food

Estrogen: It's Not Just For Breakfast Any More

Industries from pharmaceuticals to plastics to agriculture are all dependent on the bureaucratically-induced hallucination that our estrogen-soaked food supply is safe. Unfortunately, this view is contradicted by the research, all of which points to growing endocrine dysfunction in many species, including our own.

If you follow health-related news at all, you are probably aware of the recent study that was released, showing that many plastics -- not just those containing BPA -- have been found to leak estrogen-like substances into our foods. While estrogen is a useful and necessary hormone, the additional estrogens we are absorbing through our food and our environment may not be so good for us.

Certainly, the hormone replacement therapy studies which came out during the last decade proved the folly of mainstream medicine's belief in the protective effects of estrogen. Though it had been believed that estrogen reduced the risk of heart disease and cancer in women, long-term studies showed that the exact opposite was true. Long-term estrogen replacement actually increased the risk of chronic and lethal diseases.

Though the warnings about the health risks of environmental estrogens are couched in enough verbal hedges to make a diplomat happy, the fact of the matter is that nothing good can come from the chronic absorption of estrogen-like chemicals. These chemicals have been linked to increased male infertility, increased rates of breast cancer, and ovarian cysts, among other problems.

The fact of the matter is, however, that there are some 3,000 food additives which have been approved by the FDA, and not a single one of them have been tested for estrogenic activity. Interestingly, while synthetic estrogens are allowed into the food supply without testing, and alleged to be safe, natural phytoestrogens such as those found in licorice, wild yam and dong quai, have been subjected to extensive review and carefully worded warnings about their unguided use (the implication being that you are far safer with the synthetic estrogens and whatever crazed mutant hormones are leaching from your plastic-wrapped meats).

The mainstream medical community's waffling on the dangers of synthetic estrogens is clearly the result of the FDA's desire to avoid biting the plastic hand that feeds it. Industries from pharmaceuticals to plastics to agriculture are all dependent on the bureaucratically-induced hallucination that our estrogen-soaked food supply is safe. Unfortunately, this view is contradicted by the research, all of which points to growing endocrine dysfunction in many species, including our own.

Which leads me to today's quiz: What was the first time that a significant number of humans were exposed to estrogen-like chemicals, and what was the result?

The first person to email me with the correct answer will receive a 10% discount on their next purchase from our Dispensary. Your order can be of any size.

Good luck!

Dr. Avery Jenkins is a chiropractic physician specializing in the treatment of people with chronic disorders. He can be reached at alj@docaltmed.com or by calling 860-567-5727.

Food with a Pedigree

"Cauliflower," Mark Twain once wrote, "is nothing more than cabbage with a college education."

Despite this somewhat disparaging remark, the great American humorist was known to enjoy nibbling on this "intellectual vegetable" while writing his novels.

And while we may only see cauliflower as a minor addition to a tasty salad, as part of a  hors d'oeuvres plate, or hidden under a cheese sauce, this unassuming vegetable has medicinal properties. It has historically been used to treat headaches, which is one of the uses Twain found for it after the stress of losing his publishing company started giving him severe headaches.

As a cruciferous vegetable, cauliflower is known to have anti-cancer properties, and it is also rich in folate, vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene. It also has an historical antecedent in treating heart disease. (If you are concerned about heart disease, please attend my lecture next week. We still have a few seats available.)  The indole-3-carbinol in cauliflower aids DNA repair in cells and acts as a mild anti-estrogen, thus reducing the growth of estrogen-sensitive tumors; intrestingly, cauliflower has been shown to slow the growth of aggressive prostate cancer.

But enough about cauliflower. Today's quiz is actually about another food with a surprisingly versatile medical pedigree. Commonly found in a couple of different subspecies, this food has been demonstrated to not only prevent cancer, but has been used in hospitals to treat cancer. In fact, patients have had this food therapy break down their cancers so rapidly that their livers were unable to keep up with processing the resulting toxins.

Not satisfied with just being useful to treat cancer, this food is also used to relieve coughing, glandular swelling and sore throat. Not a bad little trifecta there; but to make it even sweeter during this month of Cupid, this food has been used as an aphrodisiac since at at least Roman times.

Of course, your question this week is: What is this food?

The first person to email me with the correct answer will receive a 10% discount on their next purchase from our Dispensary. Your order can be of any size.

Good luck!

Dr. Avery Jenkins is a chiropractic physician specializing in the treatment of people with chronic disorders. He can be reached at alj@docaltmed.com or by calling 860-567-5727.