Just recently, a good friend of mine had symptoms that looked a lot like the flu. They got pretty bad and the emergency room physicians said it was probably the flu, but gave her antibiotics as well (even though the flu is viral and antibiotics don’t kill viruses.)

Antibiotics kill bacteria, including the “good bacterial” that help to keep pathogenic (harmful) bacteria at bay in your gut. So taking antibiotic medications too often can disrupt the healthy balance of good and bad bacterial in your gut (dysbiosis) and cause intestinal problems. This is why it is often recommended to take probiotics like acidophilus to reestablish healthy balance in your gut after taking antibiotic medicines. (These medicines kill the good bacteria as well as the bad).

Most of the time (if not all) when your physician thinks that you have a sinus infection, (facial pain, cough, and nasal congestion) you will once again be recommended to take some kind of antibiotic medication. Common sense seems to support the logic behind this recommendation.

Recent research indicates that antibiotic drugs do NOT reduce symptoms of sinusitis nor do they speed up recovery. This is especially true for patients with sudden on-set sinusitis.

Research published in the Journal of the America Medical Association (JAMA) found that the popular antibiotic, amoxicillin, was no better than a placebo drug in treating sinusitis (inflammation of the nasal cavity). One of the researchers, Jane Garbutt, MD stated “Most people didn’t derive any clinical benefit from the antibiotic, so most people likely don’t need any antibiotic treatment.”

Even the Centers of Disease Control only recommend the use of antibiotics when symptoms of sinus infection are severe. This study didn’t make it clear as to whether or not the antibiotics would be useful in the case of severe infections.

Knowing that antibiotics cause dysbiosis and over-use can cause bacterial drug resistance, it’s time to speak up and question whether or not another prescription for antibiotics are REALLY necessary for most cases of sinusitis. 8 out of 10 peoples symptoms resolve within 10 days without taking an antibiotic drug and those who take the drug don’t do any better.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

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A recent study followed patients who had recently developed neck pain. It was found that after 3 months the patients who chose either a chiropractor or exercised were more than 2X more likely to be pain free than people who took pain medications.

Patients who took drugs experienced only a 13 percent success rate. The patients who chose chiropractic care had a 32% success rate. The patients who chose exercise had a 30% success rate. The success rate for people who did both chiropractic and exercise was not reported and would have been interesting to know.

Besides the potential side-effects of some pain medications, they just didn’t compare to the other non-drug options.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

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Do chemicals within our bodies play a role in determining when, who and why we fall in love or get a crush that makes our heart flutter and our palms sweat?

Non-verbal signals very much play a role in both initial and continuing physical attraction.

For example, it is known that testosterone (T) levels can determine the level of lust in women as well as men. Though lust can be an overwhelming and exciting sensation, there may also be a downside. Recent research has shown that higher T levels in men causes them on average to have more sexual partners and increases their chance of remarriage. No such effect was shown in women.

Lots of neurotransmitters like norepinephrine, dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and vasopressin can cause both psychological and physical responses related to desire, love and commitment to a relationship.

For example oxytocin, a pregnancy hormone that induces uterine contraction and milk flow, is also known to bond mothers to babies, couples and increase intimacy. A study of new couples showed that after 6 months the couples with higher levels of oxytocin tended to remain together.

While oxytocin may keep a couple together, it may be dopamine that initially brings you together. A study at Stony Brook University looked at the brains of couples who had just recently fallen madly in love. The areas of the brain that were most stimulated were those areas known to be high in dopamine, a pleasure and addiction related neurotransmitter. A New York Times article titled “Dear, I love you with all my brain” may be very accurate, but I don’t think Valentine’s Day cards with brains all over them, instead of hearts, will be a big hit.

Norepinephrine, a stimulant neurotransmitter, may be why we get nervous and our palms sweat when in the initial stages of lust and attraction.

For some answers to fun and interesting questions like, “Is there really such a thing as love at first sight” or “What time of the month is your husband or boyfriend most attracted to you?” or “Is love similar to addiction?” check out this WebMD slide show. I think you will enjoy it.

WebMD:  Sex-Relationships & the Science of Love 

Curt Hendrix M.S. C.C.N. C.N.S.

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It is recommended that adults under 50 years of age consume no more than 2300mgs of salt per day and for those 50+ no more than 1500mgs per day.

It’s not easy to stay within these guidelines and you have to both read the nutrition labels on the foods you choose to eat and be aware of the classes of food that contribute to daily salt consumption.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has created a list of 10 foods that significantly contribute to your daily salt intake. They are:

1- Breads and other baked goods like rolls. Surprised?

2- Cold cuts and processed meats

3- Pizza

4- Poultry

5- Soups

6- Sandwiches

7- Cheese

8- Pasta Dishes

9- Meat dishes (i.e. meatloaf)

10- Snacks (i.e. popcorn, pretzels, trail mix, chips)

Many people may be surprised to learn that bread and baked products are high sources of salt. Most of us think of soups as healthy, but many of them are alarmingly high in salt content.

The message here is not so much to cut out the foods on this list, but to buy products or make foods that contain less salt and to try to keep track of your daily salt intake with the above maximums in mind.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

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The article, “The Toxic Truth About Sugar”, states that dietary sugar intake has tripled over the past 50 years and is responsible for “35 million deaths a year”.

When sugar is fermented (by yeast or bacteria) it is converted into ethanol (drinking alcohol) and carbon dioxide. Essentially the researchers claim that excessive sugar consumption causes many of the same effects as alcohol consumption. As reported by Dr. Robert Lustig, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco Center for Obesity Study, Treatment and Assessment.

“Excess sugar in the diet does not just add calories. Too much sugar has been linked with health problems and they occur even in people who are normal weight. This includes: Obesity, high blood pressure, liver problems, diabetes and elevated blood fats in the form of triglycerides”.

“It is known that sugar has an addiction-like action on the brain that encourages subsequent intake”.

It is important to realize that Dr. Lustig is not just talking about the sugar in candy, cakes and soda. He and many researchers, including myself, consider the fructose in fruits to be equally problematic when over consumed.

The American Heart Association recommends no more than 9 teaspoons of sugar a day for men and 6 for women. This compares to the average sugar intake in the U.S. of 22 teaspoons a day.

The study does not discuss an additional safety concern related to excessive sugar consumption. The “aging effects” of sugar on bodily tissues is associated with tissue damage, oxidative stress and chronic degenerative diseases.

Via a process known as glycation, sugar reacts with bodily proteins and fats to form AGE’s. (advance glycation endproducts). These AGE’s can cause excessive cellular damage by raising inflammation and levels of free radicals in our bodies.

AGE’s are implicated in:

• Cardiovascular disease

• Cancer

• Alzheimer’s

• Diabetes ( the test your Dr. does called HbA1c. measures the effect of sugar on your red blood cells)

• Nerve damage (neuropathies)

• Eye damage

• Weakening of blood vessels increasing the risk of aneurisms and strokes

Considering that just one glass of soda contains 22 teaspoons of sugar, isn’t it time to take steps to reduce your sugar consumption down to the levels recommended by the Heart Association?

Try to use products that have substituted all or some of their sugar content with natural sweeteners like Stevia extract or erythritol.

The good news is that stopping our addiction to sugar, is not very hard. Unlike drugs or even caffeine which can have withdrawal side-effects, withdrawing from sugar does not. In fact, most people report that after a week or two, their cravings are substantially reduced.

Curt Hendrix, B.S. M.S. C.C.N. C.N.S.

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It’s too unbearable to imagine, right? Now imagine you are one of those football players actually in the game. It’s the highlight of all you have dreamed of your entire career and you have a MIGRAINE!

For those of you who suffer with migraines, you know how truly devastating the pain can be.

It is unimaginable having a migraine and at the same time, having 300 pound behemoths slamming your body to the ground. Yet the sports world is full of professional athletes who suffer with migraines.

Professional athletes play through so much pain from injuries yet a “migraine” is enough to take them out of the game for days.

Terrell Davis MVP running back for the Denver Broncos, missed part of Super Bowl XXXII due to a migraine. Other footballers who suffer with migraines are Cleveland Browns, Marques Pope, Shawn Nelson of the Buffalo Bills stated “I can play through injuries but with a migraine, they are unreal, I can’t move!” Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin collapsed at practice and was hospitalized for a migraine.

Outside of football, Scottie Pippin of the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan’s teammate, made headlines when his team lost an Eastern Conference game because a migraine forced him to not play.

Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat is bothered by migraines so often that he tried wearing tinted lenses during games. (Special tinted lenses have been shown to help reduce the frequency of migraines in some people). Oddly enough, the NBA (in all of their medical wisdom) felt that his glasses weren’t necessary and banned him from wearing them.

Tennis player, Serena Williams is reported to suffer from menstrual migraines.

These are just some, of the many celebrities whose lives are disrupted by migraines. Now there is something that they and you, can do about it. No longer do you have to wonder and worry about when the next migraine attack will come.

For all of those who suffer with chronic migraines, “prevention is far superior to living on pain pills”. Preventing the pain from happening in the first place, is the most logical goal.

And now that goal is in reach. Please go to www.migrelief.com to learn about the solution that thousands of patients and physicians are using with enormous success.

 
Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

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The reasons why migraines can increase with changes in the weather are not clear. Some researchers suggest that changes in oxygen levels, temperature, barometric pressure and even humidity may affect blood vessels associated with migraine occurrence in some sufferers.

It is also thought that migraines may increase with depression, and that depression rates increase in the winter. A current hypothesis being researches is that vitamin D deficiency may be involved both in depression and migraines.

Vitamin D levels seem to drop as migraine frequency increases. A study presented at one of the National Headache Society meetings stated that close to 42% of chronic migraine sufferers are deficient in vitamin D.

My guess is that this percentage is actually much higher if you use the optimal vitamin D level of 50 ng/ml as the goal, instead of the 25 ng/ml level used by most physicians.

Also, since we tend to get less exposure to sunlight during the winter months, vitamin D levels may drop even further.

Since Vitamin D is associated with so many health benefits besides just bone health, I suggest that everyone take at least 1000 IU of vitamin D-3 a day. Optimally, when your Dr. checks your vitamin D levels you have gotten them into the 50-70 ng/ml range.

Staying warm and hydrated during the winter months may help with migraines. Make sure your head, neck and hands are covered.

Irregular sleep patterns are also associated with migraines. In addition, try to keep the humidity in your bedroom up; dry air can affect breathing and oxygen levels, which may trigger migraines in some people.

Finally, for those of you who experience chronic migraines, preventing migraines rather than a lifetime of taking pain medications, is a reasonable and achievable goal. For more information on migraine prevention: www.migrelief.com

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These pills are marketed under the brand name Akrimax Pharmaceuticals. The product contains 21 active white pills and seven non-active, pink pills. Pfizer stated in the product being recalled the number of active pills may be incorrect or out of sequence. This could cause women to get too low a dose of the hormonal ingredients and increase the risk of unintentional pregnancy.

Pfizer advised that women who have used the recalled product should use a “non-hormonal form of birth control immediately.”

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

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Night Sweats – Article

For night sweats associated with hormonal issues, look into MigreLief+M. This product is not just for migraine prevention. It corrects both the hormonal and blood sugar issues that can lead to night sweats as well as migraines. In some women it can take up to 3 months to achieve optimal results.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

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This article will address the pros and cons of caffeinated coffee. Coffee has other compounds, (i.e. antioxidants like chlorogenic acid and melanoidins) besides caffeine that may contribute to its effects.

Pros:

• Significant amounts of antioxidants as much as some fruits

• May reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. van Dam RM, Willett WC, Manson JE, Hu FB. Coffee, caffeine, and risk of type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study in younger and middle-aged U.S. women. Diabetes Care. 2006 Feb;29(2):398-403. PubMed

• May reduce risk of Parkinsons’s Disease: Saaksjarvi K, Knekt P, Rissanen H, Laaksonen MA, Reunanen A, Mannisto S. Prospective study of coffee consumption and risk of Parkinson’s disease. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2007 May 16. PubMed

• May reduce risk of gallstones in women. Leitzmann MF, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Spiegelman D, Colditz GA, Giovannucci EL. Coffee intake is associated with lower risk of symptomatic gallstone disease in women. Gastroenterology. 2002 Dec;123(6):1823-30. PubMed

• May reduce risk of kidney stones in women.   Curhan GC, Willett WC, Speizer FE, Stampfer MJ. Beverage use and risk for kidney stones in women. Ann Intern Med. 1998 Apr 1;128(7):534-40. PubMed

• May reduce risk of gout in men. Choi HK, Willett W, Curhan G. Coffee consumption and risk of incident gout in men: a prospective study. Arthritis Rheum. 2007 Jun;56(6):2049-55. PubMed

• May decrease risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.  Barranco Quintana JL, Allam MF, Serrano Del Castillo A, Ferna’ndez-Crehuet Navajas R. Alzheimer’s disease and coffee: a quantitative review. Neurol Res. 2007 Jan;29(1):91-5. PubMed

• May decrease risk of endometrial cancer.  Nutrients. 2011 Nov;3(11):937-50. Epub 2011 Nov 2.

Cons:

• May increase risk of coronary heart disease. Lopez-Garcia E, van Dam RM, Willett WC, Rimm EB, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ, Rexrode KM, Hu FB. Coffee consumption and coronary heart disease in men and women: a prospective cohort study. Circulation. 2006 May 2;113(17):2045-53. Epub 2006 Apr 24. PubMed

• May raise cholesterol.  van Tol A, Urgert R, de Jong-Caesar R, van Gent T, Scheek LM, de Roos B, Katan MB. The cholesterol-raising diterpenes from coffee beans increase serum lipid transfer protein activity levels in humans. Atherosclerosis. 1997 Jul 25;132(2):251-4. PubMed

• May increase homocysteine levels.  P, Pasman WJ, Van Vliet T, Urgert R, Katan MB. Contribution of caffeine to the homocysteine-raising effect of coffee: a randomized controlled trial in humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002 Dec;76(6):1244-8. PubMed

• May contribute to hypertension.  Klag MJ, Wang NY, Meoni LA, Brancati FL, Cooper LA, Liang KY, Young JH, Ford DE. Coffee intake and risk of hypertension: the Johns Hopkins precursors study. Arch Intern Med. 2002 Mar 25;162(6):657-62. PubMed

• May increase risk of bone fracture.  Hallstrom H, Wolk A, Glynn A, Michaelsson K. Coffee, tea and caffeine consumption in relation to osteoporotic fracture risk in a cohort of Swedish women. Osteoporos Int. 2006;17(7):1055-64. Epub 2006 May 4. PubMed

• May increase risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis if unfiltered coffee is consumed. Heliovaara M, Aho K, Knekt P, Impivaara O, Reunanen A, Aromaa A. Coffee consumption, rheumatoid factor, and the risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2000 Aug;59(8):631-5. PubMed

The pro health benefits that are listed for coffee consumption do not need a lot of conversation. If it turns out these positive studies apply to most of the coffee consuming population, in general, they are clearly, desirable.

Let’s discuss the seriousness (or lack thereof) of the listed Cons against coffee consumption:

1- Does it really increase the risk of coronary heart disease? The data is very contradictory and if it turns out it does, the magnitude of such an effect seems to be small. An analysis of the studies reported that if could find NO correlation between coffee consumption and coronary heart disease.

2- Does it really raise cholesterol? Closer examination of the studies indicates if it does the effect is small.

3- If it does raise homocysteine… (which is a controversial marker for heart disease) a B-complex vitamin reduces that risk significantly.

4- Does it really raise blood pressure very much? The studies show that it does but again the effect is small and probably transient.

5- Does it increase risk of bone fractures in any significant way? Probably nothing that 2000 IU a day of vitamin D and 100 mcg of vitamin K-2 couldn’t deal with.

6- Studies are contradictory. One study showed no risk of rheumatoid arthritis and coffee in women. Diets of fish and vegetables decrease risk of RA.

The Bottom Line: In Moderation, Coffee is safe!

To get the health benefits of caffeinated coffee and minimize whatever health risks (if any), limit consumption to 2-4 cups a day. In addition, it is possible that drinking roasted, organic, filtered coffee products is a good way to go to eliminate the cons.*

*People with gastritis should be careful consuming coffee and discuss it with their physicians

**Though caffeine can be stimulating to a fetus, and therefore if possible, you may want to stop coffee consumption during pregnancy. But if you just can’t quit, rest assured that NO study we could find, has shown any harm in consuming 1-2 cups a day of caffeinated coffee during pregnancy.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

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