foods, which ones you need and how much and the quantity you are actually receiving. Anything short of this is pure speculation or guessing.

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

Urine pH and Vitamin D

Do you think this is something new? NO, not really. Rather, the sun, synthesis of Vitamin D and alkalinization of our urine are millions if not billions of years old. Man has always recognized that sun exposure was healthy and that cod liver oil was healthy, although he did not specifically know why. As early as 1951 and before, studies identified that a slightly alkaline pH is favorable for bone and health.

Back in 1951 several astute researchers (Steenbock, Bellin and Wiest) from the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin recognized in their paper, Vitamin D and Urinary pH, published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry that vitamin D is associated with an elevation of urine pH (about 100-fold decrease in hydrogen ion concentration) and that this would promote bone development and logically prevent bone destruction or osteoporosis

Correspondingly, today we know that an acidic blood pH (acidosis) is associated with impaired vitamin D synthesis and cellular internalization of vitamin D through several published research studies..

Interestingly, MineralConnexin raises urine pH (alkalinizes, decreases hydrogen ion concentration) about 100-fold and improves bone density. Is it possible that osteoporosis and all bone demineralization could have been averted all along and can still be?

Yes, there is hope for remineralization and fossilization of our bone so that future generations can make sense out of finding titanium knee and hip joints in the sand.

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

To Wine or Not to Wine

Wine (drinking any form of alcohol) has been given a “bad rap” in terms of liver disease, especially cirrhosis, but is that true? Yes, excessive alcohol consumption is potentially toxic and damaging to your body, organs and cells. But what about modest drinking wine? Actually, this is good for you, your organs and cells!

Resveratrol and other polyphenols that are connexin-enhancers are found in wine and have been found to be protective of known disorders attributed to liver and other diseases. Recently, a study done in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego was published in the journal, Hepatology (See Dr.Tanelian’s Medical News). This research shows that modest wine drinking can actually decrease fatty liver disease often associated with cirrhosis. Moreover, resveratrol has been shown to be protective of another complication of liver disease, portal vein thrombosis.

Red wine consumption has even been shown to maintain healthy liver function in centenarians (people 100 years of age or older), published research in the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation from the Department of Critical Care Medicine and Surgery in the University of Florence, Italy (Referenced in Dr. Tanelian’s Medical News).

Actually, Fatty Liver Disease leading to cirrhosis affects all age groups, including children; some estimates suggest it may effect as many as one-third of Americans and is not associated with alcohol consumption, but rather with overweight, obesity and diabetes (Mayo Clinic, Feb 19, 2007).

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

Coffee to the Rescue Once Again

As we all intuitively know and have been accustomed to for hundreds of years, coffee is good for you.

Yes, once again researchers have published that coffee inhibits platelet aggregation. This study was conducted at the National Research Institute on Food and Nutrition in Rome, Italy and published in the British Journal of Nutrition on April 28, 2008 (see Dr. Tanelian's Medical News for the actual study abstract). Might the antiplatelet quality of coffee be as good as or maybe even better than the host of antiplatelet drugs [aspirin, dipyridamole (Persantine), clopidogrel (Plavix), ticopindine (Ticlid), etc.] with all their side effects that are highly marketed and promoted? Do we really need these drugs when we have a safe, natural and tasty beverage such as coffee?

This news is not really new, since in 1987 researchers at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center published a similar study in the International Journal of Vitamin and Nutrition Research that was entitled, Coffee extracts inhibit aggregation in vivo and in vitro.

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.