DC Madam Predicted She Would Be Suicided

Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet Thursday, May 1, 2008

Click here to listen to Palfrey clearly state that she would not commit suicide.

DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey predicted she would be “suicided” on several occasions both recently and as far back as 17 years ago - comments that now appear ominous in light of the announcement that the former head of a Washington escort service allegedly killed herself today.

“If taken into custody, my physical safety and most probably my very life would be jeopardized,” she wrote in August 1991 following an attempt to bring her to trial, “Rape, beating, maiming, disfigurement and more than likely murder disguised in the form of just another jailhouse accident or suicide would await me,” said Palfrey in a handwritten letter to the judge accusing the San Diego police vice squad of having a vendetta against her.

During several recent appearances on The Alex Jones Show, Palfrey also said that she was at risk of being killed and that authorities would make it look like suicide. She made it clear that she was not suicidal and if she was found dead it would be murder.

Palfrey had threatened to release the names of well-known clients of her upscale call girl ring in the nation’s capitol, and had indicated that Dick Cheney may be one of them.

“We now know it goes at least as high as a United States Senator,” Palfrey told The Alex Jones Show, “I’m hearing rumors now from other people that there are other possibilities in that stratosphere so to speak, on that level.”

“No I’m not planning to commit suicide,” Palfrey told The Alex Jones Show on her last appearance in July, “I’m planning on going into court and defending myself vigorously and exposing the government,” she said.

“Blanche Palfrey had no sign that her daughter was suicidal, and there was no immediate indication that alcohol or drugs were involved, police Capt. Jeffrey Young said,” according to an AP report.

Click here to listen to Palfrey clearly state that she would not commit suicide.

Click here to listen to the entirety of the last interview with Palfrey.

UPDATE: In an almost uncanny development, as soon as this article started to go viral on the Internet, Time Magazine released a story claiming that Palfrey told author Dan Moldea that she would rather commit suicide than go to jail. What a funny coincidence!

RELATED: Palfrey Considered Call Girl’s “Suicide” Possible Murder

FLASHBACK: D.C. Madame: “Big Names” May Be On Client List

Developing…

Big Health Benefits Attributed To Raw Diet: Six Diabetics In Documentary Are Able To Reverse Their Disease

Source: LEF Daily News

Big Health Benefits Attributed To Raw Diet: Six Diabetics In Documentary Are Able To Reverse Their Disease
 
The Hartford Courant, Connecticut
 
03-31-08
 
Mar. 31–In his 2004 film “Super Size Me,” director Morgan Spurlock humorously documents the dramatic health consequences of eating all the wrong things for 30 days. Subsisting on a McDonald’s-only menu, he gains 25 pounds and a host of ailments, among them the decidedly unfunny side effects of liver damage and sexual dysfunction.
 
So what might happen, then, after 30 days of eating all the right things?
 
That question was the seed that evolved into “Raw for 30 Days,” an independent documentary film that chronicles the experience of six diabetics who sign up for a radical diet change. The participants, most diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, move into an Arizona retreat center where they are medically supervised during a challenge to stay off dairy, meat, sugar, alcohol and processed foods. Keeping to a vegan, raw-foods diet of only uncooked, organic plant-based foods, the filmmakers claim participants were able to naturally reverse their diabetes, losing significant weight and coming off their insulin.
 
Set to be distributed online before a summer release at smaller film festivals, the documentary is by no means poised to be a cinematic blockbuster. But buzz has been building for more than a year in raw- and health-food circles. Proponents are wondering if the information can resonate with a mainstream American public plagued with an obesity epidemic and chronic diseases.
 
“I think it’s going to take people to the level of believing, truly believing, that you are what you eat,” says Glen Colello, a holistic health counselor and owner of the newly opened West Haven raw- and health-foods cafe Catch a Healthy Habit. “Maybe people will see this movie and realize medication isn’t their only option.”
 
Such was the intent of the team behind the film, led by creator and executive producer Mark Perlmutter, a longtime vegetarian who himself shifted to a largely raw, or living-foods, lifestyle. He said he witnessed the health benefits in eating fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds in their natural state. The philosophy is that uncooked foods are more nutrient-rich and have their enzymes intact and take less energy to digest, thereby freeing the body to heal itself.
 
Perlmutter learned more after moving to Arizona, where he became familiar with the work of raw-food pioneer Gabriel Cousens, a medical doctor who runs the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia. The center became the setting for the documentary, filmed in 2006 with six diabetics picked from a pool of more than 100 candidates.
 
Audiences will see those who stick with the program go through dramatic transformations. One participant initially diagnosed with type 2 diabetes later learns he actually had type 1 diabetes, considered incurable without a pancreas transplant.
 
“So, how do we get people to do this for themselves? They can’t all go to Arizona,” says Perlmutter. “It’s great to get a couple of miracle stories about these people having major breakthroughs, but the question is how do you get [the medical establishment] to embrace something that obviously works for some people?”
 
But traditional medicine has embraced alternative therapies over the last decade, with many doctors now weaving holistic and naturopathic approaches into conventional treatments. There is, however, skepticism about the long-term benefits and loftier claims of extreme approaches such as raw foods, which dietitians caution can be difficult to sustain and may add up to an unbalanced diet that leaves out too many important foods. Most doctors advise patients to seek their physician’s opinion before starting any such diets.
 
Scientific studies do show clearly the relationship between dietary choices and health. The World Health Organization determined that 70 percent of chronic diseases worldwide could be prevented entirely with changes to diet and lifestyle. In the United States, that figure jumps to 80 percent.
 
“Absolutely. Yes. Diet has a tremendous impact on disease progression and disease manifestation,” says Dr. Mitch Kennedy of the University of Connecticut Health Center, the facility’s first certified naturopathic physician. “And the fact is that most people don’t eat well. All you have to do is look around at what’s available — the fast-food chains and packaged foods and what’s in the food labels.”
 
Kennedy says there are merits to a raw-foods lifestyle. The nutrient content in foods is best preserved in its raw state. And considering the average American doesn’t get the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, most would do well to introduce more into their diets. Yet, he rarely recommends an entirely raw plan. It can be a drastic change, hard on the digestive system and lead to deficiencies in vitamin B12 without consumption of meat or dairy products.
 
When asked for comment, the American Diabetic Association declined to address the film directly, saying only that “weight loss through any means can lower glucose levels in those with type 2 diabetes, sometimes even to normal.” It cautioned against any “one-size-fits-all diabetic diet” and encouraged healthful eating and exercise habits.
 
Kirt Tyson, the misdiagnosed type 1 diabetic, and the most successful of the film’s six participants, says he knows the raw-food plan cured him of his disease. A Baltimore native, he says he went from his worst — a four-day hospitalization with his blood sugar at 1,200 — down today to normal levels. He remains on a raw diet, no longer on insulin.
 
“When you get diagnosed with this disease, you’re always told … there’s no cure. So from that moment, you feel so defeated,” says Tyson, 26, now a graduate student studying naturopathic medicine at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine & Health Sciences in Arizona. “What this film does is give hope back to people. It’s not a one-shot thing. You have to work for it. I have to work at it every day.”
 
He doesn’t advocate ignoring traditional medication, but says patients need to be better informed about all options available to them.
 
“Hopefully in the future, I’ll be able to do some research to show how this diet is actually working,” he says. “I don’t know the chemistry behind it. But you can’t look at a guy who was once taking insulin, and now is not and say there’s not something to it. Clearly, it’s working for me.”
 
For more information about the film, visit www.RawFor30Days.com
 
Contact Joann Klimkiewicz at .
 
—–
 
Copyright (c) 2008, The Hartford Courant, Conn.

Experts Now Recommend Hands-Only CPR

Via Wired

Experts Now Recommend Hands-Only CPR
 
By STEPHANIE NANO
Associated Press Writer
 
NEW YORK (AP) — You can skip the mouth-to-mouth breathing and just press on the chest to save a life. In a major change, the American Heart Association said Monday that hands-only CPR - rapid, deep presses on the victim’s chest until help arrives - works just as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults.
 
Experts hope bystanders will now be more willing to jump in and help if they see someone suddenly collapse. Hands-only CPR is simpler and easier to remember and removes a big barrier for people skittish about the mouth-to-mouth breathing.
 
“You only have to do two things. Call 911 and push hard and fast on the middle of the person’s chest,” said Dr. Michael Sayre, an emergency medicine professor at Ohio State University who headed the committee that made the recommendation.
 
Hands-only CPR calls for uninterrupted chest presses - 100 a minute - until paramedics take over or an automated external defibrillator is available to restore a normal heart rhythm.
 
This action should be taken only for adults who unexpectedly collapse, stop breathing and are unresponsive. The odds are that the person is having cardiac arrest - the heart suddenly stops - which can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems. In such a case, the victim still has ample air in the lungs and blood and compressions keep blood flowing to the brain, heart and other organs.
 
A child who collapses is more likely to primarily have breathing problems - and in that case, mouth-to-mouth breathing should be used. That also applies to adults who suffer lack of oxygen from a near-drowning, drug overdose, or carbon monoxide poisoning. In these cases, people need mouth-to-mouth to get air into their lungs and bloodstream.
 
But in either case, “Something is better than nothing,” Sayre said.
 
The CPR guidelines had been inching toward compression-only. The last update, in 2005, put more emphasis on chest pushes by alternating 30 presses with two quick breaths; those “unable or unwilling” to do the breaths could do presses alone.
 
Now the heart association has given equal standing to hands-only CPR. Those who have been trained in traditional cardiopulmonary resuscitation can still opt to use it.
 
Sayre said the association took the unusual step of making the changes now - the next update wasn’t due until 2010 - because three studies last year showed hands-only was as good as traditional CPR. Hands-only will be added to CPR training.
 
An estimated 310,000 Americans die each year of cardiac arrest outside hospitals or in emergency rooms. Only about 6 percent of those who are stricken outside a hospital survive, although rates vary by location. People who quickly get CPR while awaiting medical treatment have double or triple the chance of surviving. But less than a third of victims get this essential help.
 
Dr. Gordon Ewy, who’s been pushing for hands-only CPR for 15 years, said he was “dancing in the streets” over the heart association’s change even though he doesn’t think it goes far enough. Ewy (pronounced AY-vee) is director of the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center in Tucson, where the compression-only technique was pioneered.
 
Ewy said there’s no point to giving early breaths in the case of sudden cardiac arrest, and it takes too long to stop compressions to give two breaths - 16 seconds for the average person. He noted that victims often gasp periodically anyway, drawing in a little air on their own.
 
Anonymous surveys show that people are reluctant to do mouth-to-mouth, Ewy said, partly because of fear of infections.
 
“When people are honest, they’re not going to do it,” he said. “It’s not only the yuck factor.”
 
In recent years, emergency service dispatchers have been coaching callers in hands-only CPR rather than telling them how to alternate breaths and compressions.
 
“They love it. It’s less complicated and the outcomes are better,” said Dallas emergency medical services chief Dr. Paul Pepe, who also chairs emergency medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
 
One person who’s been spreading the word about hands-only CPR is Temecula, Calif., chiropractor Jared Hjelmstad, who helped save the life of a fellow health club member in Southern California
 
Hjelmstad, 40, had read about it in a medical journal and used it on Garth Goodall, who collapsed while working out at their gym in February. Hjelmstad’s 15-year-old son Josh called 911 in the meantime.
 
Hjelmstad said he pumped on Goodall’s chest for more than 12 minutes - encouraged by Goodall’s intermittent gasps - until paramedics arrived. He was thrilled to find out the next day that Goodall had survived.
 
On Sunday, he visited Goodall in the hospital where he is recovering from triple bypass surgery.
 
“After this whole thing happened, I was on cloud nine,” said Hjelmstad. “I was just fortunate enough to be there.”
 
Goodall, a 49-year-old construction contractor, said he had been healthy and fit before the collapse, and there’d been no hint that he had clogged heart arteries.
 
“I was lucky,” he said. Had the situation been reversed, “I wouldn’t have known what to do.”
 
“It’s a second lease on life,” he added.
 
—
 
On the Net:
 
Heart Association: http://www.americanheart.org/handsonlycpr
 
Sarver Heart Center: http://www.heart.arizona.edu/
 
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

Netflix Movie Streaming on Xbox 360 Actually Coming Soon?

Netflix Movie Streaming on Xbox 360 Actually Coming Soon? – Gizmodo
 
The rumor about Netflix surveying the scene, prepping a possible streaming movie solution to Xbox 360 and PS3 seems to be on the verge of coming true, according to Netflix themselves. They just released a statement that says they’ve surveyed subscribers to see how interested they were in streaming movies over Xbox 360 (PS3 was not mentioned), but didn’t say whether a partnership was coming between them and Microsoft.
 
Releasing a statement about a survey? Sounds like someone’s trying to jockey a better negotiating position while talks are still underway. On a similar note, Netflix’s online site seems to have been down for most of Monday, which makes the case for streaming media even stronger. [Reuters - Thanks David!]

Twin beds may benefit marriages

Twin beds may benefit marriages - UPI
 
LONDON, March 24 (UPI) — British sleep researchers say the secret of a happy marriage may be separate beds — or even separate bedrooms.
 
The Sleep Council reports that when couples share a bed both may be woken about six times during the night by their partners, The Times of London said. The problem is worse if one or both snores or has restless leg syndrome.
 
About 25 percent of British adults snore, the British Snoring and Sleep Apnea Association said. The problem may cost their partners two hours of sleep every night.
 
In the United States, researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that the greatest marital problems seem to occur when one partner is a lark, getting up early in the morning ready for the day, and the other an owl who prefers to stay up late and sleep in. A California woman ended up getting a divorce because she got fed up with her husband’s habit of staying up late playing computer games.
 
For other couples, separate bedrooms could be the right choice. The National Association of Home Builders predicted that by 2015 a majority of custom-built homes will have his-and-hers master bedrooms.
 
© 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

One Cup Of Green Tea Per Day Cuts Ovarian Cancer Risk In Half

Just One Cup Of Green Tea Per Day Cuts Ovarian Cancer Risk In Half – Life Extension Newsletter

 

A short communication published in the March, 2008 issue of the American Association for Cancer Research journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention reported the outcome of a study conducted by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington in Seattle which found that women who drank one or more cups per day of green tea experienced a 54 percent reduction in the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer. Because the disease is difficult to detect in its early, treatable stages, and a reliable screening test is still not available to the public, an effective means of preventing the disease “remains the only feasible approach to reduce ovarian cancer mortality,” according to the authors.

 

Mary Anne Rossing and her colleagues set out to evaluate the relationship between caffeine-containing beverages and ovarian cancer risk by comparing 781 women diagnosed with a primary invasive or borderline epithelial ovarian cancer between 2002 and 2005, and 1,263 women without the disease. Interviews with the participants obtained demographic and lifestyle characteristics, medical, family and reproductive history, and beverage consumption data five years prior to ovarian cancer diagnosis (or prior to an assigned reference date for the control subjects). Caffeine-containing drinks were reported as brewed coffee, instant coffee, espresso or espresso drinks, green tea, black tea, colas and root beer, diet colas and diet root beer, and caffeinated soft drinks. Decaffeinated beverages were reported separately.

 

In agreement with previous studies, women who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer were less likely to have used hormonal contraception, had a greater frequency of childlessness, or were likelier to have a family history of the disease. While the frequent intake of colas or root beer, whether regular or decaffeinated, was associated with a moderately increased risk of ovarian cancer, none of the other beverages were associated with increased or decreased risk, with the exception of green tea. Women who consumed one or more cups of green tea per day experienced a 54 percent reduction in ovarian cancer risk compared to those who did not drink green tea. Those who reported drinking an average of less than one cup per day experienced a smaller reduction in risk. Elimination of Asian women from the analysis (who are often frequent consumers of green tea), analysis of the data by tumor type, and separation of the women according to age or menopausal status failed to modify the finding.

 

The relatively high levels of epigallocatechin-3-gallate in green tea have been shown to help inhibit the growth of ovarian cancer in cell cultures according to two studies cited by the authors. Additionally, green tea drinking has been associated with a reduced risk of several other cancers. “Green tea, which is commonly consumed in countries with low ovarian cancer incidence, should be further investigated for its cancer prevention properties,” the authors conclude.

Bad smells smell bad – Air fresheners may mutate your nethers

 
From the National Resources Defense Council:

Common Air Fresheners Contain Chemicals That May Affect Human Reproductive Development, September 19, 2007

 

An analysis of more than a dozen common household air fresheners found that most contain chemicals that may affect hormones and reproductive development, particularly in babies, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said today. The federal government does not currently test air fresheners for safety or require manufacturers to meet any specific safety standards. The study offers both consumers and officials new information on the risks certain air fresheners pose.

 

“More than anything, our research highlights cracks in our safety system,” said Dr. Gina Solomon, NRDC senior scientist.

 

“Consumers have a right to know what is put into air fresheners and other everyday products they bring into their homes,” Solomon added. “There are too many products on the shelves that we assume are safe, but have never even been tested. The government should be keeping a watchful eye on these household items and the manufacturers who produce them.”

 
…etc.

From the National Institutes of Health:

Chemical in Many Air Fresheners May Reduce Lung Function, 27 July, 2006

 

New research shows that a chemical compound found in many air fresheners, toilet bowl cleaners, mothballs and other deodorizing products, may be harmful to the lungs. Human population studies at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a part of the National Institutes of Health, found that exposure to a volatile organic compound (VOC), called 1,4 dichlorobenzene (1,4 DCB) may cause modest reductions in lung function.

 

“Even a small reduction in lung function may indicate some harm to the lungs,” said NIEHS researcher Stephanie London, M.D., lead investigator on the study. “The best way to protect yourself, especially children who may have asthma or other respiratory illnesses, is to reduce the use of products and materials that contain these compounds.”

 
…etc.

(Learn more about these issues at the Organic Consumers Association and the National Resources Defense Council.)
 

Round-the-world News About Vitamin D

Round-the-world News About Vitamin D

Work & Family Life

03-05-08

Originally Published:20080201.

Research reports keep rolling in on the importance of vitamin D in our diet-beyond its familiar role in helping us to build strong bones. Here are some of the findings:

Periodontal disease, in a dental study of 6,700 people from 13 to 90, the gums of patients with higher blood levels of vitamin D were 20 percent less likely to bleed. “The evidence on gingivitis and tooth loss suggests that vitamin D influences oral health by decreasing inflammation,” said Bess Dawson-Hughes, director of the Bone Metabolism Lab at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.

Cancer. Studies by Reinhold Vieth at the University of Toronto have reported a substantial reduction in the rates of colon cancer as blood levels of vitamin D went up. Dr. Vieth suggests that vitamin D inhibits a mechanism by which cancer cells spread or it may boost the function of blood vessels or the immune system.

Diabetes. A number of studies have found that people with higher blood levels of vitamin D had a lower risk of diabetes than people with lower levels. Researchers have suggested that vitamin D seems to influence responsiveness to insulin.

Fitness. A study at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine found that people with low blood levels of vitamin D scored from 5 to 10 percent lower on tests measuring grip strength, balance and walking speed than those who had higher levels. Apparently vitamin D helps build and repair muscles as well as bones.

Longevity. People who take vitamin D supplements may also live longer, according to Sara Gandini, Ph.D., of the European Institute of Oncology in Italy, and Philippe Autier, M.D., of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France. “The intake of ordinary doses of vitamin D supplements seems to be associated with decreases in total mortality rates,” they reported.

“The results are remarkable,” according to Edward Giovannucci, M.D., ScD., of the Harvard School of Public Health, in an editorial on vitamin D research in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

What to do. Adults should try to get 800 international units (IU) daily of vitamin D-or 1000 IUs a day if you are 70 or older. The average U.S. adult intake of vitamin D is 230 IUs daily, according to a study reported in the journal Nutrition Reviews. Vitamin D is available from sunlight, of course, and from foods such as fatty fish, eggs, fortified milk and fortified cereals as well as supplements.

-Sources: Bottom Line Health, CSPI Nutrition Action Letter, and Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter

(Also, see an earlier article I posted on 21 December, 2007.)

Charming and Aloof, Huckabee Changed State

From the NY Times:

By ADAM NOSSITER and DAVID BARSTOW

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — In more than a decade of presiding over this state, Mike Huckabee produced a legacy like few other Republican governors in the South, surprising even liberal Democrats with his willingness to upend some of Arkansas’s more parochial traditions.

A review of his record as governor shows that, beginning in 1996, he drove through a series of changes that transformed education and health insurance in Arkansas, achievements that were never tried by most of his predecessors, including Bill Clinton.

But he is also remembered in the state for a style of governing that tended to freeze out anyone of any party who disagreed with his plans. He did not, for example, seek Mr. Clinton’s conciliatory middle, or try to court skeptical state lawmakers. Though he was considered as persuasive a speechmaker as he had been a pastor, Mr. Huckabee largely kept his own counsel — in politics, ethics and a singular clemency policy that continues to haunt him.

Against the political advice of his party and his aides, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of hundreds of convicts, including murderers, sometimes over the heated objections of prosecutors and victims’ families. He was cited five times by the state ethics commission for financial improprieties, and unapologetically accepted tens of thousands of dollars worth of clothes and other gifts while he was governor.

Republicans in Arkansas, a beleaguered minority, gleefully greeted his ascendancy but wound up embittered, in many cases, over a governor who “sided with liberal Democrats,” as one put it.

Mr. Huckabee is a son of small-town Arkansas, yet he deeply angered many in his rural constituency, touching the third rail of the state’s politics by shutting down money-draining, redundant school districts in the hinterlands. Protesters rallied at the state Capitol, fearful of losing schools, football teams, and age-old identities, but the governor insisted his way was the best and the schools were closed.

He proclaimed himself a fiscal conservative, but startled legislators with his proposals to raise taxes — for roads, in 1999, and for schools, prisons and other services three years later. He sought the electoral defeat of Republicans who opposed him, according to some in the party.

A constant throughout was his presence at the microphone, the former television preacher delivering his word from the pulpit though hardly mingling in the Capitol’s marble halls.

“He would go out and stump and do his shtick and tell his jokes and charm you,” said State Senator Jimmy Jeffress, a Democrat and critic of the former governor. “He has the gift of gab. He’s the only person I know, other than Bill Clinton, who can pick up a rock and give you a 10-minute talk on it.”

Follow the link for more:  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/22/us/politics/22huckabee.html

Vitamin D: put a little light in your life

Vitamin D is turning up in more and more “Best-Of” lists of nutritive compounds. And the best kind is free from our local star. Getting outside each day is already good for you (unless you live in a high pollution zone). Combine that with some healthy Sun exposure (don’t burn!) and a reasonable walk, and studies show you’re much, much better off.

Al Sears, MD 12794 Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 16 Wellington, FL 33414

December 17, 2007

I recently wrote about a report out of a university in Nebraska showing that vitamin D has the potential to lower the risk of all cancers in women by 77%.1

In the last 15 months, 5 more bombshells exploded showing the power of vitamin D to stop cancer. Here’s the rest of the timeline:

• In February, researchers at UC San Diego released the results of two key studies on breast and colon cancer. They said you can lower your risk of breast cancer by 50%, and colon cancer by more than 65%,simply by boosting your vitamin D levels through sunlight, diet, or supplements.2,3

• In October of last year, scientists published compelling discoveries linking sun exposure and lowered cancer risk in the journal Anticancer Research. They found that plain old sunlight– about 20 minutes a day for fair-skinned folks, and two to four times that much for those with dark skin – can reduce the risk of 16 types of cancer in both men and women.4

• A Harvard-sponsored report published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in September 2006 uncovered a connection between low vitamin D levels and increased cancer risk. It revealed that when men raise their vitamin D intake, they can lower their overall risk of cancer death by 29%, drop rates of “digestive tract” cancers by 43% (throat, stomach, and colon), and reduce death rates from these cancers by 45%.5

The response was tremendous… in Canada. After the Creighton report last summer, the Canadian Cancer Society decided it was time to get the word out. They launched a nationwide campaign recommending that every Canadian citizen start taking 1,000 IEUs of vitamin D every day. (You should, too.) Vitamin D was flying off the shelves all over the country.

On this side of the border, the silence was deafening.

Forget about a national vitamin D awareness campaign in this country, because there isn’t one. Instead, let’s look at a recent report from a relatively small group, the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force. It’s made up of over 100 doctors and nurses. Their goal is to inform black women about the risks of breast cancer and what they can do to prevent it.6

In Chicago, black women die from breast cancer at a rate 68% higher than white women. Yet in its 113-page report, the Task Force doesn’t mention vitamin D once. This is particularly upsetting when you consider that black women are especially vulnerable to vitamin D deficiency.

Think about it: a large, vulnerable segment of the female population in the US is missing out on the biggest, most affordable cancer prevention bonanza to come along in years.

And this is just one small example of mainstream medicine’s handling of cancer prevention, from a “task force” whose stated goal is to help a group especially at risk. So you can see why I think the healthcare industry is doing the American public a major disservice.

To remedy the situation, let’s review what you can do to bolster your vitamin D levels and drive your risk of all kinds of cancer through the floor:

• Eat a “D-rich” diet – fish, eggs, milk (wild-caught, free-range, and organic) all have plenty of vitamin D.
• Take supplements – available on line or in health food stores – at least 1,000 IEUs per day.
• Get 20 minutes of sunlight if you’re fair-skinned, or up to twice that much if you’re dark-skinned.

When it comes to vitamin D and cancer, it’s no exaggeration to say that the American medical establishment’s silence is more than deafening – it’s deadly.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

(Update:  More vitamin D news blogged on 11 March, 2008.)