Archives for November 2014

The Anxiety Summit – Drug induced nutritional deficiencies that contribute to anxiety

November 11, 2014 By Trudy Scott 5 Comments

Dr. Peter Osborne, DC and Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Drug induced nutritional deficiencies that contribute to anxiety

the victim-warrior concept for being empowered
what is the meaning of drug-induced nutritional deficiencies
drugs that contribute to anxiety through nutrition loss
- estrogen/ birth control pill and magnesium, folate, vitamin B6
- antibiotics: good bacteria, B vitamins esp biotin and vitamin B12, vitamin K
- antacids: protein malnourishment
- NSAIDs: iron, vitamin C, folate, strips mucosal layer
prescription meds in drinking water
how to test for these nutritional deficiencies
nutritional deficiencies caused by gluten and the Gluten-Free Society

Here are a few snippets from our interview:

Birth control pills interfere with magnesium, and one of the deficiency symptoms of magnesium is anxiety. We actually induce a nutritional loss that causes anxiety.

I think for women, one of the most common problems is actually the estrogen pill, whether they’re being taken as birth control or whether they’re being taken to help with acne or taken to control cycles or hormones. Some doctors still prescribe birth control pills or estrogen pills for bone loss, so just depending on the reason the woman might be taking it, it’s just very clear – I want to be very clear that it’s estrogen that has this impact and this effect. And before I get into it, I will also say this, because a lot of doctors ask me, “Well, what about bioidentical hormones vs. synthetic hormones?” and there is no research that has studied whether there’s a difference between the two. So I’ll just be clear that what we’re referring to, the research that we’re referring to, largely has to do with prescriptive estrogen-based hormone that is not bioidentical, so I don’t think we have any research that would delineate the difference between the two.

One of the most common nutritional side effects of estrogen prescriptive pills is magnesium loss. Now, magnesium is an extremely important mineral. It plays a role in more than 300 chemical reactions in the human body. Of those 300 chemical reactions, several of them have to do with the proper utilization and the proper metabolism of estrogen. In essence, how do women excrete estrogen so that it doesn’t build up in their system and contribute to different forms of cancer? Well, this is done through a particular enzyme system that magnesium drives or runs, and this same enzyme system – it’s actually called COMT, catechol-O-methyltransferase, which is just a fancy way of talking about this enzyme. This enzyme is – again, it’s magnesium driven. This very same enzyme is extremely important for neurochemical production in the brain and neurochemical production in the gut.

Here is a link to Ross Pelton’s book, Drug-Induced Nutrient Depletion Handbook. This is a book I come back to refer to again and again. In the interview we got the titles a bit mixed up. Drug Induced Nutritional Deficiencies is the title of Daphne Roe’s book.

Here are some links to articles about prescription drugs being present in US drinking water:

NBC article: 46 million in U.S. have drugs in drinking water
An article by the non-profit Clean Water Action
An interview and Q and A on NPR

Dr. Osborne founded Gluten Free Society in 2010 to help educate patients and physicians on the far reaching effects of gluten sensitivity. He is the author of Glutenology, a series of books designed to help educate the world about gluten. His gift is a video series called 7 Highly Effective Habits of the Gluten-Free Warrior

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com

The Anxiety Summit – Deconstructing medical anxiety & evidence-based natural solutions

November 11, 2014 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

Sayer Ji, researcher, author, founder of Greenmedinfo was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Deconstructing medical anxiety and evidence-based natural solutions

how modern medical screening and interventions are based on an outdated evidence-base and lead to fear and anxiety
the top evidence-based natural interventions for anxiety: lavender, aromatherapy, flowers, plants, forest bathing, probiotics (and the gut-brain axis), magnesium
foods that can cause anxiety: gluten/all grains
what foods to include: real whole foods, healthy fats, eggs (and issues with statins)
‘alternative’ non-invasive modalities to reduce stress/anxiety – yoga, EFT, music, shiatsu, dancing and aromatherapy

Here are some snippets from our interview

The science shows that lavender and other flowers are very helpful for anxiety. A clinical study from Rutgers University, found that when they gave subjects flowers, they had 100 percent positive result in their emotions.

Lavender has been studied both as an aromatherapeutic agent where you have these small molecules in the volatile fragrance that go right into the olfactory lobe and then start modulating all these different pathways in the brain. Now there are many different ways of looking at this. There’s actually research in the animal model specifically on it being serotonergic, meaning boosting the serotonin levels or preventing their turnover so they last longer, but the reality is there are so many other mechanisms that have been identified. For example, it inhibits what is known as a voltage-dependent calcium channel in a way similar to the drug Pregabalin, also known as Lyrica. And then there’s probably 10 or 20 other different ways in which is likely modulates traditional drug targets in the brain and that’s because the brain is so complex. We’re dealing with hundreds of different biomolecules, many of them classified as neurotransmitters that are making the magic of the chemistry of our brain-produced emotions and feelings so I don’t ever imagine we’ll ever fully understand how it works.

Here is a great blog post from greenmedinfo: Evidence-Based Aromatherapy: Stress Relief And Much More

Here is more information on the Rutgers flowers study, that offered convincing evidence that flowers may be potent mood elevators. I really love this one! How did you feel the last time you received flowers? And when did you last give someone flowers?

I often blog about the joys of nature and getting outdoors and just love this study on forest therapy (also sometimes called forest bathing): Psychological relaxation effect of forest therapy: results of field experiments in 19 forests in Japan involving 228 participants

these results suggest that the forest environments have significant beneficial and relaxing effects on human’s moods compared with the urban environments.

Here is the study that found participants experienced empathy when they smelled the anxiety of another participant: Induction of empathy by the smell of anxiety

You can get access to Sayer Ji’s Wisdom of Food eCourse here (use code: cureanxiety)

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com

The Anxiety Summit – Take magnesium and melt your anxiety away

November 11, 2014 By Trudy Scott 36 Comments

Dr. Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, author of The Magnesium Miracle was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Take magnesium and melt your anxiety away

how important is magnesium: enzymatic processes, mitochondria, heart health, anxiety
how important is magnesium compared to calcium; and the vitamin D connection
the medication fluoride concern and magnesium impact
the symptoms of magnesium deficiency
why we are deficient in magnesium
dietary sources of magnesium and why diet is often not enough
how to test your magnesium level

Here are some snippets from our interview:

If your magnesium is low, your adrenal glands, which require a lot of magnesium, get kind of trigger-happy. And you can start getting adrenaline surges when you’re under stress, blood sugar can go low and you think you’re having an anxiety attack or a panic attack.

Now, your cholesterol depends on a magnesium enzyme to balance cholesterol. If you have too much, it brings it down; if you have too little, it brings it up. It’s done through the mechanism of magnesium. But the statin drugs kill that particular enzyme! And, as well, they cause more magnesium deficiency because many of the statin drugs actually have a fluoride molecule attached, and that fluoride molecule will bind up more magnesium.

Here is one of the 2014 studies we mentioned: Effect of oral magnesium supplementation on physical performance in healthy elderly women involved in a weekly exercise program: a randomized controlled trial

Daily magnesium oxide supplementation for 12 wk seems to improve physical performance in healthy elderly women. These findings suggest a role for magnesium supplementation in preventing or delaying the age-related decline in physical performance.

Here’s the blog post: When magnesium makes me worse It also has information about magnesium RBC testing with RequestaTest.com and fluoride in medications.

This is the last study Carolyn mentioned – Magnesium deficiency induces anxiety and HPA axis dysregulation: modulation by therapeutic drug treatment.

Overall, the present findings demonstrate the robustness and validity of the Mg(2+) deficiency model as a mouse model of enhanced anxiety, showing sensitivity to treatment with anxiolytics and antidepressants. It is further suggested that dysregulations in the HPA axis may contribute to the hyper-emotionality in response to dietary induced hypomagnesaemia.

Carolyn’s gift 4 Weeks of 2 Year Wellness Program PLUS Invisible Minerals

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com

The Anxiety Summit – Your hidden mercury burden: A likely root cause of the other root causes of anxiety – part 2

November 10, 2014 By Trudy Scott 43 Comments

Kris Homme, MPH retired engineer turned science writer was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Your hidden mercury burden: A likely root cause of the other root causes of anxiety – part 2

how to get rid of your mercury burden: dental amalgams, mercury in fish
how a special diet can help
important supplements to include: antioxidants; essential fatty acids; minerals
foods and supplements to avoid
concerns around chelation
chronic mercury poisoning resources

Here is a snippet from our interview:

I’d really like to emphasize the toxicity of mercury and just how insidious it is and how important prevention is because, once you have toxicity, it can be pretty hard to get rid of. The first thing to do is address your exposures, and one big one is dental amalgams. If you are inclined to think you may have a mercury burden, then consider safe dental amalgam removal. It’s not an emergency, but put it into your five-year plan. You can read about this on IAOMT/ International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology web site. They’re the pro-science dental association that has been working to fund and disseminate the science since 1983. They have developed a safe amalgam removal protocol. You can find a dentist who appreciates the toxicity of mercury and takes every precaution. Your old dentist may have an office full of mercury vapor, so you may want to find a new dentist and discuss the details of the procedure with the new dentist and decide for yourself whether the procedure is adequate. You got into trouble by trusting your old dentist to do what the old dentist thought was right, so it’s a good idea not to trust, but to figure out what you think is the right protocol for amalgam removal

Kris asked the following in the interview:

if you believe that your dental amalgams have affected your health, please report this to the FDA on the FDA MedWatch web site. They have a form to report adverse events, and dental amalgams are considered a medical device, so if you’ll use that form, it may help. In the last go-round against the FDA’s amalgam rule, the 2009 statement by the FDA said that they had received very few adverse event reports on amalgam, so let’s not let them say that again.

Here is the Environmental Working Group January 2014 report we mentioned: US Seafood Advice Flawed on Mercury, Omega-3s

Kris has some additional fish information here – Fish mercury: Some inconvenient truths

Here is short video of Kris talking about genetic susceptibility to mercury toxicity

This was a 2-part interview – here is the link to the blog for part 1

Here are links to the resources Kris shared:

Amalgam Illness by Andrew Cutler

Mercury Exposure

DAMS – Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions

IAOMT/International Association of Oral Medicine and Toxicology

Kern 2012 article on brain pathology in mercury poisoning: Evidence of parallels between mercury intoxication and the brain pathology in autism

Kris’s website MercuryandMore

Kris’ paper published earlier this year: New science challenges old notion that mercury dental amalgam is safe

Here is a link to part 1 of this mercury discussion – chronic mercury poisoning effects at the molecular level, the cellular and organ level, effects on hormone imbalance and neurotransmitters and how to test.

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com

The Anxiety Summit – Targeted individual amino acids for eliminating anxiety: practical applications

November 10, 2014 By Trudy Scott 126 Comments

Host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution. was interviewed by Dr Lauren Noel, host of Dr Lo radio.

Targeted individual amino acids for eliminating anxiety: practical applications

Glutamine: how it’s calming and helps with blood sugar balancing
GABA: how it eases physical tension
Tryptophan: how it eases anxiety in the head/busy ruminations (and when not to use 5-HTP)
DPA and tyrosine: how they help you quit the comfort-eating and coffee
Precautions when using individual amino acids
Factors that make them more effective and factors that make them less effective

Here are some snippets from our interview:

You’ll hear some practitioners say GABA molecules are too large to cross the blood brain barrier so GABA won’t work or if it does work you must have a leaky blood brain barrier

Some practitioners are talking about and using a “test” for leaky brain called the GABA Challenge which recommends taking1000- 2000 mg of GABA at night. If the blood brain barrier is intact, you supposedly won’t feel any effect from the GABA. If you do feel a change (drowsiness /feeling drunk or even jittery) then you will need to repair your leaky blood brain barrier.

I have not used the GABA Challenge and only recently learned about it but I am concerned with the very high dose of 2000mg of GABA. That is a lot of GABA for most people and I would expect severe drowsiness for most people or even a reverse effect. I find 125mg (in GABA Calm) is a good starting dose for my anxious clients.

I have also seen research indicating that GABA’s relaxing effect may be due to peripheral effects rather than the effect on/in the brain

Here are some of the papers about there being GABA-receptors in peripheral tissues (these are older papers and I’d love to see some newer research).

“GABA and its receptors are found in a wide range of peripheral tissues, including parts of the peripheral nervous system, endocrine, and non-neural tissues such as smooth muscle and the female reproductive system” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2162457)
“GABA is widely distributed in endocrine tissues including the pituitary, pancreas, adrenal glands, uterus, ovaries, placenta and testis” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16338174)

Here is the research on oral GABA being a natural relaxant for 13 subjects who crossed a suspended bridge as a stressful stimulus

GABA could work effectively as a natural relaxant and its effects could be seen within 1 hour of its administration to induce relaxation and diminish anxiety.

Here is the research on the stress-reducing effect of chocolate enriched with gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in humans

the participants performed an arithmetic task and those that were given the GABA choc made a quick recovery to the normal state from the stressful state.

It has been reported that ordinary doses of GABA by oral ingestion do not permeate the blood brain barrier. Therefore, it has been considered that GABA may act on the peripheral nervous system of the digestive organs and not the central nervous system

Here is the blog post that discusses why I don’t use urinary neurotransmitter testing.

There are some precautions to be aware of when taking supplemental amino acids. Here are the Amino Acid Precautions.

Meme Grant shared her success story with the amazing amino acids (and the pyroluria protocol) in season 1. She had anxiety, had panic attacks, didn’t enjoy speaking in public, had insomnia and was an emotional eater.

glutamine allowed her to walk past the gluten and dairy free junk foods

tyrosine helped her flutterby mind, gave her energy, focus and a desire to do things again
DPA stopped her comfort eating for too much of the “healthy” sweeteners
Tryptophan stopped her mind talk, got her sleeping through the night for the first time in 11 years and helped reduce the frequency of her panic attacks
GABA was the best amino acid and how the panic attacks disappeared
zinc, vitamin B6 and evening primrose oil helped her pyroluria symptoms

Enjoy the bonus audio of my interview with Meme. You’ll be able to hear first-hand from someone who experienced amazing results.

Here is a video of Nicole trying some glutamine for low blood sugar

The questionnaires are also on the blog – amino acid questionnaire and pyroluria questionnaire. Both have many comments that are invaluable.

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com

The Anxiety Summit – Adrenals – Master glands of anxiety / tranquility

November 8, 2014 By Trudy Scott 16 Comments

Dr. Alan Christianson, ND. author of Complete Idiot’s Guide to Thyroid Disease and a forthcoming book on adrenal health, was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Adrenals – Master glands of anxiety / tranquility

Why the adrenals regulate the anxiety response
Why some are more prone to anxiety than others
How to know if your adrenals are healthy
Testing your adrenal function
The difference between adrenal dysfunction and disease
How your diet and daily habits stress your adrenals
The best ways to heal your adrenal glands

Here is short video of Dr. Christianson sharing his story as an unhealthy kid and why he does what he does

Here are some snippets from our interview:

So even if we’re not being chased by the classic tiger if our blood sugar’s crashing, that, by itself, can trigger high amounts of stress hormones to make us feel more anxious, or if our sleep schedules have been thrown off, or if we’re missing some key nutrients that are needed by the adrenal glands, or if we’ve got a high amount of some external toxin in our body. All these separate things – and it can also be thought of that it’s not just a factor, but it’s the collective weight of all of those adrenal stressors. It’s how much we’ve got pushing those glands off at any given point in time that makes us more or less apt to have anxiety symptoms.

So caffeine is a stimulant, and what it does specifically is it causes our body to take all of our stored energy. We make something called glycogen. We take good carbs, and we pack them deep into our muscles. We pack them really tight, and we make glycogen out of that. It’s also in our liver. So caffeine causes us to just dump a whole of glycogen out, and it makes this big burst, this big rise in your blood sugar. The same thing would happen if you just drank a full sugar coke. It’s the same phenomenon, the same rise in blood sugar.

Here is a link to the online Adrenal Quiz we talked about. Let us know your score in the comments below.

In this Huffington Post blog called the Top 3 Myths of Adrenal Fatigue he writes how strategically using sunlight is one of the best-documented ways to help restore daily rhythms and heal the adrenals. We discussed some of this in the interview and here is a nice summary:

Within an hour of waking, expose yourself to sunlight or a light box emitting at least 10,000 lux (measure of light intensity). Do not wear sunglasses, do not look directly at the source of light, and get at least a half hour of exposure.
Get low wattage (under 40 watts) red-colored light bulbs for your bedroom. For the last 50 minutes of your day, feel free to read a book our journal, but use no other sources of light or electronics.
In your bedroom, make sure your windows block all outdoor lights and cover any lights on thermostats, or alarm units. Make sure that any lights used to find your way around are colored red.

Here is a link to Dr. Alan Christianson’s book on thyroid disease:

Complete Idiot’s Guide to Thyroid Disease

As we mentioned at the start of the interview, Dr. Christianson has a new book on adrenal health coming out next month! When you register for the free gift he has kindly offered, you’ll also be updated on information about the new book.

Here is Dr. Christianson’s new book on adrenal health – The Adrenal Reset Diet: Strategically Cycle Carbs and Proteins to Lose Weight, Balance Hormones, and Move from Stressed to Thriving

The free gift is 49 Fresh Recipes for a Stronger Body and More Vibrant You

UPDATE: Season 2 of The Anxiety Summit concluded in November 2014. If you’d like to be on the notification list for the next summit just sign up here www.theAnxietySummit.com

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