The Number One Vitamin Deficiency & Why It Could Be Killing You

Vitamin D deficiencies are rampant among patients today. Low Vitamin D levels can lead to depression, anger, irritability, heart disease, blood vessel inflammation, heart attacks, strokes, low thyroid function, osteoporosis, premature bone fractures, a weak immune system, cancer, and adult onset diabetes. 

Let’s just look at one particular example… 

According to a landmark study published in 2006, in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, higher Vitamin D levels (> 50ng/ml) translated to a 51% reduced incidence of cancer. The same study showed that in order to raise levels from 20ng/ml to 50ng/ml, it would require a dose of approximately 4,500 i.u. per day of Vitamin D. 

Despite numerous other studies proving the health benefits of properly optimizing Vitamin D levels, a government-sponsored press release was published in 2012 with statements that there are no osteoporosis health benefits in supplementing with Calcium or Vitamin D. Within hours, headlines in the Washington Post read, “Task Force Recommends Against Vitamin D, Calcium Supplements”. Many other headlines just like this one echoed around the media globe. 

As the late Paul Harvey would say, “And now, for the rest of the story.” 

According to it’s own guidelines, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends a daily allowance of Vitamin D at a dose of 600 i.u. per day, yet in the press release above, the government task force only looked at doses of 400 i.u. of Vitamin D and 1,000 mg of Calcium per day. The data was flawed. Every medical professional knows that there are significant osteoporosis health benefits with proper doses of Vitamin D and Calcium. 

This type of misinformation is detrimental to the American public. Sadly, many people will abandon these valuable supplements and suffer because of it. Why would a government-sponsored task force want to publish such data? Why wouldn’t they tell the whole story? 

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, and I can’t even pretend to figure out this maze of dysfunction, but what I do know is this; we have to be proactive in our own healthcare. I would go even further to add, we have to be proactive in our own WELLNESS CARE! I encourage people to read, read, and read some more. Become informed health consumers. Don't just depend on being fed information by your insurance company or healthcare provider. BE PROACTIVE & FIND A HEALTHCARE PROVIDER THAT WILL LISTEN TO YOU AND HELP YOU DEVELOP A PERSONALIZED WELLNESS PLAN. 

Your life may very well depend on it. 

To Your Health, 

Brian Brown

Researchers Claim 72 Is The New 30

Some top age-management and longevity researchers believe that 72 is the new 30. 

A recent German study showed that life expectancy has risen faster in the past 4 generations than it has in the history of mankind. In 1935, life expectancy was 65 now it's 78. At the turn of the 20th Century, the life expectancy was just over forty years of age. 

A lot of this has to do with the industrialization of our work force, which created safer work environments for the American worker; no long were people at risk on the farm. Another study reported that life expectancy has extended by three months every year since 1840 and that birth and that babies born today are 200 times less likely to die in the first couple of years of life. Researchers believe that the introduction of antibiotics and improved healthcare have attributed to the latter. 

Isn’t it great that we live in a time when we can boast of these things? 

Wouldn’t it be even greater if we could ensure that the days we have are the healthiest days possible? 

At Matrix, we truly view our bodies as living temples of God. As such, we do our best to maintain this temple and help others do the same thing. We do this by developing a specific “Life Plan” custom tailored to each individual’s needs. A life plan includes: 

• Lifestyle Coaching 
• Weight Management Coaching 
• Nutritional Coaching 
• Hormone Rebalancing 
• Fitness Coaching 

When we put all of these things together, we may not be able to extend our years beyond what God intended for us to live, but we sure can make the years that we have much more healthy and full. 

To Your Health, 

Brian Brown

What Your Primary Care May Not Know About Your Thyroid May Hurt You

This past week, I accidentally recorded the Fox News Channel’s show, Sunday Housecall. Just as I was about to delete it from my DVR list, the show’s description caught my eye. One of the lead segments was on thyroid health. Out of curiosity, I decided to watch the recording. 

Dr. David Samadi made the following statement: “Your doctor may say that your thyroid hormones are normal, but they could be a low normal, not optimal enough. So, you may have to have a conversation (with your Primary Care Provider) and boost it toward the higher normal.” 

I see this all the time with our clients at Matrix Wellness Solutions. Sub-clinical hypothyroidism, as Dr. Samadi is referring to, is more common than one might think. It’s also one of the most overlooked disorders of aging. Now, don’t get me wrong. When I speak of “aging” in the last statement, I’m referring to anyone over 30 years of age. Few people realize that from age 30 to 50 years our thyroid hormone declines about 20-30% -- decline measured as decreased production, decreased conversion, decreased sensitivity, or a combination of these. It may still be in the normal range, but it’s definitely NOT optimal. 

Treating thyroid hormone to “optimal” levels is one of the most beneficial things we can do in medicine. It only takes a slightly different approach and mindset, but the benefits are numerous: weight loss, blood sugar regulation, osteoporosis prevention, mental clarity, short-term memory improvement, mood enhancement, and the list goes on. 

I’ve included the link to the Sunday Housecall segment, so you can check it out for yourself. 

Enjoy… 

Watch Video Here:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/2186625153001/

The Heart Truth

Just this past weekend, I spent some time with one of the leading researchers in the field of heart disease prevention. Dr. Nathan Byran and I were both participants at the Heart Attack and Stroke Prevention Symposium in Dallas, TX. We spent about 3 hours over dinner Friday evening discussing advances in heart disease reversal. I’ll tell you more about our conversation in a second, but first, let’s review some important reminders about heart disease.

February is American Heart Health Month, a time for directing awareness to the fact that heart disease is our Nation’s leading chronic disease and number one killer. A person’s diet, lifestyle and environment, matched to his or her genetic makeup, are major determinants for heart disease.

A woman suffers a heart attack every 90 seconds in the United States.

If you seek help quickly, treatment can save your life and prevent permanent damage to your heart muscle. Treatment works best if given within 1 hour of when symptoms begin.

Common symptoms of heart attack are:

• Unusually heavy pressure on the chest, like there's a ton of weight on you 
• Sharp upper body pain in the neck, back, shoulders, elbows, wrists, or jaw 
• Severe shortness of breath 
• Cold sweats (not hot flashes from menopause) 
• Unusual or unexplained fatigue (tiredness) 
• Unfamiliar dizziness or light-headedness 
• Unexplained nausea (feeling sick to the stomach) or vomiting 

Sadly, one third of all women who suffer heart attacks will never have any of these symptoms. I know that sounds scary, but there are ways to detect damage to the inside of your blood vessels with simple blood tests. 

What I learned from one of the world’s leading heart disease researchers…

Fortunately, many new scientific studies are showing that factors such as diet, lifestyle, environment, & genetics, along with the aging process, have a direct effect on one major underlying piece of the puzzle for the cause of heart disease. The discovery of a molecule called Nitric Oxide (N-O) or the “Master Regulator” has caused the field of Medicine to begin rethinking the way it approaches heart disease. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t that laughing gas? The answer is “no”. Laughing gas is Nitrous Oxide (N2O); it’s vastly different from Nitric Oxide (N-O).

Nitric oxide (N-O) is a very important ‘signaling’ molecule in the body that transmits messages to cells for proper function. Research has proven that loss of N-O is the earliest event in the onset and progression of a number of diseases, especially cardiovascular disease.

When N-O is created and released in the body, it sends off crucial signals inside every cell, tissue, organ and system where it commands: 

• Blood vessels to relax so they can expand which reduces blood pressure and increases circulating oxygen and nutrients 
• Blood platelets to become less sticky thus preventing abnormal blood clots and plaque build-up 
• The immune system to destroy invading disease-producing agents and cancer cells 
• Brain cells to communicate with each other for proper brain function such as mood and memory 

N-O also supports health in other areas such as kidneys, bones, sleep, body weight, joints, skin, eyes, dental and even sexual health and altitude tolerance.

Clinical studies reveal that we lose 10% to 12% of our N-O production per decade beginning about age 25. The choices we make during this period can affect the rate of N-O loss, either speeding it up or slowing it down.

So you may be asking…

Q: “How can I know if I’m one of those people who is on the verge of a heart attack but doesn’t know it because I don’t have symptoms?”

A: There’s a comprehensive blood panel that we can obtain to see if the early stages of heart disease present in your blood vessels. This may sound foreign to a lot of people, but medical advances in the past few years have allowed us to see inside the body, on a chemical basis, without having to do expensive, invasive tests.

Q: “How do I know that I have a deficiency in N-O?”

A: There’s a free screening test that we can do at our office. It only takes 30 seconds to complete, so we can tell you immediately if you are deficient in N-O.

Q: “If I’m deficient in N-O, what can I do about it?”

A: If you are deficient in N-O, you need to change your diet immediately. You’ve heard that we all need to eat more green-leafy veggies. Well, it’s true. This is where we can get high amounts of N-O. Also, beats are an even better source… that is if you like beats. I’m not a beat fan, so I opt to take a supplement called NEO-40.

If you would like to receive testing for N-O deficiency and get your advanced cardiac labs done, we can certainly arrange that for you at our office. If you’re like me and not a fan of beats but would like to replenish your N-O in order to protect your heart, we can arrange for you to get the NEO-40 at a deeply discounted price in honor of Heart Health Month.

Brian Brown, APRN-BC

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