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I recently read some exciting news in a study published in the authoritative British medical journal Lancet. This study gives us further hope that the goal of repairing heart muscle damaged in a heart attack is becoming ever more realistic.

We have known for some time that stem cells (biological cells that divide, diversify and self-renew) are important to helping patients recover from muscle injury resulting from heart attacks. If we can improve the conditions that increase stem cell production in these patients, we can improve their recovery. There are several ways to boost stem cell production. For example, there are tiny, specialized protein molecules called “myokines” which are produced by muscle; these molecules increase the body’s production of stem cells and promote healing from virtually every injury. The more muscle you have, and the more that muscle is exercised, the more myokines you produce and the better you heal. (Increased myokine

Are clinical trials using animal studies always valid for humans? Consider me a skeptic.

I frequently see advertisements and newsletters (even some written by physicians) that promote lab tests and treatments based entirely on studies done using rodents. These “experts” frequently draw conclusions from these studies that their lab test or product is a breakthrough of vital importance to humanity. While it may be true, all too often it’s not.

Let me give you a recent example of a study done in mice that could lead to the conclusion that every woman with breast cancer should be taking very robust doses of the adrenal hormone DHEA. This study should serve both as an encouragement and as a caution, an example of the care we must exercise when we use animal studies to draw conclusions about humans.

Over the last 25 years, the testosterone level of the average American man has decreased by about 24%. This is almost a 1% per year average decline. We are not just becoming a feminist nation; we are becoming a feminized nation. The reason for this overall decline in male hormone levels is poorly understood, but I suspect that it is related to the widespread presence of estrogenic compounds in our society. Many of the plastics and preservatives used in our day-to-day products and foods have an estrogen like effect on the body. 

As the medical profession is becoming more cognizant of the consequences stemming from a diminished testosterone load, an ever increasing number of doctors are starting to use testosterone therapies of one sort or

Cancer has become a frighteningly common word in recent years. You read about it in the paper, hear about it on television, and even if you’re lucky enough not to have had it, you probably know someone who has. Worse still, if you believe everything you read or hear, it seems that just about everything we do in life is going to cause it.  Sunshine, peanut butter, chlorine and fluoride in your water, diesel fumes in the air, and the gasoline fumes you breathe when filling your gas tank, have all been indicated as factors that increase your risk of getting cancer. It’s enough to make a person want to crawl in a hole and eat nothing but anti-oxidants for the rest of his life. Despite all the scary news floating around out there, let me put some of this in perspective for you….

Firstly, it is important to understand what cancer is. Our DNA is comprised, to a large extent, of carbon. A small percentage of that carbon is radioactive and is constantly breaking

We still have quite a long while before we know enough about stem cells to safely use them in any therapeutic manner. They do show remarkable promise. I’ve also taken an interest because I have personal ethical qualms about the harvesting of embryonic stem cells for research purposes. While I can see the value, my Hippocratic Oath was quite specific on the subject of abortion…

Recently I read an article that instead of dealing with embryonic stem cells but rather induced pluripotent stem cells in mice. Click here to read the article. Induced pluripotent stem cells are basically skin cells or hair follicles that, through the magic of molecular biochemistry, have been returned to a non-differentiated stem cell state. For a while now there’s been some question as to whether induced pluripotent stem cells are actual undifferentiated stem