e, broad-spectrum varieties when possible. Another interesting recommendation was to ask patients to stop pressuring their doctors for antibiotics that they do not need (for example, treatment of viral infections), because many doctors apparently cannot turn them down, even when they know better!
Some interesting facts:5
Researchers at the City University of New York have traced the path dioxin takes on its way to the Great Lakes area. They have determined that about half of the compounds originate from incinerators in Florida, Texas, and Utah.7 Most of the sources are incinerated medical and municipal wastes. The chemical is carried in vapor and dust particles, then brought to the ground in rain drops to contaminate grass and feed. It then accumulates in fatty tissues of animals such as cattle. Consumption of beef and dairy products is the main way dioxin enters humans.
Carry It on Your Head, Not Your Shoulder
Studies show that African tribal women who carry loads of up to 20 percent of their body weight on their heads burn no extra calories as a result of the burden. Apparently, gait biomechanics are much more efficient when weight is carried in this manner.8 It has also been shown that weights up to 70 percent are carried more efficiently in this manner than when using backpacks. I wonder how well they hold an atlas adjustment?
High Fat Diet for Epilepsy
The Ketogenic diet, an old treatment for epilepsy, is growing in popularity among many physicians. Why the high fat, low carbohydrate diet works is not known, but studies done in the 1970s have proven its value.9 High fat consumption was first proposed for epilepsy in the 1920s when it was observed that fasting improved the clinical picture for epileptics. However, the advent of anti-seizure drugs lessened popularity of the diet.
Weight gain from the diet does not seem to be a problem, in fact some patients lose weight.
Driven by the fear of cholesterol in egg yolks, American consumption of eggs has dropped by 25 percent per capita since 1960. Now, some nutritionists are suggesting that eggs may not be as bad as a superficial dietary analysis might indicate. In an average individual, about 25 percent of the cholesterol in the bloodstream comes directly from dietary cholesterol. But decrease the intake, and the liver manufactures more. Increase it, and less is produced in the body. "For the majority of people, taking eggs out of the diet does nothing," says the chairman of a recent American Heart Association conference on the links between diet and cholesterol.10 It is thought that in a portion of the population, the liver does not properly regulate its cholesterol output. It seems that dietary gurus may have been applying data from this group across the board to the entire population.
A study at Columbia University on medical students consuming low-fat meals found that the addition of eggs to the diet produced three different results in the volunteers' blood cholesterol levels: they either went up, down, or stayed the same. A few years ago, one 88-year-old man who had eaten 25 eggs per day for 15 years tested out at a cholesterol level below 200.11
A few nutritionists are vocalizing the concern that older persons, who may be picky eaters anyway, are being scared away from nutritious meals because of the "cholesterol" word. However, many still maintain that eggs should be excluded from the diet. For example, the chancellor of a medical center in New Orleans recently said, "It's probably prudent not to push eggs. What is the value of eating egg yolks? I don't know of any."12
Lung Cancer and Former Smokers
A study of 685 lung cancer patients at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston13 has gathered some statistics about smoking and that disease. Patients who smoked comprised 41 percent of the group, a statistic which by itself might lead one to believe that smoking has little effect on lung cancer. However, 51 percent of the group were former smokers, leaving only eight percent who never smoked. The average former smoker had quit six years before, though about one-quarter