Great Workshop in PA — Thank you, Florence and Jim
Goofy Vitamin E Scare
A Reader’s Story…Barbara Korthals
Short Shots….
**** Correction to IPT Website
**** Newsletter Archives Resurrected
**** “Short Course” Available On New Website
**************
New Look
**************
There have been some changes made. The first thing you’ll
notice is that the appearance of this newsletter has
changed. Partly to emphasize a new start and partly
because my new web site template requires it, I’ve adopted
“HTML” as the new format for the newsletter instead of
plain text. It’s a little harder for me, but I hope you
will like it at least as well. I don’t have much of a
choice. But I’d still like to know if this format doesn’t
work for you. It it doesn’t look right, let me know what
e-mail program and Internet Service Provider (ISP) you use.
My e-mail address is: bhenderson1@satx.rr.com. Please, when
you send me an e-mail, don’t just “reply” to this newsletter.
When you do that, I have to erase this whole newsletter to reply
to you. Just start a new e-mail with my address above. Thanks!
**************************************************************
Great Workshop In PA — Thank You, Florence and Jim
**************************************************************
On Saturday, November 6th, Florence and Jim Biros, owners of
Green Supreme, Inc. hosted a workshop in New Wilmington, Penn-
sylvania for me. New Wilmington is a charming town about 60
miles North of Pittsburgh. Lots of farms, rolling hills and
beautiful trees. About 50 people attended and Terry (my wife)
and I got to know lots of them before and after the workshop.
The hospitality was superb and the people delightful.
Florence and Jim also run a publishing company called Sonrise
Publishing. Florence is also an author. Her book “Dog Jack” about
a Civil War mascot is being made into a movie “as we speak.” They
had just completed the republishing of my book with its new title
“Cancer-Free — Your Guide to Gentle, Non-toxic Healing.” It is a
souped-up and updated version of my book “Cure Your Cancer — Your
Guide to the Internet.” Both the book and the title are better, I
think.
Bob Davis, my 83-year-old fellow cancer crusader, who most of you
have met through my book, was there. It was our first face-to-face
meeting. We got to spend a lot of time together and compare notes.
Bob gave his dramatic testimony about his recovery from extremely
metastasized stomach cancer during the workshop. He is a unique
and delightful person.
What can I say about Florence and Jim? From ferrying us back and
forth to the Pittsburgh airport (they waited two hours for us to
arrive), to introducing us to all their staff and friends, taking
us on a tour of the area, setting up a great venue for the workshop
and hosting several meals for us and a dozen or so others, they
treated us like royalty and made the trip so special. We want to
go back soon and hope some of our PA friends will visit us in San
Antonio.
*****************************
Goofy Vitamin E Scare
*****************************
I have heard that there is an ad agency in New York where 24 full
time people look for stories to discredit natural substances. They
are funded by several of the largest pharmaceutical companies. I
am quite sure that this next story came from these folks.
Most of you probably read the “late-breaking” story about how large
doses of Vitamin E caused heart attacks and early death. It just
came out about a week ago. I knew it was bogus when I read it. Since
then, I have read several reviews debunking it. The best was by Jon
Barron, author of “Lessons of the Miracle Doctors.” I love his book
and wanted to share his comments on this “study” in case any of you
were panicked by it. Here are Jon Barron’s cogent comments:
“Vitamin E, a Special Report
Jon Barron
The Case Against Vitamin E
The opening paragraphs in the following CBS news release are typical
of the sensationalized content in stories by NBC, ABC, CNN, APP,
Reuters, and a host of international newspapers.
‘Vitamin E hasn’t proven to be good for the heart, and now a study
suggests that too much vitamin E – daily doses of 400 IU or more –
actually increases the risk of dying, according to new findings.
Johns Hopkins University researcher Edgar R. Miller III, MD, PhD, an
associate professor of medicine, tells WebMD that when he combined 19
vitamin E studies that looked at almost 136,000 patients, “it was clear
that as the vitamin E dose increased, so does all-cause mortality.”
He says the risk of death starts to increase at 150 IU, but at 400 IU,
which is the typical dose available in vitamin E capsules, the risk of
dying from any cause is about 10 percent higher than for people not
taking the vitamin. At megadoses, such as 2,000 IU of vitamin E, the
risk increased more than 20 percent.
“Based on our findings, high-dose vitamin E supplementation is
unjustified,” he says.’
Some, but not all of the stories, made mention of the fact that some
authorities disagreed with the findings, but did not pursue that side
of the story in detail.
Only the Facts Get in the Way
So what’s wrong with the findings?
* This was not a new study, but an analysis of data from pre-
existing studies — many of which were conducted outside of the
United States, including China. Is there a problem with this? Not
necessarily. But it’s certainly more than a bit hypocritical to use
foreign studies to ‘prove’ that an alternative health supplement is
bad for you, but refuse to accept any foreign studies that prove
they might be good for you (the 30,000+ studies that prove the value
of echinacea, for example, are not accepted in the United States).
* Most of the people involved in the studies were elderly and/or
heavy smokers and/or afflicted with catastrophic illness such as
heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.
* There was no distinction made in form of Vitamin E used by
participants. That is, was it the synthetic dl-alpha, or naturally
derived d-alpha? Considering that synthetic alpha tocopherol is
already proven to be at best, 30% as effective as the natural form —
and in some studies actually harmful, this is not an unimportant
distinction.
Surprise. Surprise. We saw this same issue raise its head in the study
a couple of years ago that ‘proved’ that beta carotene was harmful to
your health. In that study, there was no mention of the fact that
participants in that study used synthetic beta carotene derived from
acetylene gas, not naturally derived beta carotene — let alone a full
carotenoid complex.
A Note on Vitamin E
And of course, it’s probably worth mentioning (and this concept falls
totally outside of the study), neither dl-alpha tocopherol nor d-alpha
tocopherol are actually vitamin E. Vitamin E, as are most vitamins, is
a naturally occurring complex that never exists in isolation in nature.
(Why is this concept so difficult for medical researchers to understand?)
Vitamin E consists of at least 4 tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, and
delta) and 4 tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta).
So how did vitamin E come to be defined as just one of its eight
components? Quite simply, a number of years ago, researchers looking
at the E complex saw that alpha tocopherol was the predominant component
of the complex so they decided, ‘It must be the most important. So we’ll
call that one piece Vitamin E and ignore the other components.” (A
fascinating logic when you think about it.)
Well, over the last few years, researchers have come to understand that
alpha tocopherol is not only not the most important, it is, at best,
number five in the pecking order– trailing all of the tocotrienols and
gamma tocopherol in importance.
So the question of the day is, ‘If researchers actually know that
vitamin E consists of a minimum of eight components, with alpha toco-
pherol not even cracking the top half in importance, why is this current
study basing its conclusions on supplementation with this marginally
beneficial isolated component — and a synthetic version at that?’
And the problem is that no matter what answer you come up with
(ignorance, stubbornness, or malice), it’s not good.
Bottom line:
If you supplement with vitamin E, you probably have nothing to worry
about. But make sure you are at least using d-alpha tocopherol — and
ideally, a full complex E.”
Thank you, Jon Barron, for clearing this issue up (at least partly)
for us. I still don’t understand why the rather expensive version
of “Natural” Vitamin E which I take has no tocotrienols in it. Its
exact composition is: d-alpha tocopherol 400 IU; d-gamma tocopherol
45mg; d-delta tocopherol 20mg; and d-beta tocopherol 2mg. Why are
some listed in I.U.s and some in mgs? I take two of these a day
and nothing I’ve heard to date is going to change that.
I’ll be interested in your comments.
*************************************
A Reader’s Story — Barbara Korthals
*************************************
I think you will be fascinated, as I was, at Barbara Korthals’ story.
She used a wide variety of resources and was very proactive in her
treatment — exactly what I recommend. If there ever was a good
example of “taking charge of your own health care,” Barbara is it.
“Hello Bill,
I’d like to take you up on your offer of a free copy of your new
“Cancer Free” e-book in exchange for my cancer healing story. (By the
way, I think your website and the services you provide are fantastic–
thank you for doing such a great job!)
I was diagnosed with breast cancer during a routine mammogram in April
1998. After overcoming the terror I felt, I knew I had to take matters
into my own hands since I had lost too many friends and relatives to
conventional cancer therapies. Ironically, several weeks before I found
out I had cancer, I happened to find a couple of older issues of Alternative
Medicine magazine in the employee lounge where I work and brought them home
with me (I know now that this was no accident).
That evening, after I was diagnosed, I pulled out those magazines and
read stories of people that were cancer-freeand living wonderful
lives thanks to alternative treatments. I knew then and there
that alternative medicine was the course I was going to pursue.
I then had to really begin doing my homework because I had no idea
where to turn for information. I decided on a simple lumpectomy and
opted not to have any lymph nodes removed since I knew they are an
extremely important part of the immune system and are only removed to
‘stage’ a patient and to determine which type of chemotherapy to use.
Since I had no intention of being ‘staged’ or using chemotherapy, I
chose to hang onto my lymph nodes.
I also did not ask for or encourage the doctor to give me a prognosis,
since I knew that all too often a prognosis can turn into a self-
fulfilling prophecy. I truly knew that I was going to overcome this
situation and I was not about to let any doctor tell me differently.
Unfortunately, your book was not available at that time, but through
Alternative Medicine magazine I purchased their ‘Alternative Medicine
Guide to Cancer’ book. This book led me to Dr. Michael Schachter in
Suffern, NY. He is a doctor who practices what is known as ‘comple-
mentary’ medicine.
Dr. Schachter started me on intravenous megadoses of Vitamin C which
was mixed with laetrile. I found a doctor near my home who was willing
to continue these IV’s for me and I received these IV’s on a gradually
declining scale over a two year period. These Vitamin C and laetrile
IV’s were alternated with hydrogen peroxide IV’s which supply the body
with large amounts of oxygen within which the cancer cannot survive.
I also spent three weeks at the New Life Health Center outside of Boston,
Massachusetts in which I received Oriental medicine treatments consisting
of daily acupuncture, accupressure massage, cupping, moxibustion, a
macrobiotic diet, daily yoga, healthy lifestyle lectures, and a custom-
made herbal concoction which was the Oriental equivalent of chemotherapy
(with no side effects other than a yucky taste).
I also traveled to Canada to receive the VG-1000 cancer vaccine (again,
outlawed in the US by our ever-protective FDA!) from Dr. Ravi Devgan
in Toronto.
I had all of my mercury fillings removed by a biological dentist and had
a festering root-canaled tooth extracted, which I believe was a direct
physical cause of the breast tumor as it was located directly under the
root-canaled tooth!
Of course, I cleaned up my diet considerably (which, prior to my
diagnosis consisted of a lot of sugar and processed and junk foods) and
started taking large amounts of CoQ10, IP6, modified citrus pectin,
lactoferrin, germanium and other supplements too numerous to mention. I
exercise much more than I ever have before and try to remove stress as
much as possible since I now know that my former very-troubled marriage
was a large contributing factor to my illness.
It is extremely important for cancer patients to do some soul searching
to identify the emotional issues that may have contributed to the
development of their illness since there is more and more evidence that
it is the emotions that lead to cancer and other degenerative
illnesses.
Am I cancer-free today? Bill, I cannot honestly say because I do not
know that for a fact. I tend to avoid the conventional medical
establishment because of their ‘slash and burn’ mentality and their
fear-instilling practices. I can tell you that after being diagnosed
with an aggressive form of breast cancer 6 1/2 years ago, I feel better
than I ever have and take much better care of myself. I have to stress
that I never experienced any side-effects from any of the alternative
therapies that I used; in fact, I strengthened my immune system while
healing. I continue to use a number of the treatments you talk about
as a preventative measure and follow a holistic lifestyle which
necessitated that I leave my marriage and sell my home. I have
simplified my life a great deal (with more simplicity to come) and am
much happier now than I have been in a long, long time. I believe
cancer has a very tough time surviving in a happy body!
Well, Bill, there is my story. If you find it fit to use in any way,
shape or form, please feel free to do so. I recommend your website
and book whenever possible since I know that people are desperate for
your information. I even taught a class in community education for a
couple of years on my experience with cancer and it was very well
received.
This information needs to get out and I am so thrilled that you are
doing this work! Maybe someday the insurance companies will become
enlightened and pay for these therapies. I know I had to go into
tremendous debt to pay at least $50,000 out of my own pocket for my
various treatments. It shouldn’t have to be that way.
One last thing and I promise I will close. In my opinion, the worst
part of cancer is the fear. And fear is something that the medical
establishment deliberately cultivates in cancer patients by giving
them death sentence and/or rushing patients into deadly treatments
without giving them the time or encouragement to explore alternative
therapies. I feel inspirational and positive-thinking books really
pulled me through, especially the chanelled teachings of Abraham-Hicks
and the ‘New Thought’ work of Unity Church (it’s non-denominational).
Anything a cancer patient can do to eliminate the fear and emphasize
hope and positive thinking will go a long, long way towards the
patient’s self-healing. And all healing is, in the final analysis,
self-healing through the grace of God.
Thank you!!!!!
Barbara Korthals”
Thank YOU, Barbara, for an inspiring and educational story. Folks,
this is a great example of my primary message. You MUST “take charge
of your own health care.” Obviously, this does not mean you must
doctor yourself. Barbara had lots of assistance. But she was
clearly the “quarterback” on her team — calling the plays.
If you would like to contact Barbara, her e-mail address is:
korthalb@dss-hk.co.erie.ny.us
*****************
Short shots…..
*****************
CORRECTION TO IPT WEBSITE
In my last newsletter, I messed up the website for general information
on IPT. Here is the correct website:
http://www.getipt.org
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES RESURRECTED
As most of you know, the newsletter archives I had maintained on my
old website disappeared. I had a little gift from God the other day.
I discovered (for the first time) that the website which handles my
mailing list and the e-mailing of this newsletter maintains an archive
of two years of this newsletter (strange coincidence, no?).
To access their archives, just go to:
http://www.beating-cancer-gently.com/newsletters/
There is no Table of Contents for each newsletter like I had in my
old archive, but the date of the newsletter is there. I have a printout
of the contents. If you’re looking for a specific article, just send me
an e-mail with the name of the article and I can send you the date of
the newsletter it was in. My e-mail address: bhenderson1@satx.rr.com
BRIBERY — IT’S WORKING
As most of you know by now, I collect cancer “stories.” Send
me yours — positive, negative or neutral — and I’ll send you a
free copy of my brand new “Cancer-Free” e-book by return e-mail.
If you already have my book, you can just give me the name and
e-mail of a loved one or friend for me to send the e-book to as a
gift.
Without a national data base, we must exchange information with
each other on what works. Your story may help many others, so
just send it to me in an e-mail. Thanks!
I’ll be back sometime soon with another newsletter. Be well
and send your friends to my new web site:
http://www.Beating-Cancer-Gently.com
Bill Henderson
Author “Cure Your Cancer” and “Cancer-Free” books
Disclaimer:
Although many alternative medical treatments have been success-
fully used for many years, they are currently not practiced by
conventional medicine and are therefore not “approved” and legal
(in some States) for medical professionals to prescribe for their
patients, although it is legal for individuals to use them at
their own discretion. It therefore becomes necessary to include
the following disclaimer:
The offerings made by this publication are to be carefully
considered by the user. All responsibility regarding the use
of alternative treatments rests with the patient. If you have
doubts regarding these things, rely on your conventional doctor.