LewRockwell.com
ANTI-STATE•ANTI-WAR•PRO-MARKET
The End Of All Chronic Age-Related Disease
May 3, 2014
In reality the U.S. has the most technically advanced disease-care
system in the world. It is not committed towards promoting health but
rather to delivery of repeated treatment to allay symptoms rather than
address underlying causes of disease.
While the life expectancy in some backward nations exceeds that of the United States it never dawns upon the public that they are being gamed to ensure Big Pharma and Big Doctor has a steady flow of patients to treat.
Now if some investigator were to reveal that modern medicine has intentionally hidden a sure cancer cure, or uncovers a way to avert heart attacks that is being concealed from view, the public might be prompted to think twice about the misplaced faith they have put in the US healthcare system.
What if a universal remedy for all known age-related disease that modern medicine hides in the closet were exposed to the light of day? Would that shake your faith in modern medicine?
Such a cure-all medical procedure exists, and while it is widely practiced, it is performed for the wrong reasons and is highly underutilized.
If you regularly underwent the medical procedure during your adult years that I am about to disclose, which by the way does not require a doctor’s prescription, you would likely live very long and very healthy, without need for drugs and be able to save hundreds of thousands of dollars. (By the way, you aren’t being set up to buy anything here.)
I am going to lead readers to a single inexpensive medical procedure that is simply underutilized that has been conclusively proven to cure all chronic age-related disease. The word cure is used with its full unqualified meaning, though re-treatment from time to time would be required.
Most age-related diseases are linked to each other genetically
Modern medicine is divided up into specialties and medical treatments are rendered with drugs designed for each and every disease. Yet, upon examination, it is becoming increasingly clear that a cluster of common diseases has a sole origin. The genes that activate in these diseases overlap each other.
For example, Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration, heart and kidney failure all have a common provoking factor – diabetes (elevated blood sugar and insulin accompanied by inability to utilize insulin, what is called insulin resistance). But patients who suffer from these maladies will be examined by a number of medical specialists and prescribed different medicines that address each specific location of their disease (eyes, kidneys, brain, heart) with the threat of excessive medication (aka polypharmacy) and drug interactions. Yet these all appear to be one giant umbrella disease. And their underlying cause may be linked to the accumulation of a metal in your body.
The hidden treatment
The treatment I am talking about is well established scientifically and has been considered safe for a longer time than when the era of modern medicine began with the introduction of the “magic bullet” penicillin in 1928. And this therapy is largely free of side effects and welcomingly economical.
So why don’t doctors prescribe it?
This is where it becomes painfully obvious we as Americans are all victims of a self-interested healthcare system.
The way modern medicine describes this therapy is to mischaracterize it as being archaic. Despite it appearing to be antiquated, the medical literature is replete with published evidence of its unequivocal safety and effectiveness.
Any physician can perform this 10-12 minute procedure in his office and bill health insurance under ICD-9 (international classification of diseases) code 275.09 (ICD-9 Codes) or CPT-4 code (current procedural terminology) 99195.
However, if a clinician begins to submit a high number of insurance claims for this procedure he/she will be suspected of fraud [Healthcare Fraud Shield, archives 99195] despite the fact it could save hundreds of billions (even trillions) in healthcare costs as well as millions of lives.
There are just six very limited applications which this insurance billing code can be used for. [Blue Cross/Blue Shield] One state Medicaid plan pays physicians just $15.75 [New Mexico CPT code fee schedule], which is not much of a financial incentive.
Physicians and clinics are likely to bill $100-150 for this procedure when it is not reimbursed by insurance. It is prudent to only undergo this procedure no more than six times a year.
Health ensurance, not health insurance
This medical procedure is the cheapest health insurance one can buy. Health insurance, which is likely to cost ~$2400 a year for a working adult over age 40 with a $5000 deductible, only pays the medical bills, it doesn’t ensure health. The health ensurance I am talking about would cost, without health insurance, maybe $600-750 a year for therapeutic or preventive care.
But wait a minute, there is way to get it entirely for free and perform a public service at the same time.
This procedure could also eliminate the need to take daily medications with all the compliance, side effect, unintentional overdose and drug interaction problems they pose.
You don’t need to experience symptoms of one of these age-related disease before you can undergo this procedure. You can utilize it when well.
This procedure addresses a wide array of diseases. [Journal Pharmacy Pharmacology Aug 2011] It has been successfully used to treat heart attacks, cancer, liver disease, diabetes, lung-brain-eye-kidney-artery and brain disease as well as seemingly unconquerable infectious diseases like AIDS and hepatitis (even antibiotic resistance).
This medical procedure is not likely to ever achieve FDA approval for each and every one of the broad categories of human disease mentioned above. But it is safer than any FDA-approved drug or treatment, far safer than aspirin.
Nor does it need an FDA stamp of approval. It just needs the public to roll up their sleeves and utilize it. If broadly used there would be far less doctoring, hundreds of billions of dollars fewer drugs sold, and the quality and quantity of human life would soar beyond expectation.
Furthermore, this treatment can be practiced in any country and is affordable in every economy.
Good God, what is it?
I’m sure you are now saying to yourself, “Good God, tell us what it is, won’t you, before you waste more words.”
I’ll let you click on the links (below) to the published evidence yourself.
I have to lead you by the hand a little bit and say, for the sake of your understanding some unfamiliar medical terminology, that the words phlebotomy (fle-bot-oh-me) or venesection (veen-a-sex-shun) or chelation (key-lay-shun) refer to removal of iron from blood.
Here is all the evidence:
It is not surprising that investigators have discovered a link between the de-activation of an anti-aging gene (klotho) and iron overload. [FEBS Letters Sept. 2003] The shortening of telomeres (end caps on bundles of DNA called chromosomes) is associated with accelerated aging. Accumulation of iron in the body is now associated with shortened telomeres. [American Journal Hematology June 2013]
Donating blood
According to the Red Cross, you must wait 56 days between donations of a pint of whole blood. [Red Cross] Theoretically a person could donate every two months, or 6 pints of blood a year. About 250 milligrams of iron is removed per pint of blood.
Because there are hundreds of blood donation centers throughout America, units of blood can be donated for needy trauma and hospital patients with absolutely no out-of-pocket costs. The Red Cross answers many questions about blood donation on its website. [RedCross.org] According to the Red Cross, over 15 million safe blood donations are collected each year.
Doctors may disingenuously discourage the idea of therapeutic or preventive blood letting, but first ask them if they think blood donation is a good idea. You are more likely to receive a civic-minded yes answer. But therapeutic blood letting, why that is archaic!
Duplicity of modern medicine
The modern form of blood letting is called blood plasma exchange [Medical Journal Australia Sept. 1982] or apheresis. [Transfusion Apheresis Science Feb 2010] Plasma is the liquid part of blood with white and red blood cells comprising the solid parts. Apheresis doesn’t remove the iron-rich hemoglobin, but it does replace blood plasma with albumin, an iron controlling molecule in itself. [Clinical Science Nov. 1997] This speaks for the duplicity of modern medicine.
Diet and iron
For dietary practices, limitation of iron-rich red meat is suggested after full childhood growth is achieved in males and after the child-bearing years or an early hysterectomy in females. Limitation of red meat in the diet would prolong intervals between blood donations. Red meat provides a type of iron (heme iron) that is absorbed whether the body needs it or not [Journal American Dietetic Association July 1984]
Drawing blood samples in the hospital
“Ironically,” a number of published reports warn of blood loss from repeated drawing of diagnostic blood samples from hospitalized patients. [Archives Internal Medicine Oct 2011] One published report derogatorily calls blood sampling in critically ill patients “ICU vampirism.” [British Journal Haematology Jan 2014]
While many hospitalized surgical or trauma patients may be anemic, many others may be iron overloaded and blood sampling would actually be therapeutic! It may even be the only appropriate therapy they received during hospitalization!
Chelating drugs or blood donation?
There are intravenous iron chelating drugs, but phlebotomy is the treatment of choice for iron overload because of the need for repeated thrice-daily infusions and the potential for side effects. [La Revue de Medecine Interne Jan. 2013] The drawbacks of iron chelating drugs have been described elsewhere by this author. [LewRockwell.com]
What will modern medicine do?
There have been calls for modern medicine to apply the science of iron control and blood letting to a broader list of disorders. [Journal Norwegian Medical Association June 1999] Some medical authorities call for wider use of therapeutic phlebotomy (blood letting) for conditions beyond iron overload (hemochromatosis) and excessive red blood cell production (polycythemia). [Blood Transfusion Jan 2014] One authority says “the fine control of iron would be a wise strategy for several diseases.” [Free Radical Research Aug. 2011]
While a number of adults are anemic due to bleeding conditions (aspirin use, ulcers) or due to the closeting of iron in cases of malignancy, infection and inflammation, skilled hematologists can discriminate between anemia and iron overload. Any concern over excessive loss of blood due to over-enthusiasm for blood letting, which resulted in the abandonment of this therapy over a century ago, can be allayed by vigilant testing for hemoglobin and ferritin (iron storage). [American Journal Hematology Nov 2000]
Note: blood donation is not for growing children, menstruating females in the childbearing years, nor for anyone who is anemic (ferritin iron storage level below 20).
Dr. Eugene Weinberg, an expert on iron metabolism, says an increasing number of diseases have now been linked with iron overload. Recently muscle atrophy (shrinkage), viral replication, rosacea and a lung condition have been added to the list. [Oxidative Medicine Cell Longevity April 2009]
Iron accumulation not only prematurely ages internal organs and induces disease it ages the skin and makes people look old. [Current Aging Science Dec. 2013]
Some anti-aging researchers are calling for a research effort to focus on testing safe medicines to combat iron overload and aging. [Mechanisms Ageing Development July 2010]
However, the current thrust of modern pharmacology seems to be towards development of synthetic molecules that target genes rather than chelators that control iron and its metallic companion, copper. [Chemical Research Toxicology Feb 2010]
A critical change in modern medicine would be to include the measure of iron storage (ferritin) in all complete blood counts (CBCs). [Journal Clinical Pathology Dec 2010] Ferritin levels should be in the 20-70 range for health. Disregard the “reference range” for ferritin which is the commonly-found range, not the healthy range.
Still lost in the woods
However, modern medicine is as lost over how to control iron and disease and aging today as it was when debates raged in the mid-1800s over whether blood letting was effective or should be abandoned. [Studies History Philosophy Biology Biomedical Science March 2010]
Surgeons appear puzzled as to why infection and mortality rates rise when blood is transfused to postoperative surgical patients. [Critical Care Medicine June 2006] About two-thirds of iron in the body is stored in red blood cells. A blood transfusion represents an iron infusion. Surgeons appear to be oblivious to the nature of this problem. Considerable efforts are taken during surgery to prevent undue loss of blood to prevent postoperative anemia, but some blood loss may be very therapeutic.
The public should not wait around for doctors to lead their patients out of all the confusion. Outside of cases of chronic anemia, the public does not need a doctor’s OK to donate blood on a regular basis.
Dr. Leo Zacharski and colleagues at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction, Vermont, are leading the way. Dr. Zacharski shows that blood letting (phlebotomy) cuts the risk for a mortal or non-mortal heart attack via reduction of iron stores (ferritin) by almost half. [American Health Journal Nov. 2011] But don’t anticipate cardiologists to follow his lead.
If you want to start a revolution in healthcare, just increase the reimbursement for this procedure and watch the doctors race to tell you they not only offer this procedure, they re-invented it!
Oral iron chelators
In lieu of blood donation, Eugene Weinberg, an authority on iron and disease, suggests the use of natural iron chelators. [Journal Pharmacy Pharmacology May 2006]
It may come as a surprise to learn that the modest health benefits offered by cholesterol-lowering statin drugs have recently been linked to mild reduction of iron stores (ferritin) in the body. [Endocrine June 2009]
IP6 (inositol hexaphosphate) from rice bran is nature’s iron (and copper) chelator and is considered by the Food & Drug Administration to be Generally Regarded As Safe. [Environmental Molecular Mutagenesis 2001] IP6, available from health food shops without prescription, has recently been described as an oral iron chelator with promise in preventing Alzheimer’s disease. [Journal Alzheimer’s Disease 2011; FEBS Open Bio Jan 2014] And IP6 exerts beneficial effects against many types of cancer. [Advances Nutrition Sept. 2012] IP6 is a normal component of the diet with up to 1600 mg/day consumed in vegetarian diets.
Final notes
Imagine the trillions of dollars that would return to the economy by treating the disease of premature aging due to iron overload by blood donation and/or oral iron chelators. Imagine the millions of people who would not die prematurely. Imagine the greater millions who would not suffer with chronic disease or from overtreatment with prescription medications and all their side effects.
The only honest ethics in medicine is to promote healthy people and put itself out of business. Don’t expect that to happen anytime soon. Take charge of your life and learn how to control iron and copper and enjoy many decades of healthy living.
Don’t measure your health by the amount of doctoring and medicines you take. Now that modern medicine and the health insurance industry have priced themselves beyond affordability, it would be prudent to consider the lessons of blood letting learned centuries ago.
While the life expectancy in some backward nations exceeds that of the United States it never dawns upon the public that they are being gamed to ensure Big Pharma and Big Doctor has a steady flow of patients to treat.
Now if some investigator were to reveal that modern medicine has intentionally hidden a sure cancer cure, or uncovers a way to avert heart attacks that is being concealed from view, the public might be prompted to think twice about the misplaced faith they have put in the US healthcare system.
What if a universal remedy for all known age-related disease that modern medicine hides in the closet were exposed to the light of day? Would that shake your faith in modern medicine?
Such a cure-all medical procedure exists, and while it is widely practiced, it is performed for the wrong reasons and is highly underutilized.
If you regularly underwent the medical procedure during your adult years that I am about to disclose, which by the way does not require a doctor’s prescription, you would likely live very long and very healthy, without need for drugs and be able to save hundreds of thousands of dollars. (By the way, you aren’t being set up to buy anything here.)
I am going to lead readers to a single inexpensive medical procedure that is simply underutilized that has been conclusively proven to cure all chronic age-related disease. The word cure is used with its full unqualified meaning, though re-treatment from time to time would be required.
Most age-related diseases are linked to each other genetically
Modern medicine is divided up into specialties and medical treatments are rendered with drugs designed for each and every disease. Yet, upon examination, it is becoming increasingly clear that a cluster of common diseases has a sole origin. The genes that activate in these diseases overlap each other.
For example, Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration, heart and kidney failure all have a common provoking factor – diabetes (elevated blood sugar and insulin accompanied by inability to utilize insulin, what is called insulin resistance). But patients who suffer from these maladies will be examined by a number of medical specialists and prescribed different medicines that address each specific location of their disease (eyes, kidneys, brain, heart) with the threat of excessive medication (aka polypharmacy) and drug interactions. Yet these all appear to be one giant umbrella disease. And their underlying cause may be linked to the accumulation of a metal in your body.
The hidden treatment
The treatment I am talking about is well established scientifically and has been considered safe for a longer time than when the era of modern medicine began with the introduction of the “magic bullet” penicillin in 1928. And this therapy is largely free of side effects and welcomingly economical.
So why don’t doctors prescribe it?
This is where it becomes painfully obvious we as Americans are all victims of a self-interested healthcare system.
The way modern medicine describes this therapy is to mischaracterize it as being archaic. Despite it appearing to be antiquated, the medical literature is replete with published evidence of its unequivocal safety and effectiveness.
Any physician can perform this 10-12 minute procedure in his office and bill health insurance under ICD-9 (international classification of diseases) code 275.09 (ICD-9 Codes) or CPT-4 code (current procedural terminology) 99195.
However, if a clinician begins to submit a high number of insurance claims for this procedure he/she will be suspected of fraud [Healthcare Fraud Shield, archives 99195] despite the fact it could save hundreds of billions (even trillions) in healthcare costs as well as millions of lives.
There are just six very limited applications which this insurance billing code can be used for. [Blue Cross/Blue Shield] One state Medicaid plan pays physicians just $15.75 [New Mexico CPT code fee schedule], which is not much of a financial incentive.
Physicians and clinics are likely to bill $100-150 for this procedure when it is not reimbursed by insurance. It is prudent to only undergo this procedure no more than six times a year.
Health ensurance, not health insurance
This medical procedure is the cheapest health insurance one can buy. Health insurance, which is likely to cost ~$2400 a year for a working adult over age 40 with a $5000 deductible, only pays the medical bills, it doesn’t ensure health. The health ensurance I am talking about would cost, without health insurance, maybe $600-750 a year for therapeutic or preventive care.
But wait a minute, there is way to get it entirely for free and perform a public service at the same time.
This procedure could also eliminate the need to take daily medications with all the compliance, side effect, unintentional overdose and drug interaction problems they pose.
You don’t need to experience symptoms of one of these age-related disease before you can undergo this procedure. You can utilize it when well.
This procedure addresses a wide array of diseases. [Journal Pharmacy Pharmacology Aug 2011] It has been successfully used to treat heart attacks, cancer, liver disease, diabetes, lung-brain-eye-kidney-artery and brain disease as well as seemingly unconquerable infectious diseases like AIDS and hepatitis (even antibiotic resistance).
This medical procedure is not likely to ever achieve FDA approval for each and every one of the broad categories of human disease mentioned above. But it is safer than any FDA-approved drug or treatment, far safer than aspirin.
Nor does it need an FDA stamp of approval. It just needs the public to roll up their sleeves and utilize it. If broadly used there would be far less doctoring, hundreds of billions of dollars fewer drugs sold, and the quality and quantity of human life would soar beyond expectation.
Furthermore, this treatment can be practiced in any country and is affordable in every economy.
Good God, what is it?
I’m sure you are now saying to yourself, “Good God, tell us what it is, won’t you, before you waste more words.”
I’ll let you click on the links (below) to the published evidence yourself.
I have to lead you by the hand a little bit and say, for the sake of your understanding some unfamiliar medical terminology, that the words phlebotomy (fle-bot-oh-me) or venesection (veen-a-sex-shun) or chelation (key-lay-shun) refer to removal of iron from blood.
Here is all the evidence:
Heart attacks: [American Journal Epidemiology Sept. 1998;Medical Journal Australia Jan 1993; American Heart Journal Nov. 2011]By now you have discovered that the antiquated practice of blood letting, yes, that same over-done therapy that killed President George Washington, also called venesection or phlebotomy, is the cure-all to reduce excess iron stores. And accumulation of iron with advancing age is the primary driver of age-related disease.
Atherosclerosis (blood vessel disease): [J Vascular Surgery June 2010; Vascular March 2013; Journal Vascular Nursing Dec. 2000; American Heart Journal Nov 2011]
Cancer: [Cancer Science Jan 2009; Clinical Translational Oncology Feb. 2011; British Journal Surgery April 1988; Canadian Urological Assn. Journal June 2011]
Lung disease: [Lung India Jan. 2010]
Asthma: [Journal Chinese Integrative Medicine July 2004]
Diabetes: [Biochimica et Biophysica Acta July 2009; American Journal Gastroenterology June 2007; European Journal Gastroenterology Hepatology April 2014; Diabetes Care Dec. 1998; Gastroenterology April 2002; Diabetes Care Jan 2008; Metabolism Dec. 2010; Diabetes Care Dec 2002]
Infection: [South African Medical Journal July 1979]
AIDS/HIV: [Antiviral Therapy Aug. 2013]
Impotency: Comprehensive Therapy Nov. 1991]
Liver disease: [Journal Hepatology Oct. 2011; Hepatogastroenterology Oct. 2013]
Decreased libido: [Annals Internal Medicine Nov. 1984]
Gouty arthritis: [Journal Traditional Chinese Medicine March 2010]
Alzheimer’s disease: [Medical Hypotheses May 2009]
Delirium, mania: [British Journal Psychiatry June 1993]
Premature juvenile cataracts: [Journal Medical Case Reports Sept. 2011]
Macular degeneration: [Free Radical Biology Medicine July 2012]
Glaucoma: [Current Eye Research Oct 2013; Investigative Ophthalmology Visual Science Feb. 2012]
Heart failure: [Journal Cardiac Failure May 2005]
High cholesterol (familial): [Metabolism June 2011; Journal Association Physicians India June 1994]
Bone disease (osteoporosis): [Annals Internal Medicine March 1989]
Blood clots: [Hospital Practice Sept. 1993]
It is not surprising that investigators have discovered a link between the de-activation of an anti-aging gene (klotho) and iron overload. [FEBS Letters Sept. 2003] The shortening of telomeres (end caps on bundles of DNA called chromosomes) is associated with accelerated aging. Accumulation of iron in the body is now associated with shortened telomeres. [American Journal Hematology June 2013]
Donating blood
According to the Red Cross, you must wait 56 days between donations of a pint of whole blood. [Red Cross] Theoretically a person could donate every two months, or 6 pints of blood a year. About 250 milligrams of iron is removed per pint of blood.
Because there are hundreds of blood donation centers throughout America, units of blood can be donated for needy trauma and hospital patients with absolutely no out-of-pocket costs. The Red Cross answers many questions about blood donation on its website. [RedCross.org] According to the Red Cross, over 15 million safe blood donations are collected each year.
Doctors may disingenuously discourage the idea of therapeutic or preventive blood letting, but first ask them if they think blood donation is a good idea. You are more likely to receive a civic-minded yes answer. But therapeutic blood letting, why that is archaic!
Duplicity of modern medicine
The modern form of blood letting is called blood plasma exchange [Medical Journal Australia Sept. 1982] or apheresis. [Transfusion Apheresis Science Feb 2010] Plasma is the liquid part of blood with white and red blood cells comprising the solid parts. Apheresis doesn’t remove the iron-rich hemoglobin, but it does replace blood plasma with albumin, an iron controlling molecule in itself. [Clinical Science Nov. 1997] This speaks for the duplicity of modern medicine.
Diet and iron
For dietary practices, limitation of iron-rich red meat is suggested after full childhood growth is achieved in males and after the child-bearing years or an early hysterectomy in females. Limitation of red meat in the diet would prolong intervals between blood donations. Red meat provides a type of iron (heme iron) that is absorbed whether the body needs it or not [Journal American Dietetic Association July 1984]
Drawing blood samples in the hospital
“Ironically,” a number of published reports warn of blood loss from repeated drawing of diagnostic blood samples from hospitalized patients. [Archives Internal Medicine Oct 2011] One published report derogatorily calls blood sampling in critically ill patients “ICU vampirism.” [British Journal Haematology Jan 2014]
While many hospitalized surgical or trauma patients may be anemic, many others may be iron overloaded and blood sampling would actually be therapeutic! It may even be the only appropriate therapy they received during hospitalization!
Chelating drugs or blood donation?
There are intravenous iron chelating drugs, but phlebotomy is the treatment of choice for iron overload because of the need for repeated thrice-daily infusions and the potential for side effects. [La Revue de Medecine Interne Jan. 2013] The drawbacks of iron chelating drugs have been described elsewhere by this author. [LewRockwell.com]
What will modern medicine do?
There have been calls for modern medicine to apply the science of iron control and blood letting to a broader list of disorders. [Journal Norwegian Medical Association June 1999] Some medical authorities call for wider use of therapeutic phlebotomy (blood letting) for conditions beyond iron overload (hemochromatosis) and excessive red blood cell production (polycythemia). [Blood Transfusion Jan 2014] One authority says “the fine control of iron would be a wise strategy for several diseases.” [Free Radical Research Aug. 2011]
While a number of adults are anemic due to bleeding conditions (aspirin use, ulcers) or due to the closeting of iron in cases of malignancy, infection and inflammation, skilled hematologists can discriminate between anemia and iron overload. Any concern over excessive loss of blood due to over-enthusiasm for blood letting, which resulted in the abandonment of this therapy over a century ago, can be allayed by vigilant testing for hemoglobin and ferritin (iron storage). [American Journal Hematology Nov 2000]
Note: blood donation is not for growing children, menstruating females in the childbearing years, nor for anyone who is anemic (ferritin iron storage level below 20).
|
Signs of Anemia
|
Signs of Iron Overload
|
| Pale skinFatigue, sleepinessCrave ice chipsShortness of breath climbing stairs
Crave acidic foods (tomatoes) Nocturnal leg cramps (in bed) Sleeplessness Cold fingers and toes |
Elevated liver enzymesGallbladder attacks, gout, hemorrhoidsRecurrent infectionFatigue
Bronze skin Elevated circulating cholesterol Insulin resistance, elevated blood sugar Exacerbated by alcohol ingestion |
Dr. Eugene Weinberg, an expert on iron metabolism, says an increasing number of diseases have now been linked with iron overload. Recently muscle atrophy (shrinkage), viral replication, rosacea and a lung condition have been added to the list. [Oxidative Medicine Cell Longevity April 2009]
Iron accumulation not only prematurely ages internal organs and induces disease it ages the skin and makes people look old. [Current Aging Science Dec. 2013]
Some anti-aging researchers are calling for a research effort to focus on testing safe medicines to combat iron overload and aging. [Mechanisms Ageing Development July 2010]
However, the current thrust of modern pharmacology seems to be towards development of synthetic molecules that target genes rather than chelators that control iron and its metallic companion, copper. [Chemical Research Toxicology Feb 2010]
A critical change in modern medicine would be to include the measure of iron storage (ferritin) in all complete blood counts (CBCs). [Journal Clinical Pathology Dec 2010] Ferritin levels should be in the 20-70 range for health. Disregard the “reference range” for ferritin which is the commonly-found range, not the healthy range.
Still lost in the woods
However, modern medicine is as lost over how to control iron and disease and aging today as it was when debates raged in the mid-1800s over whether blood letting was effective or should be abandoned. [Studies History Philosophy Biology Biomedical Science March 2010]
Surgeons appear puzzled as to why infection and mortality rates rise when blood is transfused to postoperative surgical patients. [Critical Care Medicine June 2006] About two-thirds of iron in the body is stored in red blood cells. A blood transfusion represents an iron infusion. Surgeons appear to be oblivious to the nature of this problem. Considerable efforts are taken during surgery to prevent undue loss of blood to prevent postoperative anemia, but some blood loss may be very therapeutic.
The public should not wait around for doctors to lead their patients out of all the confusion. Outside of cases of chronic anemia, the public does not need a doctor’s OK to donate blood on a regular basis.
Dr. Leo Zacharski and colleagues at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction, Vermont, are leading the way. Dr. Zacharski shows that blood letting (phlebotomy) cuts the risk for a mortal or non-mortal heart attack via reduction of iron stores (ferritin) by almost half. [American Health Journal Nov. 2011] But don’t anticipate cardiologists to follow his lead.
If you want to start a revolution in healthcare, just increase the reimbursement for this procedure and watch the doctors race to tell you they not only offer this procedure, they re-invented it!
Oral iron chelators
In lieu of blood donation, Eugene Weinberg, an authority on iron and disease, suggests the use of natural iron chelators. [Journal Pharmacy Pharmacology May 2006]
It may come as a surprise to learn that the modest health benefits offered by cholesterol-lowering statin drugs have recently been linked to mild reduction of iron stores (ferritin) in the body. [Endocrine June 2009]
IP6 (inositol hexaphosphate) from rice bran is nature’s iron (and copper) chelator and is considered by the Food & Drug Administration to be Generally Regarded As Safe. [Environmental Molecular Mutagenesis 2001] IP6, available from health food shops without prescription, has recently been described as an oral iron chelator with promise in preventing Alzheimer’s disease. [Journal Alzheimer’s Disease 2011; FEBS Open Bio Jan 2014] And IP6 exerts beneficial effects against many types of cancer. [Advances Nutrition Sept. 2012] IP6 is a normal component of the diet with up to 1600 mg/day consumed in vegetarian diets.
Final notes
Imagine the trillions of dollars that would return to the economy by treating the disease of premature aging due to iron overload by blood donation and/or oral iron chelators. Imagine the millions of people who would not die prematurely. Imagine the greater millions who would not suffer with chronic disease or from overtreatment with prescription medications and all their side effects.
The only honest ethics in medicine is to promote healthy people and put itself out of business. Don’t expect that to happen anytime soon. Take charge of your life and learn how to control iron and copper and enjoy many decades of healthy living.
Don’t measure your health by the amount of doctoring and medicines you take. Now that modern medicine and the health insurance industry have priced themselves beyond affordability, it would be prudent to consider the lessons of blood letting learned centuries ago.
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