Diet and disease are connected, doctor contends

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Diet and disease are connected, doctor contends

Dr. Bland spoke Monday, during the Aspen Center for Integrative

Health’s fifth annual symposium, “You Bet Your Life.” Mark Fox/The

Aspen Times

By Colson

July 28, 2005

Arthritis, diabetes and heart disease are not the " silo diseases " they

have historically been considered, with little or no relation to one

another or to other " systemic " physical maladies, according to a doctor

who spoke in Aspen earlier this week.

The three ailments, along with cancer, Alzheimer's and other chronic

maladies, are linked to one degree or another with various types of

inflammation that regularly afflict the human body, said Dr.

Bland, a corporate leader in the field of " nutritional medicine. "

And the best way to avoid critical complications from inflammation, he

said, is to eat " the best medicine " - good food, scientifically

selected to target to specific physical problems, as well as improve

general well-being.

Bland was speaking at the fifth annual Aspen Center for Integrative

Health symposium, where the group's mission is " to educate doctors and

health care professionals, patients, and the public on validated

integrative healing therapies, on cutting-edge prevention programs, and

on the effects of the environment on health. "

The list of speakers was assembled under the topical headline, " You Bet

Your Life, " because, as described in the symposium literature, " Every

day we literally bet our lives on a myriad of choices we make - to do,

or not to do, things that affect our health and longevity. "

As a medical student in the mid-1960s, Bland rejected the traditional

view that arthritis, diabetes and heart disease could only be treated

using established medical practices that did nothing to study the

underlying cause of the ailments, but simply treated the symptoms.

Rather, Bland started a company dedicated to educating physicians about

the benefits of preventative medicine at a corporate campus in Gig

Harbor, Washington.

His company, Metagenics, employs 160 people, nearly a third of whom are

clinical researchers working in what he termed " cross-functional " ways

to combine their knowledge and to open lines of communication between

different scientific disciplines.

Bland said one thing scientists recently have found is that there are

some cultures without high " inflammatory potential, " meaning people are

not exposed to the kinds of stress, food and other factors he believes

leads to inflammation and chronic disease. And these cultures, he said,

actually have lower rates of heart disease, arthritis and diabetes.

Bland contends that different kinds of food send different " messages "

to the cells in a body concerning how to act and react.

" Food is information. We are receivers of that information, " he

declared, with the warning, " We may have broken the signal of food. "

He believes many diseases are caused more by environmental factors than

by genetic predisposition. For example, only 80 percent of women with

the so-called " breast cancer gene " actually develop breast cancer.

" What about those other 20 percent, " he asked rhetorically, answering

his own question by suggesting that breast cancer, like other chronic

diseases, might be brought about by human habits and behaviors.

Bland said the causes of these kinds of diseases should be viewed as

" mechanisms, " and that such factors as diet are a big part of what

drives these mechanisms.

" The age of the diagnosis is coming to an end, " he said, referring to

the practice in which doctors diagnose a disease as though it were

standing alone, in isolation from other diseases or causative factors,

and treat it in a similar way.

Instead, we are moving toward the view that diseases are caused by

" mechanisms " that can be detected and altered, and that chronic

diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, dementia and heart disease could

come from common causes, and could be treatable with common curative

regimens.

He cited one case in which a woman was treated for rheumatoid arthritis

by putting her on a special " Mediterranean diet " that, among other

things, excluded wheat. It turned out, after the treatment regimen had

been completed and tests conducted, the woman had an allergy to gluten,

a component of wheat. As a result of the treatments, the woman lost

weight, the swelling of her joints was reduced and her range of motion

was increased.

Another patient complained of excessive weight gain, high blood

pressure, heartburn and abdominal bloating, along with " generalized

fatigue. " By changing his diet, the man lost weight, his other symptoms

improved and the chronic pain he experienced in his left knee

disappeared.

Bland noted that if he told these stories to an audience of traditional

doctors, the first question would be, " What drugs did you use? "

But, he stated, " We didn't use drugs, we used the best medicine, " a

dietary regimen that he said sends " cool down " messages to the cells,

reduces inflammation and improves a range of bodily functions.

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20050728/NEWS/107280025