Letter from the Publisher

Townsend Letter Receives Legacy Media Award

Comprehensive Lifestyle Intervention Improves Hair and Skin Status and Mental and Physical Functioning
by Gary Null, PhD, and Martin Feldman, MD

The Vitamin D Newsletter
by John Cannell, MD
While vitamin D has evinced positive results in the prevention of cancer, little has been determined about the use and benefits of vitamin D in treating cancer patients. In the January 2008 issue of his newsletter, noted vitamin D expert John Cannell, MD, explored the possibilities.

Researchers Find a Groundbreaking Skin Cancer Cure
by Jonathan V. Wright, MD
A topical extract derived from eggplant (BEC) has proven to be an anticancer agent that is both well-tolerated and highly effective. In an article reprinted from Jonathan Wright's Nutrition & Healing newsletter, the author introduces BEC and reviews studies that confirm the extract's great success in treating two different types of skin cancer – basal cell and squamous cell – and actinic keratosis.

Oil and Water– The Foundation of Healthy Skin
by Douglas "Duffy" MacKay, ND
While determining the true cause of any medical condition requires conscientious and often lengthy investigation, it's clear that nutrition plays a key role in maintaining and restoring skin health. With that in mind, monitoring two elemental substances – oil and water – can be crucial in resolving dermatological conditions.

Candida Related Complex
by Scott Forsgren
The role of Candida is often overlooked and frequently disputed, yet with the rise of antibiotic use and other medical interventions that suppress good bacteria, this common yeast obviously is impacting health. Profiling the work of Warren Levin, MD, the author presents the necessity of addressing Candida Related Complex in a range of illnesses, with a special focus on Lyme disease.

Fresh Farm Milk Prevents Childhood Asthma and Allergies
by Martha V. Pickard, MS
Vilified in favor of more "hygienic" pasteurized milk, raw milk nonetheless may offer uncontested benefits, especially – as European studies have shown – in the prevention of asthma and allergies.

Data Has Story to Tell
by Sue Vogan
Researcher Mirrya Fontenot has a Lyme-treatment plan that is daunting, potentially powerful, and thoroughly straightforward: share the data. While the disease is complex and presents in a mind-boggling array of variables, sharing information through individual research projects or a wider database would afford Lyme-literate doctors and their patients better and more effective therapeutic options.

Comprehensive Lifestyle Intervention Improves Hair and Skin Status and Mental and Physical Functioning
by Gary Null, PhD, and Martin Feldman, MD
The advice has been clear: adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes a nutritious diet, supplementation, exercise, stress management, and behavior modification, and healthy hair and skin will result. But does such an approach truly work? In a well-designed and comprehensive study, documented here, the answer is indisputable.

Not All Soy Products Are Created Equal:
Interpretation of Research Results Is Difficult
by Walter H. Wainright
Soy is good? Soy is bad? What kind of soy exactly are we talking about? Well, it depends on the research model used since processing techniques and storage choices strongly affect the chemical composition of soy concentrates or isolates and, consequently, can determine how useful or deleterious the soy form may be. However, studies using Haelan's soy products have the advantage of a high-quality, standardized soy product produced via fermentation, which "breaks down the isoflavones to smaller molecules, produces isoflavone metabolites, and makes them more bioavailable."

Articles referenced in the above Wainright article:
Soy and Cancer Survivors: Dietary Supplementation with Fermented Soy Nutraceutical, Haelan951 in Patients Who Survived Terminal Cancer
by Vijaya Nair, MD, FAMS, MS
(Townsend Letter Nov. 2004)

Study Report: Effects of Combined Treatment with Haelan 951 and Doxorubicin on the Breast Cancer Cell Line BT474
by Doris Bachg, MD, PhD and Uwe Haselhorst, MD
(Townsend Letter June 2007)

Haelan Fermented Soy Product – Nutritional Supplementation for the Cancer Patient
by Donna Sage, MSSA©

Use of Golden Leaf Ginkgo Extract for Skin Fibrosis
by Sylvie Beljanski and John Hall, PhD
Research done by the late Mirko Beljanski, MD, and currently under wider study, shows evidence that a unique Ginkgo biloba extract may protect skin from burns, inhibit scar formation, and protect against fibrosis, saving patients from unnecessary, ongoing pain and discomfort.

Correlation of Lyme Disease with Other Illnesses and Design of an Epidemiological Questionnaire for Effective Lyme Disease Tracking
by Sujoy Kumar Gayen
With controversy still raging over the scope and impact of Lyme disease, it's becoming more evident than ever that better research is needed. The author's timely and well-presented project – "to study the statistical and geographical correlations between Lyme disease and other illnesses, in particular, arthritis, asthma, autism, and mental illness" – presents an encouraging trend toward more detailed study of a complex disease state.

CryoProbe Therapy for the Holistic Physician
by John Hahn, ND, DPM
Simple, virtually painless, and greatly effective, cryosurgery via the CryoProbe instrument is a valuable therapeutic option for holistic practitioners who treat skin lesions.

Critique of "Vytorin Failure Explained – A New View of LDL"
by Alan R. Gaby, MD

In Memorium

In Memoriam – George Meinig

. . . the regular features, commentary and opinions we can count on each month from our distinguished columnists.