Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

Becoming a distributor requires no prior training in either health or nutrition — only submission of a one-page application and payment of a $35 fee.

NSP’s distributor kit consists of a wire-bound book called “A Systems Guide to Natural Health” and a loose-leaf binder labeled “The People-To-People Health Business.” The latter contains a congratulatory form letter, a product catalog, a policies and procedures manual, four different price lists, distributor applications, order forms, a receipt book, and flyers concerning products, payment plans, discounts for new distributors, and group insurance.

The form letter states: “Less expensive products are available from competitors and may appear similar; however, these products are often formulated down to a price, rather than up to a standard.” It refers to benefits such as “holistic health insurance” for managers. “Herb combinations,” according to the product catalog, “take advantage of the synergistic properties inherent in herbs to achieve superior nutritional impact. Thus, a combination of herbs can often address a broad spectrum of nutritional needs unsatisfied by a single herb alone.” In contrast, the “sidebar” begins in boldface: “saponins, oils, alkaloids and esters, that’s what herbs are made of.” The catalog states that NSP’s Chinese herbal combination products are based on the “five element model” and on the principles of yin and yang.

The policies and procedures manual features a 15-point code of ethics, which includes: “I will not make any false or therapeutic claims concerning any NSP product” and “I will service a minimum of 10 retail customers each month.” The manual also states: “If a customer asks for permission to return a product that he/she is dissatisfied with, verify that it has been used for a reasonable length of time.” Distributors are advised to separate “educational” and sales or recruiting activities. They are further advised against conducting herb lectures where products or sales aids are stored. The apparent purpose of this advice is to encourage distributors to make claims in their lectures that could create legal difficulty for the company if placed on product labels.

The Systems Guide, published in 1988, contains about 80 pages. About half of the book describes various body systems and the products NSP relates to them. For each system, there are “key,” “primary” and “complementary” products. Key products combine ingredients to “provide comprehensive nutritional support” for the body system. Primary products are combinations “designed to provide more specialized support for the particular system.”

Complementary products are single-ingredient items “for individuals who want to round out the systems approach to holistic health.” These products include acidophilus, aloe vera, cascara sagrada (a laxative) and magnesium.

The circulatory system’s key product is Mega-Chel, which contains 12 vitamins, nine chelated minerals, choline, inositol, PABA, bioflavonoids, fish oils, adrenal substance, thymus substance and spleen substance. The “primary” circulatory products include CoQ-10 Plus; Bugleweed Liquid Herb; Capsicum, Garlic and Parsley; and herbal mixtures (BP-X, GC-X, GGC, ATC, HS-II, and I-X) that contain from three to 14 ingredients. The complementary products include butcher’s broom root, capsicum, garlic, hawthorn berries, liquid chlorophyll, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids and yellow dock root. Each of these products is said to provide “nutritional support” for the circulatory system.

Significant hearing loss can be determined at birth, when a child is known to be at risk. Moderate loss can be determined within a few weeks, and slight hearing impairment can be diagnosed later. (more…)

There have been conflicting reports in the literature regarding the association of other malignancies with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

In this study by Beisland and colleagues, out of Norway, the association of RCC with other malignancies is again examined. (more…)

The Shape Up plan is based on high fiber foods, including complex carbohydrates, whole grains, fruits and vegetables balanced with lean protein and healthy fats. (more…)

Q.My ring finger is kind of frozen or clicks when I move it. I went to the doctor about this, and he said there is a nodule in the hand that is out of place and that I needed to get a cortisone shot, or I can get surgery. (more…)

Although most of you probably think of parsley as the green stuff nestled modestly between the mixed vegetables and the entree when you go out to eat, this undervalued herb has three times more vitamin C than citrus juice, more iron than most leafy greens, vitamin A, potassium, iodine, magnesium and other goodies that make it too good to leave behind when dinner’s over!

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The most well-known medicines are known to produce some hundreds of symptoms. These represent a particular selection from the total number of symptoms which can be produced by the mind/body system, which is vast. Each individual medicine, however, does not produce a completely different set of symptoms, but a distinctive selection from the common pool — and there is much overlap between the sets. To make an analogy, we could imagine that each symptom was represented by a different playing card, so that there were the usual “picture cards” as well as cards numbered one to many hundred, instead of one to ten. The significant symptoms of the Coffea patient could be represented by a Queen, an Ace (representing the most marked and unusual symptoms). (more…)

Every agent that acts upon the vitality, every medicine, deranges more or less the vital force, and causes a certain alteration in the health of the individual for a longer or shorter period. this is termed primary action….To its action our vital force endeavors to oppose its own energy. This resistant action is a property, is indeed an automatic action of our life-preserving power, which goes by the name of secondary action or counteraction. (more…)

If you’re pregnant and taking folic acid to prevent birth defects, you’re no more likely to miscarry than women who don’t take the B vitamin, says new research.

A link between miscarriage and the vitamin had been suspected, especially when previous studies suggested that women who took folic acid might have up to a 16 percent greater risk of miscarrying. (more…)

Further on we find that:

Gastrointestinal symptoms may include loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea or constipation. Occasionally, an unexpected hypersensitivity to the drug may occur, and this is characterized by skin rashes, fever, photosensitivity, and deleterious effects on the blood. Other side effects include fatigue, tingling in various parts of the body, and, occasionally, jaundice. (more…)