But if it’s dirt cheap and so helpful, you ought to be able to convince some large number of people (how presumably have been helped) to chip in to fund the research, huh?

Well, that’s the big idea at Grassroots Health (http://grassrootshealth.net). As far as I can tell, their only (first?) area of interest is in Vitamin D sufficiency (http://grassrootshealth.net/daction). They essentially have people sign up for $60/year. By signing up, members agree to participate in an observational study tracking circulating Vitamin D concentrations (25(OH)D) against a bunch of health conditions. The long-term plan is to build up enough cash to do a clinical trial of a to-be-determined design.

Could be the start of a new model – and give the disaffected throngs a way to push their priorities and note be dictated to by the medical-industrial complex.

The triage hypothesis posits that the risk of degenerative diseases associated with aging, including cancer, cognitive decline, and immune dysfunction, can be decreased by ensuring adequate intake of micronutrients: the 40 essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids. The hypothesis was first put forth by Dr. Bruce Ames, a Biochemistry  professor at University of California at Berkeley. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s one of the most prolific (and some would say controversial) scientists around. Here’s an hour interview that gives you a pretty good sense of his views.

Perhaps a post on another day would muse about his views regarding pesticide residue in food and the affect of exposure to environmental toxins. This day, though, we’ll let him speak for himself regarding his micronutrient triage hypothesis (from the seminal article):

I propose DNA damage and late onset disease are consequences of a triage allocation response to micronutrient scarcity. Episodic shortages of micronutrients were common during evolution. Natural selection favors short-term survival at the expense of long-term health. I hypothesize that short-term survival was achieved by allocating scarce micronutrients by triage, in part through an adjustment of the binding affinity of proteins for required micronutrients. If this hypothesis is correct, micronutrient deficiencies that trigger the triage response would accelerate cancer, aging, and neural decay but would leave critical metabolic functions, such as ATP production, intact. Evidence that micronutrient malnutrition increases late onset diseases, such as cancer, is discussed. A multivitamin-mineral supplement is one low-cost way to ensure intake of the Recommended Dietary Allowance of micronutrients throughout life.

If this theory pans out, we could see enormous implications on our ability to proactively ensure the optimal set of micronutrients to stave off the scourges of aging. Dr. Ames, in fact, recently published an article homing in on the effects of Vitamin K insufficiency that appears to support the hypothesis.

You’ve got to be in it for the long haul on this one as it will likely take years to build up enough evidence to become mainstream. But, in the meantime, why not fill up you body’s tank of necessary micronutrients with the right diet and appropriate supplementation.

You have very little to lose (a few dollars) and potentially a whole lot to gain.

The subject of this post is a bite-sized assessment of this problem from Dr. Stanley Skollar of Life Extension Foundation (if you’ve poked around this blog, you know how highly I regard the work of LEF). ‘Bite-sized’ in that it’s not a 400 page tome, but touches on issues that have been broached by people like Clayton Christensen, George Halvorson and others of the thought leaders who I hope will play a major role in shaping our healthcare future.

There are two big numbers (out of an ocean of relevant and important numbers) I’d like to home in on in this post:

According to the Congressional Budget office, the total national spending on healthcare has more than doubled in the last 30 years. The projections are, that by the year 2035, healthcare will require more than 30% of our total GDP, 40% by 2060 and 50% by 2082!

… and …

The medical care costs for people with chronic degenerative diseases account for more than 75% of our nations two trillion plus dollars expense for all medical care!

Yes, these are big numbers and can lead to a myriad of conclusions, however, I’d like to invite you consider the possibility that one of our first orders of business should be to rethink how we provide care for those living with chronic conditions. In many cases, we have approaches that can remedy some conditions, thereby greatly reducing the overall system cost for caring for these patients.

We have more and more mounting evidence that patient-centered, coordinated care focused on overall outcomes (not merely treating the disease end-state) reduces costs and leads to healthier patients. I have been gathering examples of this evidence in my delicious favorites list. The chroniccare tag gives you 50+ examples (as of this writing, anyway) that point the way.

What is so impressive about Dr. Skollar’s article on Life Extension, is that he succinctly provides novel diagnostic guidance for a wide range of issues. Here are just a few examples:

• He succinctly cites four expressions of molecular pathology that are at the root of both so-called ‘normal’ aging and chronic diseases: oxidative stress, inflammation, glycation and defects in methylation.
• He goes on to offer novel approaches to diagnosing each of these expressions.
• Finally, he offers concrete recommendations calling out specific neutraceuticals (nutrients, dietary supplement, etc.) that have been shown to address the detrimental mechanisms previously described

It is well worth the read:

Redefining Healthcare: Towards a Shift in the Medical Paradigm

By Stanley Skollar, M.D.

Here are the particulars:

Date: Saturday, May 2^nd, 2009
Panel  Time:  9:15 – 10:45AM (includes time for Q & A)
Location: Starbucks Corp Headquarters
2401 Utah Ave S
Seattle, WA 98134
Panel Topic:  “Taking Charge of your health in times of change.”

Recently, he interviewed Chris Masterjohn (cholesterol-and-health.com) who offered as complete and concise an understanding of cholesterol that I’ve had the pleasure to encounter. It’s over an hour, but by the end of the hour, you’ll be in the 99th percentile of cholesterol knowledge.

Did you know there are the myriad functions of cholesterol in the body?

Did you know that LDL and HDL are not ‘cholesterol,’ but lipoprotiens (Low Density Lipoprotein and High Density Lipoprotein) which are merely the vehicle that delivers cholesterol (and many other fat-soluble nutrients like vitamin K) to your cells?

Did you know the majority of cholesterol in your body is in your brain and adequate cholesterol is needed for optimal brain function?

Did you know cholesterol is a precursor to all sex hormones (progesterone, testosterone, estrogens) and is required for optimal circulating levels of these hormones?

Did you know cholesterol is essential for the synthesis of vitamin D?

Did you know there is no ‘good’ cholesterol or ‘bad’ cholesterol – just cholesterol.

Did you know the real hazard is not the level of LDL in the blood but the level of oxidized LDL. Oxidized LDL is not able to bind with the LDL receptors in the liver inhibiting the ability of the liver to to internalize the LDL.

Did you know to ask your doctor to test for pattern size in your LDL and LDL:HDL ratio (total ‘cholesterol’ is essentially meaningless for most of us)? Small, dense LDL is much more prone to oxidation and more easily penetrates the arterial wall and result in a plaque deposits.

Did you know that while statin drugs inhibit cholesterol synthesis in the liver (probably ‘OK’) that such drugs might also inhibit cholesterol synthesis in other vital organs like, say, the brain?!? (see previous paragraph on cholesterol and the brain)

Did you know statins also have the effect of depleting the vital antioxidant Co Enzyme Q10 – lower concentrations of which are correlated with heart disease?

Believe it or not, there is a lot more covered in this interview. It’s a real keeper:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/UndergroundWellness/2009/02/11/The-Real-Cholesterol-Story

Writing is great, but I’m also very interested in keepin’ it real. So I started a real live face-to-face get together through meetup.com. You can find the meetup here: http://www.meetup.com/Mens-health.

For those of you in Seattle and environs, check it out.

I’ll reiterate the impetus for starting the blog was really personal. I’m not an MD, OD, Naturopath or even a healer (at least not a credentialed one). I started this blog after getting requests from family and friends to put the things I had shared with them in one-on-one communications (verbally or in e-mail) in a form that anyone could access. So there’s that and there’s also the desire I had on my part to pull together several disparate areas of knowledge related to health that I hadn’t seen synthesized before (still looking, by the way).

So even though I’m not in a position to give you any personal guidance (again, have a discussion with your doctor if you want to act on any of my recommendations), I have a high degree of confidence in my points of view and have seen very beneficial effects in my own life.

I’ve said on many occasions (out loud in the presence of others) that I intend to live a robust, active life into the 22nd century. Most just let it go because they probably just feel embarrassed for me. I mean, based on my appearance and demeanor, it probably doesn’t appear that I’m a crackpot on the lunatic fringe (insert photo of wild-haired, beady-eyed codger muttering to himself in a corner here). But I really do mean it. So as not to make this post too long, I’ll include book notes from the various authors that have lead me to the very idea this might be possible under separate cover. In this post, I’ll just state my basic assertion:

By combining dietary health, adequate exercise, consistent dietary supplementation, active hormone management and limiting exposure to environmental insult (whether it’s falling off a ladder or exposure to toxins) , one can prevent the onset of the major causes of death (diabetes, heart disease, neuro-degenerative diseases, etc.), thereby enabling maximum active life span.

The ‘how’ gets more involved, but if you stick with me, I think you’ll find the ‘how’ to be manageable – and more than worth it.

’till next time …

The primary impetus for me starting this blog is to share with friends and family some of the insight I have obtained in the many years on issues of health and wellness. Now that those around me have seen improvements in my appearance, many have asked ‘What do you do?’

Here’s a brief synopsis of my thoughts:

• Adopt a low glycemic-load diet and limit your ‘splurges’ to special occasions.
• Identify optimal dietary supplements to ensure good health and take them as indicated.
• Working with your doctor to get regular blood testing and adjust your diet and supplement regimen to strive for optimal levels of circulating nutrients and hormones.

Sounds close to the ‘conventional wisdom’ doesn’t it? Stick with me. There’s a lot more to the story.