by Alan Graham [alan068@centurytel.net]

(with Alfred Lehmberg)

1 .TOO ~LITTLE~ ACID!

Dear Dr. Gott; 

With regard to how the person relieved his indigestion drinking vinegar, I can only assume you were thrown off by his description of his condition as "acid" indigestion, when in reality he had the much more common "lack of acid" variety -- which can have the same symptoms as hyper-acidity to include heartburn (75% of the population over 50 has too little stomach acid, not too much).  By drinking vinegar, it corrects the low stomach acidity which speeds along digestion and in fact can prevent heartburn because as the acid level increases, the pH sensitive valve, up top, will close to protect the esophagus.  This is a common recommendation found in many herb and supplement references.  In most cases taking antacids is exactly the wrong thing to do.  Yes -- it will relieve the heartburn, but at the cost of adversely effecting digestion.  Why do you suppose Mexican restaurant patrons eat a complementary mint after a big spicy meal?  Peppermint increases the stomach acidity, which prevents heartburn and aids digestion!  I bet even the Mexicans think the peppermint works like Tums and neutralizes acid, when it actually does the exact opposite.

 The above is suitable for printing.  The following is what I really think. 

I certainly hope you will do the Christian thing and print the above in your newspaper column.  If you truly had no clue of a diagnosis then you might put this in your circular file due to professional embarrassment, but I suspect that you really did understand the situation and, just like perpetuating the cholesterol myth, you wanted to keep the myth alive that the majority of us suffer from too much stomach acid, especially the older we get -- when again, the opposite is true.  I know it's hard to do the right thing because there's no telling what your fellow Doctors would do to you if you admitted that a lack of stomach acid was the real problem in our society!  This would not only reduce the kickbacks on big sellers like Nexium, but would also cut into future revenues.  This is because the major health problems caused by the indiscriminate overuse of antacids is a goldmine for doctors and drug companies.  By falsely appearing to do something good (relieving heart burn the wrong way with antacids) you are actually creating illness in the future by adversely effecting digestion.  Undigested food (protein in particular) can cause, or certainly exacerbate, numerous ailments like allergies, inflammation, and autoimmune wackiness, thus generating more prescriptions for Vioxx and Prednisone.  The great thing is the hapless patient never makes the connection between the overuse of antacids and his or her current illness.  

 Please do the brave thing and print my letter -- you don't want all of this correspondence to wind up on numerous holistic medicine websites and have your name added to the list of greedy media doctors that have completely gone over to the "dark side."  Here are a couple of examples:

 1.  Doctor Issadore Rosenfeld on Fox News "Sunday House Call" -- when asked about the benefits of freshly ground flax seed, said that it might lower your cholesterol a little, but other than that it wouldn't to the individual much good!  Doesn't he know that we are having an essential fatty acid deficiency epidemic in this country?   Doesn't he know that flax seed is the richest source of plant derived Omega 3?  Doesn't he know that flax lignans have two powerful cancer fighters (especially breast cancer!)?  I'm sending you one of my papers about flax seed.

 2.  Doctor Zorba Pasture on NPR -- when a caller said he experienced joint pain every time he ate large amounts of sugar, Dr P. said it was a fluke or coincidence because there was absolutely no connection between inflammation and sugar!  Maybe someone should explain to the good doctor that sugar blocks the Delta 6 desaturase enzyme that is the first step down both EFA pathways that activate the anti-inflammatory prostaglandins.  Also, like you, he recommends TUMS as a good source of calcium -- TUMS is calcium carbonate, which is difficult to absorb because the carbonate destroys the very acid that is required for absorption.  Then the not properly digested food plays havoc with the gut!

   I'm sure that you're not overly concerned with the opinion of we kooks that believe in disease prevention through nutrition and supplementation... but if you do print the letter the worst we will think is that you are just not the sharpest knife in the drawer.  If you don't print it then it can be assumed that you're just plain evil.  Which is it?

 Feel free to E-mail me at alan068@centurytel.net explaining where I'm wrong. 

 Alan D. Graham

800 Robin Parker Rd.

Ozark, AL 36360

Phone (334) 774-0395  alan068@centurytel.net

Dear Dr. Gott;

I realize that nutrition is merely an elective in your "medical school", so I'm not surprised that you don't understand the science behind medium chain triglycerides (MCT) which is the main fatty acid in un-hydrogenated coconut oil. The initial studies that show tropical oils to be heart unhealthful were surreptitiously conducted using hydrogenated coconut oil, not unrefined, extra-virgin... coconut oil. And yes, hydrogenated coconut oil can easily cause a rise in cholesterol...

You should do a little research of current material, doctor, before you so readily show your ignorance to the whole world! MCT (12 carbon chain or less...) is easily broken down with saliva and stomach acid, alone. So, it does not require lipoprotein bundling for further processing -- consequently it can't make you fat or stick to your arteries because it never enters the bloodstream! It follows, as you must know, special channels directly to the liver, where the magic really begins! This is manifested by its easily zipping through the mitochondrial membrane, providing instant energy (which can actually help metabolize long-chain fatty acids through thermo genesis!). However, most importantly it reduces inflammation -- in particular, bowel inflammation (like I used to experience, due to an especially virulent Crohn's affliction, myself!) This is probably because MCTs work in synergy with the EFAs that are precursors to necessary prostaglandins that reduce inflammation, platelet stickiness, and blood pressure!

Mother's milk is rich in MCTs because babies have an inefficient desaturase enzyme system making it difficult to process long-chain fatty acids. You knew that!

50 years from now holistic practitioners will laugh at how some high profile 20th Century *doctors* ironically recommended margarine with its twisted and toxic trans-fat, while demonizing a gift of nature like coconut oil. If you would do the right thing and admit your mistake, you will garner much more respect and credibility than you would have burying your head in the sand.

You have a fantastic potential to positively effect the health and happiness of the whole nation, Dr. Gott! Consider... the death-sentence foods that McDonald's sells daily, among other hydrogenated food franchisers. They could turn much of that, off the scale, unhealthful crap presently foisted on a clueless America... into health food, sir, if their deep fat-fryers held coconut oil instead of the trans-fat sludge presently employed!

You could make that happen, sir! You have the gravitas! You can employ that gravitas in a healthful manner. A win - win, win situation -- you improve the profit margin for Food franchisers (who could charge a premium for the new *magic* product...), put good healthful food into the general market place, and, astonishingly, help everyone lose weight (...yes it does that, too)! You could do it, sir! What could keep you from it? What indeed.

Again, I want to thank you for providing me with the subject for my next newsletter, and by the way... you never got back to me about putting you on my mailing list...

Feel free to E-mail me at alan068@centurytel.net explaining where I'm wrong.

Alan D. Graham
800 Robin Parker Rd.
Ozark, AL 36360

Phone (334) 774-0395; E-Mail -- alan068@centurytel.net