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In the majority of type II diabetics, the underlying cause is an underactive thyroid. Maybe you've already had your thyroid tested and been told that it’s "normal."

The thyroid test that’s most commonly used today is wildly inaccurate.

In today's high stress lifestyle which places large demands, we are under more stress than ever. We're bombarded by stimuli, including electrical via computers and cellular devices, which can produce negative endocrine changes.

High stimuli places large demands on both our thyroid and adrenal glands, causing them to work overtime and sometimes cannot keep pace, not allowing enough active hormones to meet the body's needs.

Moreover, today's depleted soils do not permit sufficient iodine intake to fullfill the body's requirements for optimal functioning.

The thyroid requires sufficient iodine in order to make the active form of thyroid hormone. Beyond sea vegetables and fish, there isn't enough iodine in their diet.

Certainly, iodine has been fortified to salt, known as iodized salt yet with all the anti-salt advice from public health officials, some people have cut back on iodized salt, while others have opted to replace iodized salt with other forms which have little or no iodine in them.

Iodine was once fortified into baked goods, containing as much as 1 milligram of iodine per slice of bread. Due to erroneous information on rat studies, the halide mineral, bromine was put in its place.

Bromine and iodine are known as halogen minerals. Other minerals in the halogen group are fluorine (think fluoride) and chlorine. Being halides or halogen elements means that they can attach to the same receptors in your cells.

Consider for a moment that we are highly subjected to vast quantity of halogen molecules in our food supply and environment. Chlorinated and fluoridated water supplies, bathing in and drinking the water will can can displace iodine in thyroid and tissue cells.

When we eat breads, we often are taking in bromide, which serves to prevent the split top when bread is baked. Bromide is contained in some drinks in the form of brominated vegetable oils.

So while many brush their teeth with fluroide containing toothpastes, cook with fluoride and chlorinated water, eating baked 'goods' with bromide, we are interferring with our thyroids function by displacing iodine with other halogen elements.

These other halogens are taking the iodine seat and as a result, the thyroid gland does not produce adequate thyroid hormone.

Standard blood testing reveals nothing, because the test cannot differentiate between a thyroid hormone with iodine versus a non active thyroid hormone with another halogen in its place. Tests will typically reveal a "normal" thyroid hormone output, but it isn't true!

Beyond halide elements, another blocker of healthy thyroid function is from mercury contamination.

Mercury goes immediately where iodine is supposed to go, directly into the thyroid first. Autopsies have revealed that mercury concentrates in large quantities in thyroid tissue, perturbing enzymes in the thyroid gland.

It's little wonder where all this mercury comes from, the main source comes from the dentist! Studies on rats show that it takes only 4 minutes for mercury to reach the thyroid tissue upon mercury contamination.

Given this information, it isn't hard to imagine why so many are prone to low thyroid function.

In the early part of the last century, physicians would test thyroid function by observing cholesterol levels, if they were high, chances were that thyroid was underperforming.  They would also resort to using various metabolic tests, however it proved to be too time consuming.

Later in the 20th century, a physician named Broda Barnes uncovered a very simple way to test metabolism using auxillary basal temperature. Today, it's known as the Broda Barnes test.

In the next Daily Topic, will explore ways to kick start the thyroid and bring it back to health. The end result can take between six to nine months, but the effort will pay off.

Today, diabetes mellitus (type II) is a growing epidemic. Two centuries ago, it was almost unheard of. The reason was due to the limited availability of refined sugar. Around the time of the early 1800's, only the wealthy could afford refined sugar and only the wealthy developed type II diabetes.

Modern medicine succeeds at failure and for this reason, many integrative physicians these days refer to the term, "sick care" instead of health care. The standard, orthodox 'treatment' of diabetes exacerbates the disease process while creating the appearance of proper blood test results.

The good news is that type II diabetes can be reversed, and along with it, extension of life and all the parameters that go along with it.

Many patients assume that their doctor is educated on the most important aspects of the disease and treatment. In contrast, they know little about the latest and greatest and more about the profit business model that is diabetes treatment, rather than the reversal process.

In the last twenty years, there has been an explosive growth in kidney dialysis clinics, along with other facets of diabetic complications--a cottage of industry promulgated on the epic failure of diabetes 'treatment.'

There are many more examples of this, such as wound care clinics, rising "popularity" in eye treatments due to high blood sugar (retinopathy), vascular treatments, and of course cardiovascular complications which are strongly associated with the condition.

Contrary to popular belief, a type 2 diabetic does not have to rely on oral medications or insulin the rest of their lives. Please read Diabetes Drugs Offer Zero Benefits.

Ninety-five percent of all diabetics are non-insulin dependent or type II. Type I diabetes, or insulin-dependent only makes up 5% of the diabetic population.

Unlike type I diabetes, which is insulin-dependent, patients with diabetes mellitus do produce some insulin, just not sufficient levels of it.

If they are pre-diabetic, they are often producing too much insulin. This is because of resistant insulin (desensitized insulin). In either case, a diabetic can suffer from abnormally high levels of sugar (glucose) in the blood.

When the amount of sugar (glucose) in the blood increases, usually after a meal, it triggers the release of the hormone insulin from the pancreas. Insulin acts as a switch to allow muscle and fat cells to remove glucose from the blood and stimulate the liver to metabolize glucose, allowing blood sugar levels to normalize.

While refined sugar is certainly a contributor to type 2 diabetes, there are many other potential factors that can trigger it over time.

Ultimately, type 2 diabetes is a result of an electron depletion. In simple terms, it means an electron shortage or a dimished capacity for the body to produce sufficient levels of antioxidant enzymes (glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase).

When free radicals, or unpaired electrons increase because of dietary or environmental insults, it can rapidly damage the body tissues unless the cells can produce enough antioxidant enzymes.

One obvious question might be, what causes an electron depletion in the first place? The answer can be one or many. For now, let's focus on some of the stronger culprits.

The leading culprits are an existing root canal, or an accumulation of toxic metals (i.e, lead, mercury, iron, etc.) and/or undiagnosed hypothyroidism (low thyroid). Root canals are a leading source of very noxious bacteria, whose waste material can overwhelm our reserve of antioxidant enzymes.

Please read Why You Should Never Get A Root Canal.

Virtually anyone with type 2 diabetes has an undiagnosed low thyroid, despite laboratory results revealing "normal ranges."

The reason is that TSH (Thyroid stimulating hormone) does not take into account of thyroid hormone resistance. This is similar to insulin resistance, however thyroid testing of this sort no longer exists. Also, TSH test does not distinguish if the thyroid is rich in iodine or other halogen minerals. If the thyroid is loaded with toxic bromide or chlorine, the amount of thyroid shown on tests will not reflect true activity.

A better gauge of thyroid function is with detection of low basal temperature along with a few classic low thyroid symptoms. Click here for a website that describes how to test your basal temperature at home.

The following are potential signs of poor thyroid function when accompanied with abnormal basal temperature readings:

Sluggishness

Increased sensitivity to cold

Constipation

Pale, dry skin

A puffy face

Hoarse voice

An elevated blood cholesterol level

Unexplained weight gain

Muscle aches, tenderness and stiffness

Pain, stiffness or swelling in your joints

Muscle weakness

Heavier than normal menstrual periods

Brittle fingernails and hair

Depression

Fatigue

If you find yourself exhibiting some of these symptoms you might assume you need thyroid medication, however this may not necessarily be the case.

Will discuss this and other causive factors and solutions for diabetes type 2 in the next Daily Topic.

Breast cancer is completely preventable, yet most people are not aware that in the majority of cases, it starts with your teeth!

Still, very few are aware that breast cancer is now curable. It is estimated that over forty thousand women will perish in the United States from breast cancer this year. It is also estimated that well over 200 thousand will receive a diagnosis of breast cancer annually.

Sometimes when I approach a food establishment, I am solicited with an offer to donate money for cancer research. Quite often, it is for prostate or breast cancer. Depending on the circumstances, I might respond to the solicitor by saying, "There's already a cure!"

None of this seems to matter though, because cancer fundraising will probably continue with seemingly no end in site. I can only imagine how many jobs this supports, such as administration, marketing, drug research, etcetera.

All the billions of dollars raised annually is staggering, but will there ever really be a cure?

There is an organization that exists in Ecuador since January, 2006 who are curing breast cancer today, and at the same time, completely ignored by cancer foundations.

In the United States, it is estimated that less than five percent of the population survives more than 5 years after chemotherapy, radiation or radical surgery. Cancer is a 'perfect' business model, the customers spend everything they can afford until death ceases payment.

So what actually causes breast cancer anyway? Simply stated, a decrease in cancer suppressing proteins via neurotoxins from the jawbone.

There are various proteins that protect against cancer, however continuous exposure to certain toxins, from cavitations, root canals, decaying bone under extracted teeth and decomposition in older crowned teeth can initialize cancer by decreasing cancer suppressing proteins.

When the carcinogenic dose is reached, proteins that regulate healthy cell division (apoptosis) are inhibited, allowing cancer to flourish.

Research demonstrates that in a 100% of all breast cancer patients, an infection occuring in the teeth, such as a root canal occupies the very same acupuncture meridian in the ten thousand cadavers studied.

Toxins that emanate from root canals and cavitations have been tested for the sort of toxins to inhibit cancer guarding proteins. Primarily, there are four  proteins that guard against cancer. These proteins are known as p21, p27, p53 and CDK2.

To get an idea of just how potent toxins are from root canal teeth, a washing diluted 20 times over inhibits the binding of protective proteins to DNA.

Root canals are essentially decaying bone tissue, which result in toxic waste residue from festering, anaerobic bacteria. No doctor would never leave a dead organ in the body, because the "vultures" of the body will feast upon it, leaving behind extremely toxic debris.

I've mentioned previously that cancer is actually a mold or a fungus, which was discovered by the Italian oncologist, Dr. Tullio Simoncini. When there is a steady stream of dental toxins, they allow ripe conditions for fungus such as Candida to flourish.

As of this writing, root canal procedures are increasing in the United States by seven percent annually. This happens to mirror the rate of increasing cancer rates in the USA.

The fastest way to cure breast cancer requires a trip to Equador! In about 30 minutes a breast tumor can be permanently eradicated. Adding to a patient's peace of mind, they will guarantee success for life or the second procedure is free!

Unlike conventional cancer 'treatment,' this procedure is lighter on the wallet and on normal cells. After using a special thermal imaging device, which confirms the presence of cancer, the procedure for eradication will be used. It is called Radio Frequency Ablation (RFA).

The following video below is a demonstration of the procedure. If you need information about this, please call the toll-free number 1-888-9HEALME (1-888-943-2563). 

Click here for video

Everyday, untold thousands are receiving a scary diagnosis of prostate or breast cancer. Immediately following the news, patients are rushed into treatment, but with huge consequences.

A lot of patients have no interest in alternative treatments, and it's no surprise, because as far as they know, their oncologist "knows all the latest stuff, he/she must have all the best answers."

When men are told they have prostate cancer, they are often rushed into invasive surgery to have the prostate removed. Fear works, and suddenly, many of these patients find themselves with no more sexual function and in diapers.

However, based on new research there’s a better than two-thirds chance that doing nothing is a better strategy!

When the researchers at the University of Liverpool examined 500 patients with prostate cancer, they observed that two-thirds of the men did not even have the protein called Hsp-27, which is associated with cancer growth.

In other words, without this protein, the cancer will hardly grow--It's virtually benign!

Considering that two-thirds of the prostate cancer patients studied did not have Hsp-27, they would suffer needly if rushed into orthodox treatment.

This all being said, if you know someone who has just been diagnosed with prostate cancer, at the very least suggest they check for Hsp-27 before submitting themselves to a life of incontinence and/or impotence and possibly other complications of surgery.

In an earlier Daily Topic, "Mammograms Increase Breast Cancer Risk" I mentioned that most of the time, tumors simply regress on their own. Unfortunately, cancer treatment is a business--a complication in of itself.

While physicians theoretically could focus on the viability of these cancers, they are instructed instead to excecute the most profitable way to get rid of them.

Cancer is a growing industry, fueled by failure, just like diabetes and other degenerative conditions.

In the case of breast cancer, there's another fear driven situation where upon diagnosis, women are opting to have their breasts cut off, usually needlessly.

The average person does not really understand what cancer is, so they subject themselves to fear blinding actions most people would normally never consider.

In the past, I covered the problems with "early detection" and medical screenings, such as with "Screening Yourself Down Thin Ice" where men and women place themselves at greater risk by ultiizing "early detection" tests looking for problems, later to be victims of the medical industry.

Men are poked and proded, women suffer from the compression of their breasts with a dash of radiation, but instead of giving them peace of mind, it's an anxious process and often turns up more trouble. 

According to the New York Times, an article confirmed what I and many others have been saying, that many, many cancers vanish without treatment.

Dr. Thea Tisty, a professor of pathology at the University of California, San Francisco says that everyone, by middle or old age, is riddled with cancer and pre-cancerous cells.

A group lead by Dr. Thea Tisty noticed plenty of cancer cells in autopsies on people who died of other causes, with no idea that they had cancer cells or precancerous cells.

If we get screened too frequently, we are increasing the profit opportunity for the cancer industry, while putting ourselves at risk for orthodox "cut, burn and poison."

The real tragedy here is that most patients actually die from cancer 'treatment' than from the disease itself. Worse, most of these cases could be prevented by avoiding the screening process.

In my view, prevention is everything. In the next Daily Topic will discuss the best options known on what to do if one has advanced breast cancer.

If one is concerned about having breast cancer and they need confirmation, they can opt for thermography screening instead of mammography.

Quite often, some patients with unrelenting back pain could be "doing themselves in" with a prescription cholesterol lowering, statin drug.

It's not unusual for doctors to ignore their patients complaints of pain, "Is it the statin drug causing my muscle pain?" Certainly physicians are aware that statin drugs cause muscle damage, yet it is taught that this is only a "rare" side-effect of the drug.

Finally, a new study reveals that most integrative physicians have known all along about these drugs, that they damage virtually everyone who uses them, and worse than previously thought.

If a patient had concerns over statin drug muscle injury, a physician would test blood levels of creatine phosphokinase, and if high would suggest muscle damage. It turns out, this test is just not accurate.

The "rare" muscle injury suffered from statin drug users is probably closer to 97%. It's been amazing to me how often doctors of patients would just brush off their patient's concerns of muscle pain and weakness.

The authors of the study mentioned that normal or moderately elevated levels of creatine phosphokinase do not exclude statin-associated muscle injury. They went on to state that alternative treatment strategies for patients with muscle symptoms need to be evaluated.

When 83 patients were evaluated in the study, 44 of those were on the cholesterol lowering statin drugs complained of muscle pain, while another 19 on the drugs reported no complaints.

Of the 44 patients who complained of pain, 25 of them sustained significant damage to their muscle tissue. Interestingly, of the patients with muscle damage, 96% of them had levels of creatine phosphokinase in the normal ranges!

This study confirms the true chaos that is indeed occuring in those who are taking statin drugs, and if the muscle damage isn't present yet, it is quite likely that it will be.

Of the patients taking the statin drugs who suffered no pain, 5% of them had biopsies revealing muscle damage.

The authors of the study had stated that the results may be an underestimate of the actual extent of muscle damage. This is because some of the biopsies may have been taken at the site of unaffected muscles.

Aside from the findings of this study, it's important to note that cholesterol has nothing to do with heart disease. Moreover, the only 'benefit' of these statins is the reduction of inflammation, yet the same results can be achieved with a thousand milligrams of vitamin C.

It's not certain as of this writing, yet researchers currently believe that statins in some may raise the activity of the vitamin D receptor, possibly lowering inflammation. However, there is a tinge of irony to this effect, because at the same time, statin drugs appear to cause a vitamin D deficiency.

If this is indeed accurate, it may well explain why these statin drugs can create "mysterious" pain in chronic back pain sufferers.

If what you've read so far isn't enough to have you question the use of statin drugs, the researchers at the University of Nottingham found that some statins can lead to an increased risk of liver dysfunction, acute kidney failure, myopathy and cataracts in patients.

When in doubt, a good dosage for most on vitamin D3 supplementation is 5,000 IU per day.

If you've tried "anything" and "everything" to get get rid of your chronic back pain with no result, new evidence suggests there are two reasons why.

Before I reveal this, please make sure to read an older Daily Topic article called, "The Stealth Causes Of Back Pain" first, if you haven't already.

The new evidence reveals that a Vitamin D deficiency maybe the reason why back pain lingers on without resolve, and it makes little difference what the actual cause was.

When six patients with a history of intractable back pain were given a sufficient dose of vitamin D, each found relief. Bear in mind that each patient had disabling, chronic back pain and were taking pain medication. 

Back surgery often fails, and these patient's histories were no exception.

The medical histories of the test group were interesting, because relief was found despite series of compounding events. In one such case, a 63-year-old man had a history of four back operations for disc protrusion, the last of which occured 15 years ago.

His blood level of vitamin D (25, hydroxy vitamin D) was only 20 nmol/l (nanimoles per liter) or a measure I prefer to use was 8 ng/mL (8 nanograms per milliliter), this is incredibly low!

He was placed on 4,000 international units of vitamin D3. Six weeks later, his vitamin D level was 87 nmol/l or 35 ng/mL and his back pain vanished!

A patient also enrolled in the study was 47-years old who had a marginally successful back surgery, although his symptoms returned six months following the operation.

His pain increased to the point where he was incapable of normal activity, and needed pain medication to get through the day. He was given 2,000 international units of vitamin D3. Eventually, his back pain ceased and was able to return to his former full capacity, no longer hindered, no longer required to take any more medication.

In the case of another patient, this time a young women aged 30-years-old. She had chronic back pain that worsened after pregnancy. Unable to work for several years, her medication was only marginally helpful for pain relief.

She was found to have a severe deficiency of vitamin D, and was started on 2,000 internation units. Her back pain completely resolved within six weeks and was able to return to work.

When first checked, her initial vitamin D level was only 18 nmol/l or 7 ng/mL. Her levels were brought up to 82 nmol/l or 33 ng/mL.

The obvious lesson here is to check your vitamin D status before considering any pain treatment or surgery. Other painful conditions such as fibromyalgia are sometimes really undiagnosed osteomalacia, which is characterized as softening of the bones due to a lack of vitamin D. The basic symptom of osteomalacia is bone pain.

There is no universal dosage of vitamin D that will bring a patients levels up to healthful levels, because everyone is very different in this area. Some may need only a few thousand units per day to normalize their 25 hydroxy vitamin D levels, while others may need as much 20,000 IU per day.

The target desirable levels of vitamin D are greater than 40 ng/mL or 100 nmol/l. You're vitamin D deficient if your levels are between 20- 40 ng/mL or 50 - 100 nmol/l, insufficient at 10 - 20 ng/mL or 25 -50 mmol/l and deficient below 10 ng/mL or 25 nmol/l.

Finally, maximal levels of 25, hydroxy vitamin D should not go much further than 90 ng/mL or 250 nmol/l.

For the average person, I would suggest starting out with 5,000 IU per day and if necessary, have your levels checked if relief is not found.

The other overlooked cause of back pain will be mentioned in the Next Daily Topic.

Using sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), will help in any stage of kidney dysfunction, whether early on or in the latest stages, including dialysis.

Recent research on animals have proved to postively alter gene expression in obstructed kidneys using two common Chinese herbs, namely, Astragalus and Dong Quai.

Taken together, these herbs have demonstrated to have profound kidney protective effects, including anti-fibrotic effects, which means to prevent scarring.

The function of these herbs were found to fight fibrosis, inhibit excess clotting, decrease free radicals, and regulate calcium-phosphate metabolism.

In addition, Astragalus and Dong Quai improve microvascular lesions that obstruct proper kidney filtration by increasing blood flow to oxygen starved tissues, augmenting the recovery of blood flow and glomerular filtration rate after oxygen starvation (reperfusion injury).

These herbs can improve the balance of vaso-activators such as nitric oxide and angiotensin, which act to dilate and constrict as needed. Further, to encourage the growth of new blood vessels while inhibiting the release of intracellular calcium ions.

Why use ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers when these two herbs are hundreds of times safer?

In one case, a 77-year-old woman with nephrotic syndrome, a condition in which the kidneys are damaged, causing them to leak large amounts of protein was treated with the following medication: ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors), angiotensin receptor blockers, both of which prevent a major kidney artery from clenching, cyclosporine A and mycophenolate mofetil, both of which are immunosuppressant drugs, all without response.

After more than 2 years of treatment without improvement, she began therapy with Astragalus. She took a dose of fifteen grams per day, finding a significant reduction of protein wasting in the urine, called proteinuria.

Her nephrotic syndrome recurred after temporary cessation of astragalus, with a complete remission of nephrosis observed after its reintroduction.

Another valuable "herb" is a mushroom, called Cordyceps. The patented form called Cordyceps Mycelia CS-4, has been well studied on animals and is a potent kidney protectant. Cordyceps has been used for the kidneys in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Integrative physicians have found real benefits in terms of lab numbers with kidney function in patients, such as better creatinine, albumin, and Glomerular filtration rates (GFR).

If the kidneys are beginning to degenerate, this is when to get aggressive, because if this condition is allowed to get much worse, the basic diet and many nutrient supplementation becomes far more complicated than most would imagine.

Using forms of Vitamin B6, including the active forms pyridoxal-5-phosphate and pyridoxamine should only be used in early kidney disease, as they can become dangerous in the later stages.

The mineral, magnesium is crucial for proper kidney function and its deficiency often leads or exacerbates diabetes, which helps further along kidney degeneration. Yet if the kidneys are failing, they may not adequately clear out magnesium and can create a toxic overload.

It is a well known fact that kidney patients are urged to adopt a low protein diet in order to reduce strain on the kidneys. However, one superfood is the exception to this. Spirulina is a very protein rich, microscopic blue-green algae, which is an excellent source of nutrients.

Numerous studies have shown spirulina to provide kidney protective effects in experimental animals, despite its high protein content. Besides spirulina's impressive nutrient profile, it protects against heavy metal poisoning such as lead, which affects the kidney.

Clinically, it has observed that spirulina also helps real human patients. However a problem study to demonstrate this may not occur for decades.

In conclusion, kidney disease is a very complex degenerative process, involving multiple systems and stages of development. Please be sure to review any of the previous information with a physician or nephrologist, knowledgable and capable of integrating such methodologies with a patient's individual biochemistry and stage of kidney disease.

The homegrown epidemic called diabetes, has contributed to the flourishing  business of kidney dialysis centers. The increase of activity around major cities in the United States has been explosive over the past 20 years.

If there's any doubt in the epic failure of conventional medicine, look no further than diabetes. It's the pathway towards vascular diseases, such as heart attacks and leg amputations--and if that doesn't kill the patient, eventual kidney failure will.

Kidney dialysis clears out the toxins in the blood that the damaged kidney can no longer excrete into urine. Of course, dialysis is not curative, it merely buys a little time until the Grim Reaper finishes he or she off.

So naturally, it is prudent to avoid getting diabetes by eating a diet low in sugar and refined carbohydrates. Before kidney failure begins, diabetes is usually already well established, unless accomplished through drug poisoning. That being said, it is crucial to maintain proper regulation of blood sugar levels with the correct diet and supplementation.

Speaking of diet, a typical diet of a kidney disease patient is particulary bland, consisting of low protein and high carbohydrate. Of course the carbohydrates should be specified to be of vegetable origin.

Unfortunately, an over eager dietician may suggest a particulary bad idea, such as salt restriction, which is more than unnecessary, it could be dangerous.

Studies have shown that salt restriction may be linked to organ damage, because low blood sodium, known as hyponatremia can damage the heart and kidneys.

One mineral you really should avoid if you suspect kidney trouble is

fluoride. It has been demonstrated in rats that fluoride enhances absorption of another toxic mineral, aluminum, which again is bad for the kidneys. This is an instance to avoid all sources of fluoride, including tap water and toothpaste to name just two.

Before the eventual threat of kidney failure looms, some medications are used to control symptoms related to the kidney, such as excessive fluid accumulation and swelling. A very common water pill (diuretic) prescribed today for kidney issues is called furosemide, better known as Lasix.

Furosemide is also prescribed to alleviate fluide accumulation due to more severe conditions such as heart failure, cirrhosis, chronic kidney failure, and nephrotic syndrome. However, this drug is harsh on the kidneys although still helpful for relief of kidney problems.

While furosemide is a powerful diuretic, it depletes electrolytes and in advanced stages of kidney failure, it suddently becomes too dangerous to use.

The garden "weed" known as dandelion happens to work just as effectively as forosemide, without the negative side-effects or puting a kidney patient at risk. Dandelion has been used traditionally as a diuretic and was very surprised to find that it was not properly studied until just recently.  

In the August, 2009 Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, the diuretic effect in human subjects was evaluated using an extract of dandelion

to significant effect. The pilot study demonstrated what traditional herblists have known for centuries--dandelion works!

If one is approaching kidney failure, baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate can be a life saver. While it's even FDA approved for kidney acidosis, baking soda is also one of the most basic medicines for kidney disease.

Recently, scientists at the Royal London Hospital revealed that baking soda can dramatically slow the progress of chronic kidney disease. In essence,

baking soda can forestall kidney dialysis, possibly indefinitely.

When the proper protocol is followed, kidney dialysis can be reversed along with the use of baking soda. Baking soda or sodium bicarbonate can be helpful as a bath soak, however the oral route is much more effective.

Normally, the pancreas secretes bicarbonate during the alkaline phase of digestion, which occurs during the simultaneous release of digestive enzymes. If the pancreas becomes weak, and subsequently fails to deliver enough bicarbonate, the kidneys will provide some back-up, as they produce a significant amount each day.

However, if the kidneys fail, there is little left to control the acidity or pH balance of the blood. This is when oral baking soda or sodium bicarbonate can really save your "neck" or kidneys for that matter.

Well before the kidneys get into any trouble, a hyperglycemic state, or having high blood sugar or diabetes can induce magnesium shortages. While it is prudent to maintain sufficient intake of magnesium for most everyone, if you have failing kidneys, magnesium levels may rise too steeply because of an excretion problem.

However, there are patients with low magnesium levels despite kidney trouble, so adequate kidney function is required before administering

any magnesium supplementation.

If a kidney patient reaches a stage where they experience some swelling (edema) and protein wasting in the urine, it my underscore a deficiency in blood vessel and capillary building nutrients, namely vitamin C and bioflavonoids.

As mentioned before, clinicians are especially cautious concerning vitamin C, as it is widely believed to be associated with kidney stones. However, this is not exactly the case. Often, it is the absence of B-vitamins and sufficient magnesium to be the real culprit behind kidney stone formation.

Moreover, vitamin C stops the formation or oxalate stones, and actually dissolves phosphate and struvite kidney stones. Before the kidney condition worsens, it is important to supply enough vitamin C and sources of bioflavonids to nourish the collagen based filtrations to allow proper handling of protein.

A common sign of a vitamin C deficiency and/or bioflavonoids is bleeding gums, so heed this warning and supplement.

A well known compound from a family of bioflavonoids, called Pycnogenol offers potent protection against kidney damage.

Pycnogenol is an extract of the French maritime pine tree, and can offset kidney damage caused by high blood pressure say Italian researchers. This was reported in mid March this year.

In a clinical study, pycnogenol was found to be statistically significant further enhanced kidney cortical flow velocities, by 8% for diastolic flow and 12% for systolic flow, relative to values found for the a group taking the drug ramipril only.

Kidney disease is a very complex degenerative process, involving multiple systems and stages of development. That being said, it is critically important to review any of the previous information with a knowledgable physician or nephrologist, capable of integrating such methodologies with a patient's individual biochemistry and stage of kidney disease.

In the next Daily Topic, will wrap up some final considerations on preventing and treating kidney disease.

A kidney contains about one million nephrons, which are the filtration systems of the body. They regulate the amount of water, salts, glucose, urea and other crucial minerals.

One of the most important measurements of kidney function is called the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). The glomerular filtration rate is commonly derived from a formula in which age, sex, race, and plasma creatinine are relevant variables. GFR above 90 milliliters per minute is normal, and below 15 denotes end stage kidney disease.

An issue of vicious cycle causation is elevated homocysteine in the blood, which not only contributes to atherosclerosis, but can bring on kidney failure. This cycle allows homocysteine to build up even higher, causing more atherosclerosis.

An unfortunate paradox of end stage kidney disease is that homocysteine lowering B-vitamins such as B6, folate and B12 can actually worsen it. Based on research conducted at five university medical centres.

The water solubility of B-vitamins is easily excretable in healthy people, however those with kidney failure may not be able to do so based on adverse effects observed in the research. Therefore, using heavy metal chelation such as OSR, should first be used until kidney health is strong enough to handle taking supplemental B-vitamins.

As the kidney improves with heavy metal chelation, the root of elevated homocysteine may stablize, and if it does successfully, the thyroid gland may also improve. The state of the thyroid is intimately involved in the regulation of homocysteine, thus treating the cause of homocysteine elevation maybe a key to success.

Conversely, limiting treatment to lowering homocysteine only, for chronic kidney disease does not improve outcome.

The kidney normally plays an important role in the metabolism, degradation, and excretion of several thyroid hormones. It is not surprising therefore that impairment in kidney function leads to disturbed thyroid physiology.

Failing kidney function results in all levels of hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis faltering, including alterations in hormone production, distribution, and excretion. This means with an expectation of improvement of kidney function, hormone balance will improve accordingly.

If kidney health becomes severe, it may bring on secondary hyperparathyroidism, due to problems with the ability to break down and remove phosphate. A patient at this time may also need the active form of vitamin D, called calicitriol as it may lose the ability to synthesize vitamin D on its own.

Careful controlled doses of the active form of vitamin D or pre-formed, such as calcitriol and alfacalcidol can be administered to those with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

As mentioned earlier, atherosclerosis can bring on kidney failure. Atherosclerosis in the peripheral arteries implies atherosclerosis elsewhere, and in such places when poor circulation occurs in the kidneys, it is the hallmark of chronic kidney failure and, ultimately, end-stage kidney disease.

So while metal chelation and Benfotiamine can allow the kidneys to recover, amongst other important nutritional considerations depending upon the stage, there is another nutrient to help prevent the dreaded possibility of hemodialysis, the mechanical, man-made version of the kidney.

Despite the normal role that water soluble B-vitamins provide to lower homocysteine levels, they are of no use in end stage kidney disease, and as stated before, can make things only worse, despite lowering homocysteine levels.

The alternative is the use of propionyl-L-carnitine (PLC), which not only lowers homocysteine, it also lowers endothelin-1, which constricts the arteries. As the kidneys begin to deteriorate, they produce diminishing quantities of the amino acid, carnitine. Taking either acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) or propionyl-L-carnitine (PLC) can help protect the kidney and are more bioavailable than regular L-carnitine.

An excellent addition to PLC or ALC carnitine is Lipoic acid. Lipoic acid is an ideal, natural compound that augments kidney protection. Lipoic acid is both water and fat soluble, therefore it is widely distributed in all tissue.

Lipoic acid scavenges hydroxyl radicals, hypochlorous acid and singlet oxygen while exerting transitional metal chelation. Vitamin C is often shunned in kidney treatments due to concerns over oxalate stones, so it is helpful that

lipoic acid "recycles" endogenous antioxidants such as Vitamin C and E.

Several clinical studies have shown lipoic acid as a therapeutic agent for such diverse conditions as diabetes, atherosclerosis, insulin resistance, neuropathy, which in part are all related to kidney function.

It is important to note that the synthetic antioxidant, Oxidative Stress Relief (OSR), should be taken at least 4-hours apart from lipoic acid.

In the next Daily Topic, will conclude some final treatment options and considerations to help prevent end stage kidney failure.

In the previous Daily Topic, a lot of emphasis was placed on heavy metal detoxification via oral chelation for treatment of poor kidney function. Heavy metal chelation isn't everything of course, there is more to treating various stages of kidney dysfunction.

In most cases, kidney dysfunction is a progressive disease, although there can be cases where it can strike without warning. Typically this occurs during drug use, prescription, over-the-counter and otherwise. If you want to hold on to your kidneys, avoid combining acetaminophen (Tylenol) with alcohol.

An extremely common cause of progressive kidney dysfunction is the consumption of food that leads to advanced glycation end products (AGEs).

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are derived primarily from  technologically processed "food" products, especially from fructose and acryalimades from high temperature cooked grain products, such as pastries, donuts, cookies and cakes.

Acrylamides develop in foods when they are heated above the boiling point. Frying and other high temperature cooking methods will produce acrylamide residues in foods containing grain. Microwave form of cooking is a sure way to create acrylamides in food such as popcorn.

If you use a microwave, you might want to toss it out--keep in mind that the Russians banned microwaves in 1976, and there are many other reasons to avoid using them, but maybe that's a topic for another time.

It's fairly well known that many kidney diseases are brought on by diabetes, and this is no surprise because diabetes manifests the wasting of nutrients, especially the mineral magnesium, and vitamins thiamine (vitamin B1) and pyridoxine (vitamin B6).

A very prevelant kidney disease that is often caused by diabetes is nephropathy. If it's not caused by diabetes, it's is almost always caused by a drug, such as the gout drug, allopurinol or by pain reliever medications such as aspirin and acetaminophen.

One way to treat the incipient development of nephropathy is with high-dose thiamine and benfotiamine therapy. Vitamin B1 or thiamine is absolutely critical for the human body, but unfortunately for the diabetic, thiamine is flushed out of the system before it can protect tissue such as the kidneys, the arteries, the heart and the eyes against the ravages of glycosylation.

In simple terms, glycosylation refers to a prolonged level of glucose in the blood and its interaction with red blood cells during their 120-day cycle. The more sustained an elevation of blood glucose occurs, the greater the potential tissue damage will occur to various organs and tissues that are not dependent on insulin for their absorption of glucose.

Kidneys, blood vessels, peripheral nerves and lenses of the eye are more susceptible to damage from periods of high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) than other organs due to their lack of insulin dependence.

When therapeutic doses of thiamine and its fat soluble form, known as benfotiamine are introduced to a kidney patient, their enzyme levels of transketolase increase in kidney microcapillaries. These micropcapillaries filter the blood and are called the glomeruli.

Transketolase is essential enzyme for initial processes that ultimately are required for biosynthetic reactions involving oxidation-reductions to protect against the toxicity of ROS (reactive oxygen species) for the regeneration of reduced glutathione. 

Unfortunately, mainstream medicine completely ignores a diabetic's needs for high dose thiamine or its fat soluble equivalent, benfotiamine that are needed for transketolase. Sadly, most nephrologists (kidney specialists) have not even heard of benfotiamine.

If so-called 'modern' medicine were designed for the benefit of the patient, and not the profitability of the treatment, I would be hard pressed to imagine any doctor not knowing about benfotiamine.

Because benfotiamine is fat-soluble, it can remain in the tissue much longer than regular thiamine or vitamin B1 that is water soluble. Diabetics lose these vitamins like thiamine so easily, and even more so when they are taking prescription drugs such as diuretics, like Lasix (furosemide).

While the commonly prescribed diuretic drug, hydrochlorothiazide used in diabetic, hypertensive and kidney patients does contain some thiamine, it's not nearly enough, and taking it will make diabetes worse which will hurt the kidneys even more.

If nephrologists knew about the therapeutic potential of benfotiamine, they would "prescribe" this vitamin for all of their patients. In therapeutic doses, it will strongly inhibit the development of microalbuminuria.

Microalbuminuria is a condition where abnormally high amounts of albumin are detected in the urine, essentially protein wasting through the kidneys.

Having microalbuminuria is a key factor in erectile dysfunction or any type of endothelial tissue.

A few years ago, a prospective patient was planning to make a trip to California from New York City to find relief for his kidneys, which were showing signs of atrophy. Most of this lab tests with respect to kidney function were abnormal and he had bouts of edema (water retention) which really concerned him.

I told him to take a 1,500 milligrams of benfotiamine every day while he was preparing to make flight arrangements some three weeks in the future. About four weeks later he called me and said he felt so good that he cancelled his trip, and he later reported that his lab tests were very much improved.

There's more to cover, so look out for part 4 in the next Daily Topic.

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