There have been a number of recent studies trying to sort out the relationship between alcohol and health. This week, The British Medical Journal reported that alcohol increases the risk of cancer, especially all cancers of the mouth and digestive tract, including the liver, colorectal and breast cancer. The authors found that any protective effect on the cardiovascular system previously reported, is outweighed by the increased risk of cancer. Unfortunately for those considering themselves social drinkers, or who drink a few glasses of wine with dinner every night, “there is no level of alcohol consumption that can be considered safe”.

So, what should you do? While the majority of the increased cancer risk was for those drinking over 1 drink/day (women) and 2 drinks/day (men), under that level the cancer risk still increases with every drink. My suggestion is to cut back on your alcohol consumption as part of your cancer prevention program ESPECIALLY if you have a family or personal history of cancer. Your genetics might make you more susceptible. Avoid drinking every day, and choose red wine for the most cardio-protective effects. If you have a personal history of cancer, you shouldn’t drink at all.

Don’t forget to add other cancer prevention strategies to your lifestyle, all of which have been found to reduce your risk. Exercise, reducing those stress hormones, and eating a vegetarian based diet filled with organic fruits and veggies, shifting toward vegetarian proteins like beans, nuts, seeds, and yes even soy. Soy can be safely included in the diet in moderation, meaning 1-3 times/week for those with concerns about it (cancer, hypothyroidism), and more often for others. Make sure the soy is not genetically modified (should say so on the package), is organic, and is minimally processed (skip the boca burger).

There is less anxiety now about soy because the first clinical study on soy intake and women with breast cancer was published last summer, and this showed that those eating soy had a reduced rate of recurrence. For some, this just adds confusion, and to help figure out what is right for you, I suggest finding someone like myself, who can guide you through making these decisions as I believe recommendations are not one size fits all.

And finally, don’t forget there is so much more you can do! We look forward to sharing our approach with you at Blum Center for Health. We have Cancer Prevention cooking classes (description on the website), Functional Medicine tools for evaluating and reducing risk, and MindBodySpirit classes or consultations for self awareness and hormone balance. We will be putting all these tools together in our first semi-annual Cancer Retreat Weekend coming soon, so mark your calendars and call or email us for more information.

Hope to see you soon,
Susan Blum

April 25, 2011 at 7:00 PM

Dr. Blum will host a free discussion at Blum Center for Health on Juice Cleanses and Medical Detoxification:

What you need to know, and how to choose the right program for you.

Juice cleansing is a trend that has grown and continues to be ever more popular with the publicity it receives from celebrities who use it for weight management. There are good aspects to juice cleanses, but also potential problems. Medical Detoxification means removing toxins from the body while making sure your liver has all the nutrients it needs to do this job. Do juices have all these nutrients? Join us for a discussion on this topic, and find out the best approach to help your liver keep your body clean and to keep you feeling strong and healthy.

There is much concern in these past few days about radiation drifting to the United States from Japan, and what we can do to protect ourselves should this happen. I am writing to share my thoughts on this. First, I want to say that we at Blum Center for Health send our prayers and healing thoughts to the Japanese people at this time of great catastrophe, and that we hope and pray the situation is contained.

I would like to talk about iodine. One of the radioactive particles that can be released from nuclear power plants is a radioactive form of iodine that if taken into our body, can go to the thyroid gland and cause thyroid injury and, in some people, cancer at a later date. If you take high doses of iodine, you can saturate your thyroid with iodine and then it won’t take up the radioactive form of iodine if you are exposed. The bad iodine will compete with the good, and it’s possible that this will prevent damage.

In general, iodine is pretty safe because most people are low to begin with, so for some, there is probably no harm in taking the tablets. However, iodine is not good at high doses if you already are hyper- or hypothyroid, especially if you have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune type of hypothyroidism. In these cases, and also in some normal thyroid people, the high dose iodine can actually cause your thyroid to become worse. I have seen this happen. For this reason, I think it is important to have the decision be individualized based on your personal health history.

Right now it seems very unlikely that any significant radiation will make its way from Japan to the East Coast. This is the rational answer. While we watch and wait, we should consider other more simple alternatives to iodine tablets.

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW: Increase your iodine intake from food

The following is a list of sea vegetables high in iodine, with tips for how to use them. We are also offering our Foods for Thyroid Cooking Class, on Tuesday, March 29h. This would be a great way to understand these vegetables better, and to learn some great recipes for using them at home.

• dulse
• kelp
• nori
• haziki
• kombu

Here’s a simple recipe for dulse from Chef Marti Wolfson.

Dulse and Sesame Seeds
Ingredients:
1 cup dulse
1 cup sesame seeds

Toast the dulse until it turns purplish and crispy and let cool. With a mortar and pestal or in a food processor, combine sesame seeds and dulse until coarse mixture. Sprinkle as a condiment in soups, salads, sandwiches and cooked vegetables.

As always, our team at Blum Center for Health is ready to answer your questions. If you would like to personally discuss your concerns, we would suggest a 30 minute brief consult with Elizabeth Greig, our Functional Medicine Nurse Practitioner, who, among other things, is very knowledgeable about thyroid function and iodine.

Susan Blum
Elizabeth Greig
Marti Wolfson
Sabrina De Gregorio
Bernadette Valcich

I am very excited to share that we were featured on Eyewitness News tonight! See our video clip here. My wonderful patient Irene told the story of her cure from rheumatoid arthritis, which will inspire many others with chronic conditions to seek out Functional Medicine to treat the underlying cause of their illness.  And of course, Lauren Glassberg highlighted Marti in the Kitchen, teaching Irene about healing foods and recipes, and Elizabeth in the meditation room, teaching relaxation techniques. The segment really showed all we have to offer.  Thank you, Lauren!

Every day the smells from the kitchen float through our Functional Medicine clinic, and remind us all how important food and nutrition are to our health. We have a cooking school within our health center because most people know this is important, but they don’t know where to start to make changes in their diet.  We will show you how. We will teach you in the kitchen.  Everyone is welcome!  You can come in and take a class whether or not you are an existing patient.  Check out our full class schedule, I guarantee you will find one you like.  Come with a friend and have fun!

We hope to see you soon!

We had over 200 people visit us yesterday to participate in our open house classes and cooking demonstrations. We could feel the enthusiastic energy of our patients, clients and visitors, and are thrilled with the feedback and unanimous positive responses we received. Thank you to everyone who attended!

Our complete array of services at Blum Center for Health are now officially up and running!

In response to your feedback, we are completely revising our membership program. Our wish is to create a program that will bring you into our community and help you experience all we have to offer. We think you will now find the included services more comprehensive and compelling.

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon!

Blessings and good health to you and yours,
Susan

The news is not good for women who take or have taken combined estrogen-progestin therapy.

I’m thrilled to be writing my first blog entry for The Blum Center for Health’s website! We have a new name and new website and are moving into our new physical space in early December. I can’t wait for all my patients to go into our beautiful, functional, teaching kitchen to learn how to make the changes I suggest as part of their treatment plan. I’m also thrilled to have an on-site MindBodySpirit program and a dedicated meditation room so that everyone can have a place to learn how to relax as part of their medical plan. Of course, you can come in and use these facilities without seeing me or one of our Functional Medicine staff, but having it all integrated is the best medicine.

For my first Blog, I want to talk about Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). Just the other day I read a study in my October 20, 2010 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that I need to share with all my patients. But let me give you a little background first. There are two different kinds of HRT. The first is the kind of HRT that women have been given for the past fifty years. It’s a combination of estrogen from pregnant horses (called Premarin) and a kind of progesterone called a progestin that looks nothing like human estrogen. The second kind of HRT is called bio-identical, because the estrogen and progesterone are exactly, biologically identical to human hormones, even though they are also synthetic. Premarin and Progestins behave differently (badly) in the body compared to bio-identical estrogen and progesterone.

The former is also the kind of HRT that was researched in the Women’s Health Initiative Study. The first bad news from that study came in the year 2000 when results revealed that women who took this form of HRT had an increased risk of breast cancer, stroke and pulmonary emboli and no protection from cardiovascular disease. However, many questions still remained unanswered, so these researchers followed the women for another 11 years. The results were just published in JAMA and revealed that the risk of breast cancer was definitely higher for the women who took the estrogen-progestin therapy. It’s beginning to look like the progestins are even worse than the estrogen.
But, even worse, the breast cancer was more aggressive and more likely to result in death. Despite this information, there are still some doctors who advocate using this form of HRT for a very brief period of time for relief of menopausal symptoms. I cannot understand this when it is highly unlikely that this will prove to be safe.

Why hasn’t the mainstream medical world adopted the use of Bio-Identical Hormone therapy instead, which has shown to be much safer than using these big Pharma drugs? I will leave that discussion for another day, but I believe it is imperative that we do what is best for our patients and resist the drug companies that try to push us in a different direction to prescribe Premarin and Progestins. If you are already taking these kinds of hormones, you can call me, or find a Functional or Integrative Medicine Practitioner who prescribes Bio-Identical Hormones through a compounding pharmacist.

Call our main number (914) 652-7800 to schedule an appointment.

The comprehensive class descriptions are the place to start. You can choose an individual consultation with a MindBodySpirit practitioner based on the kind of work they do, the conditions that benefit from their work or on referral. For a more in-depth consultation regarding the MindBodySpirit approach as it applies to your personal situation, schedule an appointment with Elizabeth Greig, FNP, our Director of the MindBodySpirit Program.

No. Anyone can register for a single class or class series. Occasionally, there is a pre-requisite for a particular class; in that case, it will be listed in the class description. Registration can be done online, but please call us if you need assistance.