David,

I understand that tanning beds are not really a totally safe thing to use. Many people I know use tanning beds as way to keep some “tan” to their skin and a way to get some vitamin d (if that really works).  Are there any actual safe tanning beds out there that you know of that work well and that will not bring harm with it?  There are a few websites listing that their tanning beds are safe and that their lighting is superior to others.  Also, other light beds such as infrared, red, blue, or other lights in the spectrum?  What are your highly respected thoughts about this?  Thank you.

I have not seen any scientific testing which compares the different tanning beds.  Therefore, I make the assumption that whatever they are writing about their products is simply marketing and advertising and consequently meaningless.  I personally would not use a tanning bed, but I cannot say that there is adequate long-term (which is what would be required) research to prove that my suspicions or worries about tanning beds are warranted.

David Getoff, CCN, CTN, FAAIM

Hi David, I realize that this may be a difficult question to answer, but in general, what is your treatment approach or recommendations when treating depression? In particular, what if the person has already been eating a proper diet as outlined on your website, supplementing with things like a multivitamin, Vitamin D, fish oil, etc., has already undergone extensive bloodwork, and has experimented with amino acids like 5-HTP, and has been tested for pyroluria?

Also, are urinary neurotransmitter tests worthwhile? How can these be measured in the urine when many neurotransmitter reside in the gut? It seems one would need to biopsy the brain to test these accurately.

This is not a difficult question–it is an impossible question.  The answer would be different for each patient.  The best response I can give you is that I look at a 7-day diet log to assess if there is anything I see which needs to be corrected.  Many people who believe they eat a proper diet are not aware of the numerous issues I see in their diet.  I might do an cardio ION panel from MetaMetrix Labs to locate deficiencies I might never have been aware of based on the person’s diet and supplement regime.  I would most likely do all the Cyrex Food Arrays and eliminate any reactive foods.  Then I would have them begin LONG TERM detoxification.  This is often the underlying issue.  I would also switch them to only totally clean, poison-free products for body care and house and laundry cleaning to eliminate all those possible triggers.  I might also do the full comprehensive reactivity panel of close to 400 substances, from Elisa/Act Biotechnologies to find hidden chemicals or foods that are triggering responses.

The detoxification is slow and long-term.  If I do not see a definite, noticeable improvement in the first 6 months of working with the patient, it is very likely that their toxic body burden is still too high.  Until that is lowered, they may not yet be able to see the benefits.  This can be discouraging.  You cannot rush detoxification.  In addition, without the use of some type of accurate method, such as muscle testing, you may not be doing the detox in the best order for the patient’s body.

David Getoff, CCN, CTN, FAAIM

Hi David,
I see a lot of claims about vegan and vegetarian diets in the treatment of cancer (i.e. Gerson), and have seen research that makes these claims as well. Do you promote vegetarian/vegan diets in cancer treatment? If not, why do you think some research is showing benefits of cutting out meat for cancer? And if cancer is reversed by going vegetarian or vegan, is this a case to eat this way for life?

From my research, clinical observations, and the results I have seen with my own and other’s patients, I have come to the following conclusions (which I would love to have the funds to turn into a multi-year research study):

 1)      Many people (but far from all of them) will feel better, for a length of time, on a vegan diet.  I will explain why in a little while.  As far as a vegetarian diet is concerned, this word has so many different convoluted meanings, that I cannot comment unless I have an exact description of what the person is and is not eating.  In addition, both of these diets (vegan and vegetarian) allow many toxic foods because they are not of animal origin.  Many of these people, without knowing how bad these foods are for their health, are eating lots of sugar from numerous sources including the extremely high fructose agave nectar.  They are also eating GMO oils like soy and Canola, far too much (if even any is okay) tofu, soy milk, and other soy products, our country’s toxic inflammatory GMO or ultra-hybridized wheat and flour products, and many other starches.  These become sugar and feed the cancer cells while lowering immune function.  It is my belief that the benefits of these diets (the few times they are done well) fall into a couple of different categories.  (The Gerson diet is a decent but not perfect example as I explain in my discussion on the Directors Cut of the Gerson film, Alive Tomorrow.)  One benefit is that they eliminate all of our toxic hormone- and antibiotic-containing animal foods.  However, the properly raised ones which I eat, and which have supportive nutrients not found in a vegetarian/vegan diet, are of course removed as well.  If the individual decides to go 100% organic (many vegetarians are not and some cannot even afford to do this) then they have also removed all or most of the pesticide, herbicide and fungicide residues they we’re consuming in oils, nuts and seeds, fruits, and vegetables, etc.  This is a good idea for anyone looking to improve their health or reduce future risk factors.  Another benefit is those few (including Gerson) who have added fresh vegetable juicing (preferably without fruit except possibly lemons or limes) and who ALWAYS consume their juice within five minutes or less of making it so that it is not too oxidized.  This brings in a huge amount of live enzymes as well as extremely digestible nutrients without the nutrient-binding and difficult-to-digest fiber these vegetables had previously contained.

 2)      Yet another benefit contained specifically in the Gerson program which can be done by anyone who learns the procedure, is coffee enemas.  These appear to have the ability to greatly increase detoxification without overloading the body in the process.

 3)      Since the most difficult to digest foods are raw vegetables (due to their fiber content) and cooked animal protein (due to the changes which occur in the meat during cooking), these are what I see should be reduced for the benefit of the cancer patient who has poor digestion and is very nutrient and immune deficient.  Around the world, many foods are often consumed raw and have been for a long, long time.  These foods which even have their own special names and are served in some of the finest restaurants are:  Steak Tartare, Ceviche, Sashimi, and Carpaccio.  If high quality, clean, animal foods from properly raised wild fish, grass-fed organic beef, lamb, etc., are added into a good (most are poor) vegetarian diet, they will not degrade the diet—they will improve it. 

 4)      EPA and DHA omega 3 fatty acids do not exist in a plant-based diet, and our ability to manufacture these fats from foods like flax is generally far too limited.  Vitamin B12 is in very poorly assimilable forms in plant-based foods.  Therefore it usually (maybe always) ends up as deficient in vegan/vegetarian diets.  Many amino acids which the cancer patient needs for rebuilding purposes are either in low supply or in poor ratio in non-animal based proteins.  Even T. Colin Campbell had to write things in his China Study book, which were NOT what he had found in the actual China Study research, in order to massage the book so it would say what he wanted, even though many would say this was dishonest and misleading.  Please Google “rebuttal to the China Study” and read three or four of the well-written rebuttals by different experts.

 5)      The only way to determine if we have ever found a method or type of eating, which we should consider doing for life, is to locate on our HUGE planet, one civilization or tribal society which has been eating this same way for at least five generations, and still has exceptional health into old age.  I find it interesting that as large as this planet is, there is zero evidence of our ever having spawned a vegan society.  I actually hope we get one, since my beliefs are that it would never be able to make it to even the 4^th generation.  However, I would support the experiment in order to see what would happen.  There are, of course, societies which do not eat beef due to the cow being sacred as in India, but lots of other animal foods and dairy are consumed.  Ashrams forbid meat because they know that without meat the human body loses libido and it is a sex-free religious culture which would die off due to this fact if it had to supply its own new recruits. 

 6)      On a side note, for your last question, I ask you this:  If someone who had been sick for 20 years was finally made well after a 6-week course of intravenous antibiotics, should this person want to remain on intravenous antibiotics for the rest of their life since it is what finally turned their health around?  Of course not.  And therefore, depending on numerous variables, a therapeutic diet may not be a long-term excellent diet.  That is, unless it was a fairly perfect and complete, exceptional diet which turned their health around.  Thank you for your questions as they, and my answers,  are very important for everyone to understand.

A few questions:

1) What do you think about the Standard Process brand of Supplements?

2) What are some of the better brands of “natural” or “organic” clothing you have come across?

3) Also what are your thoughts about the health implications of tattoos as so many are so quick to get inked?

1)  I believe that Standard Process makes very high-quality supplements.  Their products contain mostly natural plant and organ extracts.  They also contain pharmaceutical grade USP nutrients which are always listed in the area marked “Other Ingredients,” such as ascorbic acid, riboflavin, vitamin A, etc.  Although I use the exceptional Medi-Herb herbal products which Standard Process imports from Medi-Herb in Australia, I rarely use any regular Standard Process products as their potencies are lower than I choose to use with my patients.  Numerous practitioners around the U.S. and probably around the world do, in fact, use their products and I am sure they get the results they are looking for or they wouldn’t continue to use them.

2)  I do not personally purchase special clothing.  I look for 100% cotton and I stay away from no-iron products as they generally contain Teflon 7 or other chemicals.  I will not purchase anything which has a fire retardant or other type of coating.  I have my more sensitive patients double- or triple-wash all new clothing with Organic Soap Nuts Liquid Laundry detergent from Greener Living Products at www.BuySoapNuts.com.

3)  I believe that more research needs to be done on Tattoos.  However, there is already some research that I have read that shows a cancer link.  Consequently, I cannot recommend them any more than I could recommend breast implants with saline filled silicone bags.  Our skin keeps sloughing off dead cells and replacing them with new cells.  I do not like the idea that a dye has been added in a way which permanently remains as this transition takes place instead of leaving with the dead cell.  My personal belief is that more research will show more cancer connections.  But, if I am wrong, I will freely admit it.  I suggest you go to PubMed and type in “tattoos and cancer.”  This brought up 172 published papers when I did it two minutes ago.  Choose a few titles that look pertinent and read their abstracts.  You can always purchase the full articles to read all of what they found in the study.

David Getoff

          Do you recommend Echinacea extracts with or without alcohol?  Is there a therapeutic difference and would you use them differently?  I see that Herb Pharm offers both.

 Echinacea’s active ingredients can only be adequately extracted with alcohol.  This makes a true glycerin extract a poor choice.  For this reason, the best companies, such as Herb Pharm and Herbalist & Alchemist, only do alcohol extractions.  For a child or someone with an intolerance to alcohol, they evaporate the alcohol after the extraction is completed, and add the glycerin so that it will still keep most of its effectiveness.  I would use the one in alcohol or else a tablet made from an alcohol extraction such as the ones from Medi-Herb in Australia.

 Always dilute the tincture in water before drinking it as the good products taste very strong.

Hi David, what are your thoughts on the Spectracell Micronutrient test? Thanks

Due to a number of split sampling tests done quite a few years ago on Spectra Cell, as well as the responses from many of their sales people when I confronted them with the very poor results, I do not use or recommend these tests.  In addition, other labs have come up with supposedly similar tests, which I will not use.  I feel that the gold standard is the Cardio ION panel.  This is the only one I will use for this comprehensive test.

David

What are your thoughts about cod liver oil vs. fermented cod liver oil? What are the benefits to taking one over the other?

This is a difficult subject for me because we do not have any human research studies comparing the two.  Although many feel that kinesiology (a.k.a. muscle testing) is not scientific, thousands of MDs, DDSs, and other health practitioners around the world utilize it daily to help determine the specific preferences of their patients for different substances, including nutritional supplements.  The only unbiased (and therefore correctly performed) published research I have ever been able to locate showed it to be amazingly accurate when properly executed.  I was trained in this process by MDs, PhDs, DCs, RNPs, and a physics professor.  I utilize the technique daily in my practice, teach it, and have DVDs on the subject.  This process or technique does not give the practitioner a reason; it simply gives a yes/no result as to whether a product, food, pharmaceutical, etc., is supportive to the patient.  Although I have had patients “test” for the fermented products alone, whenever the patient was tested between these products (lemon-flavored Carlson Cod Liver Oil, fermented cod liver oil, and many other omega 3 products), the non-fermented Carlson is “chosen” as preferred by the body—although, as I said, I cannot tell you why.  Please read an article I wrote on the subject entitled Muscle Testing:  Scientific Information-Gathering Technique or Nonsense?

David Getoff

My gall bladder was removed at age 26. I wish it hadn’t, but I have not noticed any major problems with digestion since. However, I’m curious if you have any general recommendations to patients without a gall bladder. Are they known to be generally more deficient in certain vitamins or minerals? Do they generally need to be doing extra things to support the liver, bile production, or support fat emulsification?

The gall bladder is one of the most important organs for the digestion of fats.  We cannot live a healthy life if we cannot properly absorb omega 3 and omega 6 fats, the essential fatty acids that are found in numerous different foods, and of course, the fat soluble vitamins (which are also considered fats) A, D, the E complex, and K.  Bile (although some is made by the liver) is mostly made by the gall bladder.  After the gall bladder has been removed, an excellent way to be able to eat a healthy diet (which would consist of a good amount of fat), is to take a bile supplement.  These are available from many companies and found in health food stores.  Jarrow FORMULAS® makes one called Bile Acid Factors™.  Take one with a normal meal and maybe two with a healthy meal containing lots of good fats.