There are natural products with science you can trust. Dr. Darryl See discovered that, as you will observe from the following notes. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did. This is really exciting.
Notes from Dr. Darryl See: June 9, 1998
Written by Noni Kaufmann (edited for clarity)
Dr. See is Associate Professor of Medicine, Irvine Medical School, University of California. He works in the Division of Infectious Disease, concentrating on unusual and serious immune system disorders (cancer, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, AIDS, etc.). He has been funded by grants from the (US) National Institutes of Health to study immune system and anti-viral effects. He is one of only a few physicians in the country to receive such grants to study potential benefits of natural substances. He has spent the last five years studying over 450 natural substances for anti-viral and immunological effects and finds 90% of what he’s studied to be placebo or insignificant in terms of immune system effect. Dr. See’s research lab is one of very few labs in the country set up to study immune system effects in cell cultures. Dr. See also has a clinical practice where he gets referrals from other doctors of patients with serious disease they have been unable to help. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has become a frequent visitor to his lab to validate that his testing is being done appropriately.
Research with Glyconutritionals
Dr. See began his research with glyconutritionals (GNs) following a patient’s request to analyze the GNs in capsule form. Because of the benefits she was experiencing she was curious to see what he would find. He pursued testing the GNs in the normal way he approaches any research. He tests for toxicity first, and then looks to see if there is any effect on natural killer cells (NK) since this is our main line of defence. Also, NK cells are responsible for immune surveillance for abnormal cells. Note:
we all get at least one cancer springing up in our body each day. The fact that it doesn’t take hold much of the time is because of the functioning of our natural killer cells. Further, the NK cells maintain immune system balance: making sure that the immune system is neither too sluggish or overly active.
Research indicates that during the last 16 years, the average, ‘healthy’ American has lost 25% of NK cell function, and the rate of decline is growing due to pollution and toxins. NK cells can be further negatively affected by stress, extremely vigorous exercise, pregnancy, physical or emotional trauma, and burns. When Dr. See provides GNs to the to the average person, the level of NK cells improves 50%. In the case of someone who has an advanced degenerative condition, it can improve as much as 800%. He could find no toxicity regardless of amount given when testing the GNs. His tests were repeated several times.
Enter the T Cells
In working with T cells, the doctor notes that T cells should be at rest most of the time until notified by T helper cells of a specific function they need to perform. (In people with autoimmune disorders, their T cells are chronically active instead of being at rest.) When he observes T cells in a healthy person and he adds GNs, nothing happens; they remain at rest appropriately. When a virus or bacteria are added, the T cells begin to activate. When GNs are additionally added with the virus or bacteria, the activity increases as much as double or triple. He notes that he’s never seen this type of result before. He has also observed that patients with overactive T cell function (e.g. Lupus) and those with underactive T cell function both respond well to the addition of GNs in their regimen. This was a surprising paradox to him until he started understanding the mechanism of function of the GNs. He wanted to understand how one dietary supplement could help people who had lowered, as well as those who had exaggerated, immunity. Dr. See studied the supplements in his laboratory for one year before use with patients in his practice.
Chronic Degenerative Disease
Dr. See finds that chronic degenerative disease results from two factors: oxidative stress where the cells lose their ability to prevent free radical damage and/or immune system dysfunction. Note: free radicals disrupt the equilibrium of biological systems by damaging major cell constituent molecules. This disrupts cell membrane function, which may eventually lead to cell death. Antioxidants are substances that, even in relatively low concentrations, significantly inhibit the rate of oxidation caused by free radicals. This finding regarding the two primary causes of disease are further evidence of Dr. Donald Rudin’s discussion of the "Modernization Disease Syndrome," where we are all subject to one disease with multiple manifestations due to our lifestyle factors dominated by a polluted environment and weakened food sources.
A Revolution in Medicine
When you treat cancer patients and Lupus patients with medications that block the NK cell function, they become subject to opportunistic infections. This is a double-edge sword: you are trying to eliminate the disorder, but at the same time weakening the immune system. But now we have a single agent in the GNs that can help both with the T cell function and the NK function. Dr. See feels that this result represents a revolution in medicine.
Appropriate Intake Levels
When testing blood with GNs, the concentration that Dr. See uses is 4 micrograms/ml. This is the equivalent of 1-2 capsules of the GNs. With 1 tsp. of bulk GNs you would be providing 20-30mcgs./ml. (He finds that with most supplements you have to use large amounts and he suggests this level to be small.) With life-threatening and other serious conditions like cancer and MS, he finds that 1 /2 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon four times per day may be appropriate. The half-life of GNs is about 4 hours, indicating you would want to divide your daily amount and use it at a few times each day.
Working with infants, one could give 1/16 teaspoon per day in order to give immune supporting benefits. Increase this as the child gets older. One can then add phytonutrient complex with GNs as the infant gets to be a toddler. The GNs will support the immune system, and one can anticipate the child getting less infections than children without such immune system support. Also, having a good phytonutrient complex should help with the anti-oxidant effect and potentially prevent aging of cells.
Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue
Exercise is important for Fibromyalgia patients and inappropriate for people with Chronic Fatigue. (Some people with CFS have Fibromyalgia as well.) Fibromyalgia patients have done well on the athlete’s version of dioscorea with GNs in capsules (2 in the morning and 2 at night), along with 6-9 dioscorea with GNs tablets each day. A topical form of dioscorea with GNs can be helpful as well. Fibromyalgia patients have a lot of lactic acid build up that can be addressed by the dioscorea supplements.
Infectability/adaptogenic Results
Adaptogens are substances that helps the body stay in balance (normalized) by helping the body to adapt to whatever negative influences enter the environment or terrain of the body. Medicine has always looked for an adaptogenic substance that could lower "infectability" to 0 when the body is invaded by a pathogen such as a bacteria, virus, etc. None has ever been found.
To test the infectability/adaptogenic results of GNs, Dr. See adds the HIV virus to blood samples and captures what happens within the blood and what remains in the medium. With this testing he has found that infectability is 100% without any supplementation, and with the addition of GNs infectability drops to 60%. He says this is because of raising the functioning of NK cells as well as the cell surfaces becoming armored with glycoproteins that block binding sites for the virus. Further, when he adds a phytonutrient complex with GNs, the infectability level drops to 30%. He finds this complex to be an excellent anti-oxidant. Glutathione (a natural occurring anti-oxidant in the body) levels skyrocket with this complex. When the body is invaded by viruses and bacteria and the cells try to battle the invasion, lots of free radicals are released which can cause further cell damage. If there is a strong anti-oxidant in the body, it is protected and the damage is lessened.
When he then adds a profiled vitamin/mineral with GNs, infectability drops further—to 10%! This is explained by the fact that vitamins provide co-factors with enzymes to stimulate a variety of processes in the cell which will include protecting killing off of virus, bacteria, etc. Adding an intestinal cleanse product that includes GNs further drops infectability to the 5-1% range.
Dr. See has never seen anything in the literature that comes close to finding this adaptogenic result. This has been the ‘philosophers’ stone’ of medicine up to this point in time. The ‘healthy’ person’s protection increases a thousand fold with minimum amounts of GNs: 1 each 3 times each day; phytonutrient complex with GNs, and the vitamin/mineral with GNs. The HIV patient may find an increased protection for their healthy cells of 100,000%.
Notes on Cleansing and Detoxification
When taking natural substances, some people will have a detoxification response causing them to not feel well for awhile. Dr. See has now explained this cleansing process, based on his research studies. (This process is something holistic practitioners have been talking about for years.) From a medical science point of view, he explains that detoxification is due to the body, even if ill, being in homeostasis (balance) at a certain point in time. When someone takes in powerful nutrients that help the immune system become more functional, there is sometimes rapid die off of old bacteria, virus and weakened cells. This can cause someone to feel ill. In many cases there are ‘occult’ pathogens that the immune system in its weakened state had not previously been able to identify and battle.
Also, the immune improvement can increase the pro-inflammatory cytokines that are part of normal immune system function, and this can make one feel ill also. This is the same effect that happens when one feels very ill with the flu. It is not the flu itself that makes you feel really terrible, but rather the immune system kicking in to get the virus out of your system. Some things that might help this process are slowing down on the supplements temporarily while the body reaches a new homeostasis with the new level of immune functioning, taking milk thistle to block some of the cytokine production, and taking a good colon cleanse with GNs product to help clear the intestines and liver of toxins. For people with serious immune compromised conditions who are very sensitive to new substances, taking a colon cleanse product that includes GNs for the first month along with the profiled vitamin/minerals, may be an appropriate route before adding GNs as a separate supplement. Others may want to get immediately started with the GNs and the other nutritional substances that have shown potential benefits for the adaptogenic effect.
Important Note:
These are initial findings in laboratory tests. While these results give evidence in support of certain nutritional substances, this information is not intended to give proof of cure of any disease condition or guarantee that any individual will get any particular results or protection when using specific dietary supplements.
For further information:
Eugene & Gloria Fox
P.O. Box 1022, Forest ON Canada N0N 1J0
Tel. (519) 786-4215
Fax (519) 786-6844
E-mail <euglofox@xcelco.on.ca>
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