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radical: of or going to the root or origin; fundamental. forming a basis or foundation. existing inherently in a thing or person.

This newsletter is dedicated to your good health. If you enjoy it, please forward to others; if not, CLICK HERE and type unsubscribe. Click also if you have other requests or comments.

In This Issue:

• Choose Life
• Benefits of Probiotics
• Neck Pain Study
• Migraine Study
• Cartoon

To ignore the facts does not change the facts. - anonymous

You Have a Choice
There are two ways we can live regarding our health. What's it going to be for you?

There's the wide road that many will travel and that leads to destruction, and there's the narrow road that leads to life upon which few will travel.

The wide road is the typical pattern of this world. It is one of pursuing physical pleasure with no regard for the consequences, of taking the easy way, of following worldly wisdom without thinking or even seeking a higher wisdom. It's a world of laziness, irresponsibility and fear. In this world we are helpless victims of disease, ill health, obesity, destructive habits, and all sorts of suffering. It is a drug-addicted culture that depends on innumerable pharmaceuticals to ease our suffering, to defend us from the world around us, and to alter normal body function to fend off one catastrophe after another. And when we have so damaged a body part that it ceases to function, we turn to the surgeon's knife. We cling to health insurance (which really "disease insurance") to get us through a marginal existence, living half our lives in somewhat bearable health and the other half declining to a state of total disability in some nursing home unable to care for ourselves. This is not what we were created for.

The narrow road is one of being responsible for our well-being, of thinking for ourselves, of seeking wisdom, of pursuing principles of health and knowledge of natural living. It is eating and drinking to nourish our bodies and optimize function, conscientiously avoiding that which defiles, exercising to maintain fitness and function, practicing prevention and hygiene, and constantly seeking ways to build health and enhance vitality. It is an exciting world challenge, hard work, aliveness, discovery, satisfaction, faith and victory. In this world it is possible to live an active and productive life from birth to death, one free of suffering, disease and disability. It takes courage, self-discipline, strength, perseverance, and radical faith in God and all that he created for us and in us.

The choice is yours. Your chiropractor has chosen to dedicate his or her life to the narrow road, to be your mentor, to serve you in the principles of natural health. There are countless other solid resources and dedicated professionals to help you along your journey if you but only seek. The wide road is the easy way and is all around you - just turn on your TV and watch the commercials.

Choose wisely.

The body cannot live without the mind. - Morpheus

Gut Feeling
Here are two recent articles touting the value of probiotics in our daily diet. Probiotics are composed of various "good bacteria" which populate our digestive tract. Most Americans, due to poor diet, drug use, sterile soil and other factors, are severely deficient in intestinal flora or beneficial gut bacteria. We should all be taking daily probiotic supplements to build and maintain a healthy gut environment.

Eupepsia
- Jenny Thompson, HIS Research

With any luck, you have a chronic case of eupepsia.

"Eupepsia" means good digestion, the opposite of dyspepsia. But eupepsia may be an elusive condition for some patients who treat heartburn or acid reflux with one of the popular drugs now on the market.

If you believe the commercials, gastric acid is bad. And if you suffer from chronic heartburn, you probably agree. However, gastric acid is indispensable: you can't digest food without it. Problems arise when this acid makes its way into the esophagus, triggering heartburn, acid reflux and similar conditions.

But gastric acid isn't just a digestive tool; it also protects the stomach from a bacterium called Clostridium difficile (abbreviated as "C-diff"), which can trigger digestive inflammation and diarrhea so severe that some cases result in death. Suppress gastric acid, and the stage is set for C-diff to flourish.

A recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association carries a study from Montreal's McGill University. Using information from the United Kingdom General Practice Research Database, The McGill team identified more than 1,600 cases of C-diff and matched each case against ten control subjects.

Results showed that people who used a class of drugs known as H2 receptor antagonists (such as Zantac and Pepcid) had twice the risk of C-diff infection compared to nonusers. And the results were even more worrying for users of proton pump inhibitor drugs (such as Prevacid and Prilosec): They were three times more likely to experience a C-diff infection compared to those who used no heartburn medication.

Use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) was also associated with an increased risk of C-diff infection. Overuse of antibiotics is already a known factor in the alarming rise in the number of C-diff cases.


IBS - New Help
- Amanda Ross, Nutrition and Healing

Probiotics, those beneficial bacteria that reside in your digestive tract and keep things running smoothly, can be helpful in eliminating the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. Scientists have just discovered that a particular strain of probiotic is useful in stabilizing the frequency of constipation or diarrhea that IBS sufferers endure.

The particular strain of bacteria, called Bifidobacterium infantis 35624, was shown to have a significant effect on normalizing the frequency of bowel movements for patients who had either very frequent or very few bowel movements. Scientists called the finding unique, and stated that no other agents used or tested in IBS before has shown effectiveness for treating both those with constipation and those with diarrhea. Bowel improvement was also accompanied by significant lessening of other symptoms, such as pain and bloating.

Researchers noted that the probiotic treatment also was able to restore the immune balance and reverse the severe inflammation of the colon in both IBS patients and lab animals with ulcerative colitis.

If studies continue to show true efficacy for probiotics in managing IBS, researchers said it will represent a "major step forward" in treatment.

Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past. - George Orwell

Chiropractic Proven Effective - Again
Neck pain, whether chronic or acute, is nearly as prevalent in the American adult population as back pain; estimates show that up to two-thirds of all American adults will suffer from neck pain at some point in their lives. While millions of chiropractic manipulations are performed in the United States each year for the treatment of neck pain, relatively little investigative research has been conducted regarding the treatment of neck pain with chiropractic manipulation, and even less research has been conducted on the use of chiropractic care to treat acute neck pain.

The purpose of this two-part retrospective survey was to determine the extent to which patients with acute neck pain benefited from chiropractic manipulative therapy, and the degree to which they were satisfied with the care they received. Part one evaluated various aspects of chiropractors' treatment of 94 patients (60 women, 34 men; average age 39.6 years) suffering from acute neck pain. In part two, patients responded to a telephone survey to measure pre- and post-treatment pain levels, along with their level of satisfaction with the treatment they received.

Results: The main number of visits per patient was 24.5. Neck pain levels improved significantly among the patient population, from a mean of 7.5 pre-treatment to 1.9 immediately after treatment, and to 1.6 at the time of the patient interview, which suggested that improvements achieved during treatment "were long-lasting." Ninety-four percent of the patients reported being "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with the care they received.

Conclusion: "Patients with acute neck pain involved in this study seemed to be satisfied with chiropractic treatment and reported reductions in associated pain levels and activity restrictions. However, because of the study's design and limitations, care must be taken before drawing firm conclusions from the data presented."

Haneline MT. Symptomatic outcomes and perceived satisfaction levels of chiropractic patients with a primary diagnosis involving acute neck pain. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2006;29(4):288-296.

The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease. - Voltaire

Antioxidants for Migraine
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, migraine headaches affect an estimated 28 million Americans. While migraines may be triggered by a variety of factors, evidence suggests that high levels of free radicals, which are byproducts of normal metabolism, may contribute to the development of migraine in certain individuals. Antioxidants are known to neutralize the deleterious effects of free radicals; as such, some researchers have theorized that supplementation with antioxidants may prevent these types of migraines from occurring.

In this small preliminary trial, 12 patients with long-term history of migraine who had failed to respond to previous conventional migraine therapies were selected to take 10 capsules containing a combination of 120 mg pine bark extract, 60 mg vitamin C and 30 IU vitamin E in each capsule each day for three months. Following enrollment, patients completed a migraine disability assessment questionnaire to gauge the impact of migraine on work, school and other activities over the previous three months. An identical questionnaire was administered at the conclusion of the treatment period.

Compared to baseline, patients had an average improvement in migraine assessment scores of 50.6 percent for the three-month treatment period. Mean number of headache days per patient was reduced from 44.4 days at baseline to 26.0 days during the treatment period; mean headache severity was reduced from an average of 7.5 (out of 10) before treatment to 5.5 after treatment.

Conclusion: "These data suggest that the antioxidant therapy used in this study may be beneficial in the treatment of migraine, possibly reducing headache frequency and severity. Further clinical investigation into the efficacy of antioxidant as therapy for chronic migraine is warranted."

Chayasirisobhon S. Use of a pine bark extract and antioxidant vitamin combination product as therapy for migraine in patients refractory to pharmacologic medication. Headache May 2006;46(5):788-793.