Welcome to the official Newsletter of Advanced Medical Care.
In the early days of my practice, 40+ years ago, I told my patients:
Everything is connected!
Your body affects your mind. And your mind affects your body. A problem in one area will affect everything else. Don't isolate and compartmentalize things. Look at the big picture, IE the WHOLE person! Improving your general health will help everything, because everything is connected.
Wholistic Medicine
Wholistic medicine was the term we used to describe the importance of looking at the whole person. We told our patients, that just as a rising tide lifts all boats, so improving your general health would help your specific health problems. A patient might complain of knee arthritis and we might suggest dietary changes.
Fourty years ago, mainstream doctors often criticized such an approach, saying "There is no scientific evidence that diet can help arthritis." Now anti-inflammatory, arthritis fighting diets are discussed in the mainstream press and backed up with numerous medical studies. But back then it was just kind of a naturopathic theory that people had to take on faith.
The Whole is Greater Than The Sum of the Parts
In this exciting time, new studies are published every day, proving the truth that everything is connected. Whereas 40 years ago, mainstream medicine still denied that diet was connected to cancer or depression, now such studies are plentiful and well known.
The mind-body connection is becoming part of mainstream thinking. Recent studies show that:
Violent criminals tend to have deficient levels of important omega-3 fatty acids.
And the really exciting part is that correcting these deficiencies tends to reduce violent behavior.
Your tax dollars are paying for research that proves the wholistic naturopathic principle that everything really is connected!
New Landmark Study: Depression and Diabetes
Now, in a new study published in the journal Diabetes Care, researchers have again shown the mind-body connection, in a way that should be interesting to most people.
For a long time we have known that people with type 2 diabetes are about twice as likely to be depressed as the general population.
Now, thanks to this new study, we know that depression itself is part of the cause of diabetes. Researchers used some very sophisticated statistical analysis to look at more than 175,000 people. This complex analysis, for the first time showed that depression has a "significant causal effect" of increasing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
But here is the interesting part. The researchers stressed that they found no evidence of causality in the reverse direction between type 2 diabetes and depression.
Bottom line: If you want to prevent diabetes, taking care of your mental health should be part of your prevention plan. Two out of 3 adults in this country are overweight, and at risk of diabetes. Currently over 11% of the U.S. population already has diabetes. The International Diabetes Federation predicts that number will grow by 46% over the next 20 years. This should be exciting news for anybody at risk of diabetes, who now have another tool to use in their prevention plan.
Need Help with Your Mental Health?
Don't forget the how effective Omega 3s are for depression.
Exercise fights Depression and should be first line therapy.
Don't forget the Power of Light!
Do those things for your mental health, and you're preventing diabetes at the same time! (And heart disease and arthritis and dementia, etc)
Everything Really Is Connected!
Take care and BE HEALTHY!
CW Jasper
September 2023
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