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Latest News: December, 2009 - New Treatments

Gene therapy transforms eyesight of 12 people with Leber’s Disease

Pennsylvania researchers using gene therapy have made significant improvements in vision in 12 patients with a rare inherited visual defect, a finding that suggests it may be possible to produce similar improvements in a much larger number of patients with retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration.

The team last year reported success with three adult patients, an achievement that was hailed as a major accomplishment for gene therapy. They have now treated an additional nine patients, including five children, and find that the best results are achieved in the youngest patients, whose defective retinal cells have not had time to die off.

The youngest patient, 9-year-old Corey Haas, was considered legally blind before the treatment began. He was confined largely to his house and driveway when playing, had immense difficulties in navigating an obstacle course and required special enlarging equipment for books and help in the classroom.

Today, after a single injection of a gene-therapy product in one eye, he rides his bike around the neighborhood, needs no assistance in the classroom, navigates the obstacle course quickly and has even played his first game of softball.

The 12 patients had Leber's congenital amaurosis, which affects about 3,000 people in the United States and perhaps 130,000 worldwide. Victims are born with severely impaired vision that deteriorates until they are totally blind, usually in childhood or adolescence. There is no treatment.

Leber's is a good candidate for gene therapy because most of the visual apparatus is intact, particularly at birth and in childhood. Mistakes in 13 different genes are known to cause it, but all 12 of the patients suffered a defect in a gene called RPE65. This gene produces a vitamin A derivative that is crucial for detecting light.

The study, led by Dr. Katherine A. High, Dr. Albert M. Maguire and Dr. Jean Bennett of those two institutions, enrolled five people in the United States, five from Italy and two from Belgium. Five were children, and the oldest was 44.

Editor's Note: In addition to the exciting research described above, there are specific nutrients that may help strengthen vision for those with Leber's Disease.

Omega-3 and vitamin D linked to 40% reduced risk of macular degeneration

Study shows that consumption of omega-3 fatty acids and omega-3 rich fish could slash the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by 40 per cent.

This study adds further support for increasing the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids with the finding that arachidonic acid (AA, omega-6 fatty acid) is associated with an increased risk of AMD.

Ref: "Association Between Vitamin D and Age-Related Macular Degeneration in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988 through 1994"

Authors: N. Parekh, R.J. Chappell, A.E. Millen, D.M. Albert, J.A. Mares
Archives of Ophthalmology
May 125, 2007 Volume 125, Pages 671-679

See more related information on Macular Degeneration.

Preterm Births Can be Drastically Reduced by Optimizing Vitamin D Levels

As preterm births are on the rise worldwide, there is powerful new evidence supporting the claim that sufficient vitamin D levels can reduce your risk of having a premature delivery. It can also help protect your newborn baby from other health problems.

In what is considered the first scientific trial that meets the most stringent criteria for “evidence-based inquiry,” US researchers Drs. Hollis and Wagner divulged their findings at a recent international vitamin D research conference in Brugge, Belgium.

Their findings included:

Mothers who took 4,000 IU’s (ten times the RDA of 400 IU) of vitamin D during pregnancy had their risk of premature birth reduced by half.
Premature babies born to women taking high doses of vitamin D were reduced by half at both 32 and 37 weeks, and
There were also fewer babies who were born “small for dates”.
Women taking high doses of vitamin D had a 25 per cent reduction in infections, particularly respiratory infections such as colds and flu as well as fewer infections of the vagina and the gums.
The “core morbidities of pregnancy” were reduced by 30 per cent in the women who took the high-dose vitamin D (including diabetes, high blood pressure, and pre-eclampsia – a potentially deadly increase in blood pressure and fluid).
Babies getting the highest amounts of vitamin D after birth had fewer colds and less eczema.

In another 2009 study on vitamin D deficiency in newborns with acute lower respiratory infection confirmed a strong, positive correlation between newborns' and mothers' vitamin D levels.

That study found that over 87 percent of all newborns and over 67 percent of all mothers had vitamin D levels lower than 20 ng/ml, which is a severe deficiency state. As a result, the researchers recommended that all mothers optimize their vitamin D levels during pregnancy, especially in the winter months, to safeguard their babies' health.

Avocados for Eye Health

Avocados contains a wide range of phytonutrients are thought to help prevent many chronic diseases, and are excellent for the eye health. Nutrients include trans neoxanthin, neochrome, lutein-5, 6-epoxide and chrysanthemaxanthin. The scientists also confirmed the presence of lutein, zeaxanthin, b-cryptoxanthin, a-carotene and b-carotene (all nutrients that support retinal health).

Since most of the nutrients are located near the skin of the fruit, you get most nutrients out of an avocado by peeling the fruit before slicing it.

Microchip Implants May Help Restore Lost Vision

Scientists at MIT and other research organizations are testing chip technologies that could help bring eyesight to individuals with conditions like age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

Microchips place onto or inside they eyeball are assisted by a pair of electronic glasses the patient wears. Results vary, but many subjects report significant improvement in orientation and mobility.

The MIT project is one of several that use a physical prosthesis -- a chip implanted directly into or onto the eyeball, coupled with a pair of electronic glasses that provide assistance.

MIT hopes to have a device within 2 years and get approval for use with the FDA to test on chronic patients.

Long-term high dose vitamin D well tolerated

A research letter published in the October 26, 2009 issue of the American Medical Association Journal Archives of Internal Medicine revealed that treatment with 50,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D per week was safe and effective over an 8 week period, and could also be safe to use every other week as maintenance.

In their introduction to the article, the authors, from Boston University School of Medicine, note that "The worldwide prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is striking, and more than 40 percent of the population may be vitamin D deficient. Despite this, to our knowledge, there are no long-term studies of the safety and efficacy of giving pharmacologic doses of vitamin D (50,000 IU of ergocalciferol) to treat and prevent vitamin D deficiency."

Editor's Note: A wide range of research studies are showing vitamin D to be one of the supernutrients that has a wide range of benefits including helping build bone, preventing cancer, strengthening the immune system, insulin secretion, blood pressure regulation, reducing the risk of macular degeneration and even some autoimmune problems.

See an excellent vitamin D in the D3 form which is most absorbable.

Protective effect found for ginkgo against radiation damage

A report published in the October 11, 2009 issue of the International Journal of Low Radiation added evidence to a protective effect for Ginkgo biloba against radiation damage. Ginkgo biloba is a tree species whose leaves have been used for centuries in Chinese medicine. Ginkgo leaf extract contains antioxidant compounds called ginkgolides and bilobalides which help scavenge free radicals that attack nearly all components of the cell, including DNA.

The researchers found a significant dose-dependent reduction in apoptotic cells among those treated with ginkgo. While radiation-induced apoptosis (cell death) occurred in nearly one third of irradiated cells not treated with ginkgo, the number declined to 5 percent or less in cells treated with the herb.

Ref: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ind/ijlr

Editor's Note: Ginkgo biloba has been proven to have far reaching health benefits for a range of eye concerns such as macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Note that Alpha Lipoic Acid has also been found to help prevent cell damage due to radiation exposure.

Our whole food eye formula contains both gingko biloba and alpha lipoic acid as well as a range of other essential nutrients for eye health.

Women with breast cancer have low vitamin D levels

Researchers suggest breast cancer risk could be virtually eradicated by higher vitamin D levels

Breast cancer is a disease so directly related to vitamin D deficiency that a woman's risk of contracting the disease can be 'virtually eradicated' by elevating her vitamin D status to what vitamin D scientists consider to be natural blood levels, according to vitamin D pioneer Dr. Cedric Garland who delivered in Toronto Tuesday as part of the University of Toronto School of Medicine's "Diagnosis and Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency" conference - the largest gathering of vitamin D researchers in North America this year. More than 170 researchers, public health officials and health practitioners gathered at the UT Faculty club for the landmark event.

Grassroots Health's "D-action" panel - 30 of the world's leading researchers on vitamin D and many other vitamin D supporters - recommend 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily and vitamin D blood levels of 100-150 nanomoles-per-liter as measured by a vitamin D blood test.

'The Sunshine Vitamin' was once thought of only for bone health, helping the body process calcium. But more recent work has shown that all cells in the body have "vitamin D receptors" which help control normal cell growth. Additionally, Garland presented new evidence that low vitamin D status compromises the integrity of calcium-based cellular bonding within tissues, which when eroded allow rogue cancer cells to spread more readily.

SOURCE: GrassrootsHealth

In a new study, it was found that women with breast cancer should be given high doses of vitamin D because a majority of them are likely to have low levels of vitamin D, which could contribute to decreased bone mass and greater risk of fractures, according to scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Vitamin D is essential to maintaining bone health, and women with breast cancer have accelerated bone loss due to the nature of hormone therapy and chemotherapy.

Weekly supplementation with high doses of vitamin D -- 50,000 international units or more improved the levels, according to Peppone's study.

The U.S. Institute of Medicine suggests that blood levels nearing 32 nanograms per milliliter are adequate.

More muscle power means lower Alzheimer's risk

Older people with stronger muscles are at reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease compared to their weaker peers, a new study shows.

Dr. Patricia A. Boyle of Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center in Chicago and her colleagues found that the greater a person's muscle strength, the lower their likelihood of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's over a four-year period. The same was true for the loss of mental function that often precedes full-blown Alzheimer's.

People who ranked in the top 10 percent for muscle strength were 61 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's than the weakest 10 percent. Stronger people also showed a slower decline in their mental abilities over time.

SOURCE: Archives of Neurology, November 2009.

Health and Peace

Marc Grossman, O.D., L.Ac.
Michael Edson, MS, L.Ac.