Slashdot Mirror

I'll copy it here:

By the way, here are some key useful health related links, and these are some of the issues I'd like to use such a system to discuss, refine, rebut, or promote.

On healthy diet:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Revolution-Your-Diet-World/dp/1573244872
http://www.amazon.com/Diet-New-America-John-Robbins/dp/0915811812

Knife and blender skills for eating better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RhfAE6McrM
http://greensmoothierevolution.com/

On medically supervised fasting (both water and juice) and health:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-food-dr-fuhrman-on-fasting....
http://www.healthpromoting.com/why-water-fasting
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

And on getting enough vitamin D (in decreasing levels of recommended supplements):
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d...
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/recommendation
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspx

On vitamin D and pregnancy:
http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20100504/high-doses-of-vitamin-d-may-cut-...
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/neurological-conditions...

On autism and health care in general:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_...

Understanding about good and bad fats:
http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2011/05/may-9-the-great-fat-deba...
http://nutsci.org/2011/05/04/the-great-fat-debate/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21515108

Mental health:
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/06/what-makes-us-happy/...
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-gene

Treadmill workstations for computer users (but be sure to get vitamin D being indoors so much):
http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/08/the-treadmill-workstation/
http://www.squidoo.com/wal

I'll copy it here:

By the way, here are some key useful health related links, and these are some of the issues I'd like to use such a system to discuss, refine, rebut, or promote.

On healthy diet:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Revolution-Your-Diet-World/dp/1573244872
http://www.amazon.com/Diet-New-America-John-Robbins/dp/0915811812

Knife and blender skills for eating better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RhfAE6McrM
http://greensmoothierevolution.com/

On medically supervised fasting (both water and juice) and health:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-food-dr-fuhrman-on-fasting....
http://www.healthpromoting.com/why-water-fasting
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

And on getting enough vitamin D (in decreasing levels of recommended supplements):
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d...
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/recommendation
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspx

On vitamin D and pregnancy:
http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20100504/high-doses-of-vitamin-d-may-cut-...
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/neurological-conditions...

On autism and health care in general:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_...

Understanding about good and bad fats:
http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2011/05/may-9-the-great-fat-deba...
http://nutsci.org/2011/05/04/the-great-fat-debate/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21515108

Mental health:
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/06/what-makes-us-happy/...
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-gene

Treadmill workstations for computer users (but be sure to get vitamin D being indoors so much):
http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/08/the-treadmill-workstation/
http://www.squidoo.com/wal

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/

Presumably it is very common among hard working programmers, and it can lead to immune dysfunctions, depression, and other difficulties.

Other health advice here:
http://www.changemakers.com/node/113512/comments

My heart goes out to his family and friends for his loss.

Look into iodine, vitamin D, and eating lots of vegetables, fruits, and beans:
http://www.iodine4health.com/special/metals/metals.htm
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx

Sad to read that (even if it agrees).

You might find this of interest, btw, to the extent that stuff like ADHD is a real thing and related to diet (food additives, lack of omega 3s, lack of vitamin D and iodine, lack of phytonutrients, too much sugar, and so on): http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/adhd-dr-fuhrmans-antiadhd-plan.html
"Many families who have adopted my diet of nutritional excellence, combined with judicious use of nutritional supplements, report that they begin to see improvement in as little as three months. Keep in mind, this nutritional approach to ADHD does not magically make the problem disappear overnight; it could take six months to observe a significant change in behavior. The chief factor that indicates a successful outcome is the entire familyâ(TM)s willingness and desire to adopt a new healthy eating style for the benefit of all members. The child with the ADHD problem is never singled out as the only one required to eat healthy. In fact, I encourage the children to take responsibility in helping the parents to eat healthy, too. This prescription calls for nutritional excellence for the entire family. When families choose to work as a unit to improve the childâ(TM)s emotional environment and nutrition simultaneously, it is rare that psychostimulant medications are necessary."

More on that theme:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/mental-health-and-learning-disorders/
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/

And general on physical and mental health issues:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2478380&cid=37734208

All the best in making the most of the hand you've been dealt in life.

Sad to read that (even if it agrees).

You might find this of interest, btw, to the extent that stuff like ADHD is a real thing and related to diet (food additives, lack of omega 3s, lack of vitamin D and iodine, lack of phytonutrients, too much sugar, and so on): http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/adhd-dr-fuhrmans-antiadhd-plan.html
"Many families who have adopted my diet of nutritional excellence, combined with judicious use of nutritional supplements, report that they begin to see improvement in as little as three months. Keep in mind, this nutritional approach to ADHD does not magically make the problem disappear overnight; it could take six months to observe a significant change in behavior. The chief factor that indicates a successful outcome is the entire familyâ(TM)s willingness and desire to adopt a new healthy eating style for the benefit of all members. The child with the ADHD problem is never singled out as the only one required to eat healthy. In fact, I encourage the children to take responsibility in helping the parents to eat healthy, too. This prescription calls for nutritional excellence for the entire family. When families choose to work as a unit to improve the childâ(TM)s emotional environment and nutrition simultaneously, it is rare that psychostimulant medications are necessary."

More on that theme:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/mental-health-and-learning-disorders/
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/

And general on physical and mental health issues:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2478380&cid=37734208

All the best in making the most of the hand you've been dealt in life.

Another relative here, in the USA. :-) Send me an email if you want, my address is easy to find.

She was my father's aunt IIRC. I only met her once that I can recall, when my father and I visited her home around 1985. But she might have been at some get together or other other times we visited that does not stick out in my mind. I don't remember her speaking English and I do not know that much Dutch. They talked and I went for a walk around the area. I was overdressed in a overcoat and hat, and some neighborhood kids pointed at me and said "gangster" and chased me a bit, and I went into a store to avoid them. So, that's mostly what I remember of that visit. :-)

I feel diet and lifestyle (and the extent to which genes may interact with interests and habits) have a lot to do with this though. So does very early life experiences. Even being born premature might have had some value, in that the slower we grow perhaps the slower we age? Not having kids may have been a factor too? Also, there is a lot to be said for a positive outlook on life however you get that.

Related resources on healthy diet:
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Revolution-Your-Diet-World/dp/1573244872
http://www.amazon.com/Diet-New-America-John-Robbins/dp/0915811812
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

Fasting (like for lent) which often connects to religion (and eating less in the past from being less wealthy) can also help:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-food-dr-fuhrman-on-fasting.html

And on getting enough vitamin D (and she was out and about plus maybe got some from herring she liked):
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/recommendation
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspx

Understanding about good and bad fats:
http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2011/05/may-9-the-great-fat-debate-does-the-total-fat-in-your-diet-matter.html
http://nutsci.org/2011/05/04/the-great-fat-debate/
http://www.adajournal.org/article/S0002-8223(11)00291-4/fulltext

Mental health:
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/06/what-makes-us-happy/7439/
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-gene

Treadmill workstations for computer users (but be sure to get vitamin D being indoors so much):
http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/08/the-treadmill-workstation/
http://www.squidoo.com/walkingwhileworking

Community level ideas for health:

... indoors posting too much: http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/

Good points, especially on why pick one specific faith of hundreds of fairly mainstream ones?

Also, heart attacks can often cause brain damage.
http://www.bri.ucla.edu/bri_weekly/news_050822.asp

Coudl the three days of regular life be the true answer? Even if one believed in a higher power and related subdeities, could not then some devil be messing with him?

Also, vitamin D deficiency and vegetable deficiency disease cause most heart attacks, so it may indeed have been a coincidence related to poor diet, or even the wrath of the "sun god":
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/news-archive/2008/vitamin-d-in-pediatrics/

Still, to be fair, and a truly skeptical skeptic, he might indeed be right. And even if his brain was altered, maybe it was improved? But personally, I don't buy it for the reasons you list.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-fuhrman-md/vitamin-d-recommendations_b_800468.html
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspx
http://grassrootshealth.net/
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/

And on escaping from a "pleasure trap":
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx

And on walking while using the computer:
http://www.squidoo.com/walkingwhileworking

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/

Happened to me too from working so much. And it was made worse by me getting a treadmilll workstation setup, so I exercised, but indoors.

http://newsletter.vitalchoice.com/e_article000728662.cfm?x=b8M6Cmn,b2JyLGgM
http://blog.vitamindcouncil.org/2011/08/02/new-study-concludes-the-need-for-vitamin-d-repletion-in-systemic-lupus-erythematosis-patients/
http://blog.vitamindcouncil.org/2011/09/06/vitamin-d-and-more-on-lupus-august-mailbag-pt-2/

http://newsletter.vitalchoice.com/e_article000728662.cfm?x=b8M6Cmn,b2JyLGgM
http://blog.vitamindcouncil.org/2011/08/02/new-study-concludes-the-need-for-vitamin-d-repletion-in-systemic-lupus-erythematosis-patients/
http://blog.vitamindcouncil.org/2011/09/06/vitamin-d-and-more-on-lupus-august-mailbag-pt-2/

Actually, vitamin D (the sunshine vitamin), Iodine, and eating more vegetables, fruits, and beans are a better bet to prevent (or in some cases cure) cancer.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/cancer
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article24.aspx
http://breastcancerchoices.org/iodine.html

Avoiding food additives and avoiding burned food (acrylamide) will help, too.
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Study_finds_burning_your_food_could_cause_some_cancers

And no doubt avoiding some other toxins etc.

Exercise is a mixed bag because it tends to increase appetite (although it is good for your health for other reasons).

If you want to understand weight gain and loss, see Dr. Joel Fuhrman's writings to eat more vegetables, fruits, and beans, which, along with adequate vitamin D and some earlier fasting, have helped me lose and keep off 50 excess pounds over the last year and a half:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
    http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx

How to make our communities more health-friendly
    http://www.bluezones.com/

It's an occupational hazard of indoor manager/coder types.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/

Vegetable deficiency disease (in part from stress) is a killer too.
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx

Fixing both of those issues in my own life has led to more energy and mental clarity for learning new things.

Otherwise, code monkeys are at big risk of more than bad management from eating chips, drinking soda, and working indoors, which curtails the time for learning on this plane of existence:
    "Code Monkey"
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Wy7gRGgeA

Exercise, good sleep, and other lifestyle issues can also contribute to having more energy and more mental capacity.
http://www.bluezones.com/

Also, there is a lot to be done for improving software projects beside code, so you might be able to push your project management skills in new directions, like discussed by David Eaves here for FOSS projects:
http://www.slideshare.net/david_a_eaves/community-management-presentation/

"I thought that if I could just bring free or very low cost t'ai chi classes to less affluent communities, it would help with some of those readily treatable diseases that were going for the most part untreated because of the expense of drugs and lack of access to health care."

Wow, that all sounds wonderful. My wife (who likes Taoism) and I tried some Tai Chi classes a long time ago and my wife liked them especially (they were a little hard for us to get to though at the time). I used to do Aikido and first had a Tai Chi class at a university, like you say. There is one local Tai Chi class not too far from where we live now, but they meet are too early in the morning for her unfortunately. She does Yoga instead though.

On health, while exercise is great for improving health overall, it has mixed results for weight loss, as active exercise tends to make people hungry. But I could imagine Tai Chi is different because it is getting you more in touch with your body, and that is one key to health and eating well.

I lost about fifty pounds (and 20+ BP points) over the last year and a half through a combination of advice similar to what Dr. Joel Fuhrman suggests (eat more vegetables fruits, and beans mainly), plus 5000 IU Vitamin D3 daily. I also much earlier did some fasting (both juice and water fasts) which Dr. Fuhrman also wrote about. But fasting really involves changing your diet to be useful, although it can be useful for resensitizing taste buds (one reasons successful major religions tend to have regular periods of fasting perhaps). I also used a treadmill workstation more in front of the computer (the treadmill sadly shorted out recently though).

Here are related links about stuff that helped me:

"How to escape The Pleasure Trap"
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

"Dr. Fuhrman's Nutritarian Pyramid"
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx

"About vitamin D"
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/
http://grassrootshealth.net/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-fuhrman-md/vitamin-d-recommendations_b_800468.html

While almost everyone agrees most people in the USA need more vitamin D, there is some disagreement about optimal blood levels, and whether that would differ based on ethnicity -- it's a field that needs more research. The three vitamin D links above go from high to low recommendations (all are higher than the new US RDA for adults though).

Iodine has helped my health too (eating more seaweed especially), and supplemental omega-3s, and making green smoothies, and a good multivitamin.

Unfortunately, it can be a bit more expensive to eat this way with fruits and vegetables year round (especially organic ones, but organic is not essential even if good compared to the health benefits of vegetables over refined foods). I talked with one person working at a grocery store who was about to go in for a second heart operation about eating more vegetables, but he said they were too expensive. But insurance pays big bucks for the heart operations. It's a crazy system.

Related:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/treating-the-cause-not-the-illness/
"In 1965, in an impoverished rural county in the Mississippi Delta, the pioneering physician Jack Geiger helped found one of the nationâ(TM)s first community health centers. Many of the children Geiger treated were seriously malnourished, so he began writing âoeprescriptionsâ for food â

http://drfuhrman.com/ http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/cancer/

Fasting can help some too.

Lots of deep breathing of clean air won't hurt either.

"The problem is that government spends more than it takes it."

Due to borrow and spend conservatives launching war rackets of choice?
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

Instead of tax and spend liberals who at least pay more as they go?

"Smaller government is not a bad thing."

Unless government is too small to account for externalities through taxes, subsidies, and regulation?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality

And so we pay in our health bills and tax bills (and even inability to eat wild-caught mercurly laden fish) on the back-end the costs we should be paying up-front at the gas pumps and electrical outlets and supermarkets, in which case renewables would have been cheaper than fossil fuels since the 1970s and we would not be having such a health care crisis?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittle_Power
http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/11/the-subsidized-food-pyramid.html
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx

Or getting scammed by heart surgeons?
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx

And scammed by dermatologists who are causing by some estimates 30 cancers for every melanoma they prevent?
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/cancer/

Due in part to lack of adequate investment in public health research?

Do US Republican generally wanting to privatize gains and socialize costs make them the worst sort of socialists?

"Also, Obama has no plan, he just criticizes other."

I agree that Obama has been a terrible president so far. He blew his chance to make big changes in the first few days by trying to negotiate with idealogues who would rather destroy the USA than lose an election. He could have just declared medicare covers anyone of any age his first day in office (as in, not enforcing age limits), and then moved on from there to ensuring everyone had a basic income (social security for all, withotu age limits) even if there are no more jobs, and moved on from there to bringing our troops home and shifting the US defense budget to the space program. :-)

Related:
http://www.amconmag.com/article/2005/mar/14/00017/
"This is no surprise, as [propertarian] libertarianism is basically the Marxism of the Right. If Marxism is the delusion that one can run society purely on altruism and collectivism, then [propertarian] libertarianism is the mirror-image delusion that one can run it purely on selfishness and individualism. ... The most fundamental problem with [propertarian] libertarianism is very simple: freedom, though a good thing, is simply not the only good thing in life. Simple physical security, which even a prisoner can possess, is not freedom, but one cannot live without it. Prosperity is connected to freedom, in that it makes us free to consume, but it is not the same thing, in that one can be rich but as unfree as a Victorian tycoon's wife. A family is in fact one of the least free things imaginable, as the emotional satisfactions of it derive from relations that we are either born into without choice or, once they are chosen, entail obligations that we cannot walk away from with ease or justice. But security, prosperity, and family are in fact the bulk of happiness for most real people and the principal issues that concern governments. [Along with health and community.]"

And:
"The Market as God: Living in the new dispensation"

http://drfuhrman.com/ http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/cancer/

Fasting can help some too.

Glad you liked it. You're welcome.

That vitamin D link got messed up btw and should really be:
            http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/

Some books related to your excellent points:

"In defense of childhood: protecting kids' inner wildness"
http://www.chrismercogliano.com/childhood.htm
"As codirector of the Albany Free School, Chris Mercogliano has had remarkable success in helping a diverse population of youngsters find their way in the world. He regrets, however, that most kids' lives are subject to some form of control from dawn until dusk. Lamenting risk-averse parents, overstructured school days, and a lack of playtime and solitude, Mercogliano argues that we are robbing our young people of "that precious, irreplaceable period in their lives that nature has set aside for exploration and innocent discovery," leaving them ill-equipped to face adulthood. The "domestication of childhood" squeezes the adventure out of kids' lives and threatens to smother the spark that animates each child with talents, dreams, and inclinations."

"Last Child in the Woods"
http://richardlouv.com/books/last-child/
"In this influential work about the staggering divide between children and the outdoors, child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today's wired generation--he calls it nature-deficit--to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as the rises in obesity, attention disorders, and depression."

"Underground History of American Education"
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/16a.htm
"A huge price had to be paid for business and government efficiency, a price we still pay in the quality of our existence. Part of what kids gave up was the prospect of being able to read very well, a historic part of the American genius. Instead, school had to train them for their role in the new overarching social system. But spare yourself the agony of thinking of this as a conspiracy. It was and is a fully rational transaction, the very epitome of rationalization engendered by a group of honorable men, all honorable men -- but with decisive help from ordinary citizens, from almost all of us as we gradually lost touch with the fact that being followers instead of leaders, becoming consumers in place of producers, rendered us incompletely human. It was a naturally occurring conspiracy, one which required no criminal genius. The real conspirators were ourselves. When we sold our liberty for the promise of automatic security, we became like children in a conspiracy against growing up, sad children who conspire against their own children, consigning them over and over to the denaturing vats of compulsory state factory schooling."

And a TED Talk:
"Gever Tulley on 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do"
http://www.ted.com/talks/gever_tulley_on_5_dangerous_things_for_kids.html

We've taught our kid early on to use a sharp knife to cut up vegetables and fruits, in part because US emergency medicine to deal with knife injuries is far better than US medicine to deal with chronic health problems that come from not eating enough vegetables and fruits. Related:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/children/default.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffJAePZFg90

Unfortunately, we listened to advice from doctors to "protect" our kid (and ourselves) from the sun and ended up with vitamin D deficiency and related health issues.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions//kids_fall_short_on_vitamin_D.aspx

We're slowly learning. There is a l

While what you say is true in general, vitamin D specifically is a much bigger deal than that. One example of recent research:
"Vitamin D 'triggers and arms' the immune system: Vitamin D is crucial to the fending off of infections, claims new research."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7379094/Vitamin-D-triggers-and-arms-the-immune-system.html

That is about infection, but related processes may be at work related to dealing with cancer. Humans are just not adapted to spending all day in a cave and then moving from cave to cave in enclosed boxes. But that is pretty much how most people now live in the 21st century in industrialized countries most of the time. Other things like autism may be related to vitamin D deficiency (in part), too:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/neurological-conditions/autism/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html

Humans are also just not adapted to eating so few vegetables.

See also, for how to retune your taste buds:
"How to escape The Pleasure Trap! By Douglas Lisle, Ph.D. and Alan Goldhamer , D.C., Authors of The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force that Undermines Health and Happiness"
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

Huge nutritional and psychological breakthroughs are happening, but it seems people don't want to pay attention because of lifestyle issues related to fears about dietary changes. Last year I tried to give a copy of Dr. Fuhrman's "Eat for Health" to a couple, but they refused it saying they had a lot of "cookbooks" already. Recently, one of them had a painful medical procedure (angioplasty/stenting) costing at great expense (presumably covered by insurance) but avoidable with aggressive nutritional intervention (which would have been free and mostly painless after a taste adjustment period of a few weeks).

See:
"Scientific Studies Show Angioplasty and Stent Placement is Essentially Worthless"
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
"In the most recent study investigators reviewed 61 trials, involving 25,388 patients, in a meta-analysis comparing angioplasty and stent placement with no treatment or medications alone. A meta-analysis pools numerous studies on the same subject. The findings indicated that there was no evidence that angioplasty and stent placement for coronary artery disease resulted in fewer heart attacks or deaths when compared to patients with the same level of disease who were not treated in this manner.
Trikalinos TA, Alsheikh-Ali AA, Tatsioni A, et al. Percutaneous coronary interventions for non-acute coronary artery disease: a quantitative 20-year synopsis and a network meta-analysis. Lancet 2009; 373(9667):911-918.
Interventional cardiology and cardiovascular surgery is basically a scam based on a misunderstanding of the nature of heart disease. Searching for and treating obstructive plaque does not address the areas of the coronary vascular tree most likely to rupture and cause heart attacks. If there was never another CABG or angioplasty performed or stent placed, patients with heart disease would be better off. Doctors would be forced to educate our citizens that their heart disease risk is determined by what they place on their forks. Millions of lives would be dramatically extended. To abandon the theory of stretching and cutting out areas with plaque would shut down interventional cardiology, ne

http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article24.aspx
"According to the CDC, only one-third of U.S. adults eat two or more servings of fruit per day, and only one-quarter of adults eat three or more servings of vegetables per day. These minimal amounts cannot be expected to provide disease protection. I recommend a far more substantial intake of fruits and vegetables with 90 percent of calories coming from nutrient rich plant material, lots of it raw and green. I recommend about two pounds of vegetables and at least 4 fresh fruits per day. Most importantly, attention should be paid to the highly cancer-protective plant foods, greens, onion, berries, beans and seeds. ... The most recent scientific advancement in the anti-cancer research is the identification of specific foods and food elements that offer powerful protection against cancer. These foods are essential for both prevention of cancer and also increased odds of survival after diagnosis. Harmful foods and supplements have also been identified, and avoiding or minimizing these is equally as important. ... All vegetables are not equally protective. Epidemiological studies suggest that cruciferous vegetables, onions, and mushrooms are far more protective against cancer than vegetables overall - inverse relationships between cruciferous vegetable intake and breast, prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers have been found. For example, in one prospective study, one or more servings per week of cabbage reduced the risk of pancreatic cancer by 38% This was only one serving a week, which demonstrates that dramatic protection is available and real when a diet is ideally designed. The regular consumption of mushrooms has been demonstrated to decrease risk of breast cancer by over 60 percent. Onions, berries, seeds and beans also have dramatic beneficial effects. Beans in general, not just soy, are beneficial for protecting against reproductive cancers such as breast and prostate cancer.

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/cancer/
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/study-vitamin-d-kills-cancer-cells/story?id=9904415
"Doctors have known that low levels of vitamin D are linked to certain kinds of cancers as well as to diabetes and asthma, but new research also shows that the vitamin can kill human cancer cells. The results fall short of an immediate cancer cure, but they are encouraging, medical professionals say. JoEllen Welsh, a researcher with the State University of New York at Albany, has studied the effects of vitamin D for 25 years. Part of her research involves taking human breast cancer cells and treating them with a potent form of vitamin D. Within a few days, half the cancer cells shriveled up and died. Welsh said the vitamin has the same effect as a drug used for breast cancer treatment. "What happens is that vitamin D enters the cells and triggers the cell death process," she told "Good Morning America." "It's similar to what we see when we treat cells with Tamoxifen," a drug used to treat breast cancer. "

You can either get your chemotherapy every day from the phytonutrients in vegetables, fruits, and beans, and also vitamin D, or you can pay some oncologist a lot of money when you are older for iffy results.

"Not true. Most are pathogenic infectious diseases and accidental injuries. Most in the west are chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer. These both have links in genetics, and yes, even diet (in the case of heart disease)."

As Dr. Fuhrman says is the meticulously researched book "Eat to Live", which links to studies to back up what I wrote:
http://books.google.com/books?id=CX8huSU0n8AC
everyone has weak links "genetically". But, in most cases, how you eat and live your life determines whether those weak links are ever stressed and become a problem. Heart disease is a direct result of inflammation and fatty build up, which is directly related primarily to what we eat. Cancer is the failure of the body to police itself as the body is continually getting cancerous cells which it destroys if it is healthy, but it won't be able to do that if you eat junk that promotes cancer while crippling your immune system (and also lack vitamin D).

If you study this, you will see I am more or less right, and that 75% or more of things like infections, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are directly linked to poor nutrition. It is similar to organic gardening -- if your plants are stressed out from lack of nutrients (including micronutrients) in the soil, they are going to be more sickly and susceptible to disease.

So, you're just repeating "conventional wisdom" which is, in this case, wrong and deadly, sorry. I provided plenty of links to back up my statements, you are doing not much but repeating old and deadly misinformation. But if you want to see how heart disease is a symptom of vegetable deficiency disease, you could look at this:
http://www.ravediet.com/preview.html

Please, for your own sake, try to look into all this and move beyond the knee jerk reaction. People are making trillions of dollars a year off of ignorance and misinformation like you are reiterating. Another video:
"Nutrient Density is the Key to Good health "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZGgeGHU1Bs

And:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/diet-myths-the-food-pyramid-of-the-insane.html

Anyway, so my post got modded "Troll". Not suprising as I put my point more strongly than usual. It's still overall right. But it shows a bit of what the real disease is... People do not want to hear the truth, and dismiss it as too outlandish. I used to do the same, and thought it strange to think there was any connection between what I at and how I felt.

Just to show how much you might want to learn on this, from a relatively conservative body (the evidence is stronger than they say, but even they admit to evidence):
"Vitamin D and Cancer Prevention: Strengths and Limits of the Evidence"
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/prevention/vitamin-D

See also:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerMain.shtml

But you just dismissed that without looking into it. The fact is, for every melanoma (skin cancer) dermatologists have prevented by telling people to stay out of the sun, they may have caused thirty others from vitamin D deficiency.

On the history of medicine, I cited the Flexner Report which was a big place US medicine took a wrong turn a century ago. Sure, the guy who suggested doctors should wash their hands was essentially beaten to death for it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis

And the guy who wanted to run anti-smoking ads in 1927 was fired for it, and then per

And get probably 75% of medical issues diagnosed and cured, as they are mostly nutritional deficiencies... :-)
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
    http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
    http://www.grassrootshealth.net/

Sure, Omega-3s and Iodine are important too:
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2006/oct/17/prisonsandprobation.ukcrime
    http://www.iodine4health.com/
    http://www.bluezones.com/

As is a good night's sleep, friends, family, a connection to that which is beyond us, meaningful work, daily exercise walking and such, and that kind of stuff. And obviously avoid smoking, excessive alcohol, and obvious environmental toxins at work and play.

The focus on magic bullets is unfortunate. As is a focus on diagnosing things like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes that are mainly signs of vegetable deficiency disease and lack of vitamin D (and to a lesser extent those other issues). Most health rests on the basics. It's true that there are exotic genetic diseases and so on, but what causes the most chronic misery and early death in the industrialized words is these basic nutritional (and sunlight) problems.

Still, for cheap testing, this may be the future through using a paper-with-chemicals test and a cell phone, and such tests could help detect nutritional deficiencies:
    http://www.ted.com/talks/george_whitesides_a_lab_the_size_of_a_postage_stamp.html

Of course, there is not much profit in actually preventing or curing disease, so most of the money pours into diagnosing and treating what are really symptoms of nutritional and lifestyle disorders... It's been that way in part since the misguided Flexner Report:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexner_Report

But yes, this is still a great initiative -- even if it misses the obvious. But there is so little that is obvious (as is said in the Skills of Xanadu): :-)
    http://books.google.com/books?id=wpuJQrxHZXAC&pg=PA51

And of course, in our widely dysfunctional and dying culture, where people mostly eat either long dead carrion (aged factory farmed meat) or ground up long-dead plants (flour and sugar), and much of our entire cultural socio-economic infrastructure is geared around getting everyone to embrace this death-eater cult, it is no metaphorical surprise that the result of being a death eater is that you die early... Related:
    http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/11/the-subsidized-food-pyramid.html
    http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/diet-myths-the-food-pyramid-of-the-insane.html

Do you really need a "tricorder" to diagnose death-eater disease?

The "back to sleep" campaign for infants aims to prevent a terrible tragedy of two in a thousand infants dying suddenly in their sleep for reasons as not yet full understood (and this practice supposedly cuts that rate of sudden infant death syndrome - SIDS -- in about half).
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/sids/

Basically, the entire process involves making infants uncomfortable -- put them on their backs instead of their stomachs, don't cover them, keep the room cold, don't co-sleep with them, and other things. But it is accepted that this distorts the backs of children's heads to be flatter, and also delays crawling development by a month or two in many children. If this was side-effects from a drug prescribed, we might question it more.

To be clear, I think it is worth to think about preventing SIDS, but one needs to ask about the costs in flattened heads and delayed developmental milestones to the other 998 out of 1000 babies. As someone else told us, the road to genius starts on the belly. We followed this back to sleep advice for our child and I regret it, especially as our child had trouble sleeping a lot in the first place, and following this well-meant advice probably just made that all worse.

Other bad advice from the medical establishment has been to avoid the sun, which has led to widespread vitamin D deficiency probably leading to increased autism rates and other health issues.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201104/autism-and-vitamin-d/

Again, we made the mistake of following well-meant advice by medical practicioners to avoid the sun and had serious health consequences from that.

Ironically, the lack of sunlight seems also to have increased melanoma rates, since vitamin D helps in the immune system destroying cancer. Ways to avoid that:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

The four food groups was another scam that has lead to a lot of bad health. Better advice:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/11/the-subsidized-food-pyramid.html
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

But these sorts of bad advice by the medical establishment have been great boons to mattress manufactures, the processed foods and animal products industries, and the medical industry.

Iodine may be another similar issue:
http://www.lmreview.com/articles/view/iodine-the-next-vitamin-d-part-I/

Remember, doctors used to recommend smoking and push infant formula, too. Example:
http://www.old-time.com/commercials/1940's/More%20Doctors%20Smoke%20Camels.html

And they helped cretae institutions that persecuted those who suggested otherwise:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexner_Report
http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/shelton.bio.bidwell.htm

Vaccinations are another problematical area where it is not always clear the risk is worth the rewards for specific vaccines, or that with all the conflicts of interest involved one can know who to really believe on all that. The story on the influenza vaccine's value keeps changing, for example. As I quote here:

Thanks for the reply. Putting in VItamin D and CVID into Google gets me this as a top result:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18451650
"Patients with CVID may present asymptomatic vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D and VDRs play an important role in the innate immune system and modulate Toll-like receptor-related responses. Delay in diagnosis may predispose these patients not only to irreparable bone loss but also to infections, and autoimmune and malignant disorders, thus emphasizing the importance of prompt intervention."

As a start, be sure to get your Vitamin D level checked, and get the actual number, and compare it against these two suggestions (the 40-60 ng/mL range):
    http://www.grassrootshealth.net/
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
    http://www.heartscanblog.org/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

A slightly lower target:
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspx

Basically, your immune system needs vitamin D to "trigger and arm" the immune system:
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7379094/Vitamin-D-triggers-and-arms-the-immune-system.html

But, it also needs vitamin D to shut down an excessive immune response too (thus it can be involved in both too little and too much immune response). More on that:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/h1n1-flu-and-vitamin-d.shtml

And of course you need the basic phytonutrients from plants (many as yet undiscovered) for your body to be at its best.

Anyway, your health may well involve other issues. Still, what people often call "genetic" is really an issue of how genes interact with an environment (including what we eat and how much sunlight we get) and if we can change the environment, sometimes we can keep our weak links from ever being exposed (Dr. Fuhrman says that in his book "Eat to Live").

If I said anything helpful to you, I'm glad, and you can pay me back by helping someone else with such information or something else someday. :-)

Thanks for the reply. Putting in VItamin D and CVID into Google gets me this as a top result:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18451650
"Patients with CVID may present asymptomatic vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D and VDRs play an important role in the innate immune system and modulate Toll-like receptor-related responses. Delay in diagnosis may predispose these patients not only to irreparable bone loss but also to infections, and autoimmune and malignant disorders, thus emphasizing the importance of prompt intervention."

As a start, be sure to get your Vitamin D level checked, and get the actual number, and compare it against these two suggestions (the 40-60 ng/mL range):
    http://www.grassrootshealth.net/
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
    http://www.heartscanblog.org/2009/01/why-rda-for-vitamin-d.html

A slightly lower target:
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspx

Basically, your immune system needs vitamin D to "trigger and arm" the immune system:
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7379094/Vitamin-D-triggers-and-arms-the-immune-system.html

But, it also needs vitamin D to shut down an excessive immune response too (thus it can be involved in both too little and too much immune response). More on that:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/h1n1-flu-and-vitamin-d.shtml

And of course you need the basic phytonutrients from plants (many as yet undiscovered) for your body to be at its best.

Anyway, your health may well involve other issues. Still, what people often call "genetic" is really an issue of how genes interact with an environment (including what we eat and how much sunlight we get) and if we can change the environment, sometimes we can keep our weak links from ever being exposed (Dr. Fuhrman says that in his book "Eat to Live").

If I said anything helpful to you, I'm glad, and you can pay me back by helping someone else with such information or something else someday. :-)

For both of you:
http://www.google.com/search?q=ALS+vitamin+d
http://www.alsforums.com/forum/general-discussion-about-als-mnd/9472-vitamin-d.html
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
http://furtherglory.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/als-aka-lou-gehrigs-disease/
http://www.drfuhrman.com/disease/Other.aspx
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

And good fats like Algal-based Omega-3s (also avocado, and nuts and seeds if not allergic):
http://www.alsforums.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-5979.html

Good luck.

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/autism-information.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerMain.shtml
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/07/22/pregnant-women-advised-to-get-more-vitamin-d.aspx
http://www.iodine4health.com/

Both are involved with immune function in different ways. Adequate vitamin D is needed to make the brain's master antioxidant, glutathione. Adequate iodine helps excrete heavy metals. Both are involved with zapping cancer cells (it's said the average adult gets one cancer cell a day, but a good immune system deals with it). Vitamin D is essential to preventing pregnancy complications, including C-sections.

The US RDA for iodine may be way too low, especially considering how much bromine and fluorine kids are exposed to. The vitamin D RDA is also too low, even with being recently revised upward.

Eating fruits and vegetables also helps preventing lots of disease and is essential to good health.
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
    http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/diet-myths-the-food-pyramid-of-the-insane.html

One can tease out a lot of the individual nutritional and environmental causes in some cases of autism:
    "Autism Research: Breakthrough Discovery on the Causes of Autism"
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html

Let's get that all right before arguing too much over other stuff and what the true risk/reward assessment is for otherwise healthy kids and vaccines. A focus on magic bullets may be leading us to miss the big picture here about optimal health, which is earned by eating right and a lot of good lifestyle choices.

If pediatricians educated parents more about nutrition, we'd probably have a lot healthier population, even without vaccines.
"Disease-Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right"
http://www.amazon.com/Disease-Proof-Your-Child-Feeding-Right/dp/0312338058
"A groundbreaking book that explains the connection between nutrition and disease prevention-showing parents how to keep their children healthy by feeding them right. Bombarded by the media with stories about childhood obesity and dangerous hormones, pesticides and additives in foods, and told that allergies, asthma, and ear infections are on the rise, parents have never been more concerned about what to feed children. In this invaluable resource, featuring easy-to prepare, tasty recipes, Dr. Joel Fuhrman explains how cutting edge nutritional science can be brought to the family table with amazing results. "

See also for how to break out of the junk food pleasure trap:
    http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/autism-information.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerMain.shtml
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/07/22/pregnant-women-advised-to-get-more-vitamin-d.aspx
http://www.iodine4health.com/

Both are involved with immune function in different ways. Adequate vitamin D is needed to make the brain's master antioxidant, glutathione. Adequate iodine helps excrete heavy metals. Both are involved with zapping cancer cells (it's said the average adult gets one cancer cell a day, but a good immune system deals with it). Vitamin D is essential to preventing pregnancy complications, including C-sections.

The US RDA for iodine may be way too low, especially considering how much bromine and fluorine kids are exposed to. The vitamin D RDA is also too low, even with being recently revised upward.

Eating fruits and vegetables also helps preventing lots of disease and is essential to good health.
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
    http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/diet-myths-the-food-pyramid-of-the-insane.html

One can tease out a lot of the individual nutritional and environmental causes in some cases of autism:
    "Autism Research: Breakthrough Discovery on the Causes of Autism"
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html

Let's get that all right before arguing too much over other stuff and what the true risk/reward assessment is for otherwise healthy kids and vaccines. A focus on magic bullets may be leading us to miss the big picture here about optimal health, which is earned by eating right and a lot of good lifestyle choices.

If pediatricians educated parents more about nutrition, we'd probably have a lot healthier population, even without vaccines.
"Disease-Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right"
http://www.amazon.com/Disease-Proof-Your-Child-Feeding-Right/dp/0312338058
"A groundbreaking book that explains the connection between nutrition and disease prevention-showing parents how to keep their children healthy by feeding them right. Bombarded by the media with stories about childhood obesity and dangerous hormones, pesticides and additives in foods, and told that allergies, asthma, and ear infections are on the rise, parents have never been more concerned about what to feed children. In this invaluable resource, featuring easy-to prepare, tasty recipes, Dr. Joel Fuhrman explains how cutting edge nutritional science can be brought to the family table with amazing results. "

See also for how to break out of the junk food pleasure trap:
    http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

After you get your level checked, you'll have to then decide what level is a good thing.

Here are four different recommendations for optimal levels in increasing order

IOM:
http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2010/Dietary-Reference-Intakes-for-Calcium-and-Vitamin-D/DRI-Values.aspx
>20 ng/mL (but their recommendations sort of imply not much more than that is important)

Dr. Fuhrman:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspx
35–55 ng/mL

Grassroots Health:
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/recommendation
40–60 ng/mL

Vitamin D Council:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
50–80 ng/mL (or higher for some specific conditions)

So, it's great to have a level. But even then there are disagreements about what is best.

Remember, parents have been warned heavily over the last decade or two to keep their kids out of the sun.

The vitamin D hpothesis easily explains stuff like the high rate (5X) of autism among Somali children or the high rate (9X) of schizophrenia among second generation Afro-Caribbeans in the UK.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/minneapolis-and-the-somal_b_143967.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2418996/
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/167/3/362

No doubt there are socieconomic issues at play in the disparity, but 5X and 9X?

Note that in the link you provide, the units were different (nmol/L which requires a higher level to be in the right range).

I'm still not following their logic to dismiss what they found: "Age-standardized means based on observed serum 25(OH)D concentrations were significantly (P http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/07/22/pregnant-women-advised-to-get-more-vitamin-d.aspx
"Please do not assume your levels are fine, as Drs. Hollis and Wagner found that over 87 percent of all newborns and over 67 percent of all mothers had vitamin D levels lower than 20 ng/ml, which is a severe deficiency state. As a result, the researchers recommended that all mothers optimize their vitamin D levels during pregnancy, especially in the winter months, to safeguard their babies' health. This finding could easily help to explain the disproportionately high numbers of poor outcomes among African American births, as deficiency is extremely common among people with darker skin colors."

However, another variable is how much vitamin D do people with different ethnicities or skin color need? So, even the general ranges above, are they appropriate for all ethnicities? Maybe people with darker skin have other adaptations to function well on less? So, there remains more to research about all this. But with that said, just look at how much sun people got 1000 years ago, and look at how much people get now, and considering how melanoma is one of the easiest to detect and treat cancers, how much sun or vitamin D supplements seems "conservative" considering the conditions human are adapted for? Pretty much no humans in the past spent all their lives in caves that I'm aware of (except maybe rich ones, but they probably got diseases of affluence like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and so on).

We got hit by this ourselves with health issues with our kid (as well as a C-section, which turns out to also be at increased risk with vitamin D deficiency). We just naively followed all the advice to stay out of the sun, etc.. I actually asked our pediatrician if we should be giving vitamin D sup

That study started with data from 1988, and avoiding the sun through spending more time indoors and travelling by car instead of foot has been going on for almost a century. So, even if correct, one may not be able to draw such a broad conclusion from that study. Also, they presumably did not look at the blood level of pregnant women or young children (who are kept out of the sun much more now than in the past).

Also, from the summary, they start out finding a big differnece and then proceed to invent ways to show it does not exists. Which reminds me of this: :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Latour
"In the laboratory, Latour and Woolgar observed that a typical experiment produces only inconclusive data that is attributed to failure of the apparatus or experimental method, and that a large part of scientific training involves learning how to make the subjective decision of what data to keep and what data to throw out. To an untrained outsider, Latour and Woolgar argued the entire process resembles not an unbiased search for truth and accuracy but a mechanism for ignoring data that contradicts scientific orthodoxy."

I'm not saying that means they were wrong to do adjustmented, just what it reminds me of. :-)

As far as deficiency, when studies can show things like a huge reduction in breast cancer risk within a year or two of some vitamin D supplementation, I'd say people were deficient.
http://www.dkfz.de/en/presse/pressemitteilungen/2008/dkfz_pm_08_22.php

When studies show kids have a huge reduction in influenza risk with some supplementation, I'd say kids were deficient.

Also, I'd suggest these studies showing some effect are still using too little vitamin D, or they woudl see a bgger effect. But, as I've said elsewhere, a good diet rich in vegetables and fruits is part of the problem too, and that can also help prevent cancer and infectious diseases by improving the immune system.

Anyway, the reason I harp on this is I can almost guarantee you that the kind of indoor-oriented person who reads and posts on slashdot (like me) is almost certainly vitamin D deficient unless they are supplementing, and will have multipel health issues from that. Just trying to help others not go through what I've gone through.

The problem is, some wacky computer guy saying get your vitamin D and eat your vegetables if you want to be an effective programmer (rather than just spend more time hacking indoors drinking diet soda), sure, it sounds kinda crazy, beyond sounding impossibly hard. :-) But I can point to several hackers going down early from cancer or depression or obesity/diabetes or heart disease. Another one I learned about today, co-author of the Wiki Way, dead after cancer at around age 57:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Leuf
http://web.archive.org/web/20080506125118/http://www.leuf.com/
What a loss.

By the way, on breakthroughs, if someone invented a cheap pill in their basement that prevented most autism and cancer, how many years would it take before anyone believed them? What would the medical industry want to do to that person to preserve their profits?

Whan answering, consider that this guy was essentially beaten to death for suggesting handwashing prevented doctors spreading disease:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis

So how long is it going to be before people admit dermatologists caused autism by telling women and children to avoid the sun? Or that junk food caused some of it too?

From:
h

"In more recent news, the author of one of the big studies which suggested massive Vitamin D deficiencies recently said that he was wrong, and that there's no worldwide Vitamin D deficiency crisis."

Citation?

Toxins include heavy metals (including lead in paint and gasoline, and mercury from burning coal), synthetic pesticides, estrogen mimics, arsenic, food additives, dioxin and other pollutants, and more. Now, people have always been exposed to some toxins. What is different for humans in the last century is the amount of human-produced toxins we are not well adapted to deal with going up and the amount of vegetables, fruits, and vitamin D, and so on we need to deal with toxins going down in our diet and from less sun exposure.

I'll hope to see your handwaving citation :-) and raise you Harvard med school people (not that Harvard doesn't have problems) ; see also:
    "Environmental risk factors for autism: do they help cause de novo genetic mutations that contribute to the disorder?"
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19699591
And comments:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/new-harvard-paper-on-autism.shtml
"Last month, Dr. Dennis Kinney and four of his colleagues at Harvard University accepted the Vitamin D theory of autism and then expanded it by adding five usual suspects. While I was thrilled to see the Vitamin D theory accepted, appreciate them crediting the theory to me, and loved seeing their paper in the same journal that published the original theory, Medical Hypotheses, their five additions are all toxins, the usual suspects. The authors imply these toxins are delivered to our genome by air or water pollution, such as mercury-contaminated seafood, where these toxins selectively damage the genome of those silly enough to be Vitamin D deficient. My problem with the paper is the same problem I have with any of the air and water pollution autism theories, why now? Certainly, if a toxin was causing autism, evidence exists that exposure to that toxin has increased part and parcel with the epidemic of autism. ..."

It probably is a combination of both factors, IMHO. But, if I had to emphasize one, I think dietary changes to eat less vegetables and lack of vitamin D duet to fears about the sun might be more important.

You make some good points. Please also look into these links for approaches to improving autism situations to build on the dietary interventions you are already doing:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/vit-D-theory-autism.shtml
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
   

"Given that autism has spiked all around the world, and it's unlikely to be solely due to just increased detection, the logical question is to ask what caused it."

Vitamin D defiency as well as some broader metabolic problems related to the modern diet and environmental exposure to toxins?
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/vit-D-theory-autism.shtml
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html

To reduce allergies, please look into eating more vegetables and fruits (Dr. Fuhrman) and getting the right amount of vitamin D (Vitamin D Council) -- worked for me.
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

There are lots of ways to promote wellness; I guess it should be no suprise the slashdot crowd is mostly interested in the magic bullet approach to health (vaccines) instead of holistic basics -- vegetable and fruit heavy diet, exercise, sleep, community, meditation, laughter, sunlight, fasting, two+ years nursing for infants, avoiding crowds, avoiding compulsory group labor in small (class) rooms, avoiding most junk food and most animal products, etc..

Anyway, given the logic you are using to encourage peopel to get vaccinated, it seems you might want to encourage people to move towards wellness in all these other areas, too?

http://www.ageofautism.com/2011/01/breaking-news-statement-from-dr-andrew-wakefield-no-fraud-no-hoax-no-profit-motive.html
http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/05/peer-reviewed-papers-support-findings.html

I'm not saying who to believe there; I'm just linking to his defense vs. Deer's accusations

See also for alternatives to prevent/cure/mitigate ASD:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/vit-D-theory-autism.shtml

In general, for good health through better nutrition:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx

And discussion comments here (pro and con):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jenny-mccarthy/vaccine-autism-debate_b_806857.html

Sorry, "in our vitamins" should have been "in our environment".

Although, there are problems with our vitamins too, like too much preformed vitamin A (which competes with vitamin D and may have other problems, since we are supposed to make it ourselves from plants).
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2008-december.shtml

Dr. Fuhrman says similar things too, about excess vitamin A and other things in vitamins.

But, again, I meant to write in our environment, that a heavier toxic load requires a better diet, but our diet has gotten worse. But, as I reflect on that mistake, toxins in our vitamins may indeed add to that, too. :-(

Thanks. No need to go out of your way. I see a bunch of links here:
http://www.google.com/#q=play+therapy
http://www.a4pt.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_therapy

And more specific stuff here:
http://www.google.com/#q=play+therapy+autism
http://www.a4pt.org/ps.playtherapy.cfm?ID=1161
http://www.playproject.org/
http://www.autismlink.com/pages/autism_therapy_play
"Play therapy, or floortime, as some refer to it, is the t ype of therapy coined by Dr. Stanley Greenspan. The theory behind the concept is to enter the child 's world, play with the child on his or her terms, and slowly expand the base of play to include new ideas. Although there have been few studies on the efficacy of play therapy/ floortime, many parents have seen excellent results. For example, if a child is perseverating or obsessing with cars and perhaps watching the wheels spin, the play therapy approach would be to get down on the floor with the child and begin by watching the wheels spin with him or her, then eventually d o other things with the car, such as drive it on the floor as a typical child would do. Slowly, over time, the child will learn to expand his or her repetoire o f play, and will learn to interact with others. An excellent book on this subject, called "The Child with Special Needs," by Dr. Stanely I. Greenspan, explains the concept in depth, or you can click on some of the links below.
AutismLink does not recommend one type of therapy over another. We can, however, tell you that what counts is the amount of time that the child spends ENGAGED with other people. No matter which modality of treatment you choose, you will see your child make progress. There is considerable debate among parents and pro fessionals as to which type of therapy is the "best" or the most effective. Choose what you feel is right for your child. Only you can make that decision. You can also choose more than one type of therapy and use a combination approach."

I like this book, btw, just about play and education in general, from someone who helped run a "free school" that was play-based for thirty years:
http://www.chrismercogliano.com/childhood.htm

By the way, make sure you check vitamin D levels:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/autism-information.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/another-autism-case-report.shtml

After discussing it with our (new) pediatrician, we give our kid about 2000 IU D3 daily (as one 5000 IU D3 gel cap every other day or so). Dental issues should have been an early clue to vitamin D deficiency, but the medical and dental community have been clueless in the past about nutrition. A source for better general advice we like is Dr. Fuhrman (even as I think he is a tad low about vitamin D):
http://www.drfuhrman.com/children/default.aspx
"As parents, we want what is best for our children. We would never intentionally harm them. In fact, we make sure to get them the best care we know, read to them at bedtime and insist they wear their seatbelts, but when it comes to children and food, somehow we don't know what is the best thing to do. Our children seem finicky and only eat cheese, pasta, chicken fingers or milk and cook

Thanks. No need to go out of your way. I see a bunch of links here:
http://www.google.com/#q=play+therapy
http://www.a4pt.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_therapy

And more specific stuff here:
http://www.google.com/#q=play+therapy+autism
http://www.a4pt.org/ps.playtherapy.cfm?ID=1161
http://www.playproject.org/
http://www.autismlink.com/pages/autism_therapy_play
"Play therapy, or floortime, as some refer to it, is the t ype of therapy coined by Dr. Stanley Greenspan. The theory behind the concept is to enter the child 's world, play with the child on his or her terms, and slowly expand the base of play to include new ideas. Although there have been few studies on the efficacy of play therapy/ floortime, many parents have seen excellent results. For example, if a child is perseverating or obsessing with cars and perhaps watching the wheels spin, the play therapy approach would be to get down on the floor with the child and begin by watching the wheels spin with him or her, then eventually d o other things with the car, such as drive it on the floor as a typical child would do. Slowly, over time, the child will learn to expand his or her repetoire o f play, and will learn to interact with others. An excellent book on this subject, called "The Child with Special Needs," by Dr. Stanely I. Greenspan, explains the concept in depth, or you can click on some of the links below.
AutismLink does not recommend one type of therapy over another. We can, however, tell you that what counts is the amount of time that the child spends ENGAGED with other people. No matter which modality of treatment you choose, you will see your child make progress. There is considerable debate among parents and pro fessionals as to which type of therapy is the "best" or the most effective. Choose what you feel is right for your child. Only you can make that decision. You can also choose more than one type of therapy and use a combination approach."

I like this book, btw, just about play and education in general, from someone who helped run a "free school" that was play-based for thirty years:
http://www.chrismercogliano.com/childhood.htm

By the way, make sure you check vitamin D levels:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/autism-information.shtml
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/another-autism-case-report.shtml

After discussing it with our (new) pediatrician, we give our kid about 2000 IU D3 daily (as one 5000 IU D3 gel cap every other day or so). Dental issues should have been an early clue to vitamin D deficiency, but the medical and dental community have been clueless in the past about nutrition. A source for better general advice we like is Dr. Fuhrman (even as I think he is a tad low about vitamin D):
http://www.drfuhrman.com/children/default.aspx
"As parents, we want what is best for our children. We would never intentionally harm them. In fact, we make sure to get them the best care we know, read to them at bedtime and insist they wear their seatbelts, but when it comes to children and food, somehow we don't know what is the best thing to do. Our children seem finicky and only eat cheese, pasta, chicken fingers or milk and cook

By the way, two counter links:
http://open.salon.com/blog/rahul_k_parikh/2009/09/06/huffington_post_health_watch_mark_hymans_faux_autism_cure
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/09/dr_mark_hyman_mangles_autism_science_on-.php

But, while I agree with the dangers of chelation (I think appropriate iodine supplementation might be safer and as effective), in general, I feel Mark Hyman is right about the big picture.

The problem is that in the USA, dermatologists and cosmetics companies have scared everyone about being in the sun, which along with and indoors lifestyle have led to vitamin D deficiency (which is involved in dealing with heavy metals). And with the way the meat, dairy, and processed/refined food industries have captured the US FDA, we have a crazy food pyramid that contributes to most people in the USA getting about half their calories from animal products and about the other half from refined and processed foods, with less than 10% percent of calories from fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds. We need to turn that around so less than 10% of calories comes from animal product and refined/processed foods, and 90% of calories comes from whole plant foods.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/11/the-subsidized-food-pyramid.html
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/diet-myths-the-food-pyramid-of-the-insane.html
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx

Unfortunately, because of the "Pleasure Trap", people have a hard time breaking out of that bondage to deadly foods and thus come up with endless rationalizations for why they are not harming us:
http://www.healthpromoting.com/Articles/articles/PleasureTrap.htm

And we've been told for so long by so many people to avoid the sun (whether for health or energy), it's hard to think it is important. A little story about that is at the end of this:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2008-october.shtml
"Then, new priests of science and medicine, told the people the Sun God was only a star, one of trillions, nothing special. Great temples called hospitals and research institutes arose, which admitted only filtered sunlight and where the people offered sacrifices to the gods of science and medicine, sacrifices that enriched the new priests. Then, thirty years ago, the new priests of dermatology told the people to shun the Sun God. "Banish her from your lives", they said, "She is evil." The people listened to the new priests and kept their pregnant women out of the Sun God's warmth, and told their children she was wicked. The people stayed inside, their children with them and traveled behind glass in their cars and wore sunblock and sunhats to keep the Sun God away. The Sun God grew vengeful...."

Look, we've been told for decades that type 2 diabetes in incurable, when it is in most cases cured within a week of a better diet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46_GInjBeQU
http://www.rawfor30days.com/
Above is a link on how to get past the "pleasure trap" keeping people from changing their diet for the better and readjusting their tastes to healthy food.

We've been told heart disease and cancer are just inheritable and "genetic", when most of that is

Lots of stuff (good and bad) is posted there (along with discussion of good points and bad points). Ignore it all if you want. Other links:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/new-harvard-paper-on-autism.shtml
    http://drhyman.com/why-current-thinking-about-autism-is-completely-wrong-470/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/vit-D-theory-autism.shtml

Look into iodine deficiency too:
http://theiodineproject.webs.com/addadhdautism.htm
http://www.coffetoday.com/child-autism-associated-with-iodine-deficiency/903216/

A comprehensive approach to nutrition:
http://www.amazon.com/Disease-Proof-Your-Child-Feeding-Right/dp/0312338058

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html
Not to raise false hopes, but from there: "The causes of mitochondrial dysfunction are well known, specifically as it relates to metabolism and the brain, and I have documented them in my books "UtraMetabolism" and "The UltraMind Solution." They include environmental toxins (iv) -- mercury, lead and persistent organic pollutants(v) -- latent infections, gluten and allergens (which trigger inflammation) sugar and processed foods,(vi) a nutrient-depleted diet(vii) and nutritional deficiencies.(viii) These are all potentially treatable and reversible causes of mitochondrial dysfunction that have been clearly documented. I found all these problems in Jackson, and over a period of two years we slowly unraveled and treated the underlying causes of his energy loss which included gut inflammation, mercury, and nutrient deficiencies. Over time, the tests for his mitochondrial function and oxidative stress (as well as levels of inflammation and nutrient status) all normalized. When they became normal, so did Jackson. He went from full-blown regressive autism to a normal, bright beautiful six-year-old boy."

If you do only one thing, check vitamin D:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/vit-D-theory-autism.shtml
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/another-autism-case-report.shtml

Vaccines may still be involved in a couple of different ways, for kids who are having problems dealing with various heavy metals, where they may be struggling before, but the hevay metals or other issues with the vaccines pushed them over the edge (especially in a vitamin D deficient child, since vitamin D is used in creating glutathione, the brain's master antioxidant). One doctor being discredited doesn't prove that some vaccines can't have side effects in some especially sensitive individuals.

A new way of eating that in six weeks your family would like as much as how you eat now:
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
    http://www.amazon.com/Disease-Proof-Your-Child-Feeding-Right/dp/0312338058
At the very least, you'll probably live longer on that plan to help your kid longer.

We try to eat more that way, and take our vitamin D, and so on...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html
Not to raise false hopes, but from there: "The causes of mitochondrial dysfunction are well known, specifically as it relates to metabolism and the brain, and I have documented them in my books "UtraMetabolism" and "The UltraMind Solution." They include environmental toxins (iv) -- mercury, lead and persistent organic pollutants(v) -- latent infections, gluten and allergens (which trigger inflammation) sugar and processed foods,(vi) a nutrient-depleted diet(vii) and nutritional deficiencies.(viii) These are all potentially treatable and reversible causes of mitochondrial dysfunction that have been clearly documented. I found all these problems in Jackson, and over a period of two years we slowly unraveled and treated the underlying causes of his energy loss which included gut inflammation, mercury, and nutrient deficiencies. Over time, the tests for his mitochondrial function and oxidative stress (as well as levels of inflammation and nutrient status) all normalized. When they became normal, so did Jackson. He went from full-blown regressive autism to a normal, bright beautiful six-year-old boy."

If you do only one thing, check vitamin D:
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/vit-D-theory-autism.shtml
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/another-autism-case-report.shtml

Vaccines may still be involved in a couple of different ways, for kids who are having problems dealing with various heavy metals, where they may be struggling before, but the hevay metals or other issues with the vaccines pushed them over the edge (especially in a vitamin D deficient child, since vitamin D is used in creating glutathione, the brain's master antioxidant). One doctor being discredited doesn't prove that some vaccines can't have side effects in some especially sensitive individuals.

A new way of eating that in six weeks your family would like as much as how you eat now:
    http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
    http://www.amazon.com/Disease-Proof-Your-Child-Feeding-Right/dp/0312338058
At the very least, you'll probably live longer on that plan to help your kid longer.

We try to eat more that way, and take our vitamin D, and so on...

... The problem is that once you fuck up herd immunity, you've fucked it up for everyone, including the very young, the very old, and those with compromised immune systems. ... In short, and pardon my directness, but speaking as a parent, fuck those who don't get the shots for themselves and their kids right in their entitled, self-centred, arrogant asses. They and their spawn should be given the choice to get them, and then airdropped on a remote island with all the rest of the assholes who think that the chance of their precious little snowflake having a disability is more important than the life of other people's so they can't screw it up for the rest of us.

In short, and pardon my directness, but speaking as a parent, what about those who don't breastfeed their children for at least two years and beyond (WHO advised), and who don't get enough vitamin D, and who don't read about nutrition and "disease proof" their children?
    http://www.amazon.com/Disease-Proof-Your-Child-Feeding-Right/dp/0312338058
    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
    http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/infantfeeding_recommendation/en/index.html

And what about all those parents who spread disease by sending their children to day prisons so they can work, rather than homeschooling?
    http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/734486

Not to mention the socio-psychological fallout:
    http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/prologue.htm

Should they and their "spawn" be airdropped on a remote island with all the rest of the "assholes" who think that the habit of feeding their precious little snowflake junkfood or putting them in school for convenience is more important than the life of other people's so they can't screw it up for the rest of us?

How many people would that leave in the USA? 1%?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/autism/vit-D-theory-autism.shtml
MIght be of interest...

See also: http://www.amazon.com/Disease-Proof-Your-Child-Feeding-Right/dp/0312338058

"The war play dilemma: what every parent and teacher needs to know"
http://books.google.com/books?id=-loYzCV11JcC

It mentions an unholy alliance from Reagan administration media deregulation leading to boys being saturated with violent content 24X7 between media, food, toys, and apparel.

The version for girls:
"So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids"
http://books.google.com/books?id=O7NrhdwTeCkC

Good luck. At least these two books will help you understand what you are up agsainst when you dismiss the need for much help. Of course, what kind of help is really useful is a different question...

Other background reading:

"Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose"
http://books.google.com/books?id=HQlg3rQquUoC

"The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force That Undermines Health and Happiness"
http://books.google.com/books?id=Nh6qAAAACAAJ

"Disease-Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right"
http://books.google.com/books?id=-W_LYnBFIY8C

"Treating Disease With Vitamin D" (since kids are indoors so much at media)
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml

"In defense of childhood: protecting kids' inner wildness"
http://books.google.com/books?id=MAB3CciL40UC

"The Underground History of American Education"
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/toc1.htm