[1]Where contributions to the ALS Association are spent. Source [1].
Health Impact News Editor Comments
In a previous article [2] we published on where funds donated to the ALS Association are being spent, we showed that a small percentage was actually spent on research, and even then only on pharmaceutical products. This has been our most popular story [2] of the year so far.
Sayer Ji brings us a great review of over 60 natural cures that have published research on helping ALS. He also shows how some of the corporate sponsors of the ALS Association are pharmaceutical companies producing drugs that are linked to the cause of ALS!
60+ Natural ALS Cures the “Ice Washing” Campaign Isn’t Funding!
Excerpts:
[T]here is a huge body of research published in peer-reviewed journals that indicates that there are over 60 natural substances that can be used right now to alleviate suffering from the condition. Our ALS research page is teeming with highly compelling studies that show natural interventions – from simple dietary intervention to cost-effective and safe nutritional supplementation – can be used right now to help those in need.
You can view the entire database on our free-to-access natural ALS interventions [3] page, which covers not only 60+ natural substances with proven utility, but problem substances – chemicals and drugs – and therapeutic actions – from yoga to deep breathing – that can provide patients of ALS immediate tools and strategies to take back control of their health immediately.
Let’s zoom in to some of these compelling studies so you can see how clearly the ALS foundation’s fund-raising efforts are out of sync with the already well-known natural interventions available today:
- Vitamin E [4]: “CONCLUSION: A high intake of PUFAs [polyunsaturated fatty acids] and vitamin E is associated with a 50-60% decreased risk of developing ALS, and these nutrients appear to act synergistically.”
- Smoking Cessation [5]: “After adjusting for age, sex, region and education, ever having smoked cigarettes was associated with an increase in risk for ALS [70% increased risk].”
- Reducing Lead Exposure [6]: “ALS was also associated with blood and bone lead levels, with a 1.9-fold increase in risk for each mug/dl increment in blood lead and a 2.3- to 3.6-fold increase for each doubling of bone lead.”
- Vitamin B12 [7] (methylcobalamin): “To develop a symptomatic treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, we compared the effects of ultrahigh-dose and low-dose (25 and 0.5 mg/day, intramuscularly, for 14 days) methylcobalamin on averaged compound muscle action potential amplitudes (CMAPs) in a double-blind trial. No significant changes in CMAP amplitude were found in 12 patients who had the low-dose treatment at either 2 or 4 weeks after start of treatment. By contrast, 12 patients assigned to the ultrahigh-dose group demonstrated a significant increase at 4 weeks. This method may provide a clinically useful measure to improve or retard muscle wasting, if a larger extended trial fulfills its promise.”Another highly promising B12 study found [8], using 25 mg/day of methylcobalamin, found: “In the long-term effect of methylcobalamin (50 mg/day i.m., twice a week), the survival time (or the period to become respirator-bound) was significantly longer in the treated group than in the untreated.”
- Progesterone [9]: “Increased PROG was observed in spinal onset and slow progression patients.”
- Acupuncture [10]: “Significant neurological improvement in two patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis after 4 weeks of treatment with acupuncture injection point therapy using enercel.”
- Vitamin D [11]: “Eighty-one percent of patients had a vitamin D level lower than 30 ng/mL and 43% had a vitamin D level lower than 20 ng/mL.”
- Whey protein [12]: “Patients in the treatment group [whey protein] presented weight gain, increased body mass index (BMI), increased arm muscle area and circumference, higher albumin, white blood cell and total lymphocyte counts, and reduced creatine-kinase, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase.”
We should mention that one of the most concerning signals in the biomedical literature today is on the relationship between the cholesterol-lowering category of drugs known as statins and ALS. An ALS-like syndrome [13] has been described in statin drug users, which has received virtually no attention within the conventional medical establishment, nor the mainstream media – its willing, and highly funded lapdog. It comes no surprise to us, as we have extensively documented the neurotoxicity of statins in our statin research project [14] which has identified over 300 adverse health effects in this drug class – here are 54 studies on the topic [15]. Also, clearly, the brain is composed largely of cholesterol.
Suppressing its production, therefore, interferes with the most basic building block required for neurological health: this is a no-brainer (pun intended).
Here is the kicker: The ALS Association’s corporate sponsors include the following cholesterol-lowering drug manufacturers:
It is time to come to terms with ALS, Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and all the other so-called “neurodegenerative diseases.” Instead of enshrining symptoms into reified disease categories as monolithic, idiopathic, entities fleshed out in esoteric Greek or Latin terminology, which further concretizes the false notion that we are powerless against these ‘conditions’, let’s acknowledge that they all form part of the spectrum of brain-damage-associated conditions endemic to the post-modern, post-industrial era. Do we want to cure these conditions? If so, let’s start by acknowledging that damage to the human brain is now a universal experience – rather, it is only a matter of what degree you are experiencing it. Avoiding chemical and radiation exposures, avoiding nutritional deficiencies and/or incompatibilities – this is how take back control of our brain health.
Read the full article here. [18]
See Also:
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: Do You Know What You Are Supporting? [2]
Coconut Oil Reverses Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) [19]
Deanna Protocol Offers Nutritional Program to Slow or Stop ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) [20]