by Michael Murray, N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D.
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| The prevalence of celiac Disease is much higher in these areas than in other parts of the World, for example, 1:300 in southwest Ireland compared with 1:2,500 in the United States.
Dietary Considerations
Cereal grains belong to the Gramineae family. The closer a grain's taxonomic (classification) relationship to wheat, the grain with the highest gluten content, the greater its ability to activate celiac Disease. Gluten is composed of gliadins and glutenins. Only the gliadin portion has been demonstrated to activate celiac Disease. |
| Price traveled the World observing changes in teeth and palate (orthodontic) structure as various cultures discarded traditional dietary practices in favor of a more "civilized" diet. Price was able to follow individuals as well as cultures over periods of twenty to forty years, and he carefully documented the onset of degenerative diseases as their diets changed.
Based on the extensive studies examining the rate of diseases in various populations (epidemiological data), including the groundbreaking work of Dr. |
| From there, they were taken to the New World by Christopher Columbus and Portuguese and Spanish explorers. Lemons became quite well known in Florida and Brazil by the sixteenth century. Superior varieties from Southeast Asia arrived in Europe with Portuguese traders in the sixteenth century. Mandarin oranges from southern China did not arrive in Europe and the New World until the nineteenth century.
The desire for citrus fruits increased greatly after the 1890s when physicians found that people suffering from scurvy (a Disease of vitamin C deficiency) could be cured by drinking citrus juice. |
| According to the USDA, as of December 1,2003, a total of 153 cases ofvQDhad been reported in the world: 143 in the United Kingdom, 6 in France, and I each in Canada, Ireland, Italy, and the United States.
BSE was first reported among cattle in the United Kingdom in 1986 and has been a major concern ever since. The outbreak in the United Kingdom may have started from the feeding of scrapie-contaminated sheep meat-and-bone meal to cattle. Scrapie is a Disease of sheep that is related to BSE in cattle. |
| Mandarin oranges from southern China did not arrive in Europe and the New World until the nineteenth century.
The desire for citrus fruits increased greatly after the 1890s when physicians found that people suffering from scurvy (a Disease of vitamin C deficiency) could be cured by drinking citrus juice. Lemons were in such de-
^i^"'1—1,4 mand that people were willis*.'• -'jpw ing to pay up to $1 per (k ">jfr lemon, an astronomical price for that time! Later, scientists discovered that the juice is beneficial because it is the most potent and concentrated source of Vitamin C. |
| While the food supply in the United States is one of the safest in the World, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 76 million people get sick, more than 300,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 Americans die each year from foodborne illnesses. The microbe or toxin causing foodborne illness enters the body through the gastrointestinal tract and often causes the first symptoms there, so nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea are common symptoms. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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 Over the centuries, practitioners of ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and the herbal traditions of the Arabic-speaking World and Europe have learned how to match combinations of herbs to combinations of symptoms. Since this involves selecting formulas that match individual people, rather than a Disease, the same formula may be applied to different Disease conditions as they are understood in conventional medicine. Conversely, two people with the same Disease may benefit from different combinations of herbs. |
| The terminology of the Eight Indicators is used by practitioners of TCM and kampo throughout the World even today. Although this manner of describing Disease is symbolic and metaphoric, the notions of interior and exterior and yang and yin have led to insights that prompted the recognition of ancient herbal formulas as effective remedies for modern diseases. Modern medicine's understanding of many chronic viral infections illustrates the progression of Disease to the "yin" stage. Chronic viral hepatitis, for example, is accompanied by flulike symptoms, with nausea and vomiting at its outset. |
| Parasitic Infection
Parasitic infections are the most common Disease conditions in the World, affecting hundreds of millions of people in developing nations and becoming more prevalent in developed nations, as well. With massive immigration, the popularization of imported foods, and the advent of adventure travel to previously seldom-visited locations, parasites now affect as many as one in six people in North America.
Unless a person has been to a part of the World where parasitic diseases are widespread, parasites are not likely to be the cause of acute illness. |
| However, it is prevalent in many tropical or subtropical areas around the World. Worldwide, this is a common illness thought to affect more than 200 million people.
TRICHOMONIASIS
Trichomoniasis is caused by Trichomonas vaginalis. This parasite is a single-cell protozoan parasite with a whiplike tail that it uses to propel itself through vaginal and urethral mucus. This sexually-transmitted Disease is found worldwide. In the United States the highest incidence is in women between the ages of sixteen and thirty-five. |
| Unless a person has been to a part of the World where parasitic diseases are widespread, parasites are not likely to be the cause of acute illness. The most serious parasites produce symptoms that are hard to ignore, such as the spitting up of blood caused by tapeworms or liver flukes. Severe abdominal pain, blood in the stool, diarrhea, and weight loss can signal acute problems.
For many chronic conditions, on the other hand, parasitic infection can be the missing diagnosis. Amebiasis, for example, is sometimes misdiagnosed as Crohn's Disease. |
| Herbs, which have always been the principal form of medicine for the majority of the world's population, are once again becoming popular throughout the developed World. Striving to stay healthy in the face of chronic stress, pollution, and the re-emergence of infectious diseases, more and more people are taking charge of their health with herbs.
The "epidemic" of herb use is evident not only in North America and Europe, but also in China, Japan, Korea, and Latin America. |
T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and Thomas M. Campbell II
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 ASSOCIATION OF COW'S MILK CONSUMPTION AND INCIDENCE OF TYPE 1 DIABETES IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
0 100 200 300
Cow Milk Consumption (liters/person/year)
As we have seen with other diseases of affluence, when people migrate from areas of the World where Disease incidence is low to areas of the World where Disease incidence is high, they quickly adopt the high incidence rates as they change their diet and lifestyle.30"32 This shows that even though individuals may have the necessary gene(s), the Disease will occur only in response to certain dietary and/or environmental circumstances. |
| They realized that21:
• excess fat and cholesterol consumption caused atherosclerosis (the hardening of the arteries and the accumulation of plaque) in experimental animals
• eating cholesterol in food caused a rise in cholesterol in the blood
• high blood cholesterol might predict and/or cause heart disease
• most of the world's population didn't have heart Disease, and these heart disease-free cultures had radically different dietary patterns, consuming less fat and cholesterol
So they decided to try to alter heart Disease in their patients by having them eat less fat and cholesterol. |
| HEART Disease DEATH RATES FOR MEN AGED 55 TO 59 ACROSS 20 COUNTRIES, CIRCA 1955"
Why were we succumbing to heart Disease in the sixties and seventies, when much of the World was relatively unaffected?
Quite simply, it was a case of death by food. The cultures that have lower heart Disease rates eat less saturated fat and animal protein and more whole grains, fruits and vegetables. In other words, they subsist mostly on plant foods while we subsist mostly on animal foods.
But might it be that the genetics of one group might just make them more susceptible to heart disease? |
| Coronary heart Disease, by the way, is relatively uncommon in many developing societies of the World. This is not because people die at a younger age, thus avoiding these Western diseases. These comparisons are age-standardized rates, meaning that people of the same age are being compared.
Disease associations of this kind have been known for quite some time. What the China Study added, however, was an unsurpassed amount of data on death rates for many different diseases and a unique range of dietary experience. |
| Early research led to the alarming conclusion that we have some of the highest rates of heart Disease in the World. One study published in 1959 compared the coronary heart Disease death rates in twenty different countries (Chart 5.1).16
These studies were examining Westernized societies. If we look at more traditional societies, we tend to see even more striking disparities in the incidence of heart Disease. The Papua New Guinea Highlanders, for example, pop up in research quite a bit because heart Disease is rare in their society. |
| This is because plant-based diets in poor areas of the World usually have insufficient variety, inadequate quantity and quality and are associated with poor public health conditions where childhood diseases are prevalent. Under these conditions, growth is stunted and people do not reach their genetic potential for adult body size. In the China Study, low adult height and weight were strongly associated with areas having high mortality rates for pulmonary tuberculosis,111 parasitic diseases,11' pneumonia (m for height), "intestinal obstruction"'11 and digestive diseases.' |
Paul Pitchford
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 In fact, much of the story of Disease in the modern World can be related to excessive arachidonic acid and deficient alpha- and gamma-linolenic acids. Not only does overconsumption of AA from saturated fat and cholesterol-rich animal products set the stage for sinister Disease processes, but it directly inhibits the generation of the invaluable prostaglandins from GLA and omega-3 oils.38'39
The Original Diet
The stories and lessons from the Old Testament of the Bible are often metaphors to be adapted and then applied to the reader's life. |
| Consider that we are born with serum cholesterol levels of about 70 mg/dl, and from age one through seventeen our average is about 150 mg/dl, which is the level for 75% of the world's adult population.
Heart Disease is very rare at 150 mg/dl. Even though medical texts in the recent past generally assigned the cholesterol danger level at 250 mg/dl, the bulk of heart attacks strike people in the 200-250 mg/dl range, according to the Framingham study and other recent data. |
| Medical statistics show that during World War II, people in Norway experienced the best health of their lives. Heart Disease, cancer, and schizophrenia incidences suddenly dropped forty percent. They ate more of their traditional foods—whole grains, beans, vegetables, and fresh fish—but little of the meat, margarine (hydrogenated oils), refined sugar, or processed foods that had become a major part of their pre-war diets.1'2 Ideally, this present generation will discover health and vitality through choice rather than crisis. |
| The immune system and its failure have become the object of acute focus since the spread of AIDS and similar conditions featured daily in the World media. Brought to public attention as a result is the correlation between a stressful lifestyle and the loss of immunity. From those treatment methods which have at least halted the advance of the Disease, we have learned that a holistic approach is most effective. |
| Pollen is considered an energy and nutritive tonic in Chinese medicine; cultures throughout the World use it in a surprising number of applications—improving endurance and vitality, extending longevity, aiding recovery from chronic illness, adding weight during convalescence, reducing cravings and addictions, regulating the intestines, building new blood, preventing communicable diseases such as the common cold and flu (it has antibiotic properties), and helping overcome retardation and other developmental problems in children. |
Sydney Walker III, M.D.
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 Ten turbulent years in which the world-wide climate of anxiety and aggression has given Librium—with its specific calming action and its remarkable safety margin—a unique and still growing role in helping mankind meet the challenge of a changing World.
More recent promotions, while not so hyperbolic, still suggest that anxiety and stress, in and of themselves, are diseases and must be drugged away. And psychiatrists (and other doctors) are still falling for this message—as are their patients. They're making a big mistake that can have dangerous or even fatal consequences. |
| Restak fears that such drugs will lead users to conclude that "if the World isn't behaving as you believe that it should, and you feel good while taking your own special drug, then say no to the World rather than to the drug."
Are We "Pushing" Legal Drugs?
The similarities between street drug abuse and psychotropic prescription drug use are disturbing. Both types of drugs are toxic. Both can cause psychosis, damage the brain and other organs, and even cause death. And neither type of mind-altering drugs, legal or illegal, treats Disease. |
| Furthermore, the World outside of medicine changes—and each change alters patterns of diseases and brain dysfunctions. Twenty years ago, for instance, travel to and from faraway countries was rare. But immigration and travel patterns have changed, and modern American psychiatrists may encounter medical problems once seen only in remote African villages or rural Chinese communities. |
| The authors of DSM-IV and its counterpart, ICD-10 (the latest version of the International Classification of Diseases, published by the World Health Organization and used by European psychiatrists) warn against using the manuals as medical "cookbooks"—add enough symptomatic ingredients and you have a diagnosis—but it's standard practice to use them in precisely this way. |
| During World War II, typhus ran rampant in most concentration camps, killing thousands and infecting thousands more who survived. Many of the survivors now suffer from a well-known syndrome known as "recrudescent rickettsial infection," or Brill-Zinsser Disease. The agent that causes the disorder, Rickettsia prowazekii, is transmitted to humans by lice. It can infect a human, lie dormant for decades, and then resurface to cause fever, rash, headache, and emotional symptoms including paranoia, despondency, and hopelessness. |
David Winston, RH(AHG), and Steven Maimes
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 STRIVING FOR HEALTH
The World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely absence of Disease or infirmity." Emphasis may be placed on well-being.
According to ayurveda and other traditional systems of medicine, health is a state of balance between the body, mind, and consciousness. Many healers have come to the conclusion that the body naturally self-corrects and moves toward maintaining health and balance. Maintaining balance is part of life and, as such, is what we knowingly or unknowingly strive for. |
Peter Radetsky
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 Did the blast of rose pesticide coupled with their other exposures destroy their defenses against the outside world? What happened to Helen Keplinger? Did her "sick building" make her ultrasensitive to common substances in the environment? Have they become, in effect, allergic to the twentieth century? No one knows for sure. But theories abound. One of the most persuasive suggests that what happened to them constitutes a new kind of Disease, a Disease brought on by exposure to irritants followed by a loss of tolerance to other, previously bearable, substances in the environment. |
| As a dramatic example of the way medicine was practiced pre-Pasteur, Koch, and Lister, Miller likes to point out how Disease was approached in the Civil War, the world's last major conflict fought without the knowledge of infectious Disease.
"Two-thirds of the deaths among soldiers during the Civil War were caused by infections, most frequently wound infections and epidemics," Miller says. |
| But what in the World will anyone be able to do to prevent a Disease caused by living in the twentieth century? Especially when the twentieth century has been defined by the impact of industrialization. What can we do about the noxious chemical effects of industrialization? Eradicate industry?
The notion is ridiculous (although there are more than a few who wouldn't mind seeing it happen). In lieu of that, however, what if it were possible to reorient industry? To make it desirable, profitable, to clean up its act. For Kaye Kilburn, that is our last chance. |
| And there is the overwhelming influence of the pharmaceutical companies, the fragrance companies, the chemical companies, the very industrial basis of the developed World. The DuPont slogan — "Better Living Through Chemistry" — might just as well characterize this country's economy. A Disease based on the contention that chemicals are bad for us threatens to unravel the fabric of our civilization — and the enormous profits gleaned from it. |
| Sneezing and sniffing, eyes itching and nose dripping for months — this was my entree into the World of allergies. Ever since, when the acacia trees bloom and grasses grow high, I reach for the handkerchief.
I'm not alone, of course. Over fifty million Americans suffer allergies. The statistical breakdown goes like this: Some thirty-five million people in this country endure the stuffiness and sneezing of hay fever — allergic rhinitis, as the allergists call it. It may be the single most common chronic Disease experienced by human beings. |
Joe Graedon, M.S. and Teresa Graedon, Ph.D.
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 Metformin (Glucophage)
A review by the Cochrane Collaboration of most of the world's diabetes literature shows that metformin (Glucophage) alone, if used to keep blood glucose under tight control, is an excellent treatment.263 Metformin improves blood sugar control by improving the cells' response to insulin and reducing the amount of sugar that the liver makes. Unlike some other oral diabetes drugs, it doesn't lead to weight gain and may even help people get their weight under control.
It can be dangerous, however, for people with kidney Disease. |
Grace Ross Lewis
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 More cultures of the World drink tea than any other beverage. The tea that is most popular and with which we are most familiar is obtained from the leaves of an evergreen tree. Other teas are produced from herbs, flowers, and roots. Some people have allergies to these teas. For instance, chamomile is a plant cousin of ragweed and could produce an allergic reaction. Tea leaves contain fluoride, which is beneficial to our teeth. Polyphenols, chemicals considered to be anticancer and heart Disease, are also abundant. |
Michael T. Murray, N.D., Joseph E. Pizzorno, N.D.
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 The prevalence of celiac Disease is much higher in these areas than in other parts of the World. For example, celiac Disease is estimated to occur in one in every three hundred people in southwest Ireland while it is virtually unknown in Asia. In the United States, with its diverse genetic background, the frequency rate is roughly one in 2,500.
Chemistry of Grain Proteins
Gluten is the major protein component of wheat and is composed of gliadins and glutenins. Only the gliadin portion has been demonstrated to activate celiac Disease. |
| It is a sad fact that while we are grossly outspending the rest of the World in health care, as a nation we are not composed of healthy individuals.
Table 2 shows the appalling statistics: almost half of all working Americans have either a serious chronic Disease (arthritis, heart Disease, high blood pressure, cancer, gall bladder Disease, diabetes, rheumatism, emphysema, serious arteriosclerosis, and so on) or are in poor health. But the health of their nonworking dependents is even worse. |
| Learned Optimism1 and one of the World s leading authorities on optimism), we are optimists by nature. Optimism is a necessary step toward achieving self-actualization as well as our goal of ideal health. Not only does optimism help prevent Disease, but science is discovering that it's a vital ally in the healing process. Conversely, a pessimistic attitude can seriously erode our health. Detailed evidence supports the contention that optimists live longer, suffer from fewer and less severe diseases, and are much healthier than pessimists. |
| According to many experts, including the World Health Organization, we are coming dangerously close to arriving at a "post-antibiotic era," in which many infectious diseases will once again become almost impossible to treat because of an overreliance on antibiotics (see the chapter Immune Support for further information). |
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