by Parris M. Kidd, Ph.D.
Towards Optimal Health
Managing the Multiple Factors That Cause Disease
No one wants to be sick or feel pain or have a life-threatening disease.
All of us want to have optimal health.
 good definition of optimal
health comes from the
American Holistic Medical
Association: the conscious
pursuit of the highest qualities
of the physical, environmental, mental,
emotional, spiritual and social aspects of
the human experience. The mindful person
can do a whole lot to pursue optimal
health, particularly since the factors that
have the greatest influence on health are
under his or her control.
Western society still places too much
emphasis on genetic makeup as a determining
factor in human societies. This is
an unfortunate and destructive leftover
from the deterministic, racist and classist
science of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Back then the aristocrats who controlled
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. . . we as individuals can’t change
the genes we’ve inherited we sure
can change the environment in
which we have to work. Accepting
that we have the power to do this
gives us power to avoid disease
or at least to delay its onset and
progression. |
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Nowadays even the most fervent geneticists
will freely admit that genes do not
operate in a vacuum; it is impossible to
separate the actions of genes from the environment
in which they are acting. And
while we as individuals can’t change the
genes we’ve inherited, we sure can change
the environment in which they have to
work. Accepting that we have the power to
do this gives us power to avoid disease or at
least to delay its onset and progression.
Medical practice continues to improve
in technological sophistication. Organ
transplantation, mechanical and electronic
tissue implants and now stem cell proliferation
to replace dead or dying cells—all
combine with improved techniques for
disease detection to improve the average
length of life in the society. But very few
among us can benefit from these improvements
simply because the technology is
incredibly expensive in time and money.
And there are no guarantees—the rich
patient in his private suite may still be
struck down by a roving super bacterium or
a slip of the surgeon’s scalpel.
Luckily for those of us who have to
work for a living, a sophisticated body of
knowledge about the causes of ill-health
and disease is now available. The major
causes are now mostly identified, there is
pretty good understanding of how they
work and they can be managed to keep
their negative impact to a minimum. For
all the planet’s citizens who seek some control
over their lives, making a commitment
to eliminating these disease factors is the
most common sense chance for staying
healthy and reaching a ripe old age.Last year I turned my attention to
Parkinson’s disease (PD). The medical and
basic science research done on PD has
produced an important model for understanding
all disease. First, several causative
factors are involved, all of them working
together to initiate the disease and drive
its progression. In a small proportion of
the cases there is evidence for inherited
susceptibility—“bad genes”—that could
cause the disease to appear before the age of
50. But the vast majority of cases appear
after 50. Internal toxins contribute to the
disease—oxygen free radicals overproduced
by the body’s own cells. I also found that
external toxins are involved—toxic metals
such as mercury and manganese and pesticides
(insecticides, maybe also herbicides).
As I became familiar with PD I realized it
was a proven model for the multicausality
of disease.
In previous times disease was mysterious
and seen as a static entity—something
bad that had invaded the body. Nowadays
the medical understanding of disease and
the approaches to diagnosis have gone
through a radical shift, at least among the
more progressive physicians. These physicians
emphasize the details of the medical
history, making their best efforts to detect
unique life experiences that may combine
with the individual’s own susceptibilities
and specific lifestyle to generate a particular
symptom pattern. Many patients may not
have a single precise diagnosis but can be
made well anyway, through careful and
systematic elimination of these causative
factors. For the vast majority of patients in
the modern medical practice, the causative
factors are all too familiar.1
It is likely that just about all the chronic diseases and conditions of ill-health
that strike adult humans have multiple
major causes. These major causes are relatively
few in number and in each case—
whatever the disease—if they can be
managed or eliminated, the patient’s life
should improve. A short listing includes:
- Individual susceptibilities: the person’s predispositions and weaknesses, outcomes of gene inheritance interacting with specific life history
- Total toxic load: internal free radical generation compounded by toxins from the environment, including foodborne toxins and allergens
- Total infectious load: ongoing viral, bacterial and fungal infections, compounded by acute exposures to the organisms or their toxic or allergenic products
- Total lifestyle burden: overweight or obesity, lack of exercise, poor diet and nutritional deficiencies, stress and anxiety.
Let’s deal first with the issue of genes and
individual susceptibilities. The genes carry
the blueprints for life but real life comes
after the genetic blueprint is translated into
biological molecules with structure and
function. By looking only at genes the
Human Genome project didn’t teach us
much about life. It is the unfolding of the
genes’ potential within the protected cell
environment, the cooperative interactions
between the communities of cells in tissues,
the higher-level coordination of the tissues
into organ systems, all overseen by the
mind, that make us what and who we are.
And all this varies enormously from person
to person.
In PD no more than 10–15 percent of all
cases have a clearly defined contribution
from “bad genes” and all these appear
before the age of 50. Among the typical PD
cases over age 50 there do appear to be
innate susceptibilities which could be related
to some combination of specific gene
flaws. One of these is a marked inefficiency
in an important enzyme complex that helps
generate energy. This complex (Complex I
of the mitochondrial inner membrane) has
its activity reduced by up to half, resulting
in elevated production of potentially harmful
oxygen free radicals (oxyradicals). The
abnormality was found not only in the
brain but in the platelets, suggesting it
could be common throughout the body.
And it just so happens that PD comes up in
a part of the brain perhaps most vulnerableto oxyradical overload—the substantia
nigra or SN.
Oxygen free radicals are highly reactive
and contribute to all disease. Normally they
are controlled as far as possible using the
body’s natural antioxidant defenses. The
most healthy SN is only lightly equipped
with antioxidant enzymes and has built-in
susceptibility to oxyradicals. In the PD
scenario, the normally vulnerable SN is subjected
to an abnormally great oxyradical
load due to the Complex I malfunction. As
the years go by the SN is living more and
more “on the edge,” progressively capable to
manage its burden of oxyradicals. Then
some toxin, or more likely a combination of
toxins, comes along from outside the brain
and this added toxic load finishes off the SN.
The symptoms of PD then emerge.
The added load of toxins coming from
outside the brain to trigger PD could be any
of the tens of thousands of known toxic
substances. One major culprit is mercury
overload, most likely due to the presence of
dental amalgam fillings in the teeth (consisting
of 50 percent mercury, the rest silver,
copper, tin and zinc).
A1989 study carried out in Singapore
found a link between body burden
of mercury and PD. The researchers
compared 54 cases of PD against 95 non-PD
subjects. They looked at mercury levels in
the blood and urine and found that relative
risk for PD was 8.5x in subjects with blood
mercury above 5.9 nanograms per milliliter
and urine mercury above 6.8 nanograms per
milliliter. A nanogram is one-billionth of a
gram and a milliliter is one-thousandth of a
liter. Dentists working with mercury fillings
in Singapore averaged above this range and
unexposed office workers averaged below it.
The issue of mercury in dental fillings
has been controversial since the practice was
begun in 1832. Both the chewing of food
and tooth brushing release mercury vapor
into the mouth cavity and these levels can
reach up to one hundred times the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum
allowable concentration for air quality
(0.3 parts per million). The handling of
mercury in a dental office is now subject to
all the hazardous waste disposal regulations
that apply to other materials but this careful
disposal occurs only after the dentist has
placed mercury into the mouth. The
Singapore finding raises a karmic possibility
that the dental community (which as a
whole denies that amalgam fillings pose anyrisk of harm) may themselves be at high risk
for damage to their health.
For the person with mercury amalgam
fillings, personal habits of chewing gum,
grinding the teeth and breathing through
the mouth will greatly increase the daily
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The mindful person can do
a whole lot to pursue
optimal health, particularly
since the factors that
have the greatest
influence on health
are under his or her control. |
|
The dental associations of the U.S. and
Canada are under a lot of pressure from
citizens challenging their positions that
mercury-containing amalgams are safe.
After releasing a grossly misleading “informational”
brochure for years, in one lawsuit
the United States A.D.A. took this position:
The A.D.A. owes no legal duty of care to
protect the public from allegedly dangerous
products used by dentists. The A.D.A. did
not manufacture, design, supply or install
the mercury-containing amalgams. The
A.D.A. does not control those who do. The
A.D.A.’s only alleged involvement (in placing
mercury amalgam in patient’s teeth) was to
provide information regarding its use.
Health authority and activist Gary Null,
Ph.D. makes the important point that while
holding this legal position the A.D.A. failed
to mention that it holds patents on mercury
amalgams, is responsible for certifying all
dental schools in the United States and has
attempted to intimidate and harass dentists
who challenge them on this issue. No way
can the A.D.A. claim not to be involved in
the large-scale contamination of the population
with mercury.
Another likely major causal factor contributing
to the total toxic load in
Parkinson’s is pesticide use, particularly
indoors. This disease first appeared during
the Industrial Age and a connection has
long been suspected between PD and the
drinking of contaminated well water or
agricultural or industrial exposures to
insecticides or herbicides. Workers with
exposures to multiple pesticides have a
higher risk of PD and recently a group at
Stanford University conducted a substantial
study on this subject.
At Stanford University’s School of
Medicine Dr. Lorene Nelson’s group did a
study of 496 persons diagnosed with PD and
compared them with 541 closely matched
controls. Using structured interviews, they
determined that home exposure to insecticides
and herbicides was associated with
increased risk for PD. In-home insecticide
exposure posed higher risk for PD (2x) than
did outside gardening with herbicides
(1.7x) or insecticides (1.5x). These are the
toxins most closely linked to PD at this early
stage of the research but virtually all known
toxins are capable of depleting the body’s
antioxidant resources. Nor can we rule out
“lifestyle” toxins such as the huge load of
free radicals carried in cigarette or marijuana
smoke.
There is actually a human “model” for
PD. This comes from an accidental tragic
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Another likely major causal factor
contributing to the total toxic load
in Parkinson’s is pesticide use,
particularly indoors. |
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Pesticides, herbicides and mercury all
have strong oxidative character.
Normally free radical and other
oxidative stressors are delicately controlled
by antioxidant enzyme systems, working in
harmony with nutrient antioxidants such
as vitamins C and E, coenzyme Q10 and
glutathione and with metabolic cofactors
such as the B vitamins. Whenever the nutritional
supply of antioxidants and cofactors
drops, the body’s antioxidant defenses also
are impaired. At these points the body’s
load of toxins from the outside can tip the
scales in favor of antioxidant breakdown
that leads to functional loss and disease.
Parkinson’s features progressive depletion of
the key antioxidant glutathione in the SN; at
his clinic in Naples, Florida Dr. David
Perlmutter often can see dramatic improvement
in his PD patients once he gives them
glutathione. He also uses an integrative program
with other antioxidants and nutrients.
This disease-causing synergy between
innate vulnerability, internal production of
toxins and added toxic load from outside
the body is very likely not restricted to PD.
As far as the brain is concerned there is evidence
that Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis
(MS) and maybe also amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS) all have such causative contributions
from toxins. The idea that a
disease can have multiple causes is not new,
of course. Nor is Parkinson’s likely to be the
only multicausal disease—it is probable
that all diseases have multiple causes.
Infectious agents are far more important
causal contributors to chronic disease than
was earlier believed. Previous overprescription
of antibiotics may have
contributed to their resurgence in more
aggressive forms. They siphon life energy
away from the host tissues, generate
inflammation which further damages the
tissues and can derange immune mechanisms
to trigger autoimmune problems.
Autoimmunity (reaction to self-antigens) is a suspected major factor in arthritis,
inflammatory bowel diseases, MS, lupus and
many other diseases. HIV-1 causes change
that amount to systemic inflammation; the
hepatitis viruses B and C are linked to liver
inflammation and cancer, the human papilloma
virus (HPV) to cervical and perhaps
also colorectal cancer; the bacterium
Helicobacter pylori to stomach ulcers.
Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) and
Mycoplasma bacteria are also major contributors
to total infectious load.
Drs. Garth and Nancy Nicolson of the
Institute of Molecular Medicine in
Huntington Beach, California have used
highly sensitive PCR (polymerase chain
reaction) testing to look for infectious
agents in chronically ill patients. They
found that about half of the chronically ill
American veterans of the Gulf War have
mycoplasmal infections, some of them
more than one species. Mycoplasmas are
the simplest present-day cells, tough
parasites that enter the human cell and take
over its machinery. They can be eradicated
using antibiotics but only with long
treatment times. The Nicolsons report that
about 50 percent of the rheumatoid
arthritis patients they studied had
mycoplasmas, as did 60 percent of their
chronic fatigue patients, 70 percent of the
fibromyalgia patients and 85 percent of ALS
patients. Within the control population no
more than nine percent had mycoplasmas.
The Nicolsons suggest that these chronic
illnesses are probably due to a combination
of multiple toxic exposures, chemical
and/or biological, in combination with
innate susceptibility.
Still another major causal disease factor
is the pro-inflammatory body balance
of most of us living in the industrialized
countries. Inflammation is a type of
controlled free radical response to a wound
or a localized infection. Properly controlled,
inflammation is not a bad thing—
it lasts for a short time and successfully
eliminates the offending agent. But sustained,
ongoing inflammation can increase
the body’s toxic load and promote many
types of diseases. As examples, atherosclerosis
appears to be mostly an inflammatory
disease, as does osteoporosis. Alzheimer’s
likely has an inflammatory component and
cancers are likely to be promoted by proinflammatory
balance. Total toxic load,
total infectious load and total lifestyle
burden all promote chronic inflammation.
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Total toxic load,
total infectious load
and total lifestyle burden
all promote chronic
inflammation. |
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Parkinson’s disease, our model for
multicausality, also has an inflammatory
component. Dr. Langford’s
group in California pioneered the research
into MPTP, the heroin contaminant. As the
years passed they kept in touch with the
small number of subjects who were briefly
exposed and survived. Three of them were
autopsied at death and all showed clear
signs of a progressing inflammatory process
very similar to PD. Though they had used
MPTP for less than a week back in 1982,
inflammation apparently had begun at that
time and continued to eat away at the SN—
for as long as 16 years in one subject. One
brief but intense exposure to a toxin had
initiated a long-lasting inflammatory progression.
These unfortunate souls might
have had a better life with high intakes of
antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, the
body’s natural anti-inflammatories.
We don’t have much control over the
genes we’re born with but we surely have
some control over the things we choose to
put into our mouths and our veins and
other parts of our bodies. Infections, bad
health and disease are not mysterious: they
don’t just come out of nowhere. If we can
be more vigilant in paying attention to our
total toxic load and our total infectious
load, if we can clean up our total lifestyle
burden, if we can become active in ridding
our homes, workplaces and communities of
toxins, we have the chance to override our
genetic limitations and enter the dimension
of optimal health.
Resources:
- For referrals to physicians who practice integrative-holistic medicine, contact American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM) at www.acam.org or 1-949-583-7666.
- To contact dentists who remove dental amalgams and offer alternatives, the reader may consult the Doctors’ Medical Library at www.medical-library.net/specialties/ or go to www.holisticmed.com/dental/
- dental.res
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