Article: Why Johnny Can't Read

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HAIR ANALYSIS

Hair Analysis & Systemic Element Levels Testing

Our biochemist has chosen Doctors Data Inc. to provide our customers with hair elements analysis. With a solid reputation, they have been our laboratory of choice since 1979. Doctors Data has recently described this particular test as:

• A measurement of toxic and essential elements

• Inexpensive and noninvasive

Extensive research has established that scalp hair element levels are related to human systemic levels. The strength of this relationship varies for specific elements, and many researchers consider hair as the tissue of choice for toxic and several nutrient elements. Unlike blood, hair element levels are not regulated by homeostatic mechanisms. Thus, deviations in hair element levels often appear prior to overt symptoms, and hair analysis can thereby be a valuable preliminary tool for predicting the development of physiological abnormalities.

Instructions:
The volume of, at least, one packed tablespoon of hair is required to complete an analysis. Hair samples taken from the chest of animals and back of the head on humans are preferable.

OUR APPROACH

Preventative Health Care

Vita Royal Products Inc. was established in 1977 in response to the recycled contaminants in food act that was passed in the same year. This act allowed, and continues to allow, the recycling of heavy metals and hazardous chemical waste into fertilizers that supply nutrients for the crops that feed our animals and, in some cases, people as well. These toxins are absorbed into the crops and deposited into the animals or humans who eat these crops. Livestock, raised for human consumption, is produced with the processed versions of these crops. Also, the pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides that these animals are exposed to finds it's way to the human food chain when we consume them.

In today's world, saving money on your medical bills mean's changing certain aspects of your lifestyle. Ironically, the very things you can do to increase your long term quality of life tend to be the very things that will keep you away from large medical bills. For over 30 years, we've been offering the tools, materials and instructions for proven techniques to do just that.

Why Our Products & Protocols Are Superior to the Competition

• We only promote the use of products that have been approved by our biochemist.

• We do not make any products which contain fillers, so a little goes a long way.

• We only use chemical form of nutrients that are engineered for maximum bioavailability.

• Most importantly, our products and protocols work to increase your quality of life by restoring normal, healthy biochemistry in the face of environmental factors and lifestyle attributes working against you. From metabolic syndromes to autoimmune diseases, we can help a very wide range of people.

by Linsey McLean

There has been a trend, the past twenty years, toward declining I.Q. and SAT scores among high school graduates in all fifty states over previously increased scores which peaked in the 1960's Many research departments of even the higher class universities have had to be cut drastically or altogether eliminated in favor of new programs "Teaching Johnny to Read". Remedial reading was even taught at Harvard.

Also featured in the statistics trend are higher numbers of learning disabilities, hyperactive children, and attention deficit syndrome, as well as general stress levels resulting in increases in ulcers and suicides in children and teens. Higher levels of aggressiveness now show up as young as second graders who carry guns to school and shoot classmates they argue with.

Other depressing statistics report that some school systems report that 25% of the students are on Ritalin. Children now mature faster and earlier physically, but not necessarily mentally, than their parents did. Teenage girls become sexually active earlier now. Over 30% of fifteen year olds are sexually active now compared with 2% in 1979.

In chemically polluted environments animals are seen to age faster. Increasing levels of depression are reported over those of 20 years ago, and only 1 teen in 1,000 now say they learn because it makes them happy. Compare this to the students of the 1960's who were into mind expansion and are the same generation who now seek "Smart Drugs".

Who or What is to Blame?

The finger has been pointed at incompetent teachers, the Vietnam war, looser laws, change of attitudes, more available money, spoiled children, drugs, and so on. Mind and mood altering drugs were very available during the 1960's, but the competition for grades at the "tough" schools was not any easier than before. And the older teachers say that the kids of the "Baby Busters" generation just aren't as smart as the "Boomers" were, even in the elite schools where discipline is not lacking.

Chemical pollution has been shown to interfere with thyroid, causing problems of attention deficit, fatigue, memory, mental performance, poor blood sugar regulations with resulting sugar and carbohydrate craving and obesity. The average teen now weighs 10 or more pounds in excess of what his parents did when they were teens. Is it any wonder that grade inflation is so prominent in schools today, so that fewer students get poor grades. Even the SAT, that revered standard of testing, has been "adjusted"?

There are 200 new toxic dump sites discovered each month in the United States, and of the 1,000 worse dumps, 4 out of 5 leak. Michigan is among the 4 top states for mercury contamination, and Michigan is home to 13 of the top toxic waste emitters. UPJOHN alone, in 1990, emitted 4.56 million pounds of toxic waste known or believed to cause cancer or birth defects. Gray Iron Foundry in Saginaw emitted 9.6 million pounds of toxic waste. The auto industries in Michigan are, and have been in the past, responsible for significant air and water pollution.

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Response Division, there are 69 known toxic waste sites in Genesee County and 353 sites of leaking underground storage tanks. Even though there has been attempted clean up at some of these sites recently, they were left to pollute the ground water some 20 to 30 years prior. Who knows how many sites are yet to be discovered.

The I-75 corridor reports the highest number of Ritalin and Prozac prescriptions per capita in the world. Hardly anyone living in the I-75 corridor and other known areas of chemical contamination shows a normal body temperature of 98.6 degrees F. Most show temps of 96 to 97 something degrees, indicating low basal metabolism. Since each degree low represents a 13% decline in energy levels over all, it is no wonder that student grades suffer.

Lead levels are rising in average populations in both hair and blood samples so dramatically that the HEW has had to raise the "normals" for testing laboratories because the general population's average are now what would have been considered "elevated" years ago. Statistics recently published say that 52% of all urban children in 8 major cities tested showed blood levels high enough to induce minimal brain dysfunction. Another study found one of six children nationwide affected similarly.

Could it be that these are several contributory factors of one common problem that is causing this "Why Johnny Can't Read" syndrome? Let us examine our scenario, the factors which have contributed to this syndrome and those factors over which we have no control. Then, with this new information, we can take control of other factors and very probably, change the outcome in more than a few instances.

An Unhealthy Man Made Mix

First, we must understand what makes toxic elements so toxic. If we remember our high school chemistry and the electromotive series, we know that the lighter in weight and the higher up on the atomic table an element is, the more chemically active it is, and that it has the ability to substitute itself and replace other elements in its family that are heavier and further down the chart. This spells trouble for the thyroid, especially.

Our environment is so heavily polluted with chlorine, fluorine and bromine compounds, all in the same family (halogens), and lots more chemically active than iodine - the functional component of thyroid hormone. These elements are known to interfere with the receptor sites at the cell level where real thyroid hormone plugs in, as well as trigger autoimmune diseases in the body. In the latter, the immune system recognizes the foreign element as not quite right and attacks. Unfortunately, the immune system can neither destroy nor eliminate the wrong halogen, so the attack continues, eventually destroying the gland itself.

Since the tragic PBB contamination some years ago, Michigan now sets the record for the highest rate per capita of autoimmune diseases in the world. The active toxin in PBB is bromine. Chlorinating the water supply produces uncountable numbers and types of chlorinated hydrocarbons that have toxic capabilities. Hence, the warnings about drinking chlorinated water.

Diminished Essential Minerals

The situation becomes more dangerous when an essential element or mineral is in short supply. The body will then, in desperation, take up look alike's- others from similar or same chemical families with similar outer orbitals. Without the real thing, though, this final enzyme or hormone will not work correctly, creating more body dysfunction.

Other toxic mineral elements that will substitute or interfere with essentials and cause great bodily harm are the following: LEAD - which substitutes for calcium and interferes with magnesium and zinc; cadmium - 10 times more toxic than lead and found in cigarette smoke - substitutes for zinc; and mercury - for which Michigan ranks number 4 in toxicity of all states - substitutes itself for selenium. Selenium is essential for an enzyme necessary for thyroid hormone production and also as an antioxidant to help prevent cancer and aging, and to devitalize toxic substances. It is severely deficient in Michigan as is iodine.

This is why the new focus on minerals in health is now taking center stage. For every essential mineral, there is at least one toxic substitute. The following are some statistics on essential minerals that everyone should know about.

1.) All 50 states are now reporting severely declining trace mineral levels in farm ground, making our crops deficient in these essential minerals. For many, these crops, our foods, are the only source of these essential minerals.

2.) Farmers are not concerned about this decline because plants are very simple in their biochemistry compared to the animals who eat the crops, including man, and do not need any elements except nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. In fact, fertilization of crops with the other trace minerals so important to animal and human chemistry, does not produce increase in crop yield and is not cost effective. They are also very expensive. Plants take up these extra minerals only incidentally when they are there. We took them for granted in the past because they were there, now they are not, and our foods are now deficient in them.

3.) Acid rain and the newer superphosphate fertilizers further inhibit uptake of the
low amounts of soil trace minerals that we have left.

4.) The age of fast foods, high levels of refined carbohydrates like breads and flour products and colas, laced with phosphoric acids for improved taste, cause calcium and magnesium to be excreted from the body. There is also a high demand for minerals like chromium and manganese as well as others.

5.) Minerals cannot be made in the body like many vitamins can. They must come from the outside. They also cannot be converted to any other mineral. If the body is deficient in zinc, for example, it cannot convert excess manganese into zinc. The ancient alchemists tried without success to change one element into another by trying to change lead into gold.

6.) All of Nature is a balancing act. An excess of one mineral will block absorption of another. This is critical in considering exposure to toxic elements like lead, which interferes with calcium, magnesium and zinc. Also, most junk foods contain high levels of phosphorus, which can also interfere with calcium and magnesium. Phosphorus is a stimulant, and is used in different chemical forms as a preservative as well. It is no wonder, given the high levels of lead and phosphorus that we are exposed to now compared to 50 or 100 years ago, that our society is ever going faster and faster!

7.) We used to believe that we could monitor our nutritional mineral status with a common blood test. We now know that this is accurate only in severe conditions, nearing possible death. It is not accurate in monitoring levels for optimum health or for correlating symptoms of deficiency that interfere in varying degrees with our quality of life. Physicians who specially train to read the body's language when it tells us of a problem through symptoms are now treating with minerals long before the severe symptoms set in. Unfortunately very few physicians have this training, and most did not study the importance of mineral chemistry when they went to school because mineral levels were not in jeopardy then, and were just taken for granted.

Testing & "Normals" are often Misleading

The truly insidious nature of the "Why Johnny Can't Read" syndrome and its connection to hypothyroidism is the problem with diagnosis here too. As with mineral nutrition, traditional blood tests often miss treatable cases. Our so called "normals" can vary 300%, and still be called "normal". And, many experts believe that we should have raised our "normal" range many years ago. This would put many patients testing in the low normal range into a truly "low" range, and therefore, warrant treatment. Autopsy studies define the "normal" adult thyroid gland to range from 9 grams to 50 grams. I can't help but wonder how the quality of life differed for the 9 gram individual as compared to the 50 gram individual, or even a more "normal" 30 gram individual.

Also, while visiting China in 1991, and being on thyroid hormone myself, I was cautioned by one of my teachers at the seminars I was attending at Beijing University, that I might have to adjust my dosage downward. I was told that there was so much iodine in their water, being a mountainous terrain, that that was the reason the Chinese invented tea - to mask that terrible taste. In America, we are iodine deficient and my thyroid may start to work on its own, causing an overdose. Further in the conversation, "normals" were discussed. The "normals" in China are higher than in the U.S., because, it was explained, our "normals" are based upon a hypothyroid population. The word "normal" just means "average". It really has nothing to do with optimum health. If you are one sick person in a population of sick people, then you are "normal". So if many Johnnies can't read , do we simply adjust our "normals" down, as we have been doing? I think there is a better way.

What You Can Do!

Armed now, with this new knowledge, every child (and adult who desires a better quality of life) and who shows symptoms of this new 90's syndrome should be screened and tested for thyroid function and thyroid antibodies. These antibody levels can fool you too, as they can be high one week and quite normal several weeks later. I have watched mine float all over the board for the last 5 years. Tests for heavy metal exposure can be done using a hair sample and sent to a special laboratory. Supplementing your diet with mineral supplements is becoming more of a necessity now, than the luxury it was in the past.

Avoiding contaminated water sources like chlorinated water and well water in areas known for chemical dump sites like our I-75 freeway corridor, is just common sense, as toxins in water are in their most bioavailable form - they are soluble. And, last but not least, changes in diet will produce dramatic results. This 90's syndrome affects our sympathetic nervous system in a depressing way. Allergies, sinus problems, fatigue and low energy levels, short attention span, memory problems, chronic muscle soreness, mood swings, low blood sugar with resultant cravings for sugar and carbohydrates like breads, are just a few of the symptoms that can be helped by a switch toward more energy stimulating proteins in the diet, particularly early in the day.

Broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and peanuts and peanut butter contain compounds that interfere with the production of thyroid hormone, and should be eaten sparingly in those affected. Monounsaturated vegetable oils, olive and canola oils, are energy pathway fueling, and should be used generously. They are also good for the heart.

Unfortunately, the standards for use in our school cafeterias today were established, for the most part, in 1949, long before we knew about any of the health hazards in our foods today.

Many children come to school with a poor breakfast of sugared, artificially colored and overly flavored cereal, or nothing at all. Trying to wake up is a real problem after the sugar recedes. No wonder. Then lunch comes loaded with breads, a small amount of high fat meat that children are reported to "de-grease with napkins before they eat", overcooked, bland canned vegetables which they mostly throw away, and soft drinks from vending machines.

Carbohydrates with a high glycemic index, such as breads, raise blood sugar quickly, raising insulin, which reacts by escorting the blood sugar into fat cells. This is the "storage pathway". This is why these foods will immediately give you a lift followed by sleepiness, which again affects children trying to stay awake for afternoon classes. Dr. Lendon Smith, M.D., says that teachers should not be required to have to teach kids eating like this, who cannot bring a brain to class!

Protein foods, on the other hand, give a slow burn, so that stable energy levels and blood sugar levels are maintained. Unfortunately though, protein foods are the most expensive part of the menu and many school cafeterias don't think they can afford to change. But with the situation as it is for many Johnnies who can't read, and many other Johnnies who could read a whole lot better, this is one area where we can make a difference.

A Fresh Approach is Needed... Right Now!

America is in danger of losing its superiority as a world power if we cannot keep pace academically. We are the richest country, and one of the poorest fed. Our children are our future, and their brilliance must shine as a star brighter than any other. This report is also a prescription for help.

On a grand scale, the implications of this are absolutely mind boggling. With proper nutritional restructuring, one can foresee decreased violence as people feel better; decreased levels of stress, suicides and ulcers; along with increased productivity in our schools and industries, which hire a new generation of more able graduates. With our population more able to simply get along and stay going and there will be great benefits for everyone. And who knows, maybe even food producers will better "fortify" our foods by adding more essential minerals, too.

Finally, we need a new generation of doctors who treat the individual patient in front of them more holistically instead of just addressing their symptom. Some brave souls are already out there doing this, but not nearly enough. This, in effect, could change the entire personality of our planet!