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Low Levels Of Vitamin D Linked To Higher Rates Of Asthma In African-American Children, Debunked By Barbadians

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A visit to the asthma bay at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) reveals it to be a hive of activity day and night. Our information is the QEH owns three to four nebulizers, unfortunately all of them are not always in working order.

In recent years the rise in the number of Barbadians suffering from asthma should be of concern to the country at large. A couple years ago the death of sports journalist Terry Mayers brought the condition fully to the public’s eye.  It seems too many Barbadians are happy to resign themselves to the condition by having the ubiquitous nebulizer close by.

It is therefore good news to learn of a recent  study conducted in the USA which discovered in 85 African American children tested suffering from asthma; they all registered a low level of vitamin D in their blood tests. At this stage more research is required to conclusively prove that a low level of Vitamin D is responsible for causing asthma in African-American children. However in light of the early findings from this research, it makes sense for parents of Black children to ensure the diet of their children is rich in Vitamin D.

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93 responses to “Low Levels Of Vitamin D Linked To Higher Rates Of Asthma In African-American Children, Debunked By Barbadians”

  1. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    WOG ‘Couple that with fast food joints , TV, refrigerators and the fact that we drive every where we go and we have just touched on the source of 2/3 of our health issues’

    I agree fully with that part, too much fried foods, too much processed foods, sitting down all the time instead of outside playing (that includes the older folks, should be outside too) and using mechanical transport not only for necessity like work, but every day for leisure.

    Like when the minibus stops here, then ten yards on, then twenty yards on…. each time letting out a passenger, because we cannot walk thirty yards.

    Diet & exercise, basic stuff.

    By the way, do not negate stress. The pressures of our lifestyles impact how we react and then we do not get enough rest, exercise, eat the wrong things.

    One must be aware of how daily stress affects you and try to counter.

  2. DOLPHIN MOUT Avatar
    DOLPHIN MOUT

    we simply eat too much food
    stop eating so much

    Forget BREAD-we dont need it
    eat BREADFRUIT and BREADNUT

    The bread of the bible was a different bread. Bread of today is not bread of long before.

    Forget SUGAR-dont use it -dont put in tea , dont use it any form and even be careful with high sugared fruits. Lose sugar in all its forms, lose meats especially red meat amd you will lose weight.

    Some people are afraid of weight loss. A lot of people want to be fat and some people even take extra ‘fixers’ to be fat- the tonic ‘weight on’ was popular one time.

    This is a carry over from the plantation days when massa was fat and lazy , lived in ‘the big house’ and was considered prosperous. The image of fat and prosperous was etched in the minds of the undermined individuals. Have you ever notice how some people behave at weddings when food is free-?

    Excessive eating has been etched in our minds and as we attained some measure of economic independence, we gravitate to those things that we believe make us much like ‘massa’ and overeating and excess weight is an imitation of massa’s image. Massa is always ‘right’ and so deep within our psyche, we seek to attain massa’ s image. We need to expunge this from our psyche. Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.

    If you think there is no link, you are fooling yourself.

    Indiscipline is also a part of the reason for careless eating (to be covered in my next contribution)

  3. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    WOG
    It is folk that think they know it all, and think that they can challenge me in certain areas that give me great mirth when I read BU.

    If sugar i.e sucrose (a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose) was the cause of every malady and ALL the maladies you listed WE WOULD ALL BE DEAD! AND LONG LONG AGO.

    Our bodies RUN ON SUGAR!

    Before you attempt to challenge me in matters of Biochemistry please go and read! Or shut up!

    1 The major monosaccharides in our diets are glucose, fructose and galactose.
    2-Sugar i.e sucrose (a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose) NEVER ACCUMULTES IN OUR BLOOD unless you take it in INTRAVENOUSLY OK?
    3 Sugar i.e sucrose (a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose) is hydrolysed during digestion to glucose and fructose and absorbed us such and carried to the liver via the hepatic portal vein. Thus except if one is DIABETIC , or HAVE LIKKER LIVER (lol) high levels of “sugar” is only EVER in the blood stream for a short time and for a very short journey
    4. In the liver the enzyme glucokinase (also called hexokinase D or type IV hexokinase) resides, waiting to do his job of REMOVING THE TORRENTS OF and ANY AMOUNT of the monsaccharides glucose, fructose and galactose presented to him for processing.
    5 Glucokinase requires a very high concentration of monsaccharides for activity and levels are increased by BOTH carbohydrate-rich diets and insulin(Km for glucokinase is 10-2 M),
    6 Glucokinase works only when the intracellular concentration of glucose in liver cells is elevated (as is the case after a meal) It is only turned on when cell is rich in monsaccharides especially glucose
    7. Glucokinase has a high Vmax, therefore glucokinase can remove large quantities of glucose from portal blood, or the from blood stream following a meal, (AND IT DOES AS THIS IS WHAT IT WAS DESIGNED TO DO) thereby preventing hyperglycemia, especially as it is not inhibited by feedback inhibition by its product glucose6-P.
    8 Glucokinase is a kinase. This means it adds a phosphate group to the monassacharides. By adding a highly charged phosphate group to the monassacharides, they can not leave the liver cells, because charged molecules can not easily diffuse across cell walls. The monassacharides can not escape from the cells; they are basically in prison!

    Stop! Take a breather! Read it over again Sir, and ensure that you have understood and learned these important facts. (A good reason to come to BU- to be educated!- and by a 3/10 teacher at that that who gets on Maggie’s last nerve-what ever that is!)

    9Now if some glucose is needed for energy it continues in glycolysis to make ATP which is the energy currency of the body. Galactose and fructose which are both isomers can be isomerised and used for energy. Some fructose enters into glycolysis via a frucktokinase, and so does some galactose.

    If galactose is needed for synthesis of milk in lactating mothers it is diverted to that cause. If needed to make galactosides for nerve membranes etc it diverted to that cause.

    10 If sugar was imbibed in relative excess it is first stored as glycogen in the liver or muscles for later use. You of course know that glycogen metabolism has the important role of regulating blood glucose levels and providing a “reservoir” of glucose for strenuous muscle activity. (If you didn’t, now you know!)

    11 Glycogen is the “pool” of glucose used to regulate the blood glucose concentrations. After eating a large meal that has supplied us with all the glucose we need to produce all the pyruvate and ATP by glycolysis we need for our immediate uses, we store any excess glucose to replenish our energy reserves, by synthesizing glycogen, and storing it in limited amounts in our skeletal muscle and liver. This process is called GLYCOGENESIS.

    12 When glycogen stores are full, any remaining glucose is converted to triacylglycerols, and stored as body fat. When our diet does not supply sufficient glucose, or we have utilized our blood glucose we break down or degrade the stored glycogen and release glucose, by the process of GLYCOGENOLYSIS. So we see that glycogen metabolism involves both synthesis and degradation, and that glycogen metabolism is significant because it serves to regulate the blood glucose levels and provide a “reservoir” of glucose for strenuous muscle activity.

    Mr Wog Thou expert in carbohydrate matters. Please now kindly explain to the BU readership the source of the “sugar” that causes all the maladies of which you speak IN THE ABSENCE OF A DEFECT OR DEFICIENCY IN INSULIN SIR?

    Now lets talk about expand your understanding of the concept of simple & complex sugars.

    You do amuse me by trying to teach me High School Biology information to the effect that “when your body notices that excess sugarglucose is accumulating in your blood it doesn’t care whether the source of the excess sugarGlucose is simple or complex it simply knows that it is time to start pumpingmanufacturing insulin into your system to control the glucose.”

    I am happy to see that you at least know something………even though not very much.

    Now learn something new that you didn’t learn in High School Biology Sir.

    The monosaccharides (like glucose, fructose and galactose) are the simplest sugars. If taken in as in milk or sweet drinks etc they are rapidly absorbed! They have a good job to do in the diabetic going into HYPOglycemia.

    Fructose is a simple sugar because of its’ chemical structure. Hurray You got that one correct! Fructose is an isomer of glucose. It is a hexoketose whereas glucose is a hexoaldose. Fructose is a ketone Glucose is an aldehyde.

    Please do not mislead BU with you bovine excrement that fructose does not trigger a rapid increase in insulin and is considered to be of low glycemic value. BU folk AVOID ANYTHING THAT SAYS FRUCTOSE AND FRUCTOSE COIRN SYRUP.

    Complex sugars are sugars found in plant materials. Remember when Bajans used to murder yams and potatoes and breadfruit. We didn’t have lots of diabetes then did we. But we could run and play right?

    Because we were getting SUGAR in the form of glucose from the starch in these foods. Starch is a storage form of glucose in plants just as glycogen is the storage form in humans. OK?

    These foods are complex because it costs the body energy to realize the sugar from these foods. The sugar does not just run in and out of the stomach. Also most of the potatoes and yams and breadfruit IS the FIBROUS CARBOHYDRATE CELLULOSE WHICH WE CAN NOT DIGEST BECAUSE WE DO NOT HAVE THE ENZYME CELLULASE TO DO SO.

    So when we were not so affluent and used to murder potatoes and yams and breadfruit we used to get a belly full, nuff cellulose so that we had fibre to prevent colon cancer, and just enough glucose to work hard, or play hard as we did, BEFORE WE FELL VICTIM TO IMPORTING FOREIGN CULTURAL EATING HABITS AND FOODS!

    SO FRIENDS IT DOES MATTER THEY TYPE OF “SUGAR” YOU IMBIBE!
    STICK TO COMPLEX SUGARS. GIVE ME SOME YAMS AND PULP EDDOES AND BREADFRUIT!

    RESTICT MY SIMPLE SUGAR TO THE BOILED FRESH COW’S MILKL AND THE LIKKLE BIT OF CANE SUGAR YOU PUT IN THE LEMONADE OR THE MAUBY.OR THE GREREN

    Tell me BU folk if you don’t have diabetes, and you not over eating, and you exercising as we used to routinely (we didn’t call it exercise then , nor was exercise and gyms a fad) how de hell you will get all these things from a likkle brown sugar in your green tea pun a mawning?

    Mr Wog Sir

    That Insulin resistance is the basis of all of the chronic diseases is SIMPLY JUST NOT TRUE. BRING THE EVIDENCE SIR.

    You may now return to your mark. Reset you field— and you better put everybody pun de boundary. Note the position of the stumps. Run in again and don’t bowl full onto the bat!

    You may now run off and play with your marbles! It has been fun dismissing your junk! Whereas there is a smudging of truth in your dogma, it is well said………….a little learning………….you know the rest!

    As Bill Oreilly says

    THE SPIN STOPS RIGHT HERE CAUSE WE ARE LOOKING OUT FOR YOU AT BU! Ah gone ya hear? For now!

  4. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Crusoe
    Thanks for your kind remarks
    You are correct- the glycemic index directly reflects what are complex carbs.
    We actually used to do the right things when we were not so affluent and before we started importing foreign dietary mal habits
    Rice, potatoes sweet potatoes and some other root items are complex and staple foods all around the world where folk are bony!

    You are correct again when you opine that much processed foods contain the simple and easily absorbed fructose as ‘high fructose corn syrup’. You see fructose is the sweetest of the monosaccharides.
    Nothing wrong with a lil brown sugar in my coffee

    The effect of stress is to release the catecholamines epinephrine and nor epinephrine. Now these may affect asthma. That’s another interesting story. And a paradox.
    Stress also affects diet.

    DOLPHIN MOUT
    Much of what you said is correct. Whereas we don’t need bread there is nothing with a little bread. Bread is a staple food all over the world among folk who are as thin as a rake! That you can not deny.

    I would love you to tell us how “the bread of the bible was a different bread: and how “bread of today is not bread of long before.”

    You MUST USE SOME CARBS. YOU JUST MUST!
    ALL METABOLIC PATHWAYS IN THE BODY ARE DEPENDENT ON GLYCOLYSIS (burning sugar). This is so in ALL ORGANISMS.

  5. Technician Avatar
    Technician

    @GP…

    …and you want Technician to defend you?!?
    Man …you just did it …Proper!!

  6. Researcher Avatar
    Researcher

    FDA Finally Admits Asthma Drugs Cause Asthma Attacks
    http://www.naturalnews.com/028544_asthma_attacks_drugs.html

    My advice, use eucalyptus instead.

  7. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Techie

    You know full well what I meant, I am sure.

    And yes I could easily have defended myself then, but why not continue to abide by the tenet in Proverbs about responding to fools.

    As I always say, you can not adjudicae with out the facts! Only fools did as in that case. So I chose the ANSWER NOToption then.

    Only MME saw fit to remark on the nastiness. But several were slaying the fellas….and going as far as diagnosing them with erectile dysfunction.

    Will you tell the jackass who calls him self a researcher that studious scholars of sound mind do not take the FDA seriously, because of its penchant for corruption and lack of standards.

    Could you remind him that he knows NO Pharmacology, and that we do not take persons who seek to peedle remedies on BU seriously.

    Could you ask the moron in this enlightened age to tell us how eucalyptus will reduce either of the two basic pathological issues involved in asthma.

    These are 1 -the infammatory response that cause an increase production of muck that clogs up the bronchioles or 2 the constriction of the bronchioles.

    Will you remind him that it is better to shut your mouth and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt?.

    Currently available asthmatic drugs effectively address the nity gritty of the causation of asthma.

    WHAT IS NECESSARY IS TO MASTER THE PREVENTION.

    Peddling Vit D is not the answer, but life style changes are— admittedly this seems very difficult in the world in which we now live.

  8. Anon Avatar
    Anon

    The team of BU DAVID (publisher and uploader) and Dr GP (submitter) must be commended for the high standard of education on medical matters seen on BU.

    There has NEVER been in Barbados, any newspaper or magazine or blog AT ANY TIME that can compare with BU in this regard.

    I enjoyed the power points immensely.
    I didnt under stand everything but the animation of the stones caught on the way out from the kidney was very clear , and so was the picture of the constricted bronchi, the old man’s brain and the pictures about the brain after a bad stroke and liver damaged by licquor (likkers).

    Thanks! A picture is worth a thousand words for truth.

    I hope that David or GP not married to white women like me and Yardbrrom.

  9. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    @ Dr. G.P>

    I just read the whole of this blog. Man, you just taught WOG a good lesson. You should have referred him to the earlier blog on obesity and diabetes. Then he would not have gotten his “carbs” so mixed up! White rice and pasta are also good because of the amount of water they absorb. In fact any food cooked in water can be eaten by diabetics but in the right portions. Approximately 2/3 cup if you are having a dessert or fruit with dinner, or a cup with vegs, salad and chicken, turkey or fish. No more plate of rice with a piece of meat on top!

    Complex carbohydrates also take longer to digest and therefore the release of sugars into the blood is slower. Now I am going to go and study your slides.

  10. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Hi Pat

    RE Complex carbohydrates also take longer to digest and therefore the release of sugars into the blood is slower.

    EXACTLY!
    ALSO GIVES HEXOKINASE IV MORE TIME TO WORK

    Now I am going to go and study your slides.

    HOPE YOU ENJOY THEM

    JUST PUT A FEW TOGETHER FOR FUN

    STILL HAVE TO PUT UP THE INFO ON CALCIUM FOR FOLK LIKE YOU WHO CAN HANDLE SUCH INFO

  11. Avatar
    Anonymous

    GEORGIE PORGIE !
    Man yuh doan haffa pompasette pon people so-calling morons and other names. When you know and you know that other people doan know, you should know that yuh doan trat people so man !

    Shame on you for that
    Kudos to you and thanks for all the information.

    This has been one of the most informative and educational threads ever on this BLOG
    Thanks again
    and thanks to all the commenters, because the comments, positive or negative are what make the blog interesting

  12. Avatar
    Anonymous

    ‘calling them morons’

    –doan trat people so= doan treat people so

  13. ''''''FIRE'''''' Avatar
    ”””FIRE”””

    THE ABOVE POST ‘ ANON’ WAS FROM ME -”””FIRE”””

    INSERT:-
    trat —should be treat
    INSERT:–
    calling them morons

  14. WOG Avatar
    WOG

    @ Georgie Porgie – Biochemistry was way too hard for me so that’s why I did Business, now if that together with a genetic disposition to Diabetes and a desire to learn what excess sugar consumption can do to a human body makes me an “Expert” then I readily accept your categorization.
    All I am saying in response to the allegation that a Vitamin D deficiency is making our kids more susceptible to Asthma is -:
    (1) That we consider excessive sugar consumption or rather the insulin production that excessive sugar consumption triggers as a possible cause if not the real culprit.
    (2) The human body doesn’t care if elevated blood sugar results from an overdose of simple or complex carbssugars , it simply knows to respond to the spike in sugar levels by producing more insulin to control & move the sugar into the cells & muscles.
    (3) If overtime the body has to keep pumping more insulin to control spikes in sugar levels our cells become less responsive to the insulin.
    (4) Insulin is an important and potent hormone which is implicated in several autoimmune diseases including Arthritis, ASTHMA , Allergies etc.
    High school BioChem or not excessive sugar consumption can not be ruled out as the possible cause of the increase in the incidence of ASTHMA in our kids.

    Ps … Thanks for telling that you are a BioChemist , I am in awe …Did you really consider my comments to be a challenge ….mannnn!!!..hmnnn!!

  15. David Avatar
    David

    Given what has been discussed about the research findings one is left to muse how many other studies have been published by so called doctors (experts) which only have the result in shaping buying behaviour. Yes we know the pressure is on for these people to publish.

    Note that this study locates a vitamin deficiency in US Blacks; a group already anchored firmly down the economic ladder. It reminds BU of the H1N1 PR stunt. Now we are reading that tons of the H1N1 vaccine has to be dumped. Refund anyone?

  16. J Avatar
    J

    Dear Georgie Porgie:

    In order to further the discussion on Vitimin D (and it is my wish that every person living in Barbados would spend enough time in the sunshine and not need to buy vitimin D pills)

    Can you enighten us on the relatonship between the lack of sunshine (I will not say the lack of vitimin D) and multiple sclerosis (MS), especially among dark skinned and or very dark skinned people who live in the Northern hemisphere, especially the far Northern Hemisphere.

    Is it also true that the rate of MS increases as a society become more affuent and more people start to work indoors, to drive cars etc. and therefore spend much less time in the sunshine.

    Is it true therefore that in a sunny place like Barbados MS is excluisvely a disease of affluence? That it is never seen for example, in field, National Conservation Commission (NCC) and other outdoor workers?

    Is MS then (like rickets) essentially an entirely preventable 20th and 21st century disease disease.

    I ask because I know to many Bajans (including one very close relative) living in the Great White North, and who have no family history of disability who have become disabled by MS after 10 to 30 years of living in the North, and these are all people who were younger than 50 when diagnosed.

    Would it not therefore make sense for the FDA to increase the reccommended RDA for vitimin D, especially for apparently vulnerable groups, ie. people who live high in the Northern Hemisphere? People who live in equatorial regions but who spend little time outdoors? People who for religious reasons wear clothing which cover them from ankle to neck to wrist, and this may include devout Rastafarian and Muslim women and Catholic nuns.

    Would you as a physician have any concerns about whether primary school girls who are covered to the wrist, to the neck, to the ankle and also veiled are getting enough sunshine to enable their bodies to make enugh vitimin D for optimum health?

    These are not just idle questions. I know too many people who are suffering and I am wondering if there is not a cheap way to prevent more suffering?

  17. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    @ WOG

    No I did not consider your comments to be a challenge, nor do I consider you to be an expert. I thought that your comments were moronic mouthings, and your knowledge to be miniscule in quantity, and your understanding of the little you have grasped to be of poor quality.

    I sent my erudite excoriation to my current Biochem students and they enjoyed it immensely, as they reviewed the salient points of sugar absorption and processing in the hepatocytes.i

    Maggie can come and call me a buffoon now. I don’t care two hoots. This is good 3/10 teaching!

    Wog Since Biochemistry was way too hard for you, then you should listen and learn!

    I am not a Biochemist. I am a physician who loves and teaches Biochemistry, and understand what I am taking about.

    You may have a genetic disposition to diabetes and a desire to learn what excess sugar consumption can do to a human body, but that does not mean that your lengthy list of all the maladies allegedly caused by sugar is true, OR ELSE WE WOULD ALL BE DEAD. THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE WOULD NOW BE EXTINCT. OK?

    The allegation that a Vitamin D deficiency is making our kids more susceptible to asthma is bovine excrement, and excess sugar levels has nothing to do with either asthma or the diseases caused by Vitamin D deficiency. This has not been demonstrated!

    It is not true that excessive sugar consumption or rather the insulin production that excessive sugar consumption triggers is implicated in the etiology of asthma. IT JUST IS NOT SO.

    Re If overtime the body has to keep pumping more insulin to control spikes in sugar levels our cells become less responsive to the insulin.

    THAT IS NOT NECESSARILY SO EITHER. THE JOB OF INSULIN AND THE PANCREAS is to control spikes in sugar levels.

    By your argument if men keep on getting erections they will become impotent and suffer erectile dysfunction well before age 40! ( NOw we know why!)

    And if you kept urinating your kidneys would wear out, and if you kept going to defaecate your rectum would close up. And God help you if you got a good dose of food poisoning. And we ought to stop breathing and pumping blood through our poor hearts which work non stop.

    Re Insulin is an important and potent hormone which is implicated in several autoimmune diseases including Arthritis, ASTHMA , Allergies etc.

    THIS IS HIGHLY PURIFIED BOVINE EXCREMENT BUT BULL SHIT NEVERTHELESS.

    All hormones are important and potent!
    Kindly name the diseases caused by high insulin levels.
    Ask your self what causes high insulin levels.
    List the diseases in which there are high insulin levels.
    Do you think that insulin just floats around in the body just so willy nilly in a slap dash hodge podge way just because you have holes in your dense brain?

    Have you heard of the first pass effect of all chemicals passing through the liver?
    Have you heard of the half time that refers to elimination of chemicals from the body?
    .
    Insulin is of course a chemical OK It’s a protein. That’s why it is not given orally. It would be digested before it even got a chance to work. Bet you didnt know that! LOL

    Go read up these things and then come and tell us how many times any given amount of insulin will pass through the liver, and how long it would be swimming in the blood.

    Diabetes, is due inter alia to a lack of insulin or production of dysfunctional insulin or diseases of the pancreas- OF WHICH ALCOHOLISM IS PERHAPS THE LEADING CAUSE IN BARBADOS!

    I guess you can say that alcohoiism is due to abusing sugar– except that the aldehyde and ketone functions of the sugar has been converted to alcoholic functions. LOL Sugar neverther less Right! LOL

    Woggy insulin dont respond to sugars in that form though LOL

    Diabetes is itself now thought to be an autoimmune disease, just as many forms of arthritis is . Most asthmatics have ATOPY and a predisposition to allergies.

    Re The human body doesn’t care if elevated blood sugar results from an overdose of simple or complex carbssugars , it simply knows to respond to the spike in sugar levels by producing more insulin to control & move the sugar into the cells & muscles.

    ACTUALLY IT DOES!
    Simple sugars pass through the digestive system quickly. And you soon feel hungry. And if you took too much you might actually go slightly hyPOglycemic because of insuln overshoot.

    When you take complex sugars the bulk of the food tells the SATIETY CENTER IN YOUR BODY THAT YOU ARE FULL and you tend to stop eating.

    In addition, less sugar is absorbed from COMPLEX SUGARS. Complex sugar is found in food derived from plants. Most carbohydrates in plant is CELLULOSE. WE CAN NOT DIGEST IT! Such sugar is slowly absorbed and does not cause the spikes you are talking about.

    Furthermore, the foods from which complex sugars are derived are good for fibre and roughage and decease the tendency to colon diseases including cancer of the colon. IT DOES MATTER IF YOU IBBE COMPLEX SUGAR.

    There is more to life than insulin levels. You seem to have a fixation on sugar, insulin and diabetes, but sugar levels in the blood are also controlled by EPINEPHRINE AND GLUCAGON.

    Go read that for homework sonny! Don’t come back to class until you do.

    Re If overtime the body has to keep pumping more insulin to control spikes in sugar levels our cells become less responsive to the insulin. PARTLY TRUE BUT THAT IS ITS JOB. Is the answer NOT to take in glucose? HOW WILL THE BODY RUN?

    METABOLIC PATHWAYS THAT HANDLE GLUCOSE ARE THEMAJOR AND CENTRAL PATHWAYS IN THE BODY

    How will you make glycerol? ATP i.e energy? Ribose and deoxy ribose for DNA as your cells replicate.? NADPH for synyhestic purposes and for use in dealing with antioxidants and free radicals. (NOW BOTH OF THESE ARE KNOWN TO BE INVOLVED IN DEISEASE CAUSATION).

    How will you make glycogen for storage? How will you make the so called glucogenic amino acids?.

    Sugar must not be abused but it must be used. Or we will all be evincing signs of betzpaenia, and poor cerebration as you exhibit.

    Bring the reproducible proof that excessive sugar consumption is a cause of the increase in the incidence of ASTHMA in our kids, and all the diseases that you say are caused by high glucose levels. You talk as though folk are sitting in bed with a glucose drip going!.

    And most of the obesity around is not only due to increased levels of carbs in the diet BUT PROBABLY MORE SO TO INCREASED LEVELS OF FATS AND PROTEINS WHICH ARE ALSO BOTH BROKEN DOWN TO ACETYL- COA, which is the basic building blocks for fat and cholesterol synthesis etc.

    If you are a business man stick to that. Leave the Biochemistry to those who understand it. And listen better, and you will learn more, to add to the little you think you know, and which you think is ALL that is known or that one needs to know.

  18. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    David
    It is very unfortunate, but a lot of academics today are sponsored by big business. In some cases to get a job in the USA to teach Basic Biology that is taught at A level at home, one must not only have a PhD but to be able to attract grants, and be willing to do “research” that will attract further grants to keep you employed.

    You don’t have to be too smart to figure that if you are paying my salary, that the results of my “research” might reflect the views of your company. I am not saying that ALL academics fit into this mould.

    Furthermore when you hear about “peer review” some of that is also BS. I have heard and read of persons who exposed colleagues for presenting false info, who have been “black balled,” as a result of their telling the truth.

    Though it is definitely true that many studies have been published by so called doctors (experts) which only have the result in shaping buying behaviour, I don’t really think that the H1N1 upsurge was just a PR stunt, because it is also true that the epidemic was some how aborted- and faster than was expected . Many folk did actually die. It was, and is still feared that the virus will mutate and cause further outbreaks. The same is feared with respect to the avian flu.

    J

    I don’t know enough about MS to pontificate thereon Sorry.
    I have a childhood friend who falls into the category of which you speak and who was younger than 50 when diagnosed.

    I don’t think that increasing the recommended RDA for vitimin D, is wise unless there is good monitoring and the dose is titrated to an effective level—which might not be the same for every one depending on their age, sex size ethnicity etc

    There is a cheap way of prevent more suffering from many maladies, including interest by health authorities, discipline education and encouragement by peer groups.

  19. David Avatar
    David

    @GP

    Though it is definitely true that many studies have been published by so called doctors (experts) which only have the result in shaping buying behaviour, I don’t really think that the H1N1 upsurge was just a PR stunt, because it is also true that the epidemic was some how aborted- and faster than was expected . Many folk did actually die. It was, and is still feared that the virus will mutate and cause further outbreaks. The same is feared with respect to the avian flu.

    The question mark, and correct BU if we are incorrect is that there is no guarantee the H1N1 vaccine will protect against the H1N1 if it mutates. Not to rehash this debate but people die every day from influenza.

  20. ''''''FIRE'''''' Avatar
    ”””FIRE”””

    STOP CALLING PEOPLE by derogatory NAMES MR GEORGIE PORGIE

  21. ''''''FIRE'''''' Avatar
    ”””FIRE”””

    MR GRORGIE PORGIE ! Stop calling people by derogatory names. You can spout your information without that approach

    APOLOGISE NOW !!!!!!!

  22. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    David

    I was not refuting your point Sir.

    And you are quite correct that there is no guarantee the H1N1 vaccine will protect against the H1N1 if it mutates.

    And you are also correct that people die frequently secondary to attacks of the influenza virus.

    I have never debated to the contrary Sir.

    But remember some of the anti viral medication used in the treatment of either influenza and H1N1 is/were/ will not be vaccines.

  23. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    J, I am NOT an expert on medicine or even trained, but to my knowledge, MS is not triggered by a lack of Vit D oer se. I know someone who lives in the islands and had MS from young (early 30’s).

    MS is apparently due to eroded protected fibers covering nerves. Now, the cause of this erosion is the issue.

    I wonder if it has to do with general nutrition, some specific imbalance say LDL or other building blocks of cells, or is specifically an auto-immune disease?

    The person I know was an excellent sportsman in early years, never overweight nor unfit, thus, a classic case of someone who does not fit the ‘bill’.

    If you push me, as a complete non-medical person, to voice my uneducated opinion, I would blame the cause as a virus, maybe brining out a genetic weakness.

    I personally believe that viruses have much to answer for.

    By the way, on the topic of viruses, I trust that everyone is aware that the current production anti-biotics will not work for much longer, at least according to popular ‘news’.

    Yesterday Avian Flu, today H1N1, tomorrow?

    I think that the next virus may well be the ‘runaway’ one.

    Bear in mind that H1N1 followed not long on the heels of the Avian Flu. Unusual?

  24. Christopher Halsall Avatar
    Christopher Halsall

    @Crusoe: “By the way, on the topic of viruses, I trust that everyone is aware that the current production anti-biotics will not work for much longer, at least according to popular ‘news’.

    I trust you, and everyone, knows that antibiotics don’t work very well against viruses?

    And while an “antibiotic” might work against 99.98% of a sample. But what does it do to the remain 0.02%?

    Answer: make it stronger….

  25. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Crusoe
    Not bad at all . MS has in indeed been blamed on eroded protected fibers covering nerves.

    Your suggestions for a cause definitely make much more sense than increased insulin or sugar levels.

    Viruses, general nutrition, or auto-immunity are good guesses, Sir.

    Viruses are to be blame for much more than we think.

    You of course know that antibiotics do not work for treating viral illnesses.

    Also there is a lot of trouble with antibiotics currently available because of resistance.

    Eschatologists agree with you in your opinion “Yesterday Avian Flu, today H1N1, tomorrow…. what? and that …” the next virus may well be the ‘runaway’ one.”

    In some medical circles I have heard there is fear of a merger of the H1N1 with the Avian Flu virus.

  26. J Avatar
    J

    Dear Crusoe: Did you friend play an indoor sport or an outdoor one?

  27. J Avatar
    J

    What if we discovered that sunshine is as essential for optimum health as food or water or exercise?

  28. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    Georgie Porgie, thanks for your confirmation that these possibilities are reasonable.

    Also, (Halsall also), yes, I am aware, that anti-biotics are to address bacterial infection rather than viruses themselves. Sometimes the infection comes from the persistance of symptoms of the virus, correct?

    J, outdoor sport. And his job involved a mixture of indoor and outdoor work i.e. he was not stuck in an office all day.

    J // April 11, 2010 at 12:44 AM ‘What if we discovered that sunshine is as essential for optimum health as food or water or exercise?’

    Technically all physical life comes from the sun, no? All life is energy, no? I am not getting into the theological here, merely the physical.

    So, the sun is important. Sometimes it is nice to look and open to the sun and feel the warmth (energy?) soak in.

    BUT, to blame insufficiency of Vitamin ‘D’ per se on specific illnesses, while on the face may thus seem possible (if we interpret that the sun is necessary), it does not explain cases such as the one I know.

    I am a ‘logical’ person, thus I will, as I said, in uneducated opinion, say that while the sun, Vitamins etc must be necessary, that alone is not enough support for a sound basis of decision. Especially when we have nasty things like viruses flying around. I also know someone who seemed basically fine, then had a nasty virus, whatever it was, when treated, the doctor noted that blood glucose levels were elevated and the person is a diabetic now.

    I personally had dengue fever a few years back. What that did to me, laid me virtually immobile, sucked every bit of energy from me, I understand the dangers of viruses.

    I was fairly strong and young, but that thing whacked me for six, took me a few weeks to get back to ‘normal’ energy.

    So, if I had a strong genetic weakness to something, I think it would have been brought out by that? Or put another way, if it was someone with a strong disposition (family) to diabetes or personal genetic weakness to MS or something else, I think that hammering would have opened it up. I was lucky is all.

    That is just my uneducated opinion.

  29. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    By the way, the case of MS I know personally, came on very suddenly.

    Another case I know of, in England, the sister of a friend, I understand that also came on suddenly, another young person (early 30’s).

    I do not know her lifestyle etc.

    The thing is, why did these come on suddenly? Surely if there is a deficiency, there should be slow decline from the symptoms? Unless of course, there is a ‘threshold’ beyond which the deficiency becomes a problem or the cumulative effect suddenly manifests?

    But, personally I think it strange that the effect seems so sudden. Could this suddenness not indicate a fast and furious attack on body defences i.e. a virus?

    Just a thought.

  30. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @Georgie Porgie,
    Thanks for your information about Athsma especially this.
    “WHAT IS NECESSARY IS TO MASTER THE PREVENTION.”

    A doctor in Barbados told me that in 1980 when he prescribed what I think was a corticosteroid along with “ventolin”.

    I have only been hospitalised for Athsma once since then; that was in 1988 and that was because I was careless.

    For the last 3 years I have been taking Advair and Ventolin continuously and I can swim an run bout.

    I will continue to follow the “Medical teachings” of Dr.GP

  31. ''''''FIRE'''''' Avatar
    ”””FIRE”””

    GEORGIE PORGIE !!
    you were asked to apologise

  32. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    There is an interesting story on the CTV.ca website about a new MS treatment.

    “Since then, patients have scrambled to learn more about the theory, promoted by Italy’s Dr. Paolo Zamboni.

    Zamboni believes that malformed veins cause blood from their brain to drain improperly, sending it back to their brain, and potentially setting off the immune response that marks MS.”

  33. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Crusoe
    You may go to the head of the class!
    Antibiotics are designed to preferentially (as much as possible) put out of action features of a microbes metabolism or structure with out damaging the patient to whom they are given.

    Antibiotics are thus not effective against viruses because viruses get into the cells of the patient and use the patient’s cellular mechanism for its purposes. So to destroy viruses you would be destroying the cells of the patient. It is for this reason that antibiotics don’t do anything for viral illnesses. However, viral illnesses might cause opportunistic bacteria to flourish. For example influenza might predispose to a bacterial pneumonia. In such cases antibiotics are exhibited.

    Technically all physical life does come from the energy of sun. In fact in two scriptures the Bible teaches that ALL FLESH IS GRASS- a scientific statement that can not be refuted.

    Vitamin D deficiency is definitely the cause of rickets and osteoporosis as demonstrated n the pictures in my first ppt on this thread. But Vitamin D deficiency has not been proven to cause all the illnesses listed in the articles cited by Researcher nor has sugar been implicated in all the diseases cited by Woggy.

    The Vitamin B vitamins ate absolutely necessary as they are co enzymes in many biochemical reactions in the body.

    Viruses by causing a pancreatitis can lead to diabetes by causing an induction of substances that do not recognize the pancreas or the insulin there produced as the body’s own proteins. This is essentially what happens in autoimmune diseases. The incident you cite is probably more common than you/we think

    You might have been lucky with your attack of dengue fever. I know of a person who developed arthritic symptoms following such an attack.

    Your again correct in your opinion that rapid onset of symptoms is more likely to be due to viral or other infection that a nutritional deficiency. I would accept a person like you in any of my Basic Science classes. You obviously seem to have what it takes.

  34. DOLPHIN MOUT Avatar
    DOLPHIN MOUT

    forget BREAD –eat breadfruit or breadnut if yuh want to eat any bread.

    Ther bread of today is not the same bread of bible days.

    The bread of today is made of de-natured processed white flour with additives that together are detrimental to the health and well being of humans.

    The yeast contained in bread together with the excess sugars from overeating leads to fermentation in the gut and we know what are the by products of fermentation.

    Please avoid bread , eat breadfruit.

    We are so ignorant that some us actually look down on breadfruit as some inferior food but we go to the supermarket and buy crap such as dirty, nasty stinking sweet drinks. I see people who buy drinks as if it is some religious rite.—Every day they must buy and consume dirty nasty stinking sweet drinks–Avoid coke –some people must have a coke or three everyday–ridiculous !!

    Some people’s stomach smell so bad , it aint funny–all the junk absorbed therin.
    And unlike the old people, these nowadays generation do not PURGE.

    I am not an old person but I know of these things.

    EAT a well baked sweet potato .

  35. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    @ Dr. GP

    Man, you trying to scare the BU family drinkers like Hants and myself? What am I supposed to do with the batch of wine I made last Fall? Did I mention the Macallans he brought back from Vegas this morning. Anyway, I am only a teetotaler.

    Good slide presentation that the very simple minded can understand. Even those suffering brain liquefaction and what do you call those large gaps in the brain again, I closed the presentatio. Anyway, you know what I mean.

    Now, a question arose from the slides. It is to do with the parathyroid. A friend’s sister’s Dentist saw a growth (cancer) in her throat when she was 19. It was removed along with the parathyroids. At the hospital they forgot to administer some hormone/drug or something to replace the function of the parathyroids. It resulted in her becoming practically paralysed so that she could not walk and was in a wheelchair. The problem was corrected and she is okay now and is about 40 and working as a bus driver.

    What was the problem here. What actually happened, how did this occur and how was it corrected. Thanks, Pat.

  36. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    Correction:

    Did I mention the Macallans he brought back from Vegas this morning.
    **********************

    Should read: the Macallans my son brought back from Vegas this morning.

  37. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Pat

    I am glad that you understood and enjoyed my slides on the damage that likkers can do to the liver. The liver is so good it often resists until 90% of it is destroyed!

    I see that you like you really sunk your teeth into that Pathology!
    .
    I am not trying to scare a soul, ma dear I was just sharing a few power points. LOL

    You can cook with the wine like these top chefs LOL. You related to Hants?

    If the parathyroids is removed you give extracts of parathyroid hormone PTH by injection. The parathyroid is important for regulating calcium levels . Calcium is a very important mineral in our diets.

  38. Flabbergasted Avatar
    Flabbergasted

    It seems to me that there is not much or no empathy by the Health Care profession for sick and terminally ill patients.

    There is an article worth reading in today’s Nation News, titled “Son in Dire Need of Operation.”

    http://www.nationnews.com/news/local/Mum-in-distress-copy-for-web

  39. Morce Avatar
    Morce

    Look people, Canada has one of the best health care systems in the world and they never linked asthma to vitamin d , they talk about allergies , clean air and so fort also diet., baygon, flick , lead paint, mosquito coils and other bug spray .
    Vitamin d is good for your bones and for fighting cancer.
    A very good website is WWW. ASTHMA.CA, here you will get tons of information from Canada on asthma.
    help the old folks here>> ripe bananas controls high blood pressure,red grapes also.
    cinnamon sticks controls high blood sugar (chewing)
    blue berries keeps away heart attacks,cancer and cleans the blood, detox.
    dog dumpling boil and drink the water once a month is like an engine tune up.
    god bless,help the old people in their suffering days, because they slave for us .
    I remember as a kid seeing the plantation manager in his land rover sitting up wind and my grandmother with the chemical spray can on her back inhaling all of the deadly chemicals,90% of the agriculturual labors from cliff ,St.John died from lung cancer.
    A lot of banned medication from north america find they way to the caribbean, and mainly they will help your problem some what but create a bigger problem, one time a female Dr. give me the wrong medication and Dr. told to throw them in the garbage right away , I had the flu and she prescribed mad patient pills .
    How many drug stores throw away expired medication in Barbados?, you the patient don`t know , expired medication can cause some serious side effects, think about it!
    morce

  40. body face Avatar
    body face

    Hi, Nice post!

    I really like it especially the part “At this stage more research is required to conclusively prove that a low level of Vitamin D is responsible for causing asthma in African-American children.”

    I will surely reading your other posts.
    Thanks!

  41. James Avatar
    James

    Some of the posters who commented seem to have missed the point that vitamin D is not necessarily a cause of asthma but it is a factor in worsening it. Vitamin D is actually considered a steroid by many medical experts because its puroses and effects in the body surpase that of most other vitamins.

    A great deal of research has been conducted on this association and darker skinned groups of people were found to be D-deficient more often in some of the studies than were lighter skinned. The participants were also, often in countries that have rich abundance of sunshine but this did not prevent the widespread deficiency among them.

    Vitamin D is an immune system moderator and a natural anti-inflammatory in the body. It would be even stranger if low D did not increase the effects of inflammatory diseases, including asthma. Common sense.

  42. wonderfulflowergarden.com Avatar
    wonderfulflowergarden.com

    High blood levels of vitamins to also include magnesium and calcium. Magnesium is a good vitamin for high blood pressure and that this deficiency can cause blood pressure. It can also be found in green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, purslane, poppy seeds and green beans.

  43. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Magnesium and calcium are NOT vitamins. They are minerals.

    Magnesium is a cofactor used to stabilize enzyme substrate complexes .

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