Ben Fuchs

Ben Fuchs is a nutritional pharmacist from Colorado. He specializes in using nutritional supplements when other healthcare practitioners use toxic pharmaceutical drugs.He is the founder and formulator of Truth Treatment Systems for skin care, host of The Bright Side syndicated radio show, a member of Youngevity's Scientific Advisory Board, health expert and frequent guest on Coast to Coast am with George Noory."The human body is a healing and regenerating system, designed divinely to heal & renew itself on a moment to moment basis." "Take charge of your biochemistry through foods and supplements, rather than allow toxic prescription drugs to take charge of you." ~Ben Fuchs

Apr

2013

Preventing Heart Disease

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

Despite all the noise, it has yet to be shown definitively that elevated blood cholesterol is a primary risk factor for heart disease. What is known is that cholesterol, which is made in liver in large quantities, is arguably the most important chemical in the body. It is used to make numerous hormone substances including testosterone and Vitamin D, it is a integral component of the central nervous system and is a predominant material in all cell membranes.

And ironically, adequate levels are very important for neural vascular health. Maybe that’s why people with low cholesterol have a higher incidence of strokes than the normal population. And according to Dr. William Castelli, the former director of the famous Framingham Heart Study, people with low cholesterol suffer nearly 40% of all heart attacks.

Given all this factual information, do you really think that that statin drug the doctor wants you to take is going to keep your heart healthy? You and your heart are much better off taking enough vitamin C and B-complex and essential fatty acids and laying off the processed, chemical-laden fast foods.

Apr

2013

Liver Detox Made Easy

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to avoid exposure to toxic chemicals. Every minute we are confronted by a range of poisons from food, water, air and the buildings we work and live in. Fortunately, the human body is equipped with a powerful biochemical family known as the “glutathione peroxidases,” which contain the powerful anti-oxidant glutathione. This detoxification system protects and purifies the body, and can be stimulated through proper nutrition.

The main function of liver detoxification is to convert fat-soluble toxins into benign water-soluble molecules that can be excreted easily from the body via the urine, sweat and fecal material. Typical fat-soluble poisons include pesticides, bacteria, drugs, environmental toxins, heavy metals and chemical complexes that are formed as a result of immune and autoimmune activity.

Detoxification is accomplished in two steps. Phase One detoxification utilizes an enzyme system called cytochrome P450, which neutralizes toxins and forms intermediate compounds. What is critical to understand, is that temporarily, the intermediate compounds are often more poisonous to our bodies than the original toxins, and they must be converted in Phase Two, or correct detoxification does not occur. For this reason, excessive Phase One activity can place a burden Phase Two detoxification. Fortunately, Phase Two detoxification can be super-charged deliberately through proper nutritional supplementation. In particular, supplements that increase glutathione levels in the body can dramatically enhance Phase Two biochemistry.

Glutathione, a tripeptide, is composed of three amino acids: cysteine, glycine and glutamine. Including these three substances in a nutritional supplement program one of the most effective ways to increase glutathione production and assure maximum Phase Two detoxification in the body. Taking glutathione directly as a supplement is less effective due to digestive degradation of the glutathione molecule.

Cysteine is available as N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) and 500 mg taken daily is a good place to start. In addition to improving the body’s ability to produce glutathione, NAC is also an important supplement for respiratory health, and it chelates, or magnetically attracts, heavy metals like mercury and lead, making them easier for the body to excrete. Glutamine, glycine, and cysteine are all available through whey protein supplementation, which also provides compounds that support the immune system, including lactoferrin and immunoglobulins. Other strategies for improving glutathione levels include supplementation with Alpha lipoic acid, the B-complex of vitamins, vitamin C, selenium and sulfur, which are co-factors that boost the body’s glutathione-manufacturing biochemistry.

Every day the human body is confronted with a wide spectrum of environmental poisons. Reducing our exposure and avoiding interaction with pollution is not always possible. Fortunately the human body comes equipped with a detoxification system designed to help us survive, and even thrive under, what would otherwise be, a very toxic situation. Because the glutathione enzyme system is among the most important of these detoxification systems, increasing its synthesis through effective nutritional supplementation is one of the most important lifestyle choices we can make.

Apr

2013

Our Immune System: Nature’s Perfect Machine

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

The human immune system is an amazing, complex, intricate biological framework of structures and processes that is exquisitely designed to protect the body from a wide variety of pathological agents. It is composed of countless cellular and subcellular mechanisms that gives it an intelligence and flexibility that is nothing short of miraculous. B cells and T cells, and Natural Killer cells (that’s really what they’re called!) and immunoglobulins all coordinated and synchronized and astoundingly effective, in most cases the immune system is all that stands between us and potential disaster caused by bacterial, viral and environmental invasion. Without an immune system you would be dead in hours.That’s why, in the world of toxic pharmaceutical drugs, among the worst, are drugs that suppress the immune system. The medical community loves these drugs as many of the health challenges patients face today involve excessive immune activity, misdirected immune action or inflammation which can be regarded as the obvious manifestations of the immune system. Prednisone, and its derivatives, has long been a mainstay of treatment for immune based disease states. Many drugs for asthma and rheumatoid arthritis are likewise immune suppressants. And just last week, a study appeared in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases that suggested that the immunosuppressant anti-cancer drug Gleevec (imatinib ) showed promise for treating the autoimmune disease of the connective tissue called scleroderma.

Folks, please understand: suppression of the immune system is serious business. It’s playing with biochemical fire. The immune system is nature’s way of protecting the body from assault and knocking it out in the name of good health is flat out bad medicine. The appropriate response to an overactive immune system is NOT to shut it down! The correct response is to try to figure out why it’s overactive. If your baby is crying and you put duct tape on his mouth, you may not hear him crying any more, but you aren’t taking very good care of your baby. Likewise, a hyperactive immune system that is showing up as scleroderma or lupus or rheumatoid arthritis can be shut down, but you aren’t doing your body (baby) any favors.

The typical entrée for pathological invader is the digestive tract and it logically follows that hyperimmunity is linked to digestion. If you are suffering through any immune challenge, addressing food allergies or otherwise problematic responses to foods is imperative. And, there are important nutritional supplements that can be important too. Probiotics like Youngevity’s Flora FX or the Biolumin Nightly Essence can be helpful. So can the Ultimate Enzymes. And, liquid supplements like the Beyond Tangy Tangerine can provide effective nutrition without burdening an already stressed out digestive system.

Yes, clearly there are times when immune suppression can be an effective stopgap pharmaceutical strategy, but stifling immunity is a dangerous road to hoe and those times are few and far between. Shutting down the immune system for symptomatic relief needs to be a temporary measure and a last resort. On the other hand, as the Greek physician Hippocrates reminded us 24 centuries ago: “If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment …we would have found the safest way to health.” In other words, good nutrition is good medicine.

Apr

2013

B-Vitamin Choline

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

The B-vitamin Choline is one of the most important vitamins you’ve never heard of. It’s a critical component of the body’s fat metabolizing machinery and may be one of the most important supplements to take for preventing fatty liver disease. The best food sources are egg yolks, meats (especially liver), fish, and lecithin. Choline is also an important component of acetylcholine which plays a significant role in memory, intelligence and overall brain health.

Wikipedia

Choline is a water-soluble vitamin-like essential nutrient. It is a basic constituent of lecithin, which is present in many plants and animal organs. The term cholines refers to the class of quaternary ammonium salts containing the N,N,N-trimethylethanolammonium cation (X− on the right denotes an undefined counteranion).

The cation appears in the head groups of phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin, two classes of phospholipid that are abundant in cell membranes. Choline is the precursor molecule for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is involved in many functions including memory and muscle control.

Some animals cannot produce choline, but must consume it through their diet to remain healthy. Humans make choline in the liver. Whether dietary or supplemental choline is beneficial or harmful to humans has not been determined. Possible benefits include reducing the risk of neural tube defects and fatty liver disease. It has also been found that intake of choline during pregnancy can have long-term beneficial effects on memory for the child. [Source]

Apr

2013

Antibiotic Resistance: Deadly Prediction Come True

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

There is perhaps nothing more representative of the ignorant reliance on prescription medication for good health than the egregious and excessive use of antibiotics by uninformed physicians and their unfortunate patients. I can remember my medicinal chemistry professor in pharmacy school over two decades ago warning we eager and innocent fledgling pharmacists, that if we continued down the road we were on, within 20 years, we would be confronting the “superbug” (he really called it that), the bacteria that had evolved the abilities to resist and even thrive, despite being bombarded with our strongest antibiotic weaponry.

Alas, his prediction has come true. Just last week, disease-causing anti-bacterial resistant microbes were found in public water supplies in India. In the United States, MRSA, one of the most notorious bacterial resistant superbugs is estimated to kill 19,000 people a year. The World Health Organization has called antibiotic resistance one of the world’s greatest threats to human health and has dedicated World Health Day to this important issue. The WHO is calling for urgent action on the part of governments, health professionals as well as the layperson. And last year in Sweden, 190 delegates from 45 countries met a three day meeting called specifically in response to the worldwide bacterial resistance crisis.

Now make no mistake here. I am not some kind of Pollyanna-ish herby-derby, unaware of the important role anti-biotics can play in health care. Thank God for antibiotics! They are modern medicine’s most significant discovery. When you have a serious infection, its probably a good idea to have access to a prescription anti-microbial. Used correctly, antibiotics are a shining example of modern man’s ability to create powerful, truly life-saving medications. However, as is becoming abundantly clear, their inordinate, and inappropriate use threatens what is the most important advancement in the history of pharmaceuticals.

As with all pharmaceuticals, it must be the severity of the symptoms that determines their use. Certainly the common cold does not call for drugs. And many times patients are prescribed anti- bacterials for non-bacterial (viral) infections for which they are ineffective. We even use antibiotic-like substances in our skin care products. And the worst example of mindless, automatic dispensing of the antibiotics is the dermatological strategy of their long-term use for treating acne-prone teenagers and adults. Antibiotics 101: antibiotics should only be used for a short period of time to prevent the very resistance that seems to be occurring today. The net result of not following this rule is a full-blown crisis in health care.

Antibacterial resistance cost Americans 20 billion dollars a year, causes increased hospital stays, kills people, and it’s largely a problem caused by a medical paradigm that has abused and misused what should be the most important and heroic class of class of prescription drugs and tools of modern medicine. The take home message is prescription drugs need to be used judiciously and with great respect. They are not benign, and if used inelegantly there will be a price to pay – as the anti-bacterial crisis clearly demonstrates.

Oh and by the way, there is a built in anti-microbial system that is divinely designed to spot and kill many types of bacterial invaders. It’s the spectacular, intelligent and infinitely flexible human immune system. As with most health issues, the most important tool for protection from microbial attack is part of our biological operating system and best supported by wise lifestyle choices and good nutrition.

Chicken soup: there’s a reason your grandmother (in nearly every culture) cooked this for you when you were sick.

For example, did you know that according to Dr. William Sears, sugar ingestion can cause a 50 percent drop in the ability of white blood cells to engulf bacteria? And the immune suppressant effect can last hours. Likewise, nutrients that improve sugar metabolism, like chromium and vanadium, can help restore immune health. White Blood cell count can dramatically increase in response to optimal doses of Vitamin C. And, Vitamin A is perhaps the most important vitamin of all for building a strong immune system. Think of Zinc, Selenium, N-acetyl Cysteine and factors in whey protein as some other important nutrients that are inexpensive, accessible and most importantly healthy and non-toxic tools for protection from our bacterial neighbors. And don’t forget about “Jewish penicillin”, better known as chicken soup, as a wonderful source of immune boosting nutrition.

The bottom line is, yes, anti-biotics have an important role to play in modern health care. But like all drugs, only as a last resort. On the other hand, using supplements and foods we can strive to keep antibiotics on the shelf and reserve prescription medication for what are definitive emergency situations.