Sadly, I once again heard and read in the mainstream media about new medical research findings being reported on about nutrition and it's supplementation, this time fish oil increasing the risk of prostate cancer, that made me say " Wha'? 
-- 'they' are at it again, I bet! I cannot wait to look into this one and turn to the other experts for their input, and possibly cover it on Lumigrate." So here you are! Here we are! I UNFORTUNATELY found it NEEDING TO BE COVERED HERE, because it's SO MISLEADING!
It angers me that I have to spend time doing this, but I'm grateful for the platform we've created in the last five years for education which you see as Lumigrate.com today. I'm sorry that Andrew Weil and his team had to spend their time looking at this information, Robin Thomas as well -- what would happen if we weren't so busy having to cover the bases of educating and learning about the manipulative information and entities out there and trying to counteract it through our educational efforts speaking and writing and producing content to benefit people? So therein is likely part of 'their' strategy.
It is indicative of the failure of the American system that we have been so proud of in the past, that any of us in the medical information or medical advising positions have to wade through this 'media manipulation' conspiring with the 'mangling medicine industry'. I call the medical industry that has evolved from the 'modern medicine model' this, with humor I hope, at times like this when I'm displeased with how they're increasingly NOT 'not doing harm', which is the oath and standard of medical doctors.
I hope YOU, as a member of the masses influenced by the mass media industry, whether you are a medical provider or consumer (or both -- all providers are also consumers, obviously) are VERY aware of what is going on here. Keeping in the forefront of our minds always that 'game' that has developed over the years and centuries in the United States (and beyond, it's world-wide now) in terms of who 'they' are, and essentially what the game is that is being played out.
The medical consumers in the US (and beyond) are essentially the pawns, if they don't understand what's going on and allow themselves to be used in the 'game', and the medical providers can be some of the other pieces, to use an analogy of chess: Whether they're knights, bishops, rooks, queens or kings -- but there is a game going on. I have included at Lumigrate, a short and easy to watch or read synopsis overview from a May 2013 speech by well-known author and spiritual leader Marianne Williamson, firing people up before the March Against Monstanto/Venice, California rally. (Below, I will provide more about this and provide a link for your benefit to go watch/read/see for yourself.)
We've covered this type of information before at Lumigrate: Robin Thomas posted something at my request in the past when a huge study in Iowa was broadcasted about in the mainstream media that was also 'fishy' to me, reporting that supplementation of nutrition shortened lifespan. That just doesn't make any sense to me and the millions of people who are 'outside the box of the conventionatl medicine model'.
Robin is a former medical researcher and when her youngest son had significant health problems and couldn't go to school when he was of age, she found a way to work from home in a field she was 'into' personally, becoming a professional expert about nutrition and supplementation and distributing products for a company that met her high standards for quality and ethics. I encountered her about a decade after that turningpoint in her career and I'm ever so pleased she has been one of our expert contributors since, though less frequently because of her increasing time spent mentoring clients and other distributors in USANA.
So Robin "tore into" the Iowa study information and came up with conclusions which she reported on at the following link, letting us see what she saw in the study's design, execution, and reporting, and I give you the lead-in with it, for your information:
Research Study States Supplements Are Harmful - Really?
www.lumigrate.com/forum/research-study-states-supplements-are-harmful-really [1]
Mainstream media has been sensationalizing the latest study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine on the use of dietary supplements by older women. (1) Most of the headlines about this 19-year long study involving about 39,000 women with an average age of 62 state things like, “Women taking multivitamins or other supplements have an increased risk of death.” Basically, they are all saying that vitamins will kill you.
Wow! That sure gets our attention!
Don't worry about eating junk food, not exercising, smoking, drinking, speeding or the misuse of pharmaceutical drugs. Vitamins are the newest health hazard.
Well, of course I'm going a bit overboard. But it really bothers me when mainstream media jumps to a conclusion without carefully considering the validity of the study. If you read the broad base of data coming out of this retrospective study, a fuller picture emerges:
Mardy's note: go to the link, above to read the article if you are interested, I suggest you do, it only compounds the benefit of this information this time around about the hazards of the manipulative media and medical information.
Why would 'they' do this? Who are 'they'? In a nutshell, it's those who benefit if you are not well/have medical problems. We've been raised by them and maybe didn't know it. The sleeping giant, however, is waking up, so I hope you're awake and know what the game is. Learn how to find quality sources of information to check things out, and quality providers to turn to who you trust. I turn to Robin, I hope Robin turns to me, and I hope you all turn to Lumigrate for at least one of your research stops on the Internet or pick up the phone and call us or email or connect with us on Facebook and the various social media places we are.)
Naturally, I turned to Robin first about this and she'd just covered it in her most recent newsletter, so I'll invite her to comment, below. When this news broke in mid-July Robin and I both had other things on our plates besides our usual heap of work-related things -- it is summer, after all! Part of well-being is balancing our lives out and spending time recreating, socializing and getting away from the harsh realities of what being in the medical field today brings with it in terms of stress. Yes, it's stressful to have the ethics and understanding on a personal AND professional levels as Robin and I do, where our health or a family member's health has been affected by this 'stuff', and we're going against the system in providing what we believe is the truth in what we offer to people. Every time I hear of someone harmed by the mangling, manipulative medical and mass media industrial collusion, it hurts my heart 
, because this is not what I was raised and for so long believed about the reality I lived in. It's a process to learn and accept, much like a grief process when a person or animal/pet dies.
So I was not surprised and was pleased when I got back to my usual routine this week and asked her about the fishy fish oil study, and she'd already covered it in her most recently newsletter (I highly suggest you sign up at her website to get her newsletter.)
Additionally, Andrew Weil, MD has long been one of the experts I look to for advise. I believe I started reading his books in the mid 1990s, and very much appreciate what he helped me learn. So when I Searched on the Internet on the words "July 10, 2013, fish oil", his was one of the websites presented on the first page of suggestions; here is the link for you to go see their website for other topics and the overall presented. Please journey out to the resources that I suggest at Lumigrate, and we hope you come back here again and again to find quality resources amid all the masses on the Internet. www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401331/Does-Fish-Oil-Cause-Prostate-Cancer.html
[2]
They start with a question from a man asking Dr. Weil's opinion about the study's findings, and stating a cessation of taking fish oil supplementation when learning of it in the mass media. The last paragraph is a great conclusion to put forward here: "Bottom line: this appears to be an unfortunate combination of questionable science, unwarranted conclusions, and dreadful media coverage. The well documented evidence for myriad benefits of high dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids on both physical and mental health is very strong." For your benefit, in order to show exactly how Dr. Weil covers a topic, here is the entire article/topic. I'll reserve comment for below, and perhaps other Lumigrate experts will join me in offering their opinions. Dr Weil's response to the question asking his take on the study:
As reported, the study found that men who had high concentrations of omega-3s [3] in their blood had a risk of developing prostate cancer that was 43 percent higher than men who had the lowest blood levels of these fatty acids. Even more alarming was the finding that men with the highest blood levels of omega-3s had a 71 percent higher risk of aggressive, possibly fatal prostate cancer than those with the lowest levels. The study was published online on July 10, 2013, in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
|
I know of no reason why you shouldn't resume taking your fish oil supplements. The study in question, from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Wash., made headlines and snagged lots of sound bites, but much of the news coverage – including that in medical publications – did not accurately reflect the findings. Aside from the sensationalist way it was reported, the study itself has serious shortcomings. You might think from hearing or reading the news that the study focused on whether or not fish oil supplements – or even eating fish – increased the risk of prostate cancer. However, this study did not actually compare the cancer risk of men who ate fish regularly or took fish oil supplements to men who didn't eat fish or take supplements. In fact, the researchers provided no information regarding intake of fish or fish oil supplements by the men in the study group. Instead, the team looked at blood levels of omega-3s among men who were enrolled in the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT), a large National Cancer Institute trial aimed at determining whether either of those supplements alone or in combination lowered the risk of prostate cancer. More than 35,000 men enrolled in SELECT starting in 2001. The authors of this recent study based their conclusions on the analysis of a single blood sample from each of 834 men in the study diagnosed with prostate cancer through 2007 and from a corresponding group of 1,393 healthy men who participated in the SELECT study and were matched by age and race to the men who developed the disease. The blood samples were taken when the men entered SELECT. Later, the researchers added in 75 men who were diagnosed with high-grade prostate cancer in the 8th and 9th year of SELECT. The fats the research team focused on were plasma phospholipid fatty acids, which tell you that an individual recently consumed fish or fish oil but don't really give you an accurate indication of the long term use of fish oil supplements or a diet that includes regular servings of fish. Blood levels of these fatty acids will rise and stay high for four to 12 hours after a single dose of fish oil or a meal containing fish. Unless you eat more fish or take another supplement, blood levels of omega-3s will wash out in about 48 hours. The study found that the mean blood level of plasma phospholipid fatty acids were 4.66 percent in the men with prostate cancer [4] and 4.48 percent in the healthy controls, a difference of not quite 0.2 percent. That's a very small difference on which to base the suggestion, as these researchers did, that omega-3s "are involved in prostate tumorigenesis" and that those who recommend that men increase consumption of omega-3s "should consider its potential risks." Bottom line: this appears to be an unfortunate combination of questionable science, unwarranted conclusions, and dreadful media coverage. The well documented evidence for myriad benefits of high dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids on both physical and mental health is very strong. Andrew Weil, M.D. |
The synopsis of the history of the United States (and rest of the world), which I referred to, above, from Marianne Williamson, which you'll read or hear/see if you read the transcription or watch the video, brings us up to the present day and looks in a very balanced way at where we are now. Whether or not each person in the US would totally agree with everything she says is obviously not the case, but I think that it's a speech that is very unifying, as the OVERALL majority of Americans will appreciate what she has to say, I believe.
Her parting words are:Please go to this link to see her speak or read the transcribed version or BOTH .. I did both! And I plan to revisit this video whenever I need a pep talk. Which is increasingly often, just sayin'.... I'm in this with everyone working to provide solutions. It's a lot, as we all know. But we're in it together. ~~ MardyAnd when they ask, “What do you think we’re going to do? Just give you back your democracy?” We’ll say, “Oh yeah, baby! Oh yeah!” -- Marianne Williamson, March Against Monstanto, LA, California, 2013, May.
www.runningthecountry.com/marianne-williamson-speaks-at-march-against-monsanto-in-venice-ca/ [5]
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [6] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!
Links:
[1] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/research-study-states-supplements-are-harmful-really
[2] http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401331/Does-Fish-Oil-Cause-Prostate-Cancer.html
[3] http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART03050/Fish-Oil-Omega-3-Dr-Weil.html
[4] http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02822/prostate-cancer.html
[5] http://www.runningthecountry.com/marianne-williamson-speaks-at-march-against-monsanto-in-venice-ca/?fb_action_ids=10201267329470705&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=.Ua4832VIgfk.send&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582#.Ua5aexyRlrB
[6] http://twitter.com/lumigrate
[7] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/fish-oil-n-prostate-cancer-study-published-online-71013-jnl-natl-cancer-institute-stinky-or-sa#comment-2604
[8] http://www.examiner.com/article/something-is-fishy-about-the-connection-between-fish-oil-and-prostate-cancer
[9] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/meet-robin-thomas
[10] http://facebook.com/robinthomas.usana
[11] http://linkedin.com/rpthomas
[12] http://twitter.com/robinthomas1
[13] http://robinthomas.biz
[14] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/fish-oil-n-prostate-cancer-study-published-online-71013-jnl-natl-cancer-institute-stinky-or-sa#top
[15] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/login?destination=node/2109%23comment-form
[16] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/register?destination=node/2109%23comment-form
[17] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/fish-oil-n-prostate-cancer-study-published-online-71013-jnl-natl-cancer-institute-stinky-or-sa#comment-2605
Comments
Hi Mardy,
Yes, I did write about fish oil this month- I do get frustrated by the media that jumps on a single study because it counteracts hundreds of other studies. I can best respond by directing anyone interested to my original article: http://www.examiner.com/article/something-is-fishy-about-the-connection-between-fish-oil-and-prostate-cancer [8] For those who prefer to listen rather than read there is also a great video I shared by Dr. Bob Avery, who made his video based on the early trial of this same study.
I'd love to see your comments on this study, and whether you decide to continue taking high quality fish oil. I can tell you that my extremely analytical chemist husband is still taking his fish oil daily.
Be Well!
Robin
Robin started contributing to Lumigrate in August 2010. "Meet Robin Thomas", a topic in our biographies/vitae forum is at http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/meet-robin-thomas [9] to read all about her journey, which was greatly influenced by the need to help solve her youngest son's significant health challenges. For those who want just the overview here: After working over 22 years in medical research at the University of North Carolina on chronic inflammatory diseases she switched her focus to preventive health in 2004 when she was introduced to USANA Health Sciences. Robin is passionate about helping others improve their health, have more energy, manage their weight, and improve their skin.
I love meeting new friends !
LIKE me on Facebook [10] Connect on LinkedIn [11]
Follow me on Twitter [12] Learn more at my BLOG [13]
"I dream of a world free from pain and suffering. I dream of a world free from disease. The USANA family will be the healthiest family on earth. Share my vision. Love life and live it to its fullest in happiness and health."
-Dr. Myron Wentz, Founder and Chairman, USANA Health Sciences
Not that I have a prostate, but I'm still taking mine! I've looked at the topic at Examiner -- no surprise things are seeming to be substantiated by those in the outside the box community of experts. It's so important for people to understand that what they're getting in the mainstream media is -- well, as trusted as the supplements they might select at the mass market stores. Not that there aren't good supplements sometimes at such locations and they're getting better in recent years, but it's hit and miss. I'd rather find a vendor and a brand or brands that I trust and take the guesswork out of it. Thank you again for being one of those quality, ethical and KNOWLEDGEable providers who give their time to Lumigrate.com for our guests' benefit. (aka followers')
Gratefully - Mardy
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [6] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!