Month: September 2008

by Christopher Barr

‘Spaceballs’ is a somewhat obscure film made by the movie making giant Mel Brooks that spoofed the science fiction genre about 20 years ago.  The film took the ‘Star Wars’ standby “May the force be with you” and played it for laughs with “May the Schwartz be with you”.  Allow me to take off on that laugh line and convert it to a life line, “May the Schwarz be with you”.

Dr. Klaus Schwarz, M.D., Ph.D., is a truly obscure figure though a true giant of scientific research that sparked science non-fiction research 50 years ago.  The accomplishments for life from the research of Dr. Schwarz have not been matched in all the years since that time.

Schwarz established the essentiality for life of more nutrients than any man who ever lived.  Selenium and chromium were the first two while silicon was the last of the six minerals established as essential for life through his body of work.

The months of September and October are designated as “Prostate Cancer Awareness Month" and "Breast Cancer Awareness Month”.  The mineral selenium plays a greater role than any other element when it comes to prostate or breast cancer.

The following month is “Diabetes Awareness Month”.  The mineral chromium shines more brightly than any other element when it comes to diabetes.

Also featured in the time frames of these is “Bone and Joint Health Awareness week”.  The mineral silicon has the most prominent role of any element when it comes to both bone and joint health.

May the Schwarz be with you.

Ironic elements of the Schwarz story

The life of this giant with accomplishments that were epic in validity has been sadly, tragically relegated to a short Schwarz story.

First, Dr. Schwarz established selenium as an essential element for life in 1957.  This essentiality was determined in liver studies.  Ironically selenium had previously been accused – and falsely so – of being a toxic element to the liver, and was discarded from consideration by mainstream science at large for many years before.  Sadly some lummoxes of the polluted stream of mainstream science still languish lazily in that erroneous deception.

Selenium soon was noted by scientists too numerous to mention as a cancer preventative.  In yet another twisted irony, prior to the landmark find by Schwarz of the essentiality for selenium in liver studies, this life essential was picked – randomly it seems – to receive blame for non-cancerous liver tumors many years before.

A pesticide study had noted the liver tumors.  Rather than blame the pesticide itself that was full of all kinds of chemicals, the study authors singled out the mineral selenium — without any foundation – that was barely present in the pesticide.  Though the study demonstrated non-cancerous liver tumors, and though there was no direct connection to selenium established, this study is the origin for statements by ignorant scientists that selenium may be linked as a cause for cancer.

Selenium has been studied at great length and no other item has demonstrated greater anti-cancer abilities.

Selenium has also been discovered as essential for thyroid function.  This life enriching mineral is at least as important to thyroid health as the mineral iodine that receives the lion’s share of attention for thyroid health.

This vital element has also been profoundly noted for heart, joint and immune system strength.

The importance of this vitally necessary element selenium remains nearly as unknown as the name of Dr. Klaus Schwarz who established its essentiality though it is so well documented for so many health matters.

Dr. Schwarz established chromium as an essential element for life just two years after establishing selenium as essential.  This essentiality was also determined in liver studies.  Chromium was established as essential specifically for blood sugar metabolism.  Despite the naturally inherent connection to diabetes of this vital nutrient chromium, it is also nearly as ignored as is the man who established its necessity.

Space does not permit discussion for all the other profound uses of this shining star of nutrition that is the mineral chromium.  Only this brief mention is made as to its use against birth defects, for energy production, for healthy eyes, and for heart health.

Lastly, Dr. Schwarz established silicon as an essential element for life.  It is the most important element for bone health and may be of no less vitality for heart and blood vessel health.

Schwarz was establishing extensive silicon studies at his federal government research position to flesh out more fully its uses when his life was cut short in the 1970s.  The government dumped this research upon his death.

Selenium, chromium and silicon are very common deficiencies due to the very common consumption of refined, bleached white flour in the American diet.  This standard American diet (sAd) choice has been reported as 20 per cent of the standard American diet.  The whole grain source material can be an abundant source of these elements but greater than 90 per cent of these vitally essential nutrients are removed during processing into white flour.

No other three elements are more commonly deficient or profoundly important than the mineral elements selenium, chromium and silicon noted as essential by way of the stellar work of Dr. Klaus Schwarz.

Buy Selenium or Silica

Crusador Interviews Christopher Barr

Are you concerned about getting cancer or any other life-threatening disease in your lifetime? Do you have a serious health challenge you’re dealing with but don’t know what to do naturally to help?

Like millions, you probably take a handful of pills or capsules every day hoping to better your chances for survival and live longer. While there are many excellent products and essential nutrients to choose from that can definitely do great things for your health, none holds more promise for prevention and protection than the trace mineral selenium.  According to Barr, “…hands down selenium is unequivocally the most protective of all nutrients.”

In our last issue of CRUSADOR (Issue 36 May/June), we ran one of the best interviews we’ve ever published with Christopher Barr on the trace mineral chromium in a food grown state. In that interview, Barr stated that “the trace mineral chromium is the single most important nutrient discovered to date.” Everyone needs chromium because it is the most important nutrient required for blood sugar metabolism and almost everyone is deficient in it.

In this very educational interview about selenium, you will be just as enlightened and encouraged as you discover what selenium can do for preventing disease and protecting your health.

Crusador:  Tell us about the trace mineral selenium and why it has such an important role in the body?

The element selenium is referred to as trace because the amount needed per day is such a tiny amount measured in micrograms – that is a matter of parts per million.  However, that tiny amount does so much more than much larger amounts of other nutrients for so many body functions.

The primary important role of selenium is protective in nature.  That is also the reason that makes it so difficult to get people to take it.  Much of what selenium does you can’t feel while it is doing it, but if you don’t have it, then you will feel it later and you won’t like the feeling at all – especially if the feeling of dying is not a turn-on to you.

One area that some do feel is regarding mental health.  Some with depression respond to selenium supplementation by not feeling so depressed – or depressed at all.  Some really do just feel mentally better when taking selenium supplements.  There may be some aspect of “peace of mind” tied to this due to knowledge of the protective nature of selenium.

As to the protective nature of selenium, it is unequivocally the most protective of all nutrients.  The biggest reason for this is that it is 50 times as potent an antioxidant as vitamin E.  There are some other antioxidant nutrients as potent as selenium, but none of them function in as many areas as selenium, nor are they as easily available in the food supply or as inexpensive to obtain as a supplement.  That is why I say that hands down selenium is unequivocally the most protective of all nutrients.

There is more to selenium than protection though – much more.

Crusador:  What are some symptoms that could be related to selenium deficiency?

Well, for starters, we could start right where life starts and where so many like for their life to continue as well.  That would be fertility and sexual health. Selenium is concentrated in, and an important health factor for those organs related to beginning and maintaining life, such as a man’s prostate and a woman’s breasts.

More and more farmers are learning that if they don’t supplement their animal feed with selenium then they have problems with animals getting pregnant and bearing live, healthy offspring. It is very common when I speak on the subject of selenium in rural areas that some farmer will come up to me after to tell me of the importance of selenium to animal reproduction of which they have personal knowledge. To develop this thoroughly would take a whole interview all by itself.

Moving on we could just mention the areas that the U.S. government admits to about the importance of this mineral on their National Institutes of Health (NIH) web site on selenium that prints out to 11 pages.

This includes for the thyroid where selenium may be more important than the mineral iodine that most usually think of when the subject of the thyroid is brought up.  I’ve personally known many who have ceased to need thyroid medications they have taken for many years after establishing a hearty selenium supplementation routine for several months.

Heart disease is also prominently noted by NIH as an area of selenium importance, especially as related to low density lipoproteins (LDL) that are commonly called the bad cholesterol.

Rheumatoid arthritis is another condition noted by NIH as an area of selenium importance.

I would insert here that another major study on selenium recently noted dramatic results regarding selenium and osteoarthritis – specifically as it relates to the knees.  This was a long term, 15 year study with almost a thousand subjects involving major American academia and government institutions that noted “… severity of their arthritis was related to how low their selenium levels were.”

This was researched by the University of North Carolina in conjunction with UCLA, the University of Missouri-Columbia, the University of Maryland and the Centers for Disease Control.  The study was presented at the annual American College of Rheumatology, reported at their web site and submitted to the media by press releases.  Somehow not one of the major, mainstream (polluted stream) media sources covered it.  I learned of it initially from the only media source I found that gave it any coverage at all — Crusador Enterprises weekly eALERTS of 11/20/05 – then dug up further substantiating data through research sites.

AIDS is another condition prominently noted by NIH as an area of selenium importance including additional prominence and importance as it relates to children with AIDS.

The NIH web site on selenium also noted its importance regarding “severe gastrointestinal problems, such as Crohn's disease” as well as those “with surgical removal of part of the stomach” and additionally “other gastrointestinal disorders”.

How’s that just for starters?  Last year Dr. Gerhard Schrauzer noted the connection of selenium deficiency to Alzheimer’s disease.  Dr. Schrauzer has been a foremost expert on selenium for almost half a century.

I haven’t even mentioned the most notable, documented, thoroughly researched selenium area which is the Big C – cancer.  I’ll touch on that later although the dramatic successes of selenium with regard to cancer – both preventatively and as treatment — could take up a whole issue of your newspaper all by itself.

Crusador:  Have any studies been done that validate the effectiveness of selenium?

Greg, you could fill up an entire one of your newspapers just listing the titles of the published studies that validate the effectiveness of selenium.  The earliest information dates back almost a century ago to 1911.

By the way, Greg, this year is the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of selenium as a nutrient essential for life by Dr. Klaus Schwarz at the NIH.  Hopefully your readers will begin to appreciate on this golden anniversary of selenium for nutrition its value for your health worth more than gold!

Almost 30 years ago an article titled ‘Can Selenium Modify Cancer Risk’ in the science journal ‘Nutrition Reviews’ listed more than 100 scientific citations in support of the positive assertions by the doctors who authored that paper clear back then.  There have been countless studies since then.

Crusador:  What role does selenium play in heart disease?

There are several roles for selenium relative to heart disease.  First, it is a selenium dependent enzyme that produces ubiquinone that is more commonly known as CoEnzymeQ10 (CoQ10).  Taking selenium is a far more efficient way to get CoQ10 much more inexpensively than the very expensive CoQ10 – unless you are taking statin drugs.

The mechanism by which statin drugs artificially reduce cholesterol also prevents the selenium dependent enzyme from producing CoQ10.  So if you are taking statin drugs then you better be taking CoQ10.

But why take expensive, toxic, statin drugs and expensive CoQ10 when you could take much less expensive, safe, nourishing 100 per cent whole food GTF Chromium since chromium manages cholesterol naturally, and the much less expensive 100 per cent whole food selenium?  You get the benefits of statins without the risks and at a much reduced cost – not to mention then not needing the very expensive CoQ10.

Another plus is that selenium is involved in what is called lipid transport.  In other words, it is involved in moving around fats – such as cholesterol.  Selenium makes chromium’s cholesterol management even more efficient.

Selenium also prevents free radical damage caused by peroxidation of fatty acids that results in damage to blood vessel walls.

Crusador:  Is it true that a lack of selenium in the body makes a person more susceptible to viral infections and viral infections can become much more serious?

Selenium is a potent immune stimulator – likely the most potent immune stimulator of all.

Early this year that point was made yet again in a study conducted to the south of you at the University of Miami (UofM).  Those with severely compromised immune systems due to AIDS had dramatically better immune system response with selenium supplementation that was noted to increase blood selenium levels.  This is consistent with the information presented by the NIH on their selenium web site.

Crusador:  Tell us about the different forms of selenium on the market and why is one source far superior to all others?

Interesting that you should ask about that now since the UofM study above noted specifically the importance of getting better forms of selenium because of the difference in absorption and bioavailability in the various forms of selenium.

The UofM study utilized selenomethionine which has 3 times the bioavailability of the sodium selenite form that is less expensive and more commonly used.

Yet the 100 per cent Whole Food selenium that I have used and recommended for decades from Innate Response has more than 100 times the bioavailability of selenomethionine.  Yes, the price tag it carries is a little more but the actual cost due to increased efficiency is so very, very much less.

Crusador:  What role does selenium play with cancer?

The earliest roles for selenium with cancer were as a treatment as early as 1911.  Very promising results were achieved with breast cancer treatment in the 1920s.  Somehow modern mediSin ceased using this very inexpensive option after the 1920s.

Selenium research picked up again in the 1960s though primarily regarding cancer prevention.  The results noted in this regard have been nothing short of astounding though these results rarely receive much fanfare and even less attention from mainstream medical and media sources.

One double blind, clinical study (what modern mediSin advocates as the “gold standard” for studies) on selenium supplementation of more than 10 years duration with more than 1,300 subjects reported 63 per cent less prostate cancer, 57 per cent less colon cancer, and 48 per cent less lung cancer.  Those are among the most common of all cancers.  Total cancer incidence was more than 50 per cent less among selenium supplement users than non-supplement users.  The form of selenium used was a 100 per cent Whole Food source.

The results for cancer prevention with 100 per cent Whole Food source selenium far exceeded any ever achieved with any other substance before or since whether drug, radiation, surgery, herb or nutrient.

The response from modern mediSin was decisively underwhelming.  One criticism for not using less expensive — and much less effective – USP selenium such as selenate instead of the 100 per cent Whole Food variety of selenium was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

A few other “for instances” related to selenium and cancer …

There is a strong correlation to selenium blood levels and cancer incidence.  The higher the blood levels of selenium the lower the cancer incidence.  The lower the blood levels of selenium the higher the cancer incidence.  You can graph it out on a nation by nation basis.  The order of nation’s average blood selenium levels is almost identical to the order of nations’ cancer incidence with Japan the highest selenium blood levels and lowest cancer incidence, and the U.S. almost the lowest selenium blood levels and almost the highest cancer incidence.

U.S. medical and cancer society officials often crow about cancer occurring more due to increased average life spans.  Yet the U.S. is only around 30th worldwide in average life span while most of the nations ahead of the U.S. in life span have lower cancer rates – and higher average selenium blood levels.

Research gives similar indications for those with most almost all forms of cancer.  Those with cancer who have the longest survival time and the least metastases (spreading of cancer) are those with higher blood selenium levels – though still having lower selenium levels than those who do not have cancer.  Those with cancer who have the shortest survival time and the most metastases are those with the lowest blood selenium levels.

The response to this by U.S. medical and cancer researchers is to concentrate on toenail selenium levels rather than blood selenium levels which do not show much correlation to cancer incidence.  This would be very funny if it were not so very tragic.

This brings to mind a news story from just last week on a new cancer study.

There was a BIG build-up by the polluted mainstream media of Associated Press for this story about this drug study and its results before they even announced what the drug was or results were.

The bold headline declared “cancer breakthrough found”.

The opening line stated, “For the first time, doctors … have found a pill that improves survival for people with liver cancer.”

I have to interject here before going any further with this news/propaganda AP story that selenium has been noted for many decades to improve survival time as noted above.  Also as another “by the way,” selenium was specifically established as an essential nutrient for life by doctors at NIH for the liver in liver studies!

Returning to the recent AP puff piece results were reported “impressive and likely will change the way patients are treated.”

Finally the drug is named and results given of just a little more than 2 months extra survival.  That is their major “breakthrough” that is “impressive and likely will change the way patients are treated”?!?!?!?

The AP “once upon a time” story then goes on to quote doctors about these scant results “has never happened”, “a quite impressive gain” and “delaying the progression of the disease significantly and strikingly”.

This single study of a toxic drug was conducted for less than two years with barely 600 subjects for the scant results achieved.  It is then noted that the control group, half not receiving the drug, was given the drug at the end of the trial.

A much more extensive study of the nutritional, essential trace element mineral selenium in a 100 per cent whole food, grown variety was conducted for more than 10 years with greater than twice as many subjects (more than 1,300) resulting in the most dramatic cancer prevention results ever achieved in any cancer study with any substance whether nutrient, herb or drug.  The control group, half not receiving the nutrient selenium, was not given the nutrient at the end of the trial but merely was told about it.  Furthermore, it was noted that the essential mineral nutrient selenium could not be recommended until more studies (PLURAL) were conducted.  Talk about your double standard.

In another study prior to that with 100 per cent whole food selenium, it showed the vast majority of 140 terminal cancer patients still alive after four years!

It was also reported about the current drug study that “tumors didn’t shrink or disappear”.  The selenium study just noted above reported that all of the 140 terminal cancer patients had tumor regression!

It was noted about this recent drug study way down toward the end of the article that the lead author was consulted for the maker of the drug.  Can you say “conflict of interest”?  That is quite a bit of con thank you very much.

Oh, and that drug maker in this current study is Bayer “Sieg Heil” Pharmaceuticals.  The reason that I call them that is they are from the IG Farben pharmaceutical company that provided the financial backbone that brought and kept Hitler in power, and was involved with the human medical experimentations at concentration camps.  The photos of the 1945 bombings of Berlin show that city was leveled except for the nearly 1 mile square tract of IG Farben headquarters which was untouched in those bombing raids.  They continue to get “hands-off” special treatment to this day as evidenced by this new drug study and propaganda news report.

Selenium is so much more thoroughly researched regarding cancer with so much better results for so very much longer than any cancer drug used today.

Crusador:  Like the chromium issue that we discussed, is there a history of government cover-up and lies surrounding selenium and if so, can you elaborate a little about that?

Oh, yes, absolutely.

The study previously mentioned with terminal cancer patients using selenium – in often very large amounts I would add – was at the Veterans Administration hospital in St. Louis, Missouri and reported at an annual VA meeting, but never published or promoted.

The other study previously mentioned regarding cancer prevention and selenium that ended about ten years ago was dismissed by Dr. Peter Greenwald, M.D., Dr. PH, Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (then and now) with his remarks, “It's one study with provocative findings that have to be confirmed.”

Dr. Greenwald called for additional studies (as in more than one) with many more people before going forward with any selenium recommendations.

“We do not recommend supplements,” concluded Greenwald.

Seven years later a drug study with results significantly less than half as good in a trial of much shorter duration with far fewer subjects received rave review by Dr. Greenwald.

“This trial proves that prostate cancer, at least in part, is preventable.  It is a huge step forward for cancer research,” Greenwald said of a drug treatment with a 25 per cent reduction of prostate cancer but with some very nasty side effects.  The selenium trial that Greenwald panned had a 63 per cent reduction of prostate cancer with no side effects at all.

Dr. Greenwald remains in his position at NCI and is also currently a research staff member at The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  As the old saying, goes, “With friends like that …”

This is why I often refer to the unholy trinity of big government, big pharma and big media as they act together as one in their own vested interests though decidedly against the very best interests of you and of yours.

Crusador:  I had a concerned subscriber send me a package of information on selenium that says it’s toxic and was actually a pesticide and that it is causing serious problems in the population. Is there any truth to that?

That is an old canard from a very old deception more than 60 years ago.

A study on one pesticide revealed liver tumors formed in lab animals.  One of the ingredients among the myriad chemicals in the pesticide was selenium.  The researchers singled out selenium without any foundation at all so as to divert attention away from the pesticide itself as being a problem.  That was almost 20 years before selenium was identified as an essential nutrient.  That pesticide study is the single source for all the “selenium may cause cancer” propaganda.  The deception is even grander than that as the liver tumors were predominantly not cancerous.

Ironically, it was in liver studies that selenium was determined as essential for life almost 20 years later and specifically essential for liver function.  Also, there is excellent research on selenium and liver cancer specifically.

Crusador:  Can you take too much selenium and how toxic to the body is it if you do?

Well, Greg, first of all, you can get too much oxygen and it will burn your lungs up.  So should people stop breathing?  Selenium in a worst case scenario is not even as dangerous as oxygen can be.

The Centers for Disease Control has on file the worst American case of human selenium toxicity from more than 20 years ago.  It was due to a manufacturing error with a non-food grown supplementary source of selenium that also used the most toxic (cheapest) form of all forms of selenium.

The label said 200 micrograms per tablet but it actually contained more than 27,000 micrograms per tablet.  A woman took that every day for almost three months.  After about two weeks she began to experience hair loss and after two months had lost almost all her hair.  She didn’t feel very good with flu-like symptoms and sour breath.  Later a discharge from under her fingernails started.

This woman on an outlandish amount of the worst form of selenium did not die.  She was not even hospitalized.  She just didn’t feel very good until she ceased taking the incredible quantity of selenium.

Crusador:  Are people actually getting far too much selenium in their diet when you factor in all the fortified foods they’re eating?

Foods are not fortified with selenium except for livestock feed.  Farmers want to keep their livestock fertile and healthy but humans don’t appear to warrant the same consideration.

Crusador:  What is the best dosage of selenium that should be taken?

That is very subjective.  Let me offer you very subjective guidelines that are also very objective.

Dr. Gerhard Schrauzer noted almost 30 years ago if every woman in America took 200 micrograms of supplementary selenium daily that breast cancer rates would rapidly decline in the space of a few short years.  Dr. Schrauzer is professor emeritus from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and has chaired two world conferences on selenium and cancer.

Not so coincidentally, the previously mentioned selenium cancer prevention trial used 200 micrograms of selenium supplemented daily – and they didn’t use just any selenium supplement, but one that was a 100 per cent whole food grown variety.

There are other selenium studies with excellent results that have used this same amount.

Common American diets provide 200 micrograms or less of selenium daily and usually less – usually much, much less.  Average is around 50 micrograms daily.

If you get the high end 200 micrograms of selenium in your diet – a very big IF – then 200 micrograms of selenium added by supplement would give you 400 micrograms daily.

The NIH web site on selenium says specifically that a 400 microgram daily intake of selenium “is likely to pose no risk of adverse health effects in almost all individuals in the general population”.

As a further reference point it was reported almost 30 years ago that in Japan the average dietary intake of selenium exceeded 500 micrograms daily, and Japan has the lowest worldwide incidence of all the diseases associated with selenium deficiency – as well as one of the longest average life spans.
 
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is an old saying.  A daily selenium supplement of 200 micrograms would take 40 years to reach just an ounce of prevention.  It is not much.  It is probably not even enough.  It would be a good start and a refreshing change for women and men alike.

Continuing further – objectively – for those who have moved beyond the prevention stage there is the treatment experience of Dr. Robert Donaldson that was mentioned earlier.  He found that 400 micrograms daily was a minimum amount at which blood selenium levels were increased and that it was rare that amount made a difference.  Dr. Donaldson wrote in 1979, “We are now able, with nearly 100 percent regularity, to increase the blood levels by several fold by giving 1,000 to 2,000 micrograms of selenium daily and then dropping back to a maintenance dose."  Donaldson cited one case that required even larger amounts than that.

Two years ago I received an e-mail from a reader who wrote that he had prostate cancer metastasized to the bone who put himself on 1,000 micrograms of selenium daily.

“My PSA went from over 100 to 2.89 so I think I am on the right track,” he concluded in his e-mail.

So how’s that for an introduction to selenium?  There is so very, very much more to tell.

Crusador:  Thank you for your hard work, time, and insights on this nutrient.

Crusador Interviews Christopher Barr

Crusador:  Chris, This is the third consecutive interview we’ve conducted together. Our readers have been thrilled and blessed with the health information you’ve shared on chromium and selenium. In this interview, I’d like you to go in depth on another mineral you hold in high esteem and of monumental importance when it comes to our health – silica. Why you are so passionate about silica?

Well, Greg, for starters, it is because I have such passion for helping people, passion about history, and passion for truth, and this mineral silica – or to be more technically accurate – ‘silicon’ – is such a big part of all three of those, but is so very little known.

It is quite easy to be passionate about the mineral silica — in the right form, which is that which is grown, and when taken in the right amount — as I see almost routinely what others call miracles.  The passion is rather catching among those who have had long term problems that nothing helped, and those problems are then significantly helped or even disappear with this common yet so uncommonly known miracle mineral.

You know, Greg, it is so encouraging the way this has worked out with the previous two interviews and now this third one as it fits so perfectly with the other two.

One name noted in the previous interviews was that of Dr. Klaus Schwarz – but just barely, almost as a passing mention.  Dr. Schwarz deserves so much more remembrance than a mention.

It was Schwarz who established the nutritional essentiality for life – first of the mineral selenium that we discussed in the last issue, and then of the mineral chromium that we covered in the issue prior to that one.  Well, Greg, Dr. Schwarz is credited with establishing the nutritional essentiality for life with six different elements.  That is more than any other man, and yet the name of Klaus Schwarz is barely known.

The mineral silicon is the last of those six elements established as essential for life by Dr. Klaus Schwarz, and all of them while he was in the employ of the federal government – first at the National Institutes of Health, then through the Veterans Administration Hospitals.  He was in the midst of further major research on silicon when he died in the late 1970s.  The government just disbanded his laboratories rather than follow up with his work.

The first two nutritional items established as essential by Schwarz (chromium & selenium) and the last, silicon, together make up a triumphant triumvirate of beneficial nutrients.  These three not well known elements together make up a more common deficiency, and when finally learned about positively, effect more benefit to the body than any other three elements.

In the first interview, I noted that whole wheat is a rich source of chromium but that 91 per cent is removed during the refining of whole wheat into bleached, white flour.  Well, whole wheat is also a rich source of selenium but 92 per cent is removed during refining into bleached, white flour.  Whole wheat is a rich source of silicon as well but 95 per cent is removed during refining into bleached, white flour.  Silicon has an important, harmonious role with selenium and chromium, and its deficiency has severe consequences from before you are born until the day that you die.

According to a U.S. government report last year, 20 per cent of Standard American Dietary (S.A.D.) choices are for white flour so that the substantial removal of these vital nutritional elements is quite a serious matter.

Silicon is important for what literally holds us together, and for the blood circulatory system, as well as for transmission of nerve signals throughout the whole body.

Collagen is connective tissue that literally holds the body together.  Though many nutrients through the years have been discussed as involved or helpful with regard to collagen health, it is in fact the mineral silicon that is the key to collagen, and subsequently both strength and elasticity of the tissues.  Declining collagen health leads to degradation of skin, hair and nails externally, which is an indicator of internal status of bone, blood vessel, and nervous system health.  All of this has been well established by multiple researchers all around the world for more than half a century though it is – sadly – very, very far from common knowledge.

To be honest, even though Dr. Klaus Schwarz is credited with establishing silicon as an essential nutrient there are others who contributed more on the subject before Schwarz received credit.

In America, Dr. Edith Carlisle, of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in their school of Public Health tirelessly researched silicon nutrition both long before and long after Dr. Schwarz’s researches, especially related to so-called ‘calcification’ or more accurately, to strengthening of bone.

Throughout Europe, many researched silicon nutrition though none devoted as much to this mineral as Professor Louis Kervran of France.

Professor Kervran noted bone strengthening properties of silicon.  Broken bones mended in half the normal time with high doses of 100 per cent whole food vegetal silicon.  He theorized that using both calcium and silicon together nutritionally would work even better.  However, he was surprised to find that silicon and calcium together did not mend bones as well as high levels of silicon and low levels of calcium.

Other European researchers prior to this noted that silicon was essential for proper fetal skeletal development.  Because of this there is a strong demand placed on a pregnant mother for the baby developing.  So many of the so-called common problems of pregnancy are actually silicon deficiency issues, such as aching teeth and bones, varicose veins, and also hemorrhoids – which are in fact a varicosity.  Most Americans today are low in silicon due to a high intake of white flour and a low intake of dark leafy greens (the other high source of silicon that used to be much more commonly consumed), and pregnancy causes a silicon deficiency to be made worse.

Speaking of varicosities, silicon is the key to both strength and elasticity of the tissues, including of blood vessels which makes silicon especially important regarding cardiovascular health.

Once again, it was European researchers some decades ago that discovered in cadaver studies that those who died with healthy cardiovascular systems had an abundance of silicon in the blood vessels while those dying from heart problems have very low levels of silicon in the blood vessels.

There is also an electrical aspect to heart health with some heart problems being sort of a short-circuiting problem.  That is yet another important part of the mineral silicon and heart health.  Silicon is a semi-conductor.  Most everyone has heard of ‘Silicon Valley’ in central California that is the heart of the burgeoning computer industry.  It was called that originally because of all the silicon chip manufacturing in that region.  The better the silicon chip the more information the computer can handle and the faster it can handle it.  It is similar in the human body.

I’m telling you Greg, there are so many facets to the mineral nutrient silicon regarding health that we can only just begin to do justice to the subject even in a lengthy interview.

For instance, your body communicates through the nervous system similar to a computer network.  Your body’s ‘CPU’ if you will, is your brain and silicon is a big part of faulty brain messaging such as in Alzheimer’s.  There has been much documentation on this though it gets little attention.

You know how aluminum has been mentioned often in the health food industry as “the” cause of Alzheimer’s?  Did you know that aluminum is found significantly in the earth’s crust in the form of SILICON-aluminate?  Silicon manages aluminum.  It is the absence of the semi-conductor mineral nutrient silicon necessary for facilitating electrical messages in the brain more so than the presence of aluminum that is the problem in nervous system disorders.  For instance, high dose silicon can also make a noticeable difference for one with Multiple Sclerosis.

Going back to collagen for a minute, we can also tie in silicon deficiency to cancer.  You see, Greg, doctors have done a disservice (a long and ever growing list if ever there was one) by making it sound like cancer spreads by eating up other cells.  That is not exactly accurate.  I don’t know if they explain it that way for some misguided attempt at simplicity or if it has to do with their being such simpletons when it comes to nutrition and cancer – or pretty much nutrition and anything.

Cancer doesn’t spread by magic.  It is still bound by the laws of physics.  Two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time.  I learned by way of Dr. Matthias Rath that cancer cells produce an enzyme that breaks down collagen in order to make room for growth.  He uses a convoluted and complex protocol to strengthen collagen with a variety of nutrients in order to make the body more resistant to cancer growth.  I thought that the simplicity of increased silicon should work just fine and discovered that is indeed the case.  In the end MSM, glucosamine, chondroitin, proline, ascorbic acid (so called vitamin C) all end up primarily as covers for silicon deficiency.

These issues are not just book learning for me but things that I have actually seen time after time, over and over again through four decades working with silicon or silica.

Are you starting to see why I’m so passionate about silica?  If you’re like most people you’ll start getting passionate about silica, too!

Crusador:  Arthritis, bone and joint problems are at epidemic levels and cause millions of Americans to suffer.  Why does silica have such an impact on bone and joint health and what kind of results have you personally seen with people you’ve consulted?

Silicon is actually the most important nutrient in order for one to have healthy bones and joints.  Throwing calcium at the problem in increasing amounts actually makes the problem worse and can’t work for some lengthy, complex reasons that I won’t take time away from silicon to get into.

Electrical stimulation is used to hasten bone healing especially with professional athletes and those who are well-to-do.  Well, silicon is a semi-conductor, so it naturally increases the body’s own “electrical stimulation” by way of nervous system healing messages.

As far as the kind of results I have personally seen with people using silica, well Greg, that would fill more than a year’s worth of your newspapers.

The Alta Health Products company has always marketed the product with emphasis on it as “an internal beauty agent” for hair, skin and nails in order to not rile up authorities with health claims.  Initially I would appeal to women’s vanity in order to get them to use the product although I was more interested in their long term bone and cardiovascular health.  This worked very well as women would see the difference in a short time with their nails, and shortly thereafter they would see the difference in their skin and hair.  I’ve had women who could never grow their hair much beyond their shoulders able to grow their hair down their back with regular silica supplementation.

After a while I got my first crack at broken bones.  Actually it was much more than a crack.

Almost 30 years ago I was working at a health food store and the manager and I saw a man in the parking lot with a walker who was having a great deal of trouble walking even for a man with a walker.  His wife had to assist him in walking even with his use of a walker.  It appeared he was in great pain.  Then we noticed he was headed in our direction.

The man asked for me by name and said he had been referred because of his problem.  He had had a tobogganing accident the previous winter that chipped a piece out of his hip in a V-shape almost 1” across at the top that was 2” deep.  This was now Thanksgiving time so it had been more than 10 months.  There had been no healing and he was in great pain.  The man was well-to-do and had been flying back and forth from the Colorado ski lodge area orthopedic specialists as well as consulting with the orthopedic specialists at UCLA.  The specialists had finally decided that with the absence of any healing for such a long period of time that a hip replacement was necessary.  This was scheduled for three weeks later.

I shared with the man about what research indicated about high dose silica in the right form though letting him know that at that time I had only book knowledge on the subject.  Well, he had nothing to lose at this point so he began taking 12 Alta Health Product Silica daily with 3 tablets being taken at morning, noon, evening and bedtime.

One week later this same man approached the store with only a cane.  Though still in some pain the improvement was nothing short of astounding after only one week.  He said the UCLA doctors were amazed and had called for the Colorado specialists to come to UCLA for a special symposium to examine what was suddenly happening with this case.

Another week later the same man approached the store and this time unassisted by any devices though still with a slight limp but without any pain.  He said new x-rays taken for the hastily called specialist symposium showed the matrix of the bone filled in and hardening.  He said the hip replacement surgery had been cancelled with a determination of “spontaneous healing” of the fracture.

I was very excited and told him I would gather all the documentation including that of Dr. Carlisle at UCLA (though she was in the Public Health department).  The man stopped me expressing his great thanks but that he would not do so.  He said that they would just laugh at him.  This was very frustrating for me though through the decades I have gotten used to this.

Since that time I have seen countless bones speedily healed, and innumerable hip and knee replacement surgeries cancelled.

A legendary sculptress named Claire Falkenstein was referred to me by a mutual acquaintance.  Falkenstein had invented an abstract style of sculpture that incorporated metal and glass together.  Her works had been commissioned at legendary buildings and universities around the world – especially for the rich and famous.

Mrs. Falkenstein was well into her 70s at that time and arthritis had grown so strong in her hands that she had just become unable to sculpt any more.  She was very distraught over no longer being able to continue in her life’s work when I met with her.  She let me know at that time that a hip replacement surgery had just been scheduled for her.

Well, she went on the 12 daily regimen and within a few weeks she was so excited as she was sculpting again.  This legendary sculptress had regained the use of her hands.  Also, the hip replacement surgery was cancelled.

I received from her a beautiful folio of her work that was signed with thanks for restoring her life’s work to her again.  I lost contact with her after some years.  I recently learned that she did finally have that hip replacement surgery but that it was more than 10 years later as she neared 90 years of age.  Even then, I wondered whether perhaps she had ceased using her silica.

Only a few years ago a man in our congregation who is a genuine cowboy rancher called me early one evening to tell me a large iron gate had fallen on him while he was alone and broke a bone in his leg.  He had been trapped for several hours that afternoon before being discovered.  He said that during that time he was unattended the swelling had become so great that doctors were unable to tend to it much and had only wrapped it telling him to come back in one week for casting.  He then asked me, “What’s that herb stuff you have for bones?”

Well, I hustled straightway that evening to his place with Alta Health Products Silica that he started that very evening with 3 right away and then another 3 at bedtime.  He also asked about something natural for pain.  He said the doctors tried to give him some pain medication but he told me that he told them, “I ain’t takin’ none of your pharmaceuticals.”  Now that is tough but he is one tough guy.  There is no herb to take away that kind of pain unless you are smoking marijuana.  I did fix up a quart of tea of a nervine herb that helps take the edge off of pain – maybe I’ll talk about that one some time.  I brought it to him fresh every morning to drink throughout the day.  The pain was less and less of a problem each day through the week.

One week later I went with him to the doctor.  An x-ray was taken and when the doctor came in he sat down and was literally scratching his head.  The doctor said he was not going to put a cast on.  My friend pretty excitedly reacted to that one, “What do you mean you’re not going to put a cast on?”

The doctor very plainly stated that a cast wasn’t needed because the bone was healed.  At that point I jumped in with a question.

“This man rides a horse for a living.  When can he get back on a horse?”  You see, Greg, I thought he must have meant that the bone was healed so much that a cast was no longer required.  I’m used to seeing broken bones healed much more rapidly than usual but not in one week.

“As soon as he can get his foot in a stirrup he can get back on a horse,” the doctor replied.

That was a stunner even for me.

As I pondered this one some things became clearer.  First, this man got right on the Alta Health Products Silica at the therapeutic level immediately.  Usually it is a week or more before someone talks with me about a broken bone.  A few times I’ve had people get started after a few days.  Never before had I had someone to start the same day let alone within just hours of the bone being broken.

Second, this man refused any pain medications.  You know, Greg, pain medications are not magic.  They don’t make pain “go away”.  They work by interfering with the nervous system messages of pain that let you know there is a serious problem needing to be tended.  Well, that nervous system message system also directs healing messages, too.  Interfering with the nervous system pain messages also interferes with the nervous system healing messages.  By not shutting down the nervous system with drugs, and relying only on a nervine herb that helps the nerves plus the bone healing mineral silicon – from yet another herb by the way – this bone healed in a miraculous “record” time.  Also, there is the semi-conductor aspect of silicon further aiding the nervous system messaging system as well.

Crusador:  What we learned from you about chromium and selenium is that the actual source of the mineral makes all the difference in the world as far as absorption in the body and overall results. In the case of those two minerals you taught us that in a “food grown” state they work far better than any other source on the market. Are there various sources of silica on the market as well and can you explain the differences?

Oh, indeed, Greg, “food grown” 100 per cent whole food “vegetal” silica makes all the difference in the world with silica as well, and, YES, there are various sources of silica on the market – sadly and tragically mucking things up.

Professor Kervran found that biological silicon in a grown form was dramatically superior to non-biological forms.  Kervran then found that horsetail grass in the springtime had the greatest concentration of silicon, but that it was most active in a tea form.

It is more than interesting to me that old European herbalists knew that horsetail grass could be a great remedy as a tea but not so much in the whole herb form in which it could even be a stomach irritant.  They didn’t know why but it has been discovered in recent years that there are a couple of aspects of whole horsetail grass that can be irritants – especially in larger quantities such as the amount necessary to get higher doses of silicon.  However, making a tea dissolves the irritant aspects of the whole herb.

Crusador:   What can you tell us about Professor Louis Kervran and his patented extraction process?

Professor Kervran developed a specialized aqueous process to preserve the biological potency of the silicon and also concentrate it in a 5 to 1 extract.  For simplicity sake it is similar to making tea that is then dehydrated and the remaining powder is then tableted.  It breaks down with its concentrated silicon content very readily.  This was brought through very clearly to me when I had a man who had wonderful responsiveness to the silica tablets even though his stomach had been removed and he had sensitivities due to that as you might imagine.

A pioneering researcher who was one of the behind-the-scenes researchers for the famed nutrition author Paavo Airola was Dr. Richard Barmakian.  Dr. Barmakian went to France and studied under Professor Kervran.  Barmakian received the blessing of Kervran and the rights to the silica process with which he began Alta Health Products almost 40 years ago with Alta Silica as their lead item as it still is to this day.

Dr. Barmakian introduced silicon supplementation in the marketplace.  The initial splash made by this marvelous water-processed silica made quite an impact though unscrupulous imitators soon thereafter poisoned the well and such mucking up of the waters has continued to slow the benefits that could be obtained from the very solid research on silicon that has been accumulated through more than half a century.

Crusador:  What did Dr. Richard Barmakian tell you before his untimely death that led to convincing you about his source of silica being of so much help to so many people with various health issues?

I spoke often with Dr. Barmakian from the 1970s and into the 1990s, and was able to get close to him which was not an easy feat.  Barmakian had been burned out on the too common unscrupulous characters in the nutrition business.  Eventually he did open up and shared protocols with me for claims that he was not legally permitted to make as the manufacturer of the product.  One of the most important and astounding of these was for the maximum therapeutic amount of silica for more difficult conditions by taking 12 tablets daily spread out over the day with 3 tablets morning, noon, evening and bedtime.  This was referred to as the maximum therapeutic amount not because more was harmful but rather because more than that was though to be more than the body could use.  The results I have seen with this through four decades are nothing short of amazing.

Often I will offer a challenge to those with serious problems that indicate silicon deficiency.  I challenge the individual to take the maximum therapeutic amount of silica for three weeks and see what happens.  Very commonly the response I get back from those who take my silica challenge is something like, ‘WOW!’  Sometimes they reduce the level at that time and sometimes they just continue at that level for a while longer as their serious problems continue to get better or even completely well.

Oh, and just for the record, in the last year or so I have had some with particularly serious silicon deficiencies and more serious health problems who on their own have taken 16 tablets daily with 4 tablets morning, noon, evening and bedtime as an extra boost for a limited time that reported to me even greater levels of improvement than with the 12 daily I had been taught was the most the body could use at one time.

Crusador:  Are there any sources of silica that consumers should be aware of?

It was not too long after the introduction of silica supplementation to the world by Dr. Richard Barmakian with his Alta Health Products before a copycat ‘Silica’ labeled product entered the marketplace at only half the price.  Sadly, it was not even half the product.  It was in fact just plain horsetail grass.  Underneath the prominent ‘Silica’ on that label were the italicized Latin words ‘equisetem arvense’ inside parenthesis in tiny little print.  That is the botanical name for horsetail grass so they let you know up front that this was just horsetail grass IF you were schooled in herbs and Latin.  You could have purchased plain horsetail grass labeled as such and not labeled ‘Silica’ for less money.

That ‘Silica’/horsetail grass product poisoned the well because so many bought the bargain variety and of course did not receive the results that they had heard about so the silica momentum started by Dr. Barmakian’s fastidious research and integrity has been slow – but steady – with only those stumbling onto Alta Health Silica or studiously finding their way to it knowing the astounding benefits of whole food, grown, vegetal silica.

Remember, the Alta Health Products Silica is a 5 to 1 extract so that at twice the price the actual cost is still less than half as much as other products that only have an appearance of lower cost.  Oh, and that original copycat is still on the marketplace today.  Many other silica products have entered the marketplace since primarily non-biologicals such as liquefied crystals and gel suspensions.

Do you remember the old, classic comic strip, ‘Pogo’?  It was most famous for the phrase, “We have met the enemy and he is us!”  That has all too often been the too true but sad state of nutrition care products for decades and continuing today.

One company writes against biological silicon having any effectiveness.  That reminds me of the woman I once heard say, “That’s like trying to tell me I don’t know nothing about having babies and yet I have 5 babies calling me momma.”  That company even cites as one proof point a study of Dr. Edith Carlisle as a reference that was conducted by Dr. Carlisle with Alta Health Products Silica!

Crusador:  In addition to everything you’ve shared about silica, you make a major connection with silica, chromium and selenium taken together in combination. That an important reason why we have gone in order with our interviews with you. You stated to me that these three minerals in combination are the most important for anyone to take, especially with people dealing with some serious health challenges.  Explain more about this connection?

Well, Greg, this interview is already pretty long.  Are you planning a double issue this time?  Maybe a recent news story about a new study from Harvard on whole grains published in last month’s American Journal of Clinical Nutrition can help to wrap this up succinctly.

One sentence from the news story can be used to tie together just a portion of the significant importance of chromium, selenium and silicon together.

“The fiber and other nutrients in whole grains may help lower cholesterol, blood sugar and insulin levels, as well as improve blood vessel functioning and reduce inflammation in the circulatory system.”
 
Now let's break that one sentence down …
 
1) “The fiber and other nutrients in whole grains may help …”
My one syllable response to this beginning is ‘DUH!!!!!!!’
 
2) “… lower cholesterol, blood sugar and insulin levels …”
This is the role of chromium in its 100% whole food, grown form of which 91 per cent of its abundance is stripped from whole grains to make white, bleached flour … another moment of DUH!!!!!!!
 
3) “… as well as improve blood vessel functioning …”
This is the role of silicon/silica in its 100% whole food, grown form of which 95 per cent of its abundance is stripped from whole grains to make white, bleached flour … yet another moment of DUH!!!!!!!
 
4) "… and reduce inflammation in the circulatory system …"
This is the role of selenium in its 100% whole food, grown form of which 92 per cent of its abundance is stripped from whole grains to make white, bleached flour … yet one more moment of DUH!!!!!!!

All this revelation culled from just one sentence.  By the way, Greg, what’s up with nutritionists like those of ‘The American Journal of Clinical Nutritionists’ not knowing and understanding these long ago established basics?

Crusador:  How do you recommend silica to be taken and should more be used for people struggling with health issues versus those that just want to take it for maintenance purposes?

My general recommendation for Alta Health Products Silica is one tablet taken four times daily – morning, noon, evening and bedtime, or at the very least one with each meal.  For serious health problems that indicate serious silicon deficiency, I issue my silica challenge outlined earlier for taking 12 tablets daily spread out over the day with 3 tablets morning, noon, evening and bedtime for three weeks and then follow suit from there in accordance with results. If anyone reading this interview is truly serious about keeping their health on track or restoring lost health, a daily intake of chromium, selenium and silica are essential.

Crusador:  As always, Chris, your information is first class. Thank you for all your time and effort in educating the masses about these issues.

Thank you, Greg, for giving me a forum to get these insights published.

By Byron J. Richards, CCN

In a major shot fired across the bow of the statin marketing machine, the levels of LDL cholesterol that are the artificial targets of “health” promoted by the American Heart Association (AHA) are now found to be associated with a significant increased risk of cancer and death.

The AHA recommends an LDL level of 100 for prevention and 70 for high risk patients. In the new study an LDL level of 107 was associated with a 33% increased risk of cancer and death, an LDL level of 87 was associated with a 50% increased risk. As the LDL goes lower the risk keeps getting worse. These arbitrary AHA levels for LDL cholesterol were established by “experts” with direct financial ties to the statin industry, who knew full well that reaching their artificially low target levels for LDL would require double and triple doses of statin drugs, thus dramatically increasing sales (which has indeed happened).

The Vytorin fraud has pointed out quite clearly that lowering LDL cholesterol to very low levels does not reduce cardiovascular disease. Another Vytorin study also shows doing so increases cancer risk by 64%. The new study paints the clear picture that lowering LDL too low actually increases the rate of death from any cause. This new study also points out the statistical shenanigans that the statin industry uses to hide the actual risks of these drugs in the studies that have been published.

The data was so alarming that the researchers called for a statistical reanalysis of the data from all existing cholesterol studies, using better statistical models that actually reflect true risk. The results of this new research led the authors to conclude “A low LDL cholesterol level is not necessarily associated with optimal clinical outcomes but is a predictor of cancer and death.”

We have known for many years that individuals who maintain an LDL cholesterol level of 130 as they enter their 40s and 50s have much less heart disease as they grow older. This is because they are healthy and have maintained fitness in their cholesterol function and metabolism. There is no credible data to show that lowering LDL numbers with statins actually produces a similar level of health, especially to artificially low numbers. There is a huge difference between having good cholesterol numbers because you are healthy and drugging your body’s synthesis of cholesterol with statins.

In the current study the ideal LDL cholesterol level was 126. The researchers were able to identify a bell shaped curve, in terms of a departure in either direction from this ideal number. LDL over 146 or less than 107 was associated with 33% increased risk of cancer. LDL over 164 of less than 87 was associated with a 50% increased risk. The risk keeps getting worse the higher or lower the number progresses away from the ideal of 126. LDL in the range of 108 – 145 had no statistically significant cancer risk, although being in the center of this range is clearly best.

There have been a number of studies in the past that link low cholesterol and cancer risk. However, these studies could not prove that the cancer was not already there prior to the start of the study – which has been the main argument used (besides statistical manipulation) by the statin industry to deny the association. In the new study this issue was taken into account by eliminating participants with less than 2.5 years follow up after the start of the study, thus demonstrating that the results were not due to pre-existing cancer.

Needless to say, this study was not part of the marketing machine propaganda that is rampant in universities and “scientific” journals that have been used to promote the statin scam around the world, while actively blackmailing and blacklisting any authors, institutions, or journals that dare to step on Big Pharma’s statin toes. This study was published on August 26, 2008 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It was carried out in Hong Kong with Chinese patients who had type II diabetes – the exact patient who is forced onto aggressive cholesterol lowering with statin drugs in America.

It is quite clear that scientific knowledge and advanced statistical analysis are no longer under the control of Big Pharma and its legions of scientists, universities, and medical journals that are on the take, misrepresenting data, and actively suppressing negative findings. The truth is coming out because Big Pharma is targeting the citizens of the world as a new market for statin sales. And they are also targeting our children, wanting infants seven months of age to have LDL levels of 50 and keep them at that level their whole life (with drugs, since such levels are totally abnormal).

The insanity must stop. Americans have been conned. Big Pharma and the American Heart Association should be held responsible for past crimes and future intended crimes against the health of our citizens under the false pretense of improved cardiovascular health.

by Klaus Ferlow

Growing up in Northern Germany “country style”, I quickly developed a love for the bounties of MOTHER NATURE especially berries, herbs, flowers, fruits and vegetables.

The value of herbs to our lives and to our health cannot be overstated, since our ancestors first walked the earth, herbs have formed the basis of medicine chests, cosmetics bowls, culinary spice jars, perfume vials and dye pots. Most herbs in their natural state are safe, and do not leave a residue in the body that could produce negative side effects. Drugs tend to treat or mask the symptoms or condition, while herbals emphasize a preventative approach to healthcare helping to balance and support the bodily functions. The compounds in herbs work synergistically in the body to promote healing. All plants have therapeutic properties as they contain a variety of biologically active substances. Plants undergo photosynthesis, transforming carbon dioxide into energy rich substances. The resulting carbon chains are further transformed into a variety of compounds such as lipids, alkaloids, essential oils and tannins. Through other biochemical processes, minerals and nitrates are absorbed by the roots and transformed into vitamins, trace minerals and antibiotics.

Herbs can affect biological systems in our bodies at the cellular level. Ultimately these high levels of biologically active substances can produce pharmacological and therapeutic affects. The nutritional value of herbs is high and organically grown herbs (no herbicide and pesticide spraying and chemical fertilizer) offer maximum benefits.

Herbs are extensively used in cosmetics, (there is a growing demand for TOXIN free medicinal herbal and personal care products worldwide) herbal creams & ointments, lotions, shampoos, toothpastes, soaps, oils, tinctures, sprays and in cooking. The multitude of uses for herbs as foods, medicines and in products emphasizes how vital botanical plants are to our health and well being. Unfortunately, as the Pharmaceutical industry developed the ability to synthesize medicine from the inert substances such as petroleum and minerals, and developing sophisticated marketing strategies, the therapeutic use of natural herbs diminished and was almost lost, especially in North America.

Recently however, there has been a resurgence of interest in herbs and healing. As people begin to lose faith in prescription drugs and antibiotics, they are rediscovering that herbs and herbal remedies and products are an effective and comparatively inexpensive form of healthcare. Herbal medicine represents a particular approach to healing which differs from allopathic medicine. Rather than relieving a single symptom with single active ingredient, herbs offer a holistic approach by striving to deal with the entire system and treating the cause.

Herbal medicine can only be truly holistic if it acknowledges the social and cultural context in which the illnesses occurred, and then the desired healing takes place. (Body, Mind & Spirit). According to Chris Kilham, the medicine hunter, www.medicinehunter.com over five billion people today are still using herbal remedies for healing! The renewed interest in holistic medicine, as well as a great number of traditional therapies, has encouraged changes within the existing medical profession. Given the severe financial crisis of our medical system (many professional predict a collapse within 5 – 10 years) it is incumbent upon us all to seek out and utilize appropriate health alternatives.

Let me quote you from the “Pocket Herbal Reference Guide”, by Debbra St.Clair, MH (Master Herbalist):

“The art of pharmacy turned to the production of drugs which could bring the quickest relief of symptoms, ignoring the reason that the symptoms appeared. As we look back perhaps it is time to reconsider the path. The use of substances has spawned a myriad of unexpected problems, such as suppression of the very signals that our bodies produce to alert us to a need of change. Pain itself is a call to action – a call to remedy and in balance in our lifestyle. The proficient use of herbal therapy is directly connected to our ability to sense that first signal and to adjust our lifestyle accordingly. It is when these signals are continually ignored that disease has a chance to seat itself more deeply within our bodies. The appropriate use of herbs is one of many health alternatives to our medical system.”

And remember:

For every disease we know, Mother Earth  provides a herb to grow.

Those who do not spend time every day on health, will sacrifice one day a lot of time for illness, since HEALTH IS WEALTH!

Words of Wisdom

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in care of the human frame, in diet, the cause and PREVENTION of disease.”

Thomas Edison (1847 – 1931)