Multivitamin/Mineral SupplementChoose a well-balanced supplement that contains significant amounts of both vitamins and minerals, including the trace minerals. I call this the “supplement foundation.” Your supplement should contain virtually all nutrients known to be essential for human health. This will of necessity NOT be a one-a-day, because manufacturers simply cannot squeeze biologically significant amounts of all nutrients into one little tablet. You will be taking from two to four capsules per day minimum, just with your foundation piece—the multivitamin/mineral.Make sure this foundation piece contains a well-rounded blend of both beta-carotene and vitamin A (around 15,000 to 25,000 IUs of beta carotene per dose), balanced В complex, from 500 to 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C, 100 IUs of vitamin D to enhance calcium absorption, 200 IUs of vitamin E, and a significant amount of all the minerals. The minerals should include calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper, iron, vanadium, chromium, selenium, boron, and about twenty of the trace minerals.I usually recommend that you select the capsule form instead of the tablet form; many tablets can be difficult to swallow and unless your digestion is optimum, a tablet may not break down adequately in your stomach. Because of the encapsulation process, you will need to take a few more capsules than tablets to get the dosage you require, but in the long run, you’ll benefit from the extra trouble.There are several excellent multivitamin supplements on the market available through your local health food store, GNC, or by calling the toll-free numbers in Appendix C. Some excellent brands are Nature’s Life, Source Naturals, Eclectic Institute, TwinLab, PREVAIL, Nature’s Secret, Country Life, Enzymatic Therapy, Solaray, and the Nutritionist Series.Other MineralsCalcium: Up to 1,000 milligrams per day. Do not use calcium carbonate, oyster shell, bonemeal, dolomite, eggshell, or other inorganic sources of calcium. Use calcium citrate, amino acid chelates, or calcium bonded to other amino acids. Many of the above companies provide excellent selections. Check Appendix С for more information on how to obtain these products.Magnesium: Up to 1,000 milligrams per day. Do not use magnesium oxide. Use magnesium glycinate, magnesium citrate, an amino acid chelate, or magnesium bonded to other amino acids. Many of the above companies provide excellent selections.Zinc: Up to fifty milligrams per day. Use either zinc picolinate or a zinc bonded to amino acids. Many of the above companies provide an excellent selection.Chromium: Up to 800 micrograms per day. Use either chromium picolinate or GTF chromium. Many of the above companies provide an excellent selection.Iron: Only use additional iron if you do not include red meat in your diet or if you have followed a vegetarian diet for a period of time, if you experience heavy bleeding during your menstrual cycle or have lost blood for other reasons, or if you have been diagnosed as iron deficient by your physician. Use no more than fifteen milligrams per day and do not use iron (or ferrous) fumerate, ferrous sulfate, or other inorganic sources of iron. Use iron citrate or an iron bonded to amino acids, along with additional vitamin С for maximum absorption. Many of the above companies provide an excellent selection.Essential Fatty Acids: To make up for years of an EFA-deficient diet, it is recommended that you use from two to four tablespoons of raw oil, preferably flaxseed oil, each day. This oil must be purchased fresh and kept refrigerated at all times to avoid rancidity. You may also purchase flaxseed oil capsules if you prefer. If you are using at least two tablespoons of olive oil per day (in your salad dressing, for example), you will only need two tablespoons of flaxseed oil per day (about six capsules). Excellent sources include Barlean’s, Nature’s Life, and Country Life.Some people also find great benefit from using evening primrose oil as part of their EFA program. From three to six capsules will suffice for most people. Remember, you have to eat fat to lose fat!*63\319\2* asterpharmacy.com

A. Vincristine, vinblastine, and VP-16 (etoposide)Bilirubin 3.1 mg/dL or SGOT >180 U/mL: hold dose.B. Adriamycin, daunorubicin, idarubicin, and actinomycin-DBilirubin 180 U/mL: give 25% dose.Bilirubin >5.0 mg/dL: hold dose.C. Methotrexate and cyclophosphamideBilirubin 5.0 mg/dL: hold dose.Restart at 5096 dose when bilirubin 5.0 mg/dL orSGOT >180 U/mL:CCNUBCNU5-FluorouracilCytosine arabinosideDacarbazine (DTIC)Procarbazine*38\168\2*

There are two general tests that detect HIV infection. Because HIV lives in blood cells, both are tests conducted on human blood, although tests using saliva and urine are expected soon. One blood test detects evidence of the virus itself; the other detects the antibody to the virus.     Tests for HIV-Three tests for HIV infection detect either the virus itself or parts of the virus in the blood. These tests are called (1) cultures for the virus, (2) P24 antigen tests, and (3) polymerase chain reaction (PCR).     Tests for HIV are more expensive, less well standardized, and less readily available than tests for the antibody to HIV. At present, the major uses of such tests are for the rare person whose test results for the antibodies to HIV are ambiguous, and for research studies.     Tests for Antibodies to HIV-The most common method for detecting HIV infection is the test to detect antibodies to the virus. Antibodies are proteins the body makes to kill any microbe that invades human tissues. If antibodies are present, the microbe also is, or has been, present. Testing has been done to identify antibodies to many microbes for several decades; it is a common method for finding the microbes that cause a multitude of infectious diseases.     Laboratories use two standard tests for detecting antibodies to HIV: an initial screening test called the ELISA, followed by a confirming test called the Western blot. The results of the tests are positive (meaning that the antibody is present), negative (meaning the antibody is not present), or indeterminant (meaning that the test results are inconclusive).     Indeterminant, false negative, and false positive results. The antibody test, on rare occasions, produces indeterminant or false results. Indeterminant results mean that the laboratory cannot determine definitely whether the results are positive or negative (see below, “Indeterminant Test Results”). People with indeterminant results are usually told to repeat the test in three months.     False results mean that the test results are inaccurate: they can be either falsely negative or falsely positive. A false negative result usually occurs because the test was taken too early during the course of the infection. After infection by most microbes, the body begins manufacturing antibodies within about two or three weeks. After infection with HIV, however, different people’s bodies produce antibodies over widely varying amounts of time: about half the people infected will produce antibodies and have positive blood tests within six weeks, most will have positive tests within three months, and some people do not produce antibodies after an even longer period, perhaps up to three years.     During this early period in the infection—after infection but before antibodies are manufactured—tests can be falsely negative, meaning that the person actually has HIV infection but the antibody test is negative.     The likelihood that a negative result is false is different for different people. A negative result is more likely to be false in people who are actively participating in high-risk behavior. A negative result is not likely to be false in people with low-risk behavior. For blood donors in general, the frequency of false negatives is vanishingly small: the standard antibody test will miss only 1 in 40,000 to 200,000 blood donors.     The results of the tests can also be falsely positive. The results can be falsely positive because the laboratory made an error or mixed up blood samples, or because the person has antibodies to miscellaneous proteins that incidentally resemble HIV. If the laboratory is reliable, and if both the ELISA and Western blot are done, the frequency with which the tests are falsely positive is also vanishingly small. In a study done purposefully to magnify the number of false positive results, the frequency with which tests were falsely positive was 1 in 135,000 tests.     The figures quoted above make the test for antibody to HIV one of the most accurate tests in medicine. Like other tests, it is subject to both human error and technological error. If there is reason seriously to question the results of the test, it is best simply to have it repeated. In the rare circumstance where repeat tests also leave questions, it is sometimes wise to take the test to detect the virus or parts of the virus.*253\191\2*

The humble soybean has had a meteoric rise to fame and fortune in Western countries during the last decade. Like any high profile rock star or movie idol, lots of media hype as well as several multi-million dollar marketing efforts have been essential to making this bean a household name. Making the soybean into a legitimate infant formula product has been a well-planned and expensive process. It certainly appears to have paid off since it is estimated that soy-based formulas account for $750 million of the $3 billion baby formulas market. And soy is still a bright star on the rise since sales have more than doubled in the last ten years.
According to Naomi Baumslag, clinical professor of pediatrics at Georgetown University Medical College, “Only 50 percent of newborns today suckle at the mother’s breast even once. After six months, the number has reduced to only one mother in five. Often mothers for the sake of convenience plunk soy bottles into the infant’s mouth.” In fact, nearly 2Q| percent of infants worldwide are fed soy formula, with 750,000 US    infants receiving soy formula every year.
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Virtually all depressed people experience sleep disturbance, particularly early-morning awakenings. As a rule the more severe the sleep disorder, the more serious the case of depression, at least as measured on standard psychiatric tests. Generally the depressed sleep less than normal individuals. However, about 15 to 20 percent of depressed people, including adolescents, may sleep more. In severe cases the victim obtains less total sleep and experiences more periods of wakefulness during the night than nondepressed people.
A great deal of research is currently being conducted to study the effects of depression on sleep cycles as detected through EEG tracings. For example, we know now that depressed patients show considerably more Stage 1 (light) sleep but less Stages 3-4 (deep) sleep than normal people. In some specific types of depression there is a shorter period of time, technically known as latency, between the onset of sleep and the first REM period. This reduced REM latency seems to be connected with other symptoms of depression, including loss of appetite, dulled mood, and the absence of pleasurable feelings. The depressive’s first REM period is usually long and active, while in normal people the busiest REM period occurs at the end of the night. Depressed people also have more REM episodes. I should point out, however, that it is possible to exhibit the sleep disturbances associated with depression without actually developing other symptoms of the illness. Similarly, impaired sleep continuity and loss of slow-wave sleep are common to many psychiatric disorders, including anxiety, obsessive-compulsive behavior, schizophrenia, and alcoholism.
These sleep abnormalities persist even beyond the period during which a depressed individual experiences symptoms. Eventually, it is thought, the EEG may help physicians refine their diagnosis of depressed patients to differentiate between some of the more subtle forms of the disorder as well as the other psychiatric conditions just noted. Approximately 90 percent of depres-sives show some form of EEG-verified sleep disturbance. Some experts believe that such clues as REM latency can be used to diagnose past or predict future occurrence of depression in certain patient types.
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If the B vitamin status of the nation was better fewer prescriptions for tranquillizers would be issued and there would be fewer worried tired, sad people around. But before you rush out for a bottle of B complex there are a few things to learn that might be helpful.
It is always best to be guided by a doctor or nutritionist about the supplements you need, but if this is not possible, here is some information on the supplements most commonly used. A hundred years ago this information would not have been necessary, but alas, the days when a good diet was the only precaution necessary against nutritional deficiencies have gone. The awful things that we do to food and to ourselves – polluted food, processed food, fad diets, hindrance of absorption by alcohol consumption, medical drugs and street drugs, as well as heavy consumption of tea and coffee all cause nutritional deficiencies. When you see how many of the vitamins and minerals depend on each other for their full use, you will see that it is essential to have a varied diet and a clean bowel in good working order.
Supplements should be regarded as a medicine; take them for a time (unless otherwise instructed by your physician) until health is restored; after that the situation should be reviewed.
The B Vitamins
If the B vitamin status of the nation was better fewer prescriptions for tranquillizers would be issued and there would be fewer worried tired, sad people around. But before you rush out for a bottle of B complex there are a few things to learn that might be helpful.
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As soon as you   Small glass of unsweetened juice, or a piece get up:   of fruit.
Breakfast:   More fruit juice and a cooked breakfast, such as grilled bacon, fish, eggs, baked beans, cold ham, cheese, or any protein dish, plus mushrooms or tomatoes.
Also one slice of wholemeal bread, two crisp-breads, rice cakes etc. with butter or margarine. Alternatively, have whole oat porridge sweetened with a few sultanas; or muesli made from whole cereals, nuts, seeds (pumpkin, sunflower etc.); or plain yoghurt with fresh fruit and nuts (you could flavour this with spices such as cinnamon, ginger, crushed cardamom). Weak tea with milk if desired, or one cup of weak coffee.
Two hours after   A snack such as fruit, yoghurt, milk, cheese and breakfast:   biscuits.
Lunch:   Any protein dish, hot or cold, such as meat, fish, cheese, eggs, chicken, sardines, tuna, pilchards etc., or any dish made from lentils, beans or nuts.
All to be eaten with lots of salad or vegetables and 1 slice of wholemeal bread or 2 crispbreads.
Two and a half to Weak tea, milk with crispbread, cheese, pate
three hours after or low-sugar jelly lunch:
Half an hour Small glass of fruit juice. before dinner:
Dinner:   Same as lunch, plus fruit.
Supper:   Crispbreads, butter, cheese, pate, etc. Milk drink, weak tea, herb tea.
This might look like a lot of food, but remember there is no need to eat large quantities of each. Small and often is the rule.
General Points
• Don’t skip meals.
• Eat regularly.
• Avoid sugary foods and drinks.
• Avoid white flour.
• Cut down on caffeine, cigarettes and alcohol.
• Always have protein in your breakfast.
• Never eat a meal containing only starch (bread, cake, cereal).
If you want to learn more about blood sugar problems, read Low Blood Sugar (Hypoglycaemia) by Martin L. Budd (Thorsons).
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The side effect of carbamazepine that worries most parents (and physicians) is a decrease in the white blood cells, responsible for fighting infection. The normal white blood cell count is in the range of 5000-8000 cells. Children (or adults) who are taking carbamazepine often have lower white cell counts, perhaps 3000—5000. In one in ten such children, this lowering of the white count is temporary; it persists in only two percent. Usually this persistent low white cell count is of no consequence since the child is able to fight infections just as well as anyone else.
If your child has a low white count while on carbamazepine, don’t panic. Sometimes your child’s white count may be low from a viral infection. Your physician may want to repeat the count in five to seven days. If it has come back toward normal, the carbamazepine can be continued. If it has dropped further, the drug may need to be stopped temporarily. Stopping the drug suddenly may cause seizures to recur.
Aplastic anemia, in which the bone marrow stops producing blood cells, is a very rare but serious complication. We are aware of only a few reported cases in children. There appears to be no way to predict if a child will develop this condition. Frequent blood counts are expensive and painful and, besides, we have not found them useful.
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1.     Walk up a flight of stairs at the shopping mall instead of taking the escalator.
2.     Park your car at a distant part of the parking lot of the supermarket and walk to and from the entrance.
3.    Put the remote control for your TV set in a cupboard and get out of your seat and walk to the set every time you want to change a channel or switch the set on or off.
4.    Cancel home delivery for your newspaper and walk to the news agency.
5.      Use the old non-motorized lawnmower instead of the self-propelled one.
6.      Carry small packages home rather than place them in a cart, and then in the boot of your car.
7.      Choose old-fashioned alternatives to the modern, so-called time-saving (really energy-saving) devices in your home or office.
8.      Consider all aspects of your life that have made you into a “couch potato” rather than a vital, active middle-aged adult. If possible, go down this list and seek substitutes that will make you exert more physical effort in doing things.
Let’s take a look at exercise, rather than just increased physical activity. The increased physical activity will help, but you really need to start a regular exercise programme in order to get the maximum benefits.
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The good news is that most people, even those with seriously elevated cholesterol levels, can bring their cholesterol back down to a level that will protect them from life-threatening cardiovascular disease – without drugs. By following the Pritikin Lifetime Eating Plan, which is based on low-fat, low-cholesterol, high-unrefined-carbohydrate foods, you can keep your cholesterol level exactly where it should be for good health.
Based on our studies of thousands of individuals at the Pritikin Longevity Centers – as well as other clinical research and studies of populations where heart disease is found very infrequently – it’s now clear that for maximum cardiovascular safety, total cholesterol levels should be 100 plus your age, and no higher than 160 mg/dl. The exception would be for individuals who have very high levels of HDLs (“good” cholesterol, which we’ll learn about soon), which could push their total cholesterol level above 160 mg/dl.
Without a doubt, the surest way to keep your total serum cholesterol below 160 is to keep your intake of dietary cholesterol and saturated fat within the standards of the Pritikin plan – regardless of how many calories you consume. In fact, most adults throughout the world who are on a lifetime eating plan that derives no more than 10 percent of its calories from fat, provides no more than 100 milligrams of cholesterol a day, and contains high-fiber, unrefined-carbohydrate foods can maintain blood cholesterol below 160 mg/dl throughout their lives.
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