Do you ever wonder if all the anti-aging resveratrol mania is out of hand? Well, it is. Here are some red flags to watch out for.

If you have about 10 minutes right now, watch this video to prep yourself for my comments on this topic. It is a phenomenal video about resveratrol research. Just don’t believe any of it.

RESVERATROL! ABC News!

Resveratrol is a Great Antioxidant

Just to keep the record straight, I am all for the benefits of plant natural products for human health. My professional background has been in plant natural products chemistry for more than 35 years, so I am automatically biased in favor of them. However, the hysteria over different substances makes my whole field look bad.

The Problem with Reductionist Thinking

The video above, and all the commentary about resveratrol for that matter, comes from looking at small, single variable explanations for scientific results. This is called reductionist thinking. The long-running joke about reductionist scientists is that they (we!) study smaller and smaller details until we finally know everything about nothing. The whole field of molecular genetics is built around reductionist thinking. That is the nature of the beast.

Goals of Resveratrol Research

If you watched the video you may have noticed that resveratrol was repeatedly referred to as a drug. This is great news in some ways. However, you can bet your bottom dollar that this non-patentable natural product will not be the final product of this research.

What we have here is a high-powered Harvard research lab with financial backing by a high-powered vulture capitalist, er, venture capitalist. The primary goal of this team is to develop something that will be profitable, pay the investment back, and make a lot more money to boot.

These are the very same goals of pharmaceutical drug research. Notice that human health is just a side issue here. The purpose of drug research is to make money, not to make people healthier. Ditto for resveratrol research.

Leap of Faith

When I was doing research with brain cancer, one of my colleagues once said, “Applying results from studies of laboratory animals to humans is like taking a leap of faith the size of the Grand Canyon.” Virtually all of the research on resveratrol that has generated so much excitement is based on lab animals and yeast. Equivalent studies on humans would take a lifetime. Let’s get real real!

By the way, humans have about 30,000 or so genes. The impact of one substance on one gene does not possibly explain how anything works in a whole person.

A complete critique of resveratrol mania could occupy a whole book. I hope my brief comments at least get you started thinking a little more clearly on this issue. It will serve you well for judging all kinds of wild science in the headlines.

My Recommendations

I see nothing wrong with taking resveratrol supplements. Indeed, I encourage it. I encourage you to take antioxidant supplements in general, even including red wine itself. However, if the issue that you want to address is anti-aging or any other health-related concern, I suggest that you find out what the whole-person scientific research says about getting healthy, staying healthy, and living a full and long life.

Sorry to say that I don’t have any recommendations that I can make any money on. Well, I could make some fake recommendations for the purpose of selling you my book, if I had one, or of selling you some supplements. However, I think it is much more important to tell you something that will truly benefit your health. It is this:

Get and read the following two books (cheap used copies at Amazon, I am sure):

“Healthy at 100″ by John Robbins

“The China Study” by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell

Better yet, if you are looking for instant information on these books, you can visit the following two websites:

Healthy at 100

T. Colin Campbell Foundation

All the best in natural health,
Dr. D

The dilemma is: Who is right? My answer is: None of them. The devil is in the details. What I’ve discovered is that product development scientists always fail to consider the most crucial factors in judging antioxidant power. Yes, always. If that sounds like I am knocking down my fellow scientists, then this is not the first time that they deserve it. Unfortunately, fuzzy thinking from the get-go makes it impossible for any kind of clear discussion. Sales reps, marketing people, distributors, nutrition store owners (!), book authors, and all manner of non-scientists are out on a limb about antioxidants and unaware of how untenable their position is.

What I’d like to do is claim that I’m the only genius who can see the truth here. However, this doesn’t take a genius to solve. Indeed, I am instead going to explain the key issues, based fundamental principles that you can learn in any freshman-level courses in chemistry and biology. Just the basics. No genius required (bummer!). By the way, if you happen to have forgotten some of this introductory information, or never even took the classes to learn it, you will still grasp what I have to say.

Now, here is why this is a teaser. I know what the best antioxidant is and I can tell you why it is so. However, it is going to take some doing for me to put the best document together for you. A brief article here is not going to suffice. What I’m going to do instead is devote an entire webpage to it, then give you the link option of going there to find out what I have to say, just to satisfy folks who are truly interested in one of the most important health and nutrition issues of all time. (Okay, the cat is out of the bag – you can probably tell that I think this knowledge is crucial for everyone!)

Meanwhile, until I am ready to launch this new webpage, I’d like to get your input on what you think the most important antioxidant is and why. I’ll even post your comments on the webpage if you wish. So what do you think the best antioxidant is? Amalaki berry, pomegranate juice, chocolate, resveratrol, blueberries, something else? Let me know what you think. Just add your comments directly onto this page. Then come back here in about two weeks (i.e., around Aug. 3) to see my ‘definitive’ answer. (You will probably want to bookmark this page. I will also send notice to all of my newsletter subscribers, so go ahead and subscribe if you haven’t already done so, and I will notify you directly).

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D

Today I feel inspired to get into teaching mode, plus throw in a little biochemistry just because I can. It is the Mad Professor that is still in me.

Think for a moment about the silliness of the longtime favorite label, “all natural.” This pops up so often on foods, beverages, supplements, talk shows, infomercials, ads of all kinds, etc., that it is enough to make me gag. Even my university students, bless their naïve little hearts, used this phrase so often that I finally had to include a special lecture on it every semester in my integrative medicine class. “All natural” should mean something, although this meaning has been corrupted by two forces: 1) the mindless belief that if something is all natural, it is somehow automatically good for you; and, 2) government regulations. This subject has become such a gigantic mess that I am challenged by where to start.

Role of the Fraudulent Drug Administration (aka, FDA)

This rogue government agency is owned by Big Pharma and Big Fooda (OK, I made up that term, you get the picture) and is way too understaffed. It is not the guardian of human health that American mythology tells us it is. It acts more like a puppet that is controlled by the biggest and baddest puppeteer. According to Global New Products Database, “All Natural,” was the third most frequent claim made on food products launched in the US in 2007, appearing on 2,617 products. It ranked fourth most popular claim for beverages, used on 542 items.

Now take a look at one of the most common sweeteners that is added to products that claim to be all natural – high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The FDA has to contend with a back and forth battle between the Corn Refiners Association, which says HFCS is all natural, and the Sugar Association, which says it isn’t. The issue is that HFCS is extracted, hydrolyzed, separated, traumatized, folded, spindled, and mutilated in ways that make a chemist’s heart flutter, then added to foods and beverages.

This just means that HFCS is no longer raw material. It goes through several chemical steps to become the final product. Does that mean it is no longer all natural? FDA’s ruling, which fluctuates, depends on which of the two opposing special-interest groups greases the most palms with the most money. The bottom line is that, as always, don’t count on your government to give you good advice. In my opinion, HFCS is to be avoided regardless of what any agency decides.

Natural Health Therapies – Not Always Warm and Fuzzy

Now if we just focus on natural natural ingredients from herbs and other organisms, a short list would include the following:

• MSG
• Strychnine
• Morphine
• Cocaine
• Botox
• Ricin

These are just a few that pop into my head. Ricin, which is a all natural product of castor beans, is such a powerful toxin that possession of it is illegal. You already know about botox (botulism toxin!), morphine, cocaine, and strychnine. MSG is so nasty that food manufacturers have come up with 17 ways to hide it from being obvious on a food label. All of these are “all natural.”

Natural Health Alternative No. 1 – The Easy Case of Vitamin E

The chemical gobbledygook, “alpha-d-tocopherol,” indicates one of several forms of naturally occurring vitamin E. The chemical structure is a tocopherol molecule that comes in “D” form and an “L” form, which are kind of like the mirror images of your left and right hands. They are not identical, although one looks like the other in a mirror. When a living organism makes tocopherol, enzymes guide the formation of the “D” form. Likewise, enzymes use the same form in biological reactions. The “L” form is inert.

It you look at a few example vitamin supplements that contain vitamin E, you will find some that contain “DL” tocopherol. This means that vitamin E was transformed from some other molecule in a flask, without enzymes. The resulting mix is only half as active biologically as the natural “D” form because half of the mix is the “L” form. Okay, that is an easy one to evaluate.

Natural Health Alternative No. 2 – The Not So Easy Case of Bioidentical Hormones

This is a huge issue for millions of women who undergo hormone therapy for menopause. I have enough information to write book on this, so I’ll really keep it short for now and promise more on the topic soon. Supplement manufacturers have perpetrated the “bioidentical hormone” terminology to imply that hormone supplements are all natural. Hmpf!

Take a look at the chemical structure of progesterone below. Chemists discovered it and determined its structure in the first half of the twentieth century. This structure is the only molecule that is called progesterone. By looking at the structure, you would not be able to tell whether it came from a natural source or was made in a laboratory from fire, air, earth and water (i.e., the favorite starting materials for chemists).

Now take a look at the structure of diosgenin, which comes from plants (most notably certain species of yams). Diosgenin is very similar to progesterone in many respects. Indeed, commercial progesterone is made by chemically modifying diosgenin. That is the progesterone that is in supplements such as progesterone creams.

Bioidentical Progesterone is Not Natural

Progesterone is progesterone is progesterone. Your body (men AND women need it) doesn’t distinguish the all-natural form from the form that chemists make from diosgenin. Progesterone supplements are just fine. They just aren’t all natural.

Thanks for reading my semi-rant. I feel better now.

All the best in natural health,
Dr. D

How to Escape the #1 Killer That Threatens Your Health

Take a look at this astounding survey about the causes of death in the U.S.:

• 783,936 Deaths caused by medical mistakes
• 699,697 Deaths from heart disease
• 553,251 Cancer deaths

Yes, according to the most recent and most comprehensive statistical analysis ever published by doctors about their own profession, the #1 killer in the U.S. in 2001 was medical mistakes. And many doctors think that the number cited here is way too low. The number of deaths caused by medical mistakes undoubtedly grows higher every year. Are you surprised that that whenever doctors go on strike, death rates drop? How do you avoid the #1 killer? Do everything you can possibly do to get and stay healthy naturally!

Start by Getting Good, Science-Based Information

Subscribe to Natural Health News for regular updates and get my free scientific report, “The Five Pillars of Basic Nutrition,” to see what your nutritional foundation should be.

These days you need a lot more than an apple a day to keep the doctor away (in fact, apples aren’t as good for you as you might think). Eat right, exercise right, and take the right supplements. Natural Health News, plus this blog offer you the guidance you need, from a scientific point of view, on how to do exactly that.

What To Do About Information Overload

Most of the information that you find on supplements is hype, with very little or no science behind it. Unless you can look up the medical research yourself, then read and understand it, you have to rely on someone else to explain what is good and what is bad about supplements. This is where I come in. On this site I offer my perspective as a research scientist, so you can sift through what is important to you and make your own health decisions. After all, the only real health that you will ever experience depends completely on what your body does naturally. Natural products feed your body’s innate healing power. Synthetic drugs do not. It’s that simple.

Medical Propaganda and Dangerous Drugs

Each issue of the newsletter, Natural Health News, offers pointers not only on the science behind supplements but also on the latest dangers to watch out for in mainstream medicine. The fake vitamin E scare, myths of cholesterol-lowering drugs, abuses of antibiotics, and truths about antacids are just some of the topics that you can look forward to in upcoming issues. You will also learn what you can do about the biggest health challenges of our time: Belly fat, arthritis, poor digestion, shingles, high cholesterol, and many more. And it is all based on real science.

Stay current on the latest truly important scientific research about natural health and about the latest medical disasters to avoid by subscribing to Natural Health News. Subscribe below. Fill in your name and email address, then send it on to me, and you will begin receiving Natural Health News right away.

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D