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Supplements
and Colloidal Silver
Supplements
A supplement is something added to complete a thing, make up for a
deficiency, or extend or strengthen the whole. This is precisely what
a supplement is supposed to do for the body.
We carry a full line of supplements to enhance
your good health or to assist your body with a current health issue to
regain your health. We are continually incorporating proven ideas and
looking for new ideas into our programs to benefit your health. We
offer supplements from many companies including Standard Process, Dee
Cee Labs and several offer quality companies.
Colloidal Silver
Colloidal silver is a natural antibiotic,
anti-viral, and anti-fungal. When someone is burned, doctors
typically use silvadene cream to treat and protect the injured area
from infection. When babies are born it is common practice to apply
5% silver nitrate to the eyes to prevent an infection that could cause
blindness. Colloidal silver is silver in a distilled water
solution ranging from 5 parts per million to 1,000 PPM. It is
currently believed that colloidal silver fights against viruses,
bacterial, and fungal infections. We currently offer 2 oz.
bottles of colloidal silver with a strength of 80 PPM.
Colloidal silver has been defined in the
last 103 years by physicians treating every known bacterial caused
disease from acne to yeast infection until the debut of penicillin.
Antibiotics took the lead in fighting disease and colloidal silver was
made an over-the-counter product, no longer requiring a prescription.
Silver is an unusual element in health
science. First and foremost it is important to understand that
claims made as to specific benefits resulting from the use of
colloidal silver are not the claims of this author but the statements
of many physicians, books, printed accounts and internet testimonials
from the last 103 years. Information conveyed from history beyond the
103 years is based on ancient records and research from Biblical times
until recently. Therefore, we cannot imply that everyone will
experience similar beneficial results.
Many studies seem to reflect that
colloidal silver has been proven to be useful against many different
infections and is toxic in concentrations of 3 - 5 ppm (parts per
million) against all species of fungi, bacteria, protozoa, parasites
and certain viruses, in the laboratory, in a Petri dish. Doing a
little math is in store now. If you start with 3 - 5 ppm and add
this colloidal silver to 5 liters of fluid such as the amount of blood
in a human, you will not have the same results in killing bacteria and
virus … YOU WILL NEED MORE PPM of COLLOIDAL SILVER. Colloidal
silver does not kill or inhibit all forms of bacteria, virus or fungi.
Actually, this is good news for us. If colloidal silver killed all
organisms then it would also kill essential healthy flora, necessary
to maintain life, both human and animal.
Today various applications of colloidal
silver include oral, topical, by injection, as a nasal, ear or eye
drops, vaginal and even on other sensitive tissues. Silver has
been applied directly to cuts, scrapes, eczema, acne and open sores.
Place a few drops of colloidal silver on an adhesive bandage and wear
over abrasions, open sores and even warts. It has been
successfully used in the treatment of these conditions. The
colloidal silver depends on the body weight of an individual and one's
metabolism and general health. The least amount of colloidal
silver regarding PPM effectively would be topical use where the
colloidal silver would not be diluted. There are survey results
from many people who have reported the prevention or a reduction of
several illnesses during changing seasons or the rapid recovery of
current illnesses. It is like having another immune system.
After taking an individually determined dosage, people have gone
through a “cleansing” of bodily toxins prior to full recovery from
illnesses. Documentation reports neither adverse side effects
nor any harm to the person taking colloidal silver according to the
manufacturer's suggested use or physician's prescription.
During the past few years, colloidal
silver has been used by manufacturers in adhesive bandages, spa
filters, and even floor tile.
Please come by our office or call for particular
items to enhance your health.
Better Health Through Soaking
from the Epsom Salt Council
Magnesium can be ingested as a nutritional
supplement, but studies show that a wide variety of factors - the
presence of specific foods or drugs, certain medical conditions, even
the individual chemistry of a person's stomach acid - can interfere
with their effectiveness. But all of the subjects in a recent study
experienced increased magnesium levels from soaking in a bath enriched
with magnesium sulfate crystals, commonly known as Epsom Salt.
Researchers and physicians report that
raising your magnesium levels may:
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Improve heart and circulatory health,
reducing irregular heartbeats, preventing hardening of the arteries,
reducing blood clots and lowering blood pressure.
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Improve the body's ability to use
insulin, reducing the incidence or severity of diabetes.
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Flush toxins and heavy metals from the
cells, easing muscle pain and helping the body to eliminate harmful
substances.
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Improve nerve function by regulating
electrolytes. Also, calcium is the main conductor for electrical
current in the body, and magnesium is necessary to maintain proper
calcium levels in the blood.
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Relieve stress. Excess adrenaline and
stress are believed to drain magnesium, a natural stress reliever,
from the body. Magnesium is necessary for the body to bind adequate
amounts of serotonin, a mood-elevating chemical within the brain
that creates a feeling of well being and relaxation.
While increasing your magnesium levels,
Epsom Salt also delivers sulfates, which are extremely difficult to
get through food but which readily absorb through the skin. Sulfates
serve a wide variety of functions in the body, playing a vital role in
the formation of brain tissue, joint proteins and the mucin proteins
that line the walls of the digestive tract. Sulfates also stimulate
the pancreas to generate digestive enzymes and are believed to help
detoxify the body's residue of medicines and environmental
contaminants.
Milk Thistle: Safe and Effective Around
Chemotherapy?
By Kerry Bone, BSc (hons), Dipl. Phyto.
Milk thistle (Silybum marianum), especially as the concentrated
extract containing a defined level of the silymarin complex of
flavanolignans, is being increasingly prescribed by herbal clinicians
around cancer chemotherapy.
It is mainly being used to assist recovery
after chemotherapy, for liver protection during chemotherapy and to
ameliorate any long-term effects of cancer treatment.1
The aim is to not only improve quality of life, but also to favorably
affect treatment outcomes, since the patient might be able to better
tolerate chemotherapy at the optimum dose.
However,
concerns are often expressed in the mainstream medical literature that
herbs (especially antioxidant herbs) should not be used in conjunction
with chemotherapy because they might compromise cytotoxic effects on
cancer cells. Also, there is the added concern for milk thistle
that its detoxifying properties might lead to increased clearance of
cancer drugs.
A recently published clinical trial is an
encouraging development in this debate. In this double-blind,
placebo-controlled trial, 50 children (1 to 21 years of age) with
acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were randomly assigned to receive a
proprietary milk thistle extract or placebo over a period of 28 days
during maintenance chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is frequently
interrupted in the treatment of children with ALL because of liver
toxicity, especially during the maintenance phase of treatment.
The extract contained only two compounds from the flavanolignan
complex, namely silybin A and B (target dose for trial participants
5.1 mg/kg/day), together with soy phosphatidylcholine (to improve
bioavailability). The intravenous chemotherapy drugs
administered to the children included vincristine, prednisone,
methotrexate and 6-mercaptopurine. No significant differences in
frequency of side effects, incidence and severity of toxic reactions,
infections or liver parameters were observed at the end of the trial
(day 28).
However, by day 56 the milk thistle group
had a significantly lower AST (p = 0.05) and a trend toward a
significantly lower ALT (p = 0.07) compared to baseline. AST in
the treatment arm was also significantly different to placebo at day
56 (p = 0.04). Although not significant, chemotherapy doses had
to be reduced in 61 percent of the milk thistle group, compared to 72
percent for placebo. These results occurred despite the
relatively poor treatment compliance: adherence to milk thistle
treatment was just 68 percent, versus 96 percent for placebo (p =
0.02). Younger children exhibited better compliance than
teenagers. The concurrent use of milk thistle did not appear to
compromise the activity of the chemotherapy drug cocktails.
There is an earlier case study from 1993
in which milk thistle extract (800 mg/day) was given to a 34-year-old
female patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia.3
Maintenance chemotherapy for this type of leukemia with drugs such as
methotrexate and 6-mercaptopurine also leads to potential problems
with liver toxicity. The patient was started on such a regime,
but therapy was only intermittent due to her elevated liver enzymes.
During four months of milk thistle treatment in combination with
maintenance chemotherapy, liver enzymes were maintained at normal
levels for the first time ever for this patient. From this case
study it might be reasonably concluded that high-end doses of a normal
milk thistle extract (as opposed to a combination with soy
phosphatidylcholine) should also be able to counter chemotherapy toxic
effects.
There have been several clinical studies
published in the past decade that have sought to understand any
potential interaction of milk thistle extract with
prescribed drugs. The majority of studies have found no or
minimal interaction. Perhaps surprisingly, given that the herb
is regarded as a "detoxifying" agent, any significant effects that
have been demonstrated generally reflect on decreased, not increased,
drug metabolism.
One highly relevant study evaluated the
impact of milk thistle on human cytochrome P450 (CYP) activity using
various probe drug cocktails.4
Milk thistle extract (350 mg/day standardized to 80 percent silymarin)
for 28 days had no impact on CYP1A2, CYP2D6, CYP2E1 and CYP3A4.
These CYP enzymes are involved in the metabolism of many common drugs,
including those used in cancer chemotherapy, CYP3A4 is especially
important. A meta-analysis of three trials involving concurrent
use of milk thistle (450 to 525 mg/day of a typical 80 percent
silymarin extract for 12 to 28 days) and the anti-HIV drug indinavir
found no impact on drug levels.5
Milk thistle (600 mg/day of an 80 percent silymarin extract) for four
or 12 days had no impact on the metabolism of the anticancer drug
irinotecan in six cancer patients.6
By studying the herb bioavailability and drug metabolites, the authors
concluded that silybin concentrations in plasma were too low to
significantly affect the function of the phase I enzyme CYP3A4 and the
phase II enzyme UGT1A1. They noted that irinotecan is highly
susceptible to CYP3A4 inhibition (which silymarin demonstrates in
vitro) and concluded that the herbal extract "poses little risk of
interfering with the pharmacokinetic profile of chemotherapeutic
agents that are substrates for CYP3A4 and UGT1A1." A similar
conclusion (that milk thistle is not a potent CYP3A4 inducer) was
reached after a short-term study of the impact of the herbal extract
on the calcium-channel-blocking drug nifedipine in 16 healthy male
volunteers.7
Interference with transporter proteins
such as P-glycoprotein (P-gp) can also result in significant herb-drug
interactions, as is the case for St. John's wort (Hypericum
perforatum). In this context it was found that 900 mg/day of
milk thistle extract for 14 days had a small but non-significant
impact on digoxin pharmacokinetics in 16 healthy volunteers.8
In contrast, an Indian study found that levels of the antibiotic drug
metronidazole were significantly reduced by just 140 mg/day of milk
thistle extract for nine days, due to suspected induction of
intestinal and perhaps hepatic expression of P-gp and CYP3A4.9
This is the only human herb-drug
interaction study for milk thistle that has found reduced drug levels,
so clearly this study needs to be repeated. Also, induction of
P-gp was the proposed mechanism, in contrast with other studies that
found inhibition of or no effect on this transporter (see immediately
below and above).
A few studies have demonstrated increased
drug levels. For example, 420 mg/day of milk thistle extract (80
percent silymarin) for 14 days increased levels of the beta-blocker
talinolol by around 36 percent.10
Inhibition of P-gp was suggested as a possible mechanism. The
same authors also found that milk thistle extract at the same dose
appeared to inhibit the metabolism of the hypotensive drug losartan in
individuals with a particular CYP2C9 genotype.11
Two other studies have shown reduced clearance of ornidazole12
and sirolimus.13
Hence, the majority of human clinical
herb-drug interaction studies show that milk thistle is not likely
to interfere with drug metabolism. If it does interact at all,
this typically results in increased, not reduced, drug levels.
Also it should be noted that the occasional effects observed on P-gp
induction are not likely to impact on levels of intravenously
administered drugs. Clearly, the possibility that milk thistle
will reduce the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs by increasing their
clearance from the body is rather unlikely based on current evidence.
While it might instead result in increased drug levels, such an effect
is not likely to be large for the more aggressive doses used during
intravenous chemotherapy. However, for added safety milk thistle
extract is probably best used in conjunction with other non-specific
antitoxic herbs such as adaptogens.
A final point worth noting is the
existence of several in vitro studies that show the silymarin complex
potentiates the action of chemotherapeutic drugs on cancer cells.
For example, silymarin exerted synergistic effects on the
antiproliferative activities of doxorubicin and paclitaxel in both
sensitive and (at higher silymarin concentrations) multidrug-resistant
(MDR) colon cancer cells.14 Silymarin is a known inhibitor of cellular
MDR pumps that confer resistance to toxins and, in the case of
bacteria, antibiotics. It also demonstrated antiproliferative
activity on its own.14
Hence, the upside is that milk thistle might not just be a passive
bystander during cancer chemotherapy. At the very least, these
studies cast doubt on the proposition that the herb will reduce the
cytotoxic activity of
chemotherapeutic drugs.
References
-
Greenlee H, Abascal K, Yarnell E, et al.
Integr Cancer Ther, 2007;6(2):158-65.
-
Ladas EJ, Kroll DJ, Oberlies NH, et al.
Cancer, 2010;116(2):506-13.
-
Invernizzi R, Bernuzzi S, Ciani D, et
al. Haematologica, 1993;78(5):340-1.
-
Gurley BJ, Gardner SF, Hubbard MA, et
al. Clin Pharmacol Ther, 2004;76(5):428-40.
-
Mills E, Wilson K, Clarke M, et al.
Eur J Clin Pharmacol, 2005;61(1):1-7.
-
van Erp NPH, Baker SD, Zhao M, et al.
Clin Cancer Res, 2005;11(21):7800-6.
-
Fuhr U, Beckmann-Knopp S, Jetter A, et
al. Planta Med, 2007;73(14):1429-35.
-
Gurley BJ, Barone GW, Williams DK, et
al. Drug Metab Dispos, 2006;34(1):69-74.
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Rajnarayana K, Reddy MS, Vidyasagar J,
et al. Arzneim-Forsch Drug Res, 2004;54(2);109-13.
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Han Y, Guo D, Chen Y, et al.
Xenobiotica, 2009;39(09):694-9.
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Han Y, Guo D, Chen Y, et al. Eur J
Clin Pharmacol, 2009;65(6):585-91.
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Repalle SS, Yamsani SK, Gannu R, et al.
Acta Pharma Sci, 2009;51(1):15-20.
-
Jiao Z, Shi XJ, Li ZD, et al. Br J
Clin Pharmacol, 2009;68(1):47-60.
-
Colombo V, Lupi M, Falcetta F, et al.
Cancer Chemother Pharmacol, 2010 Apr 30. [Epub ahead of
print.]
Kerry Bone is a practicing herbalist; co-founder
and head of research and development at MediHerb; and principal of the
Australian College of Phytotherapy. He also is the author of
several books on herbs and herbal therapy, including Principles and
Practice of Phytotherapy and The Essential Guide to Herbal Safety
Kidney Failure
During the first part of 2010, my
kidney function decreased to approximately 38% for one four-month
monitoring period. I continued with the supplement even though the
kidney doctor told me that he didn’t think it would do any good. He
said the supplement would not harm me, and that he had no objection to
my using it. Since that one low point of approximately 38%, my kidney
function has steadily increased through the last exam in January,
2011. I am now back to approximately 54% of normal filtering. I
continue to believe that the supplement has allowed me to maintain my
disease at a level below medical intervention, and I can highly
recommend Dr. Hank to properly administer the correct dosages of the
supplement to aid in the treatment of kidney disease. Ken
Cayce, Arlington, TX, 2/25/2011
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