Avoiding Medications In Our Food

As people age, one of the common misconceptions is that they will naturally be on (more) medications to combat the effects of aging as the “mileage” on the body accumulates. This could not be further from the truth if one takes the steps necessary throughout their life to maintain an optimal level of health by making the proper lifestyle choices. While it is never a guarantee as health issues can arise due to factors outside of their control, most people can decrease the likelihood of needing medications by controlling what they put into their bodies, be it food or medications. Everyone should know by now that certain foods such as fruits and vegetables, which are high in antioxidants and other protective phytochemicals, should constitute a majority of our diet. Healthy oils, lean proteins and other foods like nuts, seeds and beans are also supportive and highly beneficial. However, in some of the cases, such as with the proteins and animal-based products, there is the risk of taking in unwanted pharmaceuticals second-hand as a result of what is fed or administered to the animals that supply our food.

A report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2010 called into question the national Food Safety and Inspection Service's (FSIS) ability to adequately monitor the safety of U.S. meat for potentially toxic residues, after revealing that drug residues and heavy metals are common in U.S. meat. Residues of veterinary drugs, pesticides and heavy metals enter the food system when producers bring animals to slaughter that still have these toxins in their system. This occurs more often than you might think. For instance, in the dairy industry if a farmer determines a sick cow is going to die, he will sell the animal as quickly as possible, even if it still has veterinary drugs in its system. This ensures he will get some return on his investment, at the expense of the Americans' health who end up eating the medicated meat. So-called "waste milk," which is produced by medicated dairy cows and banned for human consumption, is also fed to veal calves, which then pass the meds on to the consumers that eat them.

About one-third of the dairy cows in the United States are injected with a synthetic, genetically engineered growth hormone called rBGH. RBGH, or recombinant bovine growth hormone, is a synthetic version of natural bovine somatotropin (BST), a hormone produced in cows' pituitary glands. Cows are injected with it to boost their milk production. Monsanto developed the recombinant version from genetically engineered E. coli bacteria, and though it is banned in Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and in the 27 countries of the European Union because of its dangers to human health, it is the largest selling dairy animal drug in America. RBGH milk differs from natural milk nutritionally, pharmacologically, immunologically, and hormonally, and one of the most glaring examples of this is its IGF-1 levels. IGF-1 is a potent hormone that acts on your pituitary gland to induce powerful metabolic and endocrine effects, including cell growth and replication. Elevated IGF-1 levels are associated with breast and other cancers. When cows are injected with rBGH, their levels of IGF-1 increase up to 20-fold, and this IGF-1 is excreted in the milk. You very well may be drinking rBGH milk, or eating rBGH cheese or yogurt, as no labeling is required. The good news is, as increasing numbers of consumers and dairies choose to avoid rBGH, you can find labels that say "rBGH-free" or a similar variation. Organic milk is also rBGH-free.

About 80 percent of all the antibiotics produced are used in agriculture -- not only to fight infection, but to promote unhealthy (though profitable) weight gain. Feeding livestock continuous, low-dose antibiotics creates a perfect storm for widespread disease proliferation – and, worse yet, antibiotic-resistant disease. This link is so clear-cut that the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feed has been banned in Europe since 2006! Antibiotics are not only embedded in your meats, they have made their way into your produce as well, as slow-to-biodegrade antibiotics are transferred, via the manure used as fertilizer, into your corn, lettuce, potatoes, and other crops. Sadly, even eating organically may not entirely alleviate this problem, since organic crops, which cannot be fertilized with synthetic fertilizers, are the ones most often fertilized with manure. As it stands, conventional, factory-farmed animal manure containing antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria is still allowed under the USDA organic label.

Just as important as the choices you make of what foods you eat is knowing what is going into the food that goes into your body. While it may not be entirely possible to avoid every instance of contamination, eating locally grown, organic, sustainably raised foods free from drugs and chemicals will help you decrease the risk of being exposed to unnecessary medications from secondhand sources.

Dementia Risk From Common Meds?

When people are taking a medication they are usually doing it with the intent to correct a health problem or concern. While there may frequently be safer and less stressful ways to improve one’s health, sometimes pharmaceutical intervention may be necessary if a condition has become out of control and needs immediate attention. But the last thing that anyone wants is to take a medicine to correct one problem and then have it cause another. Side effects from medications are probably one of the biggest reason not to take them and research continues to support this belief. Case in point, a new study has found that medicines taken commonly for conditions such as depression, asthma and allergies may raise the risk for dementia later in life.

The research was performed at the Indiana University School of Medicine and looked at the brains of 451 men and women, 60 of whom were taking one or more anticholinergic medicines. Study participants took the medicines on average for about 7 years. Anticholinergics work by blocking a brain chemical called acetylcholine, which is crucial for memory. They can be found in medicines ranging from Benadryl to Dramamine to Paxil and about 100 different drugs were evaluated in the study.

The conclusions from the research were that was that the brains of those people taking the medicine did not work as well as the brains of those not taking them and that there was an increased risk of getting dementia over time. While it was not a direct cause and effect link, there was a strong correlation between taking the drugs and development of the dementia. Overall, the researchers found that those on the medicines were ''four times more likely to develop either mild cognitive impairment [which often develops into dementia] or dementia'' than those not taking the medicines. The brain problems developed over a time frame ranging from 6 months to about 8 years. Older adults who took the drugs had poorer thinking skills than those not taking them and their brains were also smaller, especially in the areas important for memory and other thinking skills.

While the individual conditions that the various medications were taken for would still need to be addressed, there is always opportunity to help support the body naturally to decrease the risk of developing health conditions in the first place. Supporting brain health by ensuring that optimal levels of essential fatty acids are consumed daily is a good place to start with the diet, as is limiting foods that promote inflammation such as sugars and grains. Avoiding aluminum, whether it be from leaching from metal cookware or foil or absorbed externally through the skin, can help limit exposure to a substance linked to dementia. And something as simple as getting adequate sleep every night when your brain goes through its detoxification processes will prevent you from hindering a necessary recovery mechanism. All easy steps that could help keep you thinking sharp for years to come.