The following is a portion of the interview referenced in the Feb. 14, 2009 "blog" (pages four to six). It follows HERE for continuity although the dates are reversed (does that make sense?).
Dr. Strand: I mean, [there are] well-documented health benefits for taking supplements and health benefits that we know of from exercising and eating a healthy diet. If people would just do that, then they wouldn’t have to see me that much. We are starting to see about six or seven types of causes of death in the country, outside of prescription medication, which are really closely tied to our lifestyle. People need to know that heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke -- I mean the list goes on and on -- are really closely related and can be prevented by a healthier lifestyle. So I have really changed my practice to be more involved in wellness and health -- a part of which is teaching people healthy lifestyles. That’s where I have gone in the last ten years.
Mike: What a fascinating journey. I am curious, do you prescribe nutritional supplements to your patients, then?
Dr. Strand: I certainly do, and I believe that there is a strong health benefit. When my peers come up to me and ask, "Ray, why do you recommend vitamins to your patient?" I will look at them and say, "Well, have you ever recommended exercise to your patients?" They reply, "Well, of course I do." I ask, "Why do you do that?" They respond, "I think that my patients who exercise have a health benefit over those who don’t." I ask, "Well, what do you base that on?" They answer, "I base that on the medical literature." I tell them, "You are treating a disease, then." They say, "No." I could say the same thing about the healthy diet -- eating your fruits and vegetables. There are health benefits from eating eight to twelve servings of fruits and vegetables each day. When you study the medical literature, you understand, without a doubt, that patients who take a complete balance of optimal levels of high-quality nutritional supplements have a health benefit over those who don’t. So I don’t look at it as treating a disease. I look at it as a health benefit that improves their health. So we are just building up the body’s natural immune system -- the natural repair system, or what is referred to as the antioxidant defense system. You start to understand that nutritional supplements can decrease what I call the free radical damage, or the dark side of oxygen -- we're basically rusting inside. You start to understand this more and more. You start to realize that drugs aren’t going to be the answer for decreasing the risk of cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s or dementia. But when we initiate these healthy lifestyles, we can actually reduce our risk and, in a lot of cases, eliminate that risk.
Mike: I think that most consumers who take the time to educate themselves about wellness and disease prevention would agree with everything you just said. But let me play devil's advocate for a second here. There is so much information in the popular press about how all you need is three balanced meals a day, and about how nutritional supplements are a waste of money. I mean, even the American Heart Association has now come out against vitamin E, and their stand against vitamins is legendary. How do you account for this great disparity between the medical literature and the popular line?
Dr. Strand: Well, first of all, the American Medical Association came out two years ago stating that multiple vitamins should be taken by everybody, which is a major change for them. The problem that you run into is that everybody looks at vitamin E, or calcium, or selenium, or something else as a drug, and that’s how we do our research. So everybody looks at it as a drug, and that’s the way the doctors look at it. But what you really find out, is that vitamin E is really not a drug. It is just a nutrient that we should be getting from our food. Because of supplementation now, we can get it at levels you can't obtain from food. If you really study the medical literature, an overwhelming number of studies, even when they do a study on one nutrient at a time, show a significant health benefit. However, there are studies out there that show that if you use one nutrient by itself at higher level, it can actually cause oxidative stress or more free radical production. That is where the problem comes in when you see a negative study. They have to understand synergy and the use of all these nutrients in a complete and balanced fashion, just like you do in your food. So there is a concept that I have presented in my book called cellular nutrition. Cellular nutrition is providing all the nutrients to the cell at these optimal levels, which have been shown to provide a health benefit in our medical literature, and not at Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) levels. RDAs have absolutely nothing to do with chronic degenerative diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, dementia, macular degeneration and arthritis.
Lorraine here: Just a portion of the eleven page interview. Please click here to access the entire document.
Dr. Strand: I mean, [there are] well-documented health benefits for taking supplements and health benefits that we know of from exercising and eating a healthy diet. If people would just do that, then they wouldn’t have to see me that much. We are starting to see about six or seven types of causes of death in the country, outside of prescription medication, which are really closely tied to our lifestyle. People need to know that heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke -- I mean the list goes on and on -- are really closely related and can be prevented by a healthier lifestyle. So I have really changed my practice to be more involved in wellness and health -- a part of which is teaching people healthy lifestyles. That’s where I have gone in the last ten years.
Mike: What a fascinating journey. I am curious, do you prescribe nutritional supplements to your patients, then?
Dr. Strand: I certainly do, and I believe that there is a strong health benefit. When my peers come up to me and ask, "Ray, why do you recommend vitamins to your patient?" I will look at them and say, "Well, have you ever recommended exercise to your patients?" They reply, "Well, of course I do." I ask, "Why do you do that?" They respond, "I think that my patients who exercise have a health benefit over those who don’t." I ask, "Well, what do you base that on?" They answer, "I base that on the medical literature." I tell them, "You are treating a disease, then." They say, "No." I could say the same thing about the healthy diet -- eating your fruits and vegetables. There are health benefits from eating eight to twelve servings of fruits and vegetables each day. When you study the medical literature, you understand, without a doubt, that patients who take a complete balance of optimal levels of high-quality nutritional supplements have a health benefit over those who don’t. So I don’t look at it as treating a disease. I look at it as a health benefit that improves their health. So we are just building up the body’s natural immune system -- the natural repair system, or what is referred to as the antioxidant defense system. You start to understand that nutritional supplements can decrease what I call the free radical damage, or the dark side of oxygen -- we're basically rusting inside. You start to understand this more and more. You start to realize that drugs aren’t going to be the answer for decreasing the risk of cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s or dementia. But when we initiate these healthy lifestyles, we can actually reduce our risk and, in a lot of cases, eliminate that risk.
Mike: I think that most consumers who take the time to educate themselves about wellness and disease prevention would agree with everything you just said. But let me play devil's advocate for a second here. There is so much information in the popular press about how all you need is three balanced meals a day, and about how nutritional supplements are a waste of money. I mean, even the American Heart Association has now come out against vitamin E, and their stand against vitamins is legendary. How do you account for this great disparity between the medical literature and the popular line?
Dr. Strand: Well, first of all, the American Medical Association came out two years ago stating that multiple vitamins should be taken by everybody, which is a major change for them. The problem that you run into is that everybody looks at vitamin E, or calcium, or selenium, or something else as a drug, and that’s how we do our research. So everybody looks at it as a drug, and that’s the way the doctors look at it. But what you really find out, is that vitamin E is really not a drug. It is just a nutrient that we should be getting from our food. Because of supplementation now, we can get it at levels you can't obtain from food. If you really study the medical literature, an overwhelming number of studies, even when they do a study on one nutrient at a time, show a significant health benefit. However, there are studies out there that show that if you use one nutrient by itself at higher level, it can actually cause oxidative stress or more free radical production. That is where the problem comes in when you see a negative study. They have to understand synergy and the use of all these nutrients in a complete and balanced fashion, just like you do in your food. So there is a concept that I have presented in my book called cellular nutrition. Cellular nutrition is providing all the nutrients to the cell at these optimal levels, which have been shown to provide a health benefit in our medical literature, and not at Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) levels. RDAs have absolutely nothing to do with chronic degenerative diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, dementia, macular degeneration and arthritis.
Lorraine here: Just a portion of the eleven page interview. Please click here to access the entire document.
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