[Windwalker]

Hello, Health Seeker.

I'm happy to welcome you to the Daily Dose, my e-letter that will keep you up to speed with the latest news and controversy in the ever-changing world of health care and medicine. I know what you're thinking: a doctor's e-letter about health and medicine is going to be one big borefest. And you'd be wrong. Since my views are anything but conventional, I doubt you'll find me boring. And I toss plenty of humor and politics into the mix just to keep things interesting.

My bedside manner isn't for the faint-hearted. I'm here to let you know the REAL truth about health, wellness, and longevity - and I'm not worried about being polite. I don't have time for myths, lies, politically correct idiocy, global warming, medical lobbies, all-powerful pharmaceutical conglomerates, needless vaccines, pointless surgery, the FDA, the CDC, and a whole herd of other sacred cows. Stick with me and you'll get the raw truth that just might help you find the answer to a health issue that's been nagging you for years.

I'll tell you about cheaper, safer alternatives for the pricey prescriptions that Big Pharma has been shoving down your throat for years. I'll pass on dietary tips that help keep you at your physical peak, and help you lose weight, see better, stay off the operating table, boost your bedroom prowess, and keep your mind knife-edge sharp. Four times a week, every week, you'll be getting the best news and advice I can give. No nonsense.

Thanks for joining. I look forward to walking the healthy path with you, my friend.

Passing on great advice about good health,

William Campbell Douglas II M.D.

Dear Friend,

For the most part, I try to stick with topics that in some way, shape, or form affect your health. But sometimes... well, sometimes I can't help but digress -- and today is one of those days.

At the risk of being one of those boring old men who loves to tell tales of the good old days, I'll tell you this: The dollar just doesn't buy what it used to. In fact, at the dollar's current rate of decline, it's probable that someone in their 20s today will be able to look back in 10 years and say with regret, "The dollar just doesn't buy what it used to." You don't hear about it much in the news, but the decline of the U.S. dollar is a dangerous crisis with far-reaching ramifications -- all of them bad.

I know what you're thinking: Here comes the anti-Bush rant, right?

Wrong.

The massive blow that U.S. currency has suffered (and will continue to suffer) is NOT the result of the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, or the perceived international hatred of the Bush administration. The Democrats and the anti-Bush left are happy to have you think that this is the case. But it's actually the free-trade policies that were enacted in the 90s -- on Bill Clinton's watch -- that are posing a larger threat to America's future well being.

Since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, and the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, America has run up $5 trillion in deficits. That's right: trillion.

The United States government is spending like the proverbial drunken sailor, and it's our children and grandchildren that are going to have to settle the tab. In the meantime, the rest of us will have to deal with the hideous fallout of the ever-tightening death-spiral of the U.S. dollar. How badly is the U.S. living beyond its means? We are currently borrowing $2 billion A DAY from foreign nations to both maintain our standard of living and America's various overseas commitments (including Iraq, Mr. President). And near the top of the list of the nations from which we're borrowing the most? China.

U.S. Downfall: Made in China

To someone of my age, I can tell you that this is a knife in the gut. If you'd told me in my youth that within my lifetime, the mighty United States would be going to China with our upturned hats in our hands, looking for a loan... well, I'd have just laughed at you or gotten ready for a fight. At the time, China was a backward agrarian nation, just getting back on its feet after years of devastating civil war. The mantra we always heard growing up was, "Clean your plate -- there are children starving in China."

And now, it's America who's turned beggar. It defies imagining. The fact that a sizable chunk of U.S. debt is owed to China is by far the surest and most frightening indication that the 2000s are indeed destined to become "The Chinese Century." The dollar is dying, and that's a sign of a nation in decline. There's no such thing as a superpower with a sinking currency.

The ripples of the death of the dollar and the continuing trade deficit will spread out through American culture. International travel will soon become a privilege known only by the extremely wealthy. In fact, this may already be the case. A single British Pound is now worth over $2 for the first time since the dark, malaise-filled days of the Carter administration, which makes travel to the U.K. a dauntingly pricey proposition. The Euro is now at $1.45, compared with just 83 cents when Bush entered office just eight years ago. In fact, the dollar has dropped in value more during the Bush administration than during any time in U.S. history. But as I explained before, he may be at the reigns, but the seeds of this disaster were sown during the Clinton years.

One wonders if this spiral will help us wake up to the folly of our many foreign aid programs. The way that it's working out now is that the U.S. is borrowing money from their trade rival China in order to send that money to corrupt leaders in places like Africa. The tyrants in Africa then pocket the money themselves, and then vote for the Chinese at the U.N. If it weren't such a sorry state of affairs, it might actually be considered funny.

But unless things change radically (and they won't, regardless of who moves into the White House in January of 2009), it's not likely that the trade deficit will shrink or the health of the U.S. dollar will improve.

In an election year, this is information that you should know -- especially when one of the players in the creation of NAFTA and WTO is likely to be on the ballot.

Oh, and next time you go to a Chinese restaurant and they give you the bill, tell them to just put it on the U.S. tab. Our country may be headed down the tubes, but maybe you can get a free plate of lo mein out of the deal.

Giving out mis-fortune cookies,

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D. Phd.

Blood Pressure: Low equals "slow"

A while back (Daily Dose, 8/8/2003), I wrote an article lambasting the American Medical Association for lowering its guidelines for healthy blood pressure for the umpteenth time. To recap, their latest recommendations cite anything over 115/70 (!) as being "high." Just 6 years ago, that number was 140/90 (still plenty low). If their guidelines get much lower, any detectable pulse will qualify as "high risk" in their eyes...

Aside from the fact that there's no evidence that high blood pressure causes heart disease (it's often a response to the condition, but not its cause), and the fact that salt intake is only remotely correlated to hypertension, there's one more widespread myth about blood pressure that most people - and their doctors - don't seem to know about:

Your blood pressure can be TOO LOW (115/75 is borderline, if you ask me).

And now, some research from Israel shows just how big of an impact low blood pressure can have on health - especially upon those who are getting up in years. According to a recent Reuters online article, a Ben Gurion University study showed that patients over 70 with what modern standards call "mild hypertension" actually thought more clearly and creatively than those with lower blood pressure.

Both men and women in the nearly 500-subject study whose blood pressure was deemed high enough to warrant treatment with prescription drugs - and also those with clinically uncontrolled (untreated) hypertension - performed significantly better on tests of cognitive function, memory, concentration, and visual retention. Only in tests of verbal fluency was there no meaningful scoring advantage for the high-BP group...

Those with "normal" blood pressure tested the worst of all three groups in the study.

Similar studies in younger test populations yielded no difference in performance based on blood pressure. What's this mean? It means that physicians need to balance their efforts to control what they perceive as risk factors for heart disease (namely, BP over 115/75) with patients' quality-of-life concerns - like mental sharpness and creativity.

In other words, they should stop meddling with the body and mind and let it find its own equilibrium.

"JUST ONE DROP DID IT"

Challenging the salt stigma

Try as I might, I've never been able to make much of a dent on the mainstream's maligning of salt.

Even though I've shouted at the top of my lungs that salt does NOT cause high blood pressure except in a very small percentage of people who are abnormally salt-sensitive, the mainstream continues to portray sodium as a killer to be shunned at all costs. And with today's ridiculously low guidelines for "high" blood pressure - there's no reprieve in sight for salt.

But some recent European research has concluded that an extra pinch or two of salt per day can help the elderly to stay healthy - and that fully 10% of older folks suffer from a sodium DEFICIENCY! This lack of sufficient daily salt can cause nervousness, hallucinations, muscle cramps, and even urinary incontinence.

This, amidst a UK-wide drive to reduce salt in Briton's diets!

In fact, according to a recent Nutraingredients online article, the UK's Health Minister, Melanie Johnson, rejected a June proposal from Britain's major food producers to reduce levels of salt in food - for not being stringent enough! Instead, she issued more than 20 of Britain's food giants a September ultimatum to reduce the "unacceptably high levels of salt" in their foods.

I guess it takes more than direct scientific evidence to shake the "salt stigma" in the hallowed halls of parliament, huh? Perhaps she was suffering from a low-sodium-induced hallucination...

The campaign against salt - and the continuing misinformation of the public about sodium and high blood pressure - is no less militant on these shores. I'd hoped that after the last round of downward revisions in the already absurdly low blood pressure standards, people would have started to question the conventional wisdom on the topic.

Instead, we seem content with today's most popular salt substitute: Hypertension drugs.

Here's one salty dog who never substitutes for the truth,

William Campbell Douglass II, MD, Phd

He also says that if you want muscle tone, and stamina, go for the cholestrol. Just make sure you exercise to control it.

I ran across him when looking for sweetener equivalents for a friend. He's got a pretty serious warning about the ones like "Nutra-sweet".

If interested, let me know and I'll PM his link to you.

[Rev.Vassago]

I'm still trying to figure out the association between health and NAFTA.

[Windwalker]

Originally Posted by Rev.Vassago

I'm still trying to figure out the association between health and NAFTA.

Simple. Eliminate NAFTA, and REDUCE YOUR STRESS. There are all sorts of bennies when you are able to reduce your stress factor.:lol2: