Candida albicans is a typical gastrointestinal fungus that is a component of a normal GI environment that, when under certain conditions of GI stress or imbalance, can proliferate to the point of being pathogenic. One manifestation of this pathogenic overgrowth is the creation of barriers known as biofilms.

Allicin, a powerful and active metabolite of garlic, was shown to disrupt the membrane and reduce the proliferation of candida. Also, allicin demonstrated the ability to decrease biofilm production more effectively than the anti-fungal drug fluconazole.

Source: Science Direct

Degenerative lumbar scoliosis (DLS) is a spinal deformity that develops after skeletal maturity with a Cobb angle of more than 10° in the coronal plane. As the life expectancy of our population increases, DLS becomes a prevalent health issue affecting the quality of life of the elderly. The degree of the scoliosis curvature affects not only the symptoms but also the choice of treatments. Osteoporosis and intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) have been suggested as two important risks associated with the progression of DLS. Interestingly, recent data implicate interleukin-1 (IL-1) in the altered matrix biology that characterizes human IDD. Compelling evidence links decreased sleep duration to lower bone mineral density (BMD) and elevated expression of IL-1. Based on these evidences, we propose that decreased sleep duration might be a risk of the progression of DLS, and hypothesize that the underlying mechanisms might be the elevated excretion of glucocorticoids and elevated expression of IL-1.

Source: Med Hypotheses. 2011 Nov 25. [Epub ahead of print]

In a new study out in the European Spine Journal, researchers observed a significant decrease in the maximum oxygen intake in teenage girls with scoliosis curvatures between 25 and 40 degrees. Girls with a curvature including more than 9 vertebra in the curvature and those girls with a double curve scoliosis also demonstrated a significantly decreased maximal oxygen intake.

This study is very important for a couple of reasons. First, it highlights the importance of physicians needing to treat more than just the scoliosis curvature. In moderate cases like these, it is necessary to help rehabilitate normal breathing function in these patients. Second, this evidence suggests that breathing function is significantly affected by scoliosis curvatures much smaller than previously believed by Western physicians.

Source:  Eur Spine J. 2011 Nov 22. [Epub ahead of print]

Dr. Strauchman and Dr. Morningstar want to thank everyone who completed our email survey by November 15th. We are excited to announce that Danielle Enos won our $100 Prepaid VISA gift card. Congratulations Danielle!

Although we only have one grand prize, we also want to reward everyone who took the time to complete the survey by the November 15th deadline. Therefore, everyone who did, in fact, complete the survey will receive $5 off their next in-clinic purchase of any supplement or nutrient they purchase. We are truly grateful that you all took the time to help us help you better.

Exciting news!  Dr. Mark Morningstar, chiropractic physician at the Natural Wellness & Pain Relief Centers of Grand Blanc and Richmond, has successfully completed NeuroScience’s  NEI Certification Program.  This means he has successfully mastered the tools and approaches to comprehensively and effectively treat many of the most common, yet complex health concerns. This benefits the patient by providing quicker and more effective health management – saving time and money.  He is among the first 100 providers nationwide to achieve this distinction.

“It is very exciting to receive this certification . The human body tends to function as a single entity. Therefore, it is important to evaluate people with a whole-body approach. NEI certification serves as an assurance to patients that the NEI-certified physician will evaluate and treat them with this perspective. The NEI certification training program has challenged me to better understand the tools available to address health through the evaluation of nervous system function. It allows me to comprehensively and effectively treat many of the most common, yet complex health concerns through innovative nervous system assessment and unique treatments. This has benefited many of my patients, by providing new and very efficient approaches to health concerns – saving my patients both time and money,” says Dr. Morningstar
For more information or to schedule an appointment to discuss your health concerns and the options available to you, please call one of Dr. Morningstar’s offices below.

810.694.3576  Grand Blanc

586.727.7500  Richmond

In a new study published in the European Spine Journal, researchers wanted to see if hormone deficiencies were a triggering event for adult degenerative scoliosis, a condition that commonly occurs in postmenopausal women. It is thought that menopausal hormone changes affect bone density, which sets off a cascade of events that leads to degenerative scoliosis.

In this latest study, women given hormone replacement therapy were less likely to develop one of the initiating factors in adult degenerative scoliosis, called lateral listhesis, a rotational displacement of a vertebra.

The occurrence of adult degenerative scoliosis is more common that scoliosis in juveniles or adolescents. Therefore, this research is very important in helping to possibly prevent adult-onset scoliosis in the first place.

One note we would like to add to this however. Bio-identical hormone replacement has far fewer risks involved than conventional hormone replacement therapy, which is made from pregnant horse urine. Synthetic hormone replacement carries with increased risk of certain female reproductive cancers. So please do your homework if you are interested in hormone replacement.

Women who are already developing degenerative scoliosis will likely want a combined treatment approach, one that includes bio-identical hormone replacement and a conservative exercise-based scoliosis therapy like ARC3D to help reverse the scoliosis.

Source: Eur Spine J. 2011 Oct 28. [Epub ahead of print]

NEW Scoliosis Reduction Treatment: The Tornado Suit, not  another brace.

By drsidchiro

Most of my articles are focused on Scoliosis – and, this one is, too – sort of.  But, in the Scoliosis Family Adventures family, I am the only one without Scoliosis, and this article is about ME.  Well, mostly about me.  I also want to talk about Dr. Morningstar and the work we’ve done together to take care of some issues in my neck area that have plagued me most of my life.  When I was about 10, I started having headaches daily.  We could not figure out what was the cause, but I spent many days home from school due to the pain.  I was popping pills every day.  One day, my Mom took me to her chiropractor and, after one adjustment, the headaches were gone.  We had to keep them up periodically, but, for the most part, they were gone.  It was then that we knew that it was my long neck, out of whack from playing the violin from age 4, that would need extra attention as life went on.

Fast forward many years into my adult life and neck issues still plagued me.  I really find value in traditional Chiropractic care, but no solution gave me any long-term structural changes.  My neck would stay in alignment only for short periods of time, only to need frequent adjustments.  It was when I was researching for help for my children’s Scoliosis when I found Dr. Morningstar at the Natural Wellness and Pain Relief Centers of Michigan (see my side bar for a link to their site)  or click here: http://michiganwellnessandpainrelief.com/.  He is a Chiropractor, but I always tell people he’s one-of-a-kind.  I don’t even remember the last time I’ve been adjusted (or that my kids have been adjusted) there because he only adjusts when it’s needed – for the most part, he focuses on long-term changes to the skeletal system.  He uses a system of weighted exercises (called the Pettibon system) plus many of his own inventions, that patients use to re-train their bodies into correct postural alignment.  I was skeptical, of course, but figured we had nothing to lose.

Now, as an Engineer, I know that it’s difficult to prove a theory.  Tests require multiple test subjects and the variables have to be severely limited to be able to pinpoint an exact result from a specific treatment.  Unfortunately, with my kids’ spines being how they are, it’s been difficult to say what in our litany of treatments has been what has been keeping those curves at bay.  I really feel it’s a combination of a masterfully-made brace (by Luke Stikeleather at Orthotic Solutions), muscle building treatments we do at home, and our work with Dr. Morningstar.

However, what I want to share with you today is my x-ray results on my neck and spine, both before and after working with Dr. Morningstar.   I’ve inserted 4 photos below.  The first two focus on my neck.  A person’s neck should not be straight when looking from the side view.  The head should rest above the shoulders and the neck should have a nice forward bend.  The straight line from the head to the shoulders should continue to the pelvis (so, the lower spine should also have a little forward curve).  The first photo shows my neck before and after a couple years of daily weighted treatments.  You can see the drastic improvement in how my neck is aligned.  I did not purposefully put it in this position for the x-ray.  Both times, I sat in a natural position.  The results are amazing.  I still get occasional neck pain and very infrequent headaches, but I find that it coincides with periods of time when I have neglected to wear my Pettibon weights or when I’ve done something like practice violin for a while without stretching or sleep on it funny.  Otherwise, my posture has changed drastically over the course of my work with Dr. Morningstar.  The next two photos focus on my lumbar – you can see that before my side view was the opposite it should be – I was somehow tipped way back (probably the weight of my head falling forward messed up all the way down my spine).  The second photo shows a much more aligned me.  I’m still working on that tiny little forward curve, but am pretty happy with this progress.

Now, the nice thing about sharing my results is that I am one of those test cases where nothing else was at work that would have changed my spine.  Sure, I do yoga and exercises, but I’ve been doing yoga for over a decade – way before my work with Dr. Morningstar.  Nothing else in this aspect of my life changed – just using his treatments.  I know that I am only one case and that one case cannot prove the worth of any treatment, but I can personally attest that this treatment is very much worth trying.  The time commitment is minimal (we live about 1 hour and 15 minutes from his office, so we only go once a month – most of the work is done at home).  I could also go on and on about Dr. Morningstar’s ingenious ideas about Scoliosis, his invention of the Tornado suit (which holds wonderful promise for the future of non-surgical Scoliosis treatments), his dedication to helping all people, but specifically those with Scoliosis.  I could talk about his wonderful staff (we love you, Miss Kat!), and how I feel that throughout his career, some of his out-of-the-box thinking about Scoliosis will revolutionize the metrics used to measure curves and predict success of treatments.  I could talk about all that and more, but, like I said, this article is about ME!  Even if you don’t live near Dr. Morningstar, please contact him – he is working with Doctors all over the country to bring similar solutions to more and more people.  He may be able to recommend someone in your area that can help you or your loved one – with any and all postural difficulties.

Source:  Scoliosis Family Adventures Blog

If you have read the recent reports about the cantaloupe that has killed over a dozen people, you have also seen the terrifying news that it ain’t over yet and that the listeria poisoning can take a couple of months to show up. Some reports say the melon from the farm in question was shipped to 17 states, others say 25 states.

So, there are a bunch of worried consumers out there, waiting for that ticking time bomb melon to go off inside them. With not even a hint of what do do about it coming across the airwaves. I had the peach colored melon myself this weekend, at a restaurant. A melon of unknown origin. Was I foolish to trust it wouldn’t kill me?

I am a subscriber to the Claude Bernard milieu theory, which suggests that we can build our immunity to disease and even pathogens by creating an inhospitable environment inside our bodies.

Good Advice from the Healthy Home Economist

I highly recommend reading this post called Foodborne Illness that Sarah Pope did on my blog during another serious illness outbreak. Read it and you will see her excellent advice to partake of pro-biotic foods (for example, kefir, yogurt, fermented vegetables, raw kombucha, unpasteurized beer). She also recommends a low sugar/starch diet to develop your immunity.

Why do some people get sick during illness outbreaks and others don’t? Some have a better environment, consequently a stronger immune system. It is a simple as that.

Don’t live in fear of salmonella, listeria and the like, start building your interior milieu with thousands of good bacteria, these bacteria will protect you and can even overwhelm a bad bug. Think about it, the reason it takes a month or more for virulent listeria to cause disease, is because someone ingested a little bit of bacteria that multiplied, and grew inside them until it became a major problem.

Don’t just sit and wait, throw down as much competitive bacteria as you can and take those pathogens OUT!

Plus, sauerkraut, naturally fermented pickles and kefir shakes are great tasting and add variety to your diet!

Live a Wellness Lifestyle, Everyday!

The reason I wasn’t afraid to eat cantaloupe is that I have in my daily diet these protective foods. For years now I have been building a strong milieu in my body.

Since the news reports say the average age of people dying from this cantaloupe outbreak is 78, you may want to reach out to the elderly folks in your life and encourage them to add kefir or raw kombucha to their diet.

And, by the way, antibiotics are contraindicated for foodborne illness. Please get a second or third opinion if a hospital tries to give you antibiotics. The damage can be serious when antibiotics are administered.

Taken from the Health Freedom Alliance.

Full Source: http://hartkeisonline.com/natural-health/cantaloupe-outbreak-what-to-do-if-you-have-eaten-cantaloupe/