Holistic Dermatology and Integrative Medicine

Why Are We Deriding Vitamins?

Recent front page articles have appeared in the popular press, loaded with quotes from authorities, downgrading the importance of using multivitamins and other supplements for children, and people in general. One, “The ABC’s of Missing Vitamins,” on vitamins for children, was the lead article on the front page of the Personal Journal section of the May 4, 2010 Wall Street Journal.

I agree with the statements in the article that vitamins are no substitute for a healthy diet, and that healthy foods have a spectrum of nutrients that may be missed in isolated supplements.

Unfortunately, however, the authors and authorities seem to have either forgotten or do not know that our food has changed over the last several decades, and no longer contains the same nutrients it had before. For example the article stated the need for supplementing with Omega-3 fish oils has “often been overhyped”. By importing foods from warm weather climate, and hydrogenating oils, we have systematically reduced the amount of omega -3 fatty acids in our diet and in our bodies.

Cold water fish used to contain omega-3 oils because they ate the omega-3 rich krill found in cold ocean waters. By feeding farmed fish grain instead, we have reduced the levels of these anti-inflammatory essential fatty acids in what used to be the best sources of this vital nutrient.

As a result, measurements of the ratios of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids in people today have dropped dramatically. Could it be that parents feeding their children fish oil are more up on the practical science involved than the author of these articles?

To your health,

Dr. Alan M. Dattner
Holistic Dermatology
New York, New York

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to prevent, diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

Dairy and Acne. A connection?

Back when I started my dermatology training, there were still a number of older dermatologists who had trained before the era of widespread use of antibiotics, who told their acne patients to stop drinking milk to improve their acne condition. That advice became unpopular for about 30 years, with the easy use of tetracycline to calm acne and avoid the issue.  

But during the past decade, a study on nurses and then two subsequent studies on their sons and daughters (published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 2005-8,) demonstrated a definite association between drinking milk, and especially skim milk, and acne occurrence. The fact that skim milk had a greater association suggested that it was not the fats, but possibly the hormones in milk, which were causing the problem.  Milk contains hormones like progesterone, because 80% of the cows producing milk have recently been pregnant.

But milk also possesses a number of androgen-related hormones that go on to influence the sebaceous gland unit to form an acne lesion. Dr. William Danby, who was involved with these studies and lectured on this subject at the recent American Academy of Dermatology meeting, pointed out that the androgens in cows' milk cause acne, but are different than human androgens.  

As a result, the production of the body’s own androgens are not turned off by their presence, as in a normal feedback loop situation.  That would be like having another heater in your house not wired to the regular thermostat, and wondering why it was getting so hot.  So cow’s milk androgens turn up the male hormone activity that is driving the acne.  I will discuss other ways milk may aggravate acne in future blog. Do your own dairy experiment by cutting it out of your diet completely and see if it has any effect...

 

To your health,

Dr. Alan M. Dattner
Holistic Dermatology
New York, New York

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to prevent, diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

Integrative Dermatology & Holistic Medicine: What is it?

In this newly posted video, Dr. Dattner discusses the differences between traditional dermatology and natural, holistic treatment of the skin.  

 

Speaking about Holistic Dermatology in India

It is the beginning of the New Year, so I want to wish the best to all of you and to our world.

I would like to share some very exciting news with you. I was invited to go to India to be a featured speaker for an International Symposium on Integrative and Holistic Dermatology. To my knowledge, this was the first Symposium on Holistic and Integrative Dermatology sponsored by an academic Dermatology department, ever on the planet. On December 4, I gave three lectures on various aspects of holistic dermatology, and participated in a panel wrapping up the session at the Dermatology Department of Kasturba Medical College in Manipal University in Manipal, located in South West India. It was quite an experience to be honored by having the opportunity to teach about the approach to treating skin disease, and to do so to eager listeners halfway around the world. I have already heard from Dr. Shenoi, the head of the department, that what I presented was well received, and has given rise to new ways to treat difficult cases at the hospital there. In addition, my listeners were awakened to the neglected aspect of nutrition in Dermatology.

My knowledge was also enhanced by hearing the two other speakers, one of whom I had met when she was just entering this field of study.
I had a chance in Manipal to see the Ayurvedic department and the Yoga department at the medical center, which represents an integration of traditional care with conventional medical care that is rare in India as it is throughout the world. We spent a morning at a naturopathic hospital, which focused on diet and physical modalities for healing. Cleansing diet, simplicity, spirituality, and beauty of the surroundings, and yoga, were mainstays of the healing program there beyond the diet and other cleansing processes.

One of the other Integrative Dermatology speakers, Dr. S. I. Narahari, was having anopening of his new clinic for Applied Dermatology, and invited me to participate in the dedication and speak at his 5th annual National symposium. The physicians from all over India, honored mentor dermatologist Dr. Terrence Ryan from England,the press, and many people from the local government were present. More than 15 patients with elephantiasis were presented to a group of over 25 dermatologists and other physicians. Between presentations, I was asked by Dr. Narahari and a government minister to help design studies on nutrition and skin disease as, it relates to rural India. I am excited about being able to help those who might otherwise not receive care, and about extending studies in nutritional dermatology that can have a more widespread benefit.

To recover from jet lag on arriving in India, I spent the first 4 days in an Ayurvedic Spa, where I experienced the famous medicinal oil massages and hot herbal applications. We were treated to a visit to the associated third-generation manufacturing plant, which used age-old processes to manufacture Ayurvedic remedies. It has taken time for me to recover from the travels during flu season, so I finally writing to you now.

What has been most amazing to me are the similarities between several thousand-year old Ayurvedic concepts and what I am now doing, incorporating what is now being called functional medicine into my practice of dermatology. This will be thesubject of some of my letters and blogs in the future.

Urgent: Keep Free Access to Vitamins and Supplements in the US

I use a lot of supplements in my practice. In fact, it's one of the largest parts of what I do. I'm afraid that access to them may soon become limited unless we take immediate action. 

To skip the details and alert your senators now, click here.

There is a really troublesome initiative about to be activated by the GAO Congress from Senators Durban and Waxman, which could drastically limit new innovative supplements, and raise the cost of any created in the past 16 years of so.

I urge you to contact your Senators and Congress people and let them know they should vote against it, before the commentary deadline on December 1st, 2011.

Whole Foods talks about it here.

The directive letter to the GAO, here, looks like it is simply designed to protect the public, but two major organizations aligned with natural health are concerned that it will in effect, be overlooking the protections in the DSHA act passed in 1994, and requiring any supplements since that legislation to be proven safe before they are allowed, even if they are produced by improved methodology from previously and still allowed supplements and herbs.  You may remember that DSHA was passed as a result of a massive public outcry about legislation which would have greatly removed availability of supplements, vitamins, and herbs from the roughly 80% of the population who now use them.  

I cannot follow the exact politics of the issue, but I now that this is the latest in a series of political moves by Senator Durban which included a defeated bill which would have drastically reduced access to supplements.

I have had the opportunity over the past three decades and especially over the past dozen year, to use nutritional, vitamin, and herbal supplements to help a lot of people get better from conditions which did not respond to the best quality conventional care. Many not only improved their skin, but also regained better energy and digestive function, and were able to resume active and productive lives. Side effects have tended to be minor or positive compared to htose that I have witnessed with drugs.

I shudder to think what would have happened to all of those lives if I did not have access to the tools to help them because of this pending Durban legislation.

If you value your health and freedom to take supplements. Don’t just take my word for it. Please check out the following organizations on their web pages, and decide about the issue for yourselves.

Citizens for Health

Alliance for Natural Health - the Petition

The actual ploys used in this issue have been changing, as the legislators keep trying to make changes which in essence will in essence, benefit the drug companies.

Please remember that failure to act on this issue could result in loss of access to supplements vital to your health and life, or to to the health of people you care about. The danger of these products as used by experienced  practitioners is currently immensely smaller than that of pharmaceuticals properly prescribed.

I believe that we have enough of an industrial chemical burden and disease crisis without the US government, by legislative intimidation, taking away or making more expensive, a whole class of tools for people getting better. It all just forces us to use phamaceutical instead, rather than having a choice.

Tell your legislators that we are doing fine as we are, and that they should vote down this Durban bill.

To your health,

Dr. Alan M Dattner, MD

 

Gray Hair and Stress

“You’re giving me gray hair!” a cry that I’m sure I was not the only one who heard this from their mother when their difficult behavior caused her stress. True or not, it all sounded a little like a folk tale, until now. New studies from the laboratory of Dr. Robert Lefkowitz at Duke University show that chronically elevated levels of the stress hormone adrenaline damage the DNA in specific ways that could lead to a spectrum of conditions from gray hair to tumor formation.

The damage was shown to break down p53 protein, the protein that protects the genome against cancer by helping potential cancer cells either repair their cancerous nature, or self-destruct.

In this report in the August 21 issue of the journal Nature, they also showed more detail of the pathway by which adrenaline cause this damage. This included the role of a molecule called beta–arrestin-1 in the process of causing the damage.

Two major conferences were held at the New York Academy of Science in the late 1960’s on the effects of psychological factors in causing cancer. An impression of this effect was present for a long time, and supported by numerous studies.

This recent paper by Lefkowitz brings a new level of proof and understanding to the relationship between chronic, excessive stress and the onset of gray hair and cancer. While other factors certainly contribute to onset of these conditions, we can now pinpoint one factor over which we may have some control.

Exercise, meditation, breathing exercises and other stress-management techniques may contribute to longer, healthier, and less gray lives.

To your health,

Dr. Alan M. Dattner
Holistic Dermatology
New York, New York

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to prevent, diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

Preventing Melanoma: Good for Skin Lines and the Bottom Line?

Prevention of sunburn may make be wise for your nest egg, not just for your skin. Melanoma, one of the fastest increasing forms of potentially deadly cancer, is related to sun damage to the skin. Once it goes beyond the local stage and spreads, the chances of survival are in the order of 15%.

The good news is that various genetic subtypes of melanoma are being identified, and targeted by specific drugs. More good news is that a new “biologic” drug has been developed by Genetech named Zelboraf which blocks a specific mutated protein found in certain melanoma known as BRAF 600 V. This protein can be identified by a mutation test to see if Zelboraf will be effective in their melanoma. 

The bad news is that this drug is slated to cost $9800/month. Another related drug for late-stage melanoma recently approve named Yervoy costs $120,000/treatment course. If you think it will be easy to get your insurance to cover such treatment, just try to get them to pay for an out of network visit or lab test.

Especially for those with pale skin, lots of moles, and/or a family history of melanoma, this cost really questions the wisdom of overworking oneself to save money to reward oneself with sunburn vacations and weekends getting in the sun. Your wisest path, and most affordable path, is one of reasonable sun protection with hats and clothing as preventative investment. And don't forget to get any suspicious lesions checked.

To your health,

Dr. Alan M. Dattner
Holistic Dermatology
New York, New York

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to prevent, diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

Taking Stock of Your Medical History

Discovery of what illness a person has, and what is the underlying reason that illness is going on, often requires a lot of information.  Most of that information is related to your history, that of your family, and that of those around you. 

No one knows this information better than you, so it is helpful to keep a record of what has been going on with your health:
·      Serious or recurrent illnesses, surgeries and accidents, medications, vaccinations and other treatments, and their dates
·      Supplements, vitamins, herbs, other alternative treatments and the apparent positive and negative effects of these treatments on you.
·      Diet, or changes or slips in your diet and their dates are also important.
·      Don’t forget to get copies of important lab test results, and recent lab tests results, even if negative.

From my perspective, the events preceding your illness may be the most important clue to the cause of your specific illness that followed the exposure.

It may be more useful to edit the report you bring to a doctor, rather than bringing the whole file.  Try to keep a full file for yourself, and bring copies to your doctor, so that you keep a full set of your information.  Remember, doctors may only keep records for a period of up to 7 years.

Until there is a universal medical record kept, or perhaps a chip with that information in our wallet or under our skin, you are the best keeper and provider of information which may help with your health.  

Put together your own health file, and keep it where you or your family can find it.

To your health,

Dr. Alan M. Dattner
Holistic Dermatology
New York, New York

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to prevent, diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

 

Fall in Love with Broccoli

Last week I was invited to a raw food vegan community to give a talk on nutrition and the skin.I spoke to a group of “health ministers” who educated people about the benefits and the how to of starting and maintaining a predominantly raw food, vegan diet. Many people thanked me for all of the information I gave them. At the same time, I received a lot of information in the stories of people who had recovered from a number of both minor and serious medical conditions by going on the diet.

It certainly shows that avoiding many of the foods which can set off immune reactions, including not only meat and milk, but excessive grains and sugar, and getting a predominantly green vegetable diet, can be very beneficial.

And as Ann Wigmore and Dr. Gerson showed in the past, raw vegetable juice diet can be curative of a number of conditions. Many people find it difficult to undertake such diets, but those who need to return to the land of the living will have extra motivation to either at that way, or at least move in that direction. Their experience certainly supports my observation that making the right dietary changes away from the norm can lead to profound improvements in health.

I just saw a fun video, made by the fifth grade class of a former campmate of my daughter, which really touts a change from junk food to broccoli. I am sharing the link with you because I think that you will enjoy it, and maybe even get a few young people to think it’s cool to eat better. This is the kind of education that could lead to a healthier generation, and start curbing our out of sight health costs.

To your health,

Dr. Alan M. Dattner
Holistic Dermatology
New York, New York

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to prevent, diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

Support Natural Health Care

Recently in politics, there have been some developments I find disturbing. Let me share with you what is occurring in the U.S. House of Representatives:

Congressman Waxman is attempting to slip an obscure anti-supplement measure into the Wall Street “Reform” Bill Passed by the House; Please Take Action to Prevent Same Thing Happening in the Senate.

Click here to stop this from passing in the Senate as well. If you like access to supplements, take action to keep it.

I would like to praise medical system and pharmaceutical industry for bringing us lifesaving drugs and treatments for accidents and acute illness, and all sorts of conditions. Sometimes we take for granted the advances that have been and are constantly being made. I have seen thousands of people get better with both conventional medical treatment and holistic medical treatment. I believe great strides are being made in the area of natural health that are crucial to the safer control of chronic conditions. It is wonderful that we live in a world where we have access to a choice of whether to take a natural or more conventional approach. But there are, unfortunately, constant and ongoing efforts underway to severely limit your ability to choose various natural options. Fortunately, we still live in a democracy, where votes and voice count. If you want to have the option to favor natural treatments for your self or family, you have to take action against the various bills and laws afoot which would prevent you from doing so, or which would fund coverage only for conventional and not for natural treatment. Since it is hard to spend your time in Washington reviewing al of the legislation proposed that may restrict your freedom, there is fortunately an organization called “The Alliance for Natural Health” which makes it easy for you to learn about these various pending bills which would limit access and freedom, and take action notifying your elected legislators how you would like them to take into account your needs when they vote. They are an evolution of a previous organization that did the same work, and has a good heart and purpose. Check them out, subscribe, and let your friends know to check them out, sign up, take action and support them. I will soon be setting up a special email list you can subscribe to in order to hear about urgent matters needed to take action on to protect our full range of health care and treatment option rights. There are other organizations that may inform on some of these same issues, but some are more inflammatory and suspect of being most supportive of their own purse poses. I believe that there is room and need for both directions of care without one suppressing the other, and that indeed, the information from one feeds the other. Let's continue to move toward an integrative care approach rather than putting up barriers to it.

To your health,

Dr. Alan M. Dattner
Holistic Dermatology
New York, New York

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to prevent, diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.