Bones.  They are so important, and so often over looked… Osteoporosis is the most common bone disease in humans. It is characterized by decreased bone mass, which results in thinner, weaker bones that can often lead to a risk of fracture. Approximately 44 million American men and women, ages 50 and older, have osteoporosis (severe bone loss) or osteopenia (mild bone loss) with women being affected about twice as often as men. However, this statistic may be a result of a lack of diagnosis in men. In fact, it is estimated that 78 percent of osteoporosis in America is undiagnosed. Osteoporosis is associated with 1.5 million fractures a year; of this total, about 300,000 are hip fractures, the most serious complication of osteoporosis. In the year following a hip fracture, 20 percent of the affected patients will die, 25 percent will be confined to long-term care facilities and 50 percent will experience long-term loss of mobility. The good news is that osteoporosis can be prevented and reversed.

Risk Factors for Osteoporosis (Partial List):

Age

• 50 years or older (although it has been known to afflict people in their teens as well)

Genetics

• Family history
• Thin body frame
• White or Asian descent
• Female

Hormonal

• Premature or surgical menopause
• Menopause without hormone replacement therapy
• Prolonged amenorrhea (absence of menstrual periods)
• Exercise-induced amenorrhea

Lifestyle and Nutrition

• Decreased sun exposure and/or excessive use of sun screen
• High animal protein intake
• High alcohol intake
• High soft drink consumption
• Low intake of calcium, vitamin D and vitamin K
• Prolonged bed rest
• Sedentary lifestyle

Medical Diseases

• Anorexia
• Type I Diabetes
• Hyperthyroidism
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Scoliosis
• Vitamin D deficiency
• Major depression and stress

Medications

• Anticonvulsants
• Chemotherapy
• Warfarin (blood thinner)
• Lithium
• Steroids
• Antacids containing aluminum

Anyone with significant risk factors should be evaluated for osteoporosis. This assessment requires a physical exam including height measurements and diagnostic tests. The gold standard for measuring bone mineral density (BMD) is dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). A urine test measuring bone markers can also be used to diagnose the severity of bone loss.

What Are Natural Approaches to Preventing and Rebuilding Bone Mass?

Nutrition, Vitamins and Minerals: About 15 different nutrients have been found to play a significant role in maintaining bone health. Studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN) have shown that a vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of osteoporosis. This may be due to a lower intake of animal protein because a high protein diet or a diet high in phosphates is associated with increased excretion of calcium. Another recent study in June of 2006, also featured in AJCN, showed that a high fruit and vegetable intake may positively effect bone mineral status in both younger (adolescent) and older age groups.

Green Vegetables: Kale, parsley, lettuce, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts offer significant protection against osteoporosis. These foods are rich in a broad range of vitamins and minerals that are important for maintaining healthy bones including vitamin K, calcium and boron. Green tea is also a rich source of Vitamin K, which is associated with a lower risk of hip fracture, but not with an increase in bone density.

Folate: Getting enough folate (a B-complex vitamin) is a lot easier than it used to be because so many grain products including bread, cereal, rice and pasta are now fortified with folic acid, a synthetic form of folate. Naturally occurring folate can be found in foods such as spinach, citrus fruits and romaine lettuce. Another option is to take a multivitamin with 400 mcg of folic acid, which will also help keep your bones strong.

Fish Oil: The University of California San Diego (UCSD) conducted research showing a high ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 that was associated with lower BMD at the hip in both sexes. Other research suggests Omega 3 has a positive effect in bone health. Omega 3 increases the absorption of calcium and reduces calcium excretion while increasing calcium deposition in bone. Omega 3 fatty acids can be found in most cold water fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines and mackerel. It is also found in walnuts.

Calcium: Though calcium is a component of the mineral crystals that make up bone, bone health concerns much more than just proper calcium intake. In fact, though milk has often been cited as an excellent source of calcium, the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study of 77,761 women found that nurses who drank two or more glasses of milk daily actually suffered 1.5 times as many hip fractures than those who drank just one glass per day. Furthermore, people in countries with the highest consumption of dairy, (i.e., Scandinavians and northern Europeans) have the highest rate of osteoporosis. This may be due to the fact that milk is an animal based protein that can increase the excretion of calcium. However, supplementation of calcium has been shown to reduce bone loss when taken with Vitamin D because calcium citrate is better absorbed.

Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol): In recent years, much attention has been focused on the need for increased levels of calcium. It is now generally accepted that much greater attention should be focused on vitamin D. It stimulates calcium absorption, slows bone loss, increases bone formation and reduces the risk of fractures due to falls. Because vitamin D is produced when ultraviolet rays from the sun come into contact with skin, people who stay out of the sun, who wear excessive sunscreen or who live in the northern latitudes are at risk for vitamin D deficiency. In addition, aging decreases a person’s ability to synthesize vitamin D in the skin.

Results from five research trials on vitamin D found that supplementation with 700 to 800 IU of vitamin D per day decreased the number of hip fractures by 26 percent, while 400 IU per day was ineffective. The Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine established a “safe upper limit” of 2,000 IU per day in 1997, but more recent research suggests that up to 4,000 IU of vitamin D per day is safe for the average person. If you are concerned that you may be deficient in Vitamin D, ask your physician to order the lab test 25(OH) D also known as 25 hydroxy-vitamin D.

Magnesium: This mineral is important for bone mineralization. In a clinical trial in postmenopausal women, magnesium supplementation increased bone mineral density by up to eight percent in some participants.

Copper: Laboratory research has found that copper promotes bone mineralization and decreases bone loss. There is also more of a risk for osteoporosis if your diet is deficient in copper.

Strontium: Strontium has recently come into vogue as a “natural” dietary supplement for bone health. While research is currently being carried out in Europe and the United States regarding strontium, it is limited to pharmaceutical/drug studies on the specific compound strontium ranelate. However, the use of strontium is not without possible side effects. In an observational study in Turkey, high soil strontium concentrations were associated with rickets in children. While it is worth mentioning at this time, significant research is still lacking on the safety and efficacy of strontium.

Exercise: Weight-bearing exercise four times a week plus strength training/weight training twice a week is recommended.  Persons suffering with this disease should see a physical therapist trained in therapeutic programs designed for individuals with osteoporosis. It is a matter of “move it or lose it.”

If you have a concern about your bone health or have been diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia, see your physician for additional recommendations and pharmaceutical options.

Millions of Americans are experiencing depression and unhappiness, yet commonly, they are simply prescribed the band-aid of a pharmaceutical drug. In looking at American society today, one might believe there is a massive epidemic of Prozac deficiency! Before any treatment is given it is important to test.

The good news is that there are FDA certified speciality labs that measure the levels of serotonin, GABA, nor-epinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, glutamate and cortisol. I think it is a misguided practice  to treat if you don’t know what you are treating. We wouldn’t treat cholesterol without a lab, we wouldn’t treat thyroid conditions without  a lab nor would we give insulin to a diabetic without knowing the blood sugar levels.

Once the test results indicate the specific imbalance a person can be treated as an individual. Most neurotransmitters are made from protein or amino acids and nutrient co-factors. A safe and effective way to raise neurotransmitter levels is to give your body these building blocks it needs to make them.

There is a wide range of therapeutic  lifestyle choices to enhance our well-being and balance our calming happy hormones. Happiness and optimal health have their own biochemistry. Find out how you can balance your body and brain. You deserve to feel happy, calm, energetic, well rested, focused and pain free.

Each year 250,000 people die due to medical errors. That is equivalent to a 3 jumbo jets crashing every two days.

My mother had severe stomach pains. She went to many doctors. They told her, “There is nothing wrong with you.” She was dismissed. They prescribed an antipsychotic medication, Thorazine medication. Within a year she died of stomach and esophageal cancer. She was 38 years old. I was 12.

Years later, my elderly father was diagnosed with colon cancer after months of a delayed diagnosis. He was healthy for his age and still had his great sense of humor. After surgery he never regained consciousness. I asked, “why?”. “What happened? Even as a physician I never got an answer. “It could have been a stroke,” I was told.

I stayed with him in the ICU for days. Then I went home to get some rest. After I fell asleep the phone rang. It was his doctor. Dr. M. told me my dad had died. Of course, I felt terrible. I wasn’t there. I had left. I called my sons to ask them to be pall-bearers. I dozed a little. In the early morning I called the hospital to let them know the name of the funeral home. I said, “I am calling about Stan Norling.” The nurse said, “he is doing better, his blood pressure is up and he is stable.”

To read more…

It’s 2013. Are you still suffering from illness and symptoms after years of medical care and pharmaceutical drugs? Perhaps it is time for another assessment and to explore new evidenced-based options. You deserve to live your best life.

Today we are in the midst of an epidemic of chronic disease. Alarming projections published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) suggest future generations may have shorter, less healthy lives if the current trends continue.

So how are we to regain control of our health issues and what specialty in medicine is appropriate to accomplish this? The answer is Functional Medicine.

How is it different than just the conventional approach and how can it help you?

Functional Medicine is an advanced medical specialty which involves:

• Understanding and finding the root cause of an illness
• Evaluating the whole person….not just a body part
• Using natural, effective, evidenced-based therapies whenever possible
• Partnering with the patient

Twenty years ago Functional Medicine was a concept without a movement. Today it is a movement that is the single biggest change in health care. More than 100,000 practitioners from 73 countries have been introduced to and studied Functional Medicine. Functional Medicine is currently being taught in 17 medical schools and residency programs.

Faculty from one-fifth of all medical schools and practitioners from 46 countries have attended the foundational training course. The Institute of Functional Medicine conducts extensive comprehensive CME courses throughout the year and throughout the world. The National Council on Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health has an advisory group that includes leaders in Functional Medicine. Leading integrative medicine authorities, such as Mehmet Oz, MD, cite Functional Medicine as a major influence on their thinking.

Comprehensive assessment includes evaluating and testing as indicated:

• Environmental factors: Toxins, trauma, quality of food, water, air, exercise
• Genetic makeup: Genes can be influenced by everything in your environment, as well as experiences, attitudes and beliefs.
• Immune function
• How your body gets rid of toxins
• Hormones and neurotransmitters
• Digestive health
• How you are producing energy
• Mind-body elements
• And more…..

Specifically, what can Functional Medicine offer you?

Heartburn or Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Instead of just ordering an antacid or another drug to get rid of the symptoms of heartburn or irritable bowel syndrome, a functional medicine practitioner would ask the question, what is causing these symptoms?  Research shows that routine stool tests can be 5-20 percent accurate. Using specific FDA approved labs testing the DNA of the bacteria, virus, yeasts or parasites is 99.99 percent accurate. These specialty tests can also determine how you are digesting your food and absorbing your nutrients. Your heartburn or GERD can also be due to hidden food allergies or gluten. Accurate gluten testing requires specialty labs. Routine labs often report results which in fact are false negatives.

Hormone Imbalance

Complete testing of thyroid hormone, adrenal function, including 4 cortisol tests in one day, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone is extremely important for your physical and mental health.

Neurotransmitters (NT)

Specific labs can test serotonin, GABA, norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, glutamate and cortisol. Psychiatrists are the only medical specialty that does not test the organ they are treating, the brain. They just prescribe in order to treat the symptoms.

Once the labs are done the patient can be treated with specific amino acids and nutrients that the body uses to make more of the individual NT. The patient feels better, repeat labs show the changes, and there are no side effects.

Toxins

We are flooded with toxins every day. Toxins from the air we breathe, the water we drink, food we eat, personal skin care products, dental work , mercury in vaccines and many other sources that fill our bodies and cause multiple illnesses and unexplained symptoms. Your body can easily be tested and the toxins can be removed.

Addictions

Assessing the addict in order to correct the bio-chemistry, remove toxins, support NT, and improve their overall health are important tools in their recovery and in sustaining recovery.

Avoiding addictions is an extremely important responsibility for physicians. The number one cause of addictions is pharmaceutical drugs.

Nutrient testing

Are you eating a healthy diet? Do you wonder if you need vitamins, minerals or supplements? Maybe you are taking some but not enough. Maybe you are taking too many. A simple blood test can determine your nutrient status. The only way we live is by the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food eat. Finding out what nutrients you need, what foods contain them, and what supplements you may need is critical to prevention, getting well, and staying healthy and energetic.

Additional tests available through John Hopkins University are helpful in assessing brain function. The list of available labs and other tests is extensive and are used as indicated for the individual patient.

Comprehensive Treatment

Most imbalances in the functions of systems can be addressed; some can be completely restored to optimum functions, and others can be substantially improved. Prevention is paramount. Virtually every complex, chronic disease is preceded by long-term disturbances in the body’s function. The Functional Medicine practitioner examines a wide-array of available interventions and customizes a treatment plan for the individual.

This form of advanced medicine expands our tool kit. It is an integrative, science-based healthcare approach. This practice looks “upstream” to consider the complex web of interactions in the patient’s history, physiology, and lifestyle that can lead to illness.

Treatments may include a combination of food changes, medical foods and nutritional supplements, medications if necessary, detoxification programs, counseling on lifestyle changes, exercise, or stress-management techniques like Reiki and hypnotherapy.

As a patient, you become an active partner with your doctor. This allows you to really be in charge of improving your own health and changing the outcome of your disease.

Thanks to the Institute of Functional Medicine for much of this content. A special thanks to the Institute for the education, inspiration, mentoring, and tools they have given me to help me care for my patients.

Functional Medicine offers answers, hope, resolutions and solutions to help you live your best life starting in 2013!

For more information www.functionalmedicine.org

You are not alone. The good news is these symptoms have solutions.

Balancing your body’s various systems is a delicate dance and one that requires experience and information. Finding the answers to your health is a process of putting together the pieces of the puzzle.

The key is finding the cause of the symptoms. It is a matter of testing, not guessing.

If your symptoms are due to a:

•  Hormonal imbalance
•  Neurotransmitter (NT) changes
• Thyroid condition
• Adrenal fatigue
• Nutrient deficiency
• Toxins

You really can’t fix a problem unless you know the cause.

When the hormones and neurotransmitters are balanced, nutrient deficiencies resolved, and toxins eliminated you will be on the road to optimal health.

Hormonal Balance

Let’s start with celebrating the sex hormones. The imbalances in the sex hormones cause symptoms and health risks. As a woman are you experiencing anxiety, depression, difficulty sleeping, pain, fatigue, brain fog, carbohydrate cravings, lack of motivation, muscle weakness, difficulty losing weight, hot flashes AND low libido? Or, as a man, are you experiencing irritability, loss of energy, muscle-wasting, increased body fat, osteoporosis, low libido, loss of an erection and depression?  Recent research also shows that low testosterone also increases the risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), insulin resistance, and increased mortality from CVD and cancer.

These symptoms are not a sign of growing older or created in your head. They are the result of hormonal imbalance and can occur at any age. They often are due to estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone deficiency—and, yes, that includes men and women. They may also be due to low thyroid, an adrenal imbalance, or a neurotransmitter change—neurotransmitters are the chemicals found mostly in the brain that affects all our moods, actions, and mental clarity.

To get the best results and achieve optimum health these systems must be tested and treated appropriately, using specific targeted natural amino acids, nutrients, and Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT). BHRT is a natural effective hormone replacement without the side effects of typically prescribed pharmaceutical drugs.

We know that hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) in women decreases osteoporosis, colon cancer, menopausal symptoms, and supports mental function. Recent studies also show a decrease in diabetes.

But what about sex? Sexual activity at baseline in the Women’s Health Initiative study (WHI) was 60.7 percent in ages 50-59, 44.9 percent in ages 60-69, and 28.2 percent in ages 70-79. Most of the participants were satisfied with their current sexual activity (63.2 percent). Of those dissatisfied, 57 percent of the women preferred more sexual activity. HRT was associated with a higher percentage of participants reporting sexual activity.

Since neurotransmitters affect hormones and hormones affect neurotransmitters, their imbalances can lead to increased symptoms and chronic illnesses.

Neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitters include the inhibitory serotonin and GABA, and excitatory nor-epinephrine NE), epinephrine (EPI), glutamate, and dopamine. Neurotransmitter imbalances can cause a wide range of mental, physical, and emotional symptoms. For example, low levels of serotonin can cause anxiety, depression, pain, lack of motivation, insomnia, and carbohydrate cravings. In December you really need normal levels of serotonin!

If your neurotransmitters are not in balance, brain fog will occur. Low levels of dopamine, nor-epinephrine, epinephrine, or glutamate create lack of focus and low brain function. Once tested, the individual can be treated with specific amino acids to correct the imbalance for better brain function.

Thyroid

Maybe you have had your thyroid tested and it is “normal.”  Do you have fatigue, weight gain, constipation, depression, pain, fuzzy thinking, low blood pressure, memory loss, loss of the outer most eyebrows, or decreased libido? The cause can be low thyroid.

Many times hypothyroidism (low thyroid function) is misdiagnosed.

Thyroid hormones have direct effects on most organs, including the heart which beats faster and harder under the influence of thyroid hormones. Optimal thyroid function affects every cell in our body. On a cellular level, there can be no optimal nutrition absorption, detoxification of wastes or stimulation of oxygen consumption without adequate thyroid balance.

Don’t just settle for a TSH test. That is not enough to give you the answers you need to evaluate your thyroid. Have a comprehensive test that includes free T3, free T4, reverse T3, TSH, and thyroid antibodies.

Cortisol & your adrenals

High levels of cortisol and inflammatory markers have been associated with decreased thyroid function. High levels of cortisol (which can also be caused by high stress levels, low testosterone, etc.) can directly lead to suppression of pituitary TSH secretion, and can impair both thyroid and serotonin function.

Do you find yourself saying things like, “Help, I want to feel better for the holidays”?

Do you feel tired, suffer from lack of sleep, and have joint pain or muscle stiffness, frequently catch the flu or colds, feel anxious and depressed, and have headaches or gastrointestinal disturbances, difficulty concentrating or remembering, or experiencing various allergy symptoms? Do you have difficulty getting up in the morning, more fatigue from 3:00-5:00 PM, and get a second wind in the evening? Are you craving salt? Do you feel lightheaded? Are you sensitive to loud noises? Do you or others see you as “not your old self”? You may have low cortisol and adrenal fatigue. Cortisol can be tested using specialty labs and easily treated.

You deserve to feel better celebrating the holidays and 2013 !

Good Nutrition

Nutrient deficiencies can cause or exacerbate all the symptoms. For example, low levels of Vitamin D can cause depression and a wide range of disorders. Nutrition is the most important tool for staying mentally and physically fit, and is by far the most underutilized tool. When you think about it, the only way we live and heal is by the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.

Toxins

Toxins can create mood disorders and compromise every system in the body. Choose your personal skin care, food, and cleaning products carefully buying only the least toxic. www.EWG.org is good resource.

See a biological dentist to remove any amalgams (silver fillings) and avoid having more toxins put in your mouth. Be tested to determine if you have toxins and then have them safely removed through specific medically approved supplements and intravenous IV therapies.

I know this might sound complicated, but sometimes dances are.  However, a physician who is trained in proper testing, diagnoses, and treatment of multiple bodily systems can guide you and show you the steps.

Functional Medicine is a field of specialty that has a systems approach – finding the cause for the symptoms and treating the whole person. Managing the transitions, prolonging life and preserving a healthy, active lifestyle are the basis of Functional Medicine. The approach to achieving these important goals is to normalize as many hormones as possible by using natural approaches primarily and conventional pharmacology only when indicated.

Remember, hormone balance not only includes the hormones of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, but also thyroid, adrenal and neurotransmitter hormones. All these systems and hormones interact and support each other. They are the dancing hormones and you don’t want them to miss a step.

Enjoy a balanced, healthy holiday season!

Written by: Dr. Sharon Norling, MBA

* Offers good until Dec. 31st, 2012

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*** Good until Jan. 31, 2013

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Offer Expires: December 31st, 2012

YOUR DOCTOR IS WRONG

Dr. Sharon Norling, a medical doctor authority, tells the untold medical truths.

This book is a must read if you have been dismissed, misdiagnosed, or your symptoms have just been treated like the tip of the iceberg with pharmaceutical drugs.

Your Doctor is Wrong is filled with patient stories, life- saving information, and medical journal citations.

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If you are still suffering after years of medical care and pharmaceutical drugs, this is a must read if you know things just aren’t right. Your symptoms of fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, depression, allergies, joint pain, lack of motivation, headaches, hormonal imbalances and intestinal issues are just not going away.

You deserve to be healthy, happy and energetic!

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In this book you will find:

How Susan went from depression and weight gain to getting her health back in just a few months!

How to get rid of anxiety, depression, joint pain, headaches, heartburn, and sinusitis without pharmaceutical drugs.

The truth about toxins in our food and personal care products.

How to find the root cause of your symptoms.

Hormones and Sex; Facts not fiction.

“Dr. Norling systemically outlines the process to health, wholeness and transformation. Thinking outside the accepted ‘norm’ box is the only way to improve and take control of our own health. Your Doctor is Wrong is empowering! It’s your path to optimal health.”  David Villarreal, DDS Certified Biological Dentist (IABDM)

Chapters include:

Hormones

Sex

Food Allergies

Toxins

Addictions

Mood Disorders

Heart Disease…

and more

When you read Your Doctor is Wrong, you will find the facts. You will find the answers. You will find the hope.

You owe it to yourself and your family to buy this book!

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Right Diagnosis

Right Food

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Right Facts

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REPORTS

•  Energy – How it can Heal
• Sleep – A rude awakening
• Flu Vaccines – What you need to know
• Vitamins – How to determine quality
• IV Nutrient Therapies – A direct route

BONUS GIFTS!

 Three FREE Tele-seminars coming in January:

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• “Brain Fog is a Gift”
• “Sagging Serotonin and Dancing Hormones”

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“Based on years of medical practice, Dr. Norling has done a thorough job of going beneath the surface to uncover root causes of the many conditions that affect us today. She then describes the treatments that, unlike conventional methods that just cover over the symptoms (or produce serious side effects!) actually get results based our natural body’s physiology and chemistry. A must-read if you want to survive the current conventional medical system, and have vibrant health!” Hyla Cass MD, author of 8 Weeks to Vibrant Health.

“I am thrilled to recommend this book authored by my friend of over 30 years, Dr. Sharon Norling. You will find it as informative, inspirational and motivating, as she is in person. Dr. Norling’s book will enrich and improve the quality of your life, now and for the rest of your life. I respect her incredible expertise in this field of advanced medicine. You will learn and benefit from reading Your Doctor is Wrong.” Sheila Cluff, Internationally renowned health and fitness expert.

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We joke about our addiction to chocolate, or shopping the sales, but addiction is an intensely private, personal and confronting affliction as difficult to explain as it is to treat. This is a complex issue—much more complicated than simply drawing on willpower.

We have all been touched by addictions either personally or professionally. Maybe it is someone you know—a loved one—or maybe it’s you. Addiction is an equal-opportunity affliction affecting people without regard to their economic circumstance, education, race, geography, IQ or any other factor.

The time has come to stop pushing addiction into the dark corners and stigmatizing those who suffer from the disease. Today addicts are from all walks of life. They are well-educated and respected individuals such as CEOs, doctors, lawyers, businesspeople, housewives and their beloved family members.

Alcohol and Drug (Prescribed and Illegal) Addiction

Each year abuse of illicit drugs and alcohol contributes to the death of more than 100,000 in the U.S. The consequences of drug and alcohol abuse—medical, social, economic and criminal—are vast and varied and affect people of all ages. The vast majority of addicts (96.5 percent) start their first substance use before age 21 when the brain is still developing.

Unfortunately, 95.6 cents of every dollar spent by federal, state and local governments on risky substance use and addiction pay for the consequences; only 1.9 cents are spent for prevention and treatment according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University this year.

Prescription medications are increasingly being abused or used for non-medical purposes. This practice can not only be addictive, but in some cases lethal. A recent study in Florida published in 2008 found three times as many people were killed by legal drugs as by cocaine, heroin and all methamphetamines combined.

Commonly abused classes of prescription drugs include painkillers, sedatives and stimulants. Many people mistakenly believe these medications are safe, even when used illicitly, because they are prescribed by physicians. They are not.

Among the most disturbing aspects of this emerging trend is its prevalence among teenagers and young adults. Almost one in 10 high school seniors report non-medical use of Vicodin. Most teenagers start their drug use by using their parents’ prescriptions found at home.

Views of Addiction Have Evolved

Throughout much of the past century, scientists studying drug abuse labored in the shadows of powerful myths and misconceptions about the nature of addiction. When scientists began to study addictive behavior in the 1930s, addicts were thought to be morally flawed and lacking in willpower. Those views shaped society’s responses to drug abuse, treating it as a moral failing rather than a health problem, which led to an emphasis on punitive rather than preventive and therapeutic actions.

Today, thanks to science, our views and responses to drug abuse have changed dramatically. Groundbreaking discoveries about the brain have revolutionized our understanding of drug addiction, enabling us to respond effectively to the problem.

Researchers and scientists continue to put the puzzle pieces of this complex disease together. Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing brain disease characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and use, despite harmful consequences.

It is considered a brain disease because drugs change the brain; they change its structure and the way it works. These changes can be long-lasting, and can lead to the harmful behaviors seen in people who abuse drugs.

Can Addiction be Cured? Is Relapse Inevitable?

The brain has plasticity and can be healed. Relapse is not inevitable. One thing becoming clearer is that addiction has not only psychological, social, environmental and genetic components, but also biochemical neurotransmitter (NT) imbalances.

The biochemical NT imbalances may precipitate self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), has said, “I’ve studied alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, marijuana and more recently, obesity. There’s a pattern in compulsion. I’ve never come across a single person that was addicted that wanted to be addicted. Something has happened in their brains that has led them to that process.”

It is fundamental to the recovery process that the underlying cause(s) of the addiction is identified and treated.

Researchers have identified many biological and environmental factors and are beginning to search for the genetic variations that contribute to the development and progression of the disease.

Scientists use this knowledge to develop effective prevention and treatment approaches that can reduce the toll drug abuse takes on individuals, families and communities.

Multiple Factors Operate Together to Result in Addiction

No single factor determines whether or not a person will become addicted to drugs. Scientists estimate genetic factors account for between 40 and 60 percent of a person’s vulnerability to addiction, including the effects of environment on gene expression and function.

But just because an individual has a family history of substance abuse does not mean the gene will be expressed (activated). Genes are like light switches; they can be turned on and they can be turned off. However, the vulnerability increases with environmental, social and biochemical or neurotransmitter imbalances.

Alcohol and drugs are viewed as a quick and easy way to change ordinary, everyday reality from unbearable to bearable.

What’s Happens in an Addicted Person’s Brain?

A variety of brain effects occur with addiction. Neurotransmitters (NT) become deficient. Low levels of serotonin cause cravings, lack of motivation, pain, insomnia, anxiety and depression. Deficient levels of gamma amino butyric acid (GABA), which is needed for proper functioning of the brain and nervous system, cause anxiety, restlessness and insomnia. Individuals with low GABA tend to worry a lot.

Deficiencies or elevations of many specific NTs have a significant impact on mental, emotional and behavioral functioning. Chronic exposure to drugs disrupts the way critical brain structures interact to control behavior—behavior specifically related to drug abuse.

Everyone wants to feel good, but if your NTs are out of balance and you feel anxious, depressed, experience pain, have insomnia, fatigue, have cravings and lack motivation you are much more at risk for addictions and relapse.

There is a Way to Get Relief—After Being Tested

All these conditions can make a person more vulnerable to seek sex, prescription medications, illegal drugs or alcohol to relieve their symptoms. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to test your NTs. The imbalances can be corrected by using specific, targeted amino acids and nutrients, which is what the body uses to build and rebalance the brain.

The results are the relief of symptoms without side effects and people are less likely to become addicted to substances.

Did you know psychiatry is the only medical specialty that does not test the human brain? FDA neurotransmitter lab testing is readily available but most doctors just prescribe without testing the NTs.

We would not give insulin without testing the blood sugar; we wouldn’t prescribe thyroid replacement without testing thyroid function or treat other conditions without testing.

Writing a prescription for Zoloft, Lexapro, Celexa, Wellbutrin, Paxil, Prozac, or any mood-altering drug without NT lab results is often a misguided practice. Physicians also prescribe drugs like methadone, Suboxone or naltrexone, essentially substituting one addictive drug for another.

The fact is, antidepressants only temporarily increase the concentration of NTs in the space between two nerves (while simultaneously destroying some of the enzymes that feed the NTs), resulting in long-term depletion within the secreting nerve cell. They are not the best answer.

Let’s Turn to Some Solutions

What builds and balances neurotransmitters? Some of the many therapies include amino acids, nutrients, exercise, hypnotherapy, meditation, energy healing, acupuncture and education. All are valuable in setting the individual on a path to optimal health.

Addiction is a family problem and family therapy is critical. Family members suffer along with the addict in ways that are difficult to describe. Many times the neurotransmitters of family members also have become imbalanced.

Addicts and their families need to have the chance to regain their successful and happy life. Every life is a life worth saving.

Why the Public Needs to Update Its Views of Addiction

Public attitudes about addiction are out of sync with science. At Columbia University, the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse discovered through their NABAS survey that the public does not recognize the role of genetics and biological factors in the development of addiction.

Of the respondents, 60 percent identified mutual support programs as a treatment intervention. Patients face formidable barriers to receiving addiction treatment due to misunderstanding of the disease, negative public attitudes and behavior toward those with the disease, and negative perceptions of the treatment process.

Many times the only things that stop addicted individuals from seeking a new life are ignorant actions and words of others and concern for how they would be labeled and perceived.

For some, treatment can be a long-term process involving multiple interventions and regular monitoring. However, for many others, an understanding of what led them to their addictions in the first place and having their NTs balanced can give them the motivation, focus and the energy to be more healthy and productive.

The key to recovery is not a simple one-size-fits-all program, which is often overrated and many times unsuccessful. Successful recovery is greater in programs that are comprehensive, customized to the individual and that return the addict to an overall state of health.

Today there is hope for the addict and alcoholic:

• Seek the best program and support for the addict and the family.
• Test neurotransmitters to identify which of them are out of balance and to what degree.
• Balance neurotransmitters through effective, specific natural supplements.
• Consider IV therapies to add nutrients to the body, support brain function and detoxify the body through natural nutrients and supplements. IVs provide higher doses with 100 percent absorption and are faster-acting.
• Ensure good nutrition.
• Treatment programs must address the whole person.
• Never give up hope for recovery—it can and does happen every day.

THE first time I questioned the conventional wisdom on the nature of a healthy diet, I was in my salad days, almost 40 years ago, and the subject was salt. Researchers were claiming that salt supplementation was unnecessary after strenuous exercise, and this advice was being passed on by health reporters. All I knew was that I had played high school football in suburban Maryland, sweating profusely through double sessions in the swamp like 90-degree days of August. Without salt pills, I couldn’t make it through a two-hour practice; I couldn’t walk across the parking lot afterward without cramping.

While sports nutritionists have since come around to recommend that we should indeed replenish salt when we sweat it out in physical activity, the message that we should avoid salt at all other times remains strong. Salt consumption is said to raise blood pressure, cause hypertension and increase the risk of premature death. This is why the Department of Agriculture’s dietary guidelines still consider salt Public Enemy No. 1, coming before fats, sugars and alcohol. It’s why the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has suggested that reducing salt consumption is as critical to long-term health as quitting cigarettes.

And yet, this eat-less-salt argument has been surprisingly controversial — and difficult to defend. Not because the food industry opposes it, but because the actual evidence to support it has always been so weak.

When I spent the better part of a year researching the state of the salt science back in 1998 — already a quarter century into the eat-less-salt recommendations — journal editors and public health administrators were still remarkably candid in their assessment of how flimsy the evidence was implicating salt as the cause of hypertension. “You can say without any shadow of a doubt,” as I was told then by Drummond Rennie, an editor for The Journal of the American Medical Association, that the authorities pushing the eat-less-salt message had “made a commitment to salt education that goes way beyond the scientific facts.”

While, back then, the evidence merely failed to demonstrate that salt was harmful, the evidence from studies published over the past two years actually suggests that restricting how much salt we eat can increase our likelihood of dying prematurely. Put simply, the possibility has been raised that if we were to eat as little salt as the U.S.D.A. and the C.D.C. recommend, we’d be harming rather than helping ourselves.

WHY have we been told that salt is so deadly? Well, the advice has always sounded reasonable. It has what nutritionists like to call “biological plausibility.” Eat more salt and your body retains water to maintain a stable concentration of sodium in your blood. This is why eating salty food tends to make us thirsty: we drink more; we retain water. The result can be a temporary increase in blood pressure, which will persist until our kidneys eliminate both salt and water.

The scientific question is whether this temporary phenomenon translates to chronic problems: if we eat too much salt for years, does it raise our blood pressure, cause hypertension, then strokes, and then kill us prematurely? It makes sense, but it’s only a hypothesis. The reason scientists do experiments is to find out if hypotheses are true.

In 1972, when the National Institutes of Health introduced the National High Blood Pressure Education Program to help prevent hypertension, no meaningful experiments had yet been done. The best evidence on the connection between salt and hypertension came from two pieces of research. One was the observation that populations that ate little salt had virtually no hypertension. But those populations didn’t eat a lot of things — sugar, for instance — and any one of those could have been the causal factor. The second was a strain of “salt-sensitive” rats that reliably developed hypertension on a high-salt diet. The catch was that “high salt” to these rats was 60 times more than what the average American consumes.

Still, the program was founded to help prevent hypertension, and prevention programs require preventive measures to recommend. Eating less salt seemed to be the only available option at the time, short of losing weight. Although researchers quietly acknowledged that the data were “inconclusive and contradictory” or “inconsistent and contradictory” — two quotes from the cardiologist Jeremiah Stamler, a leading proponent of the eat-less-salt campaign, in 1967 and 1981 — publicly, the link between salt and blood pressure was upgraded from hypothesis to fact.

In the years since, the N.I.H. has spent enormous sums of money on studies to test the hypothesis, and those studies have singularly failed to make the evidence any more conclusive. Instead, the organizations advocating salt restriction today — the U.S.D.A., the Institute of Medicine, the C.D.C. and the N.I.H. — all essentially rely on the results from a 30-day trial of salt, the 2001 DASH-Sodium study. It suggested that eating significantly less salt would modestly lower blood pressure; it said nothing about whether this would reduce hypertension, prevent heart disease or lengthen life.

While influential, that trial was just one of many. When researchers have looked at all the relevant trials and tried to make sense of them, they’ve continued to support Dr. Stamler’s “inconsistent and contradictory” assessment. Last year, two such “meta-analyses” were published by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international nonprofit organization founded to conduct unbiased reviews of medical evidence. The first of the two reviews concluded that cutting back “the amount of salt eaten reduces blood pressure, but there is insufficient evidence to confirm the predicted reductions in people dying prematurely or suffering cardiovascular disease.” The second concluded that “we do not know if low salt diets improve or worsen health outcomes.”

The idea that eating less salt can worsen health outcomes may sound bizarre, but it also has biological plausibility and is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year too. A paper in The New England Journal of Medicine, 1972, reported that the less salt people ate, the higher their levels of a substance secreted by the kidneys, called renin, which set off a physiological cascade of events that seemed to end with an increased risk of heart disease. In this scenario: eat less salt, secrete more renin, get heart disease, and die prematurely.

With nearly everyone focused on the supposed benefits of salt restriction, little research was done to look at the potential dangers. But four years ago, Italian researchers began publishing the results from a series of clinical trials, all of which reported that, among patients with heart failure, reducing salt consumption increased the risk of death.

Those trials have been followed by a slew of studies suggesting that reducing sodium to anything like what government policy refers to as a “safe upper limit” is likely to do more harm than good. These covered some 100,000 people in more than 30 countries and showed that salt consumption is remarkably stable among populations over time. In the United States, for instance, it has remained constant for the last 50 years, despite 40 years of the eat-less-salt message. The average salt intake in these populations — what could be called the normal salt intake — was one and a half teaspoons a day, almost 50 percent above what federal agencies consider a safe upper limit for healthy Americans under 50, and more than double what the policy advises for those who aren’t so young or healthy. This consistency, between populations and over time, suggests that how much salt we eat is determined by physiological demands, not diet choices.

One could still argue that all these people should reduce their salt intake to prevent hypertension, except for the fact that four of these studies — involving Type 1 diabetics, Type 2 diabetics, healthy Europeans and patients with chronic heart failure — reported that the people eating salt at the lower limit of normal were more likely to have heart disease than those eating smack in the middle of the normal range, effectively what the 1972 paper would have predicted.

Proponents of the eat-less-salt campaign tend to deal with this contradictory evidence by implying that anyone raising it is a shill for the food industry and doesn’t care about saving lives. An N.I.H. administrator told me back in 1998 that to publicly question the science on salt was to play into the hands of the industry. “As long as there are things in the media that say the salt controversy continues,” he said, “they win.”

When several agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration, held a hearing last November to discuss how to go about getting Americans to eat less salt (as opposed to whether or not we should eat less salt), these proponents argued that the latest reports suggesting damage from lower-salt diets should simply be ignored. Lawrence Appel, an epidemiologist and a co-author of the DASH-Sodium trial, said “there is nothing really new.” According to the cardiologist Graham MacGregor, who has been promoting low-salt diets since the 1980s, the studies were no more than “a minor irritation that causes us a bit of aggravation.”

This attitude that studies that go against prevailing beliefs should be ignored on the basis that, well, they go against prevailing beliefs, has been the norm for the anti-salt campaign for decades. Maybe now the prevailing beliefs should be changed. The British scientist and educator Thomas Huxley, known as Darwin’s bulldog for his advocacy of evolution, may have put it best back in 1860. “My business,” he wrote, “is to teach my aspirations to conform themselves to fact, not to try and make facts harmonize with my aspirations.”