Russell Blaylock’s Nutrition & Behaviour. A must see.

http://video.google.ca/videosearch?q=russell+blaylock+nutrition+and+behaviour&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#q=russell+blaylock+nutrition+and+behaviour&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f&qvid=russell+blaylock+nutrition+and+behaviour&vid=2963728494205235281

Article from Natural News / www.naturalnews.com

Thursday, November 12, 2009 by: Kerri Knox, RN, citizen journalist

(NaturalNews) Gardasil, a vaccine designed to prevent cervical cancer in women, has recently been the target of debate about its safety and efficacy. While young girls have been dying and key researchers are saying the vaccine doesn’t work, there are dozens of studies using natural compounds in broccoli that DO work to not only PREVENT but possibly TREAT cervical cancer as well.

Cervical cancer is very slow growing and is generally treatable with minor interventions when caught early; hence, pap smears have been recommended as a routine part of an annual physical exam for decades. But a paradigm shift in cervical cancer thought occurred in 1984 when it was discovered that the Human Papilloma Virus causes cervical cancer. Drug researchers immediately went to work on a vaccine and their dream came true when Gardasil, the first cervical cancer vaccine, was released in 2006. A disease mostly controlled with routine screenings became the new public health threat that immediately required mandatory vaccinations for every young woman in the US, whether at risk or not.

But while new evidence is coming to light that young women are suffering serious health effects and even death from a vaccine that may not even do what it is intended to do, readily available strategies for prevention of cervical cancer are being completely overlooked. Broccoli and other ‘Brassicas’ like cabbage and Brussels sprouts have long been touted as health foods- and with good reason. Antioxidants and anticancer agents are continually being isolated from this family of vegetables, making them some of the biggest health powerhouses available. One particular compound in broccoli called Indole-3-Carbinol, also called I3C, has been isolated and studied for over 2 decades for its anti-cancer properties.

“Studies increasingly indicate that dietary
indole-3-carbinol (I3C) prevents the development of
estrogen-enhanced cancers including breast,
endometrial and cervical cancers”
‘Indole-3-Carbinol Is a Negative Regulator of Estrogen’

I3C’s chemoprotective properties are unquestioned in the many animal and laboratory studies that have been done. And with only two adverse reactions having ever been reported, human studies have proven it to have an astonishingly good safety profile. The research using I3C against cervical cancer is extremely promising as well. In one double-blind placebo controlled trial, a full one-half of women with biopsy-proven early stage cervical cancer had COMPLETE REGRESSION of their cancer where NONE in the control group did. That means that simply by supplementing once daily with I3C, 50% of these women’s cancers were completely reversed. In addition, animal studies not ONLY show that supplementation with I3C can prevent cervical cancer in the animals taking it, but it ALSO prevents cervical cancer in their offspring!

“Addition of chemoprotective agents to the maternal diet
during pregnancy and nursing may be an effective new approach
in reducing the incidence of cancers in children and young adults.”
‘Indole-3-carbinol in the maternal diet provides chemoprotection
for the fetus against transplacental carcinogenesis’

The benefits of I3C don’t stop there, though; other studies have shown that it can help to prevent and treat breast, endometrial, vulvar, skin and prostate cancers as well. But even while I3C is being ignored as a natural supplement, drug researchers are feverishly attempting to reproduce its properties in the lab in order to create a patentable synthetic anticancer agent. In the study ‘A potent indole-3-carbinol-derived Antitumor agent’ , the researchers called its anticancer effects “weak” and therefore they are “…exploiting indole-3-carbinol to develop potent antitumor agents”. But “weak” is not the first word that comes to mind when discussing this natural substance that reduces cancer by:

Lowering ‘bad’ estrogen levels,
Killing cancer cells directly,
Inhibiting the viruses associated with these cancers and
Strengthening the immune system.

Like most natural substances, doctors’ offices and medical centers are ignoring this research and, instead, are having teenage girls line up for a shot with a nebulous safety profile that may not even be effective. Yet, it would be far safer, less expensive and likely more effective if public health campaigns were directed at teaching women the benefits of eating foods like broccoli and cabbage that are naturally rich in anticancer compounds like I3C.

Resources:

1)http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc…

2)http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/c…

3)http://www.easy-immune-health.com/e…

Article from Natural News / www.naturalnews.com

Thursday, November 12, 2009
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

(NaturalNews) Of all the available treatments for infertility, acupuncture isn’t one that people usually think of first. But as you’ll see here, it’s actually one of the safest and most effectiveness treatments for infertility known to modern science.

Why does it work so well? Because infertility isn’t usually a physical problem. It’s often an issue related to circulation or energy channels that govern the vitality of your body’s organs (including reproductive organs). Rebalancing those bioelectric channels can create enormous healing changes in the function of your reproductive organs.

And the best part? Acupuncture is non-invasive, surprisingly. The needles themselves are virtually painless and barely enter the skin. That’s a huge contrast to the highly invasive (and embarrassing) probing, inserting, extracting, injecting and poking around typically undertaken by conventional infertility clinics.

If you (or someone you know) suffers from infertility, you owe it to yourself to read the quotes that follow so you can educate yourself about the seemingly miraculous ability of acupuncture to treat (and cure) infertility.

Acupuncture treats infertility

A study found that auricular acupuncture was capable of producing results comparable to those of drug therapy in the treatment of infertility. I. Gerhard and F. Postneek, [Possibilities of Therapy by Ear Acupuncture in Female Sterility], Geburtshilfe Frauenheilke 48, no. 3 (March 1988): 165-71. A study examined the effects of moxibustion and acupuncture on 30 cases of infertility in women ranging from 24 to 37 years of age. Results showed that after just one course of treatment 9 women conceived, with another 8 conceiving after 2 courses of treatment.
- The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Natural Healing by Dr. Gary Null

In China, acupuncture has been used in the treatment of infertility for centuries. The first published account of this is seen in medical literature dating back to 11 A.D. The Chinese look at five principal organs - the liver, spleen, heart, lung, and kidney - and use acupuncture to release blockages from these systems so that energy or chi can move freely. This helps the body return to good health. Promoting fertility is one benefit that can be obtained. Acupuncture to kidney points releases psychological blocks that interfere with reproduction.
- Get Healthy Now with Gary Null: A Complete Guide to Prevention, Treatment and Healthy living by Gary Null

The women treated with acupuncture? Twenty-two pregnancies (and no side effects). Finally, a study at the Fertility Clinic Trianglen in Denmark concluded that “acupuncture … significantly improves the reproductive outcome of IVF (in vitro fertilization) and ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) compared to no acupuncture.” Best of all, acupuncture for infertility is truly a “whole person” treatment that looks at the woman as much more than just a dysfunctional reproductive system. “People come into my office and they’re completely unprepared for conception,” Lawrence told me.
- The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth about What Treatments Work and Why by Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.

In a preliminary trial, women who did not ovulate were treated with acupuncture 30 times over three months. Effectiveness was determined by a combination of measures indicating ovulation was returning to normal. Acupuncture treatment resulted in a marked improvement in 35% and slight improvement in 48% of trial participants. The beneficial results achieved with acupuncture may be due to alterations in the hormonal messages from the brain to the ovary. Auricular (ear) acupuncture has been studied in a preliminary trial and compared with standard hormone therapy for treatment of infertility.
- The Natural Pharmacy: Complete A-Z Reference to Natural Treatments for Common Health Conditions by Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.

Acupuncture has proven to be effective in treating many cases of infertility. Consult a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine who will make a diagnosis of the cause and advise on how best to treat it with acupuncture. Herbal formulas may also be recommended.
- 1000 Cures for 200 Ailments: Integrated Alternative and Conventional Treatments for the Most Common Illnesses by Marshall Editions

You might want to consider acupuncture. Acupuncture might not be the first thing you think of if you’re having a problem with infertility, but maybe it should be. Studies - and a great deal of clinical experience - suggest that it might help, even if you’re already undergoing standard therapies like in vitro fertilization or intrauterine insemination. Acupuncture is actually one of the oldest medical practices in the world.
- The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth about What Treatments Work and Why by Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.

The World Health Organization has published a list of over fifty diseases successfully treated with acupuncture. Included on the list are sinusitis, asthma, arthritis, the common cold, headaches (including migraine), constipation, diarrhea, sciatica, and lower back pain. Acupuncture has also been effective in the treatment of allergies, addictions, insomnia, stress, depression, infertility, and menstrual problems. Chinese herbs are the most common element of Chinese medicine as it is currently practiced in China.
- Sinus Survival: The Holistic Medical Treatment for Allergies, Asthma, Bronchitis, Colds, and Sinusitis (rev., 3rd ed.) by Robert Ivker

Hirsch connects another psychological issue - low self-esteem - to endometriosis and infertility: “In treating self-esteem issues, I work on the heart and kidney points. The acupuncture points that seem extremely valuable for this are pericardium 5 and 6. If a practitioner is having a problem with understanding whether or not a psychological issue is involved in the infertility, and the patient does not know what the issue is, pericardium 5 can be needled. If something is holding the person back, that will bring an event or dream to memory, and the patient will understand why she is stuck.
- Get Healthy Now with Gary Null: A Complete Guide to Prevention, Treatment and Healthy living by Gary Null

Natural methods for infertility are most effective in anovulatory dysfunction. Acupuncture can increase pregnancy rates in women undergoing fertility treatment. The decision to pursue conventional fertility treatments depends on age, the duration and cause of the infertility, the results of ovarian-reserve testing, finances, other health issues, emotional well-being, and thoughts and emotions about adoption or surrogate options. Seek a fertility specialist if considering conventional fertility treatments.
- Women’s Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Alternative Therapies and Integrative Medicine for Total Health and Wellness by Tori Hudson, N.D.

One small, preliminary study found that auricular acupuncture (acupuncture of the ear) was as effective as hormone therapy in treating infertility due to endometriosis.
- The Natural Pharmacy: Complete A-Z Reference to Natural Treatments for Common Health Conditions by Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.

There are other situations such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma, in which acupuncture may be useful as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive management program. Further research is likely to uncover additional areas where acupuncture interventions will be useful. Indeed, one of those areas of “further research” has been infertility. And the results have been hard to argue with.
- The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth about What Treatments Work and Why by Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.

A controlled study of men with reduced sperm function found that one measure of sperm function significantly improved in the men treated with acupuncture (two times per week for five weeks) compared to controls. Similar results have been reported in other studies. Nevertheless, double-blind trials are needed to determine conclusively whether acupuncture is a useful treatment for male infertility.
- The Natural Pharmacy: Complete A-Z Reference to Natural Treatments for Common Health Conditions by Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.

Hirsh sees many patients in conjunction with Western doctors for infertility problems and is able to design acupuncture treatments that complement and support the other medical procedures. He frequently gives acupuncture treatment to women who have just been artificially inseminated, and he works with patients taking Clomid (a fertility drug) to help regulate the woman’s fertility cycle. As Dr. Hirsh states, “Traditional Chinese medicine can increase the success rate of Western medicine and at the same time slow down the clock on a woman’s aging endocrine system.”
- Alternative Medicine the Definitive Guide, Second Edition by Larry Trivieri, Jr.

As of this writing, more than eight million American adults have had acupuncture treatment. As practiced by licensed practitioners who undergo extensive training and are often trained in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as well, it is completely safe and quite effective for a number of conditions. One of those conditions is infertility. The Yin, the Yang, and Baby Makes Three Acupuncture, like TCM, is based on a concept of the body as a balance of forces - yin (the cold, the slow, and the passive) and yang (the hot, the excited, and the active).
- The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth about What Treatments Work and Why by Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.

Chinese drugs in combination with clomiphene citrate and progesterone have proved more effective than treatment with either Chinese or Western drugs alone, and a Chinese technique combining moxibustion and acupuncture has had some success in treating infertility. Factors shown to contribute to difficulty conceiving are smoking, even moderately; exposure to nitrous oxide; and environmental hazards like pesticides, methyl mercury, and lead in tap water.
- Get Healthy Now with Gary Null: A Complete Guide to Prevention, Treatment and Healthy living by Gary Null

Forty patients were treated with neon laser acupuncture, retention enemas, and injection into the endometrial nodes with common sage root, which is a blood-vitalizing or blood-moving herb. In the forty patients treated, the size of lumps diminished and symptoms disappeared in seventeen. Thirteen women conceived. Among these, six had suffered from fallopian tube blockage and seven from ovulatory dysfunction. There was a total amelioration rate of 97.5 percent. Another important consideration in reversing endometriosis and infertility is good sexual hygiene.
- The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Natural Healing by Dr. Gary Null

Acupuncture by a licensed professional with experience working with fertility issues appears to be safe and well tolerated. Ginseng species are an important consideration in infertility due to their ability to enhance overall health, vitality, stamina, and endurance. Siberian ginseng may be able to promote regulation of reproductive hormones, thereby regulating the timing of ovulation.
- Women’s Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Alternative Therapies and Integrative Medicine for Total Health and Wellness by Tori Hudson, N.D.

Various complementary medicine systems provide treatment for infertility, including homeopathy, acupuncture, and chiropractic; inquire from their respective professional associations. Above all, keep hoping. Conception involves a fair amount of mystery and miracles are constantly taking place. I recently heard about a woman who conceived her second child normally after having to undergo in vitro fertilization treatment to conceive the first time because her cervical mucus made antibodies against her husband’s sperm.
- The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Natural Healing by Dr. Gary Null

Weschler encourages women to spend more time outside during daylight hours, and to try traditional Chinese medicine practices like acupuncture, which has proved very helpful both in reducing stress and in resolving the hormonal imbalances that can lead to infertility.
- Growing Up Green: Baby and Child Care: Volume 2 in the Bestselling Green This! Series (Green This!) by Deirdre Imus

Kidneys and bladder are related and have to be treated as one in acupuncture. Within the kidneys’, ‘essence’ is stored, and they govern all that is secluded and dormant and that is hoarded up. Their condition is disclosed in the bones and head hair.” CHINESE FOLK MEDICINE relates to the urine and the sexual secretions. The health of the Water element affects the energy flow during the sexual act, and the health of the function of reproduction. Sexual fluids help lubricate and protect the sperm and egg. Problems like impotence or infertility may arise from a Water imbalance.
- Staying Healthy With the Seasons by Elson M. Haas

Article fron Natural News / www.naturalnews.com

Tuesday, November 03, 2009 by: S. L. Baker, features writer

(NaturalNews) How’s this for a B movie sci fi plot: evil scientists use chemicals to transform toddler girls into terrifying little monsters. Unfortunately, researchers have uncovered a real life scenario that has some serious similarities to this creepy fantasy. While there are no evil doing scientists or true monsters involved, there is a scary chance that a common chemical — specifically bisphenol A (BPA) found in many plastics — could be causing unusually aggressive and hyperactive behaviors in some two-year-old little girls.

That’s the conclusion of research by scientists at Simon Fraser University, the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. As NaturalNews previously reported, BPA has been linked to neurological problems in animal studies (http://www.naturalnews.com/025801_B…). But the new research, just published in the October edition of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, is the first to find a possible link between prenatal BPA exposure and behavior problems in human youngsters.

For the study, BPA concentrations were measured from urine samples taken from 249 pregnant women in Cincinnati, Ohio, at 16 weeks and 26 weeks of pregnancy, and also when they gave birth. When the research subjects’ children were two years old, the research team assessed the toddlers’ behavior using the Behavioral Assessment System for Children-2 (BASC-2). What they found is disturbing: if a woman was exposed to BPA during early pregnancy and she had a girl, the baby’s nervous system might be adversely affected by the chemical.

Specifically, daughters of women who had higher concentrations of BPA in their urine samples during pregnancy were more likely to have aggressive and hyperactive behaviors than girls born to women with lower BPA levels, especially if higher exposure occurred in earlier pregnancy. The researchers don’t understand why girls seem to be affected by BPA exposure more or differently than boys.

“In other words, girls whose mothers had higher BPA exposure were more likely to act like boys than girls whose mothers had lower BPA levels, especially if the exposure was seen earlier in pregnancy,” the study’s lead author Joe Braun, a doctoral student in epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, said in a statement to the media. “Boys’ behavior did not seem to be affected, although there was some evidence of increased internalizing scores among BPA-exposed boys.”

“We wanted to know if there was a risk in humans for neurodevelopment problems,” he added. “Study results indicate that exposure to BPA early in the pregnancy seems to be the most critical issue. The most damaging exposure might happen before a woman even knows she’s pregnant.”

Concerns about BPA were first raised in recent years following worrisome animal studies. For example, previous research with mice found that the offspring of mothers with high BPA exposure during pregnancy were more aggressive than young mice not exposed to high prenatal levels of BPA.

“Many government agencies and consumers in the U.S., Canada and around the world have expressed concerns about BPA exposure, especially in children,” said Dr. Bruce Lanphear, professor of children’s environmental health in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University and the study’s senior author, in the media statement. “Canada has banned BPA in baby bottles and other baby products, but that might not be sufficient to protect children. Although this is the first study of its kind, it suggests that we may also need to reduce exposures during pregnancy.”

BPA is commonly used in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins that are found in many homes, offices and even hospitals. It is used in a host of products including plastic bottles, canned food linings, water supply pipes and medical tubing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 93 percent of people in the United States have detectible levels of BPA in their urine.

For more information:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view…
http://www.naturalnews.com/BPA.html

Article from The Globe and Mail

New way of thinking about debilitating disease has yielded stunning new treatments – but MS societies urge sufferers to be cautious before experimenting

Elena Ravalli was a seemingly healthy 37-year-old when she began to experience strange attacks of vertigo, numbness, temporary vision loss and crushing fatigue. They were classic signs of multiple sclerosis, a potentially debilitating neurological disease.

It was 1995 and her husband, Paolo Zamboni, a professor of medicine at the University of Ferrara in Italy, set out to help. He was determined to solve the mystery of MS – an illness that strikes people in the prime of their lives but whose causes are unknown and whose effective treatments are few.

What he learned in his medical detective work, scouring dusty old books and using ultra-modern imaging techniques, could well turn what we know about MS on its head: Dr. Zamboni’s research suggests that MS is not, as widely believed, an autoimmune condition, but a vascular disease.

More radical still, the experimental surgery he performed on his wife offers hope that MS, which afflicts 2.5 million people worldwide, can be cured and even largely prevented.

“I am confident that this could be a revolution for the research and diagnosis of multiple sclerosis,” Dr. Zamboni said in an interview.

Not everyone is so bullish: Skeptics warn the evidence is too scant and speculative to start rewriting medical textbooks. Even those intrigued by the theory caution that MS sufferers should not rush off to get the surgery – nicknamed the “liberation procedure” – until more research is done.

U.S. and Canadian researchers are trying to test Dr. Zamboni’s premise.

For the Italian professor, however, the quest was both personal and professional and the results were stunning.

Fighting for his wife’s health, Dr. Zamboni looked for answers in the medical literature. He found repeated references, dating back a century, to excess iron as a possible cause of MS. The heavy metal can cause inflammation and cell death, hallmarks of the disease. The vascular surgeon was intrigued – coincidentally, he had been researching how iron buildup damages blood vessels in the legs, and wondered if there could be a similar problem in the blood vessels of the brain.

Using ultrasound to examine the vessels leading in and out of the brain, Dr. Zamboni made a startling find: In more than 90 per cent of people with multiple sclerosis, including his spouse, the veins draining blood from the brain were malformed or blocked. In people without MS, they were not.

He hypothesized that iron was damaging the blood vessels and allowing the heavy metal, along with other unwelcome cells, to cross the crucial brain-blood barrier. (The barrier keeps blood and cerebrospinal fluid separate. In MS, immune cells cross the blood-brain barrier, where they destroy myelin, a crucial sheathing on nerves.)

More striking still was that, when Dr. Zamboni performed a simple operation to unclog veins and get blood flowing normally again, many of the symptoms of MS disappeared. The procedure is similar to angioplasty, in which a catheter is threaded into the groin and up into the arteries, where a balloon is inflated to clear the blockages. His wife, who had the surgery three years ago, has not had an attack since.

The researcher’s theory is simple: that the underlying cause of MS is a condition he has dubbed “chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency.” If you tackle CCSVI by repairing the drainage problems from the brain, you can successfully treat, or better still prevent, the disease.

“If this is proven correct, it will be a very, very big discovery because we’ll completely change the way we think about MS, and how we’ll treat it,” said Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, an associate professor of neurology at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

The initial studies done in Italy were small but the outcomes were dramatic. In a group of 65 patients with relapsing-remitting MS (the most common form) who underwent surgery, the number of active lesions in the brain fell sharply, to 12 per cent from 50 per cent; in the two years after surgery, 73 per cent of patients had no symptoms.

“ I am confident that this could be a revolution for the research and diagnosis of multiple sclerosis ”— Dr. Paolo Zamboni

Augusto Zeppi, a 40-year-old resident of the northern Italian city of Ferrara, was one of those patients. Diagnosed with MS nine years ago, he suffered severe attacks every four months that lasted weeks at a time – leaving him unable to use his arms and legs and with debilitating fatigue. “Everything I was dreaming for my future adult life, it was game over,” he said.

Scans showed that his two jugular veins were blocked, 60 and 80 per cent respectively. In 2007, he was one of the first to undergo the experimental surgery to unblock the veins. He had a second operation a year later, when one of his jugular veins was blocked anew.

After the procedures, Mr. Zeppi said he was reborn. “I don’t remember what it’s like to have MS,” he said. “It gave me a second life.”

Buffalo researchers are now recruiting 1,700 adults and children from the United States and Canada. They plan to test MS sufferers and non-sufferers alike and, using ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, do detailed analyses of blood flow in and out of the brain and examine iron deposits.

Another researcher, Mark Haacke, an adjunct professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, is urging patients to send him MRI scans of their heads and necks so he can probe the Zamboni theory further. Dr. Haacke is a world-renowned expert in imaging who has developed a method of measuring iron buildup in the brain.

“Patients need to speak up and say they want something like this investigated … to see if there’s credence to the theory,” he said.

MS societies in Canada and the United States, however, have reacted far more cautiously to Dr. Zamboni’s conclusion. “Many questions remain about how and when this phenomenon might play a role in nervous system damage seen in MS, and at the present time there is insufficient evidence to suggest that this phenomenon is the cause of MS,” said the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.

The U.S. society goes further, discouraging patients from getting tested or seeking surgical treatment. Rather, it continues to promote drug treatments used to alleviate symptoms, which include corticosteroids, chemotherapy agents and pain medication.

Many people with multiple sclerosis, though, are impatient for results. Chatter about CCSVI is frequent in online MS support groups, and patients are scrambling to be part of the research, particularly when they hear the testimonials.

Kevin Lipp, a 49-year-old resident of Buffalo, was diagnosed with MS a decade ago and has suffered increasingly severe attacks, especially in the heat. (Heat sensitivity is a common symptom of MS.) His symptoms were so bad that he was unable to work and closed his ice-cream shop.

Mr. Lipp was tested and doctors discovered blockages in both his jugular and azygos veins. In January of this year, he travelled to Italy for surgery, which cleared five blockages, and he began to feel better almost immediately.

“I felt good. I felt totally normal. I felt like I did years ago,” he said. He has not had an attack since.

As part of the research project, Mr. Lipp’s siblings have also been tested. His two sisters, both of whom have MS, have significant blockages and iron deposits, while his brother, who does not have MS, has neither iron buildup nor blocked arteries.

While it has long been known that there is a genetic component to multiple sclerosis, the new theory is that it is CCSVI that is hereditary – that people are born with malformed valves and strictures in the large veins of the neck and brain. These problems lead to poor blood drainage and even reversal of blood flow direction that can cause inflammation, iron buildup and the brain lesions characteristic of multiple sclerosis.

It is well-established that the symptoms of MS are caused by a breakdown of myelin, a fatty substance that coats nerve cells and plays a crucial role in transmitting messages to the central nervous system. When those messages are blurred, nerves malfunction, causing all manner of woes, including blurred eyesight, loss of sensation in the limbs and even paralysis.

However, it is unclear what triggers the breakdown of myelin. There are various theories, including exposure to a virus in childhood, vitamin D deficiency, hormones – and now, buildup of iron in the brain because of poor blood flow.

While he is convinced of the significance of his discovery, Dr. Zamboni recognizes that medicine is slow to accept new theories and even slower to act on them. Regardless, he can take satisfaction in knowing that the woman who inspired the quest, and perhaps a dramatic breakthrough, has benefited tremendously.

Dr. Zamboni’s wife, Elena, has undergone a battery of scans and neurological tests and her multiple sclerosis is, for all intents and purposes, gone.

“This is probably the best prize of the research,” he said.

André Picard is the public health reporter at The Globe and Mail. Avis Favaro is the medical correspondent at CTV News.

With reports from Elizabeth St. Philip, CTV News

W5 DOCUMENTARY

Watch W5’s documentary on the groundbreaking new treatment for multiple sclerosis, which includes the first time the “liberation” surgery was filmed.

It is available on the Web at www.W5.ctv.ca, and will be replayed Sunday on CTV Newschannel.

MS IN CANADA

An estimated 55,000-75,000 Canadians have multiple sclerosis, and every day three more people in Canada are diagnosed with the disease. Canada has one of the highest rates of MS in the world. MS is the most common neurological disease affecting young adults in Canada.

• Women are more than three times as likely as men to develop MS.
• MS can cause loss of balance, heat sensitivity, impaired speech, extreme fatigue, double vision and paralysis. The disease is characterized by lesions on the brain, a result of the breakdown of myelin, the protective covering wrapped around the nerves of the central nervous system.
• The most common treatment for MS is corticosteroids. Steroids reduce inflammation at the site of new demyelination, lessening symptoms.
• MS was first identified and described by French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot in 1868.
• MS is widely believed to be an autoimmune disorder, but the cause or causes are unknown. There are a number of theories about what might trigger the disease, including exposure to a virus in childhood; exposure to tobacco smoke; lack of the female sex hormone prolactin, which plays a role in the development of myelin; and vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D may play a role in MS because it helps to construct the interior layer of blood vessels.
• Despite the long-held assumption that MS is an autoimmune disorder, new research suggests it is actually a vascular disease triggered by a buildup of iron in the brain due to problems in blood flow.

Source: MS Society of Canada