Muscular Dystrophy and Nutritional Therapy

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Some Nutritional Aspects of Muscular Dystrophy

 

Everybody knows what muscles are, and when they don’t work, the weakness,

frailty and incapacity of a little child with muscular dystrophy makes for many

a poignant poster and tearful telethon. “There is no treatment… there is no

specific therapy,” says the Merck Manual (p 1392). This despairing, autocratic

but research-friendly comment must not be seen as the last word until we

adequately weigh in maternal and fetal malnutrition as the cause of this

disease. For if nutrient deficiency can cause an illness, nutrient therapy just

may ameliorate, or even cure, that illness.

“Dinner Table Heredity”

Ova (human eggs) are formed during the fetal stage of a female’s life. In other

words, all of a woman’s eggs are formed while she was developing inside her

mother, before she herself was born. Wow. This means that what your grandmother

ate significantly contributed to your health. Think that one over: What looks

like genetic a problem may be a nutritional one. I call this “Dinner Table

Heredity.” Just because a problem comes out of the womb does not mean that that

problem is genetic and only genetic.

There is an important interrelationship between food and the genes, called the

genetotrophic concept, originated by Roger J. Williams, PhD. Dr. Williams, the

discoverer of the B-vitamin pantothenic acid, has explained in his books and

papers how biochemical birth defects may be overcome with nutrition.

( http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_williams.html )

I think that muscular dystrophy may constitute a good example of a genetotrophic

disease.

Malnutrition causes muscular dystrophy?

The short answer is, Yes. “Dystrophy: 1. Defective nutrition. 2. Any disorder

caused by defective nutrition.” (American Heritage Dictionary of the English

Language, p. 407.)

You can get into emotional hot water rather quickly if you blame a baby’s birth

defect on the mother’s lifestyle. But we have to face a fact:

It is better to know what really injured the child than to be doomed to repeat

it out of ignorance. The March of Dimes has been especially successful at

placing more nutritional and behavioral responsibility on the Mom-to-be, so we

know it can be done if done tactfully.

It is very difficult to know for sure if a birth defect is the result of

genetics or environmental factors. The mother represents half of a developing

baby’s heredity, but almost all of the developing baby’s environment. Every

single cell in a baby is the product of inherited DNA instruction. BUT EVERY

SINGLE CELL IN A BABY IS ALSO THE PRODUCT OF THE MOTHER’S DIET.

Is There A Way Out?

To a family with a child with muscular dystrophy, it must seem like the worst

form of Monday Morning Quarterbacking to say what might have caused the disease

their child already has. Coulda, shoulda, woulda is poor compensation for the

parents of a disabled child, and to discuss it is to invite after-the-fact

feelings of guilt and helplessness. So the real question is, To what extent

might individual nutrients enable the sufferer to overcome the existing

condition?

Effects of Coenzyme Q10 on muscular dystrophies and neurogenic atrophies.

“Two successful double-blind trials with coenzyme Q10 (vitamin Q10) on muscular

dystrophies and neurogenic atrophies. Coenzyme Q10 is biosynthesized in the

human body and is functional in bioenergetics, anti-oxidation reactions, and in

growth control, etc. It is indispensable to health and survival. The first

double-blind trial was with twelve patients, ranging from 7-69 years of age,

having diseases including the Duchenne, Becker, and the limb-girdle dystrophies,

myotonic dystrophy. Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, and the Welander disease. The

control coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) blood level was low and ranged from 0.5-0.84

microgram/ml. They were treated for three months with 100 mg daily of CoQ10 and

a matching placebo. The second double-blind trial was similar with fifteen

patients having the same categories of disease. Since cardiac disease is

established to be associated with these muscle diseases, cardiac function was

blindly monitored, and not one mistake was made in assigning CoQ10 and placebo

to the patients in both trials. Definitely improved physical performance was

recorded. In retrospect, a dosage of 100 mg was (thought) too low although

effective and safe. Patients suffering from these muscle dystrophies and the

like, should be treated with vitamin Q10 indefinitely.” (emphasis added)

(Folkers K ; Simonsen R (1995) Biochim Biophys Acta 1271(1):281-6. May 24)

I submit that 300-400 mg/day would be a more effective dose, especially for an

older MD child. As there are no harmful side effects with CoQ10, it is

inexcusable to NOT give it a serious therapeutic trial.

Vitamins E, C and B-6

Linus Pauling writes about muscular dystrophy, both experimental and hereditary,

in How to Live Longer and Feel Better. Dr. Pauling’s comments are here

reprinted with permission of the Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State

University:

“It was recognized more than fifty years ago that a low intake of E leads to

muscular dystrophy, a disorder of the skeletal muscles characterized by weakness

similar to that caused by a deficiency of vitamin C (the studies of vitamin E

and muscular dystrophy have been discussed by Pappenheimer; 1948). The

difficulty in walking experienced by patients with peripheral occlusive arterial

disease may result in part from a low vitamin-E concentration in the muscles and

in part from a decreased rate of delivery of oxygen to them. The damage to the

muscles when vitamin E is in short supply may be the result of oxidation of the

unsaturated lipids, which are protected by the fat-soluble antioxidant vitamin E

when it is present in sufficient concentrations.

“Several kinds of hereditary muscular dystrophies are known. For the most part

their nature is not thoroughly understood, and there is no specific therapy

recommended for them. Myasthenia gravis is treated by inhibitors of

cholinesterase, corticosteroids, and surgical removal of the thymus gland. The

medical authorities do not mention the possible value of vitamins in controlling

muscular dystrophies. The evidence about the involvement of vitamin E and

vitamin C as well as B6 and other vitamins in the function-ing of muscles

suggests that the optimum intakes of these nutrients should be of value to the

patients. So far as I know, no careful study of an in-creased vitamin intake for

patients with hereditary muscular dystrophy has been reported.” (p 160)

This is because vitamin therapy is ignored by pharmaceutical companies. There

is no money in products that cannot be patented. Children learn at an early age

that mudpies don't sell. No investment is made, no research is done where there

is no money is to be recovered. Drug companies do not expect to find, nor do

they want to find, a cure that does not involve a drug. A tragic example is

modern medicine's approach to muscular dystrophy.

Jerry Lewis is a great guy and his heart is in the right place. But he may have

unwittingly set the cause of health science back a generation. Telethons to

raise cash for drug research for muscular dystrophy are expensive anachronisms.

They are just re-inventing the wheel, and they're building it wrong to boot.

Remember: " Dystrophy " means " malnutrition. " There is no drug that corrects

malnutrition, and never will be.

Yet in spite of the long and expensive history of research on muscular

dystrophy, only a very small portion has involved vitamins. In The Vitamins in

Medicine, third edition, Bicknell and Prescott provide a thorough review of the

literature on pages 612-619 and 635-641. There is considerable evidence that

the disease is an inability of muscle tissue to efficiently utilize vitamin E.

I give you the following quote from this medical textbook:

 

" The peculiar muscular degeneration of muscular dystrophy may be produced in

animals is caused and is ONLY caused by lack of vitamin E. Human muscular

dystrophy shows identically the same peculiar degeneration. The key to the cure

of muscular dystrophy is vitamin E. "

See: Rabinovitch R et al (1951) Neuromuscular disorders amenable to wheat germ

oil therapy. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat. 14:95-100.

How this all works is still imprecise, but we certainly do know what doesn't

work. On pages 643-644 of The Vitamins in Medicine, DL alpha tocopherol

(synthetic “vitamin E”) is described as " valueless. " It has to be the natural

form, preferably from or with wheat germ, wheat germ oil, and fresh stone ground

whole wheat bread (p 645). This is probably due to the vitamin-E-friendly

mineral selenium, which is also found in these foods (see below).

The most remarkable revelation of all is that muscular dystrophy is described as

easier to cure in children, and easier still with added B vitamins and vitamin C

(p 644).

LECITHIN

Lecithin has been shown to improve therapeutic response when included along with

vitamin E supplementation. This is probably due to the fact that lecithin

contains a great deal of both inositol and phosphatidvl choline, which appear to

reduce creatinuria in muscular dystrophy patients. Dosage used is 20,000

milligrams (20 g).

Milhorat A.T. and Bartels W.E. (1945) The defect in utilization of tocopherol in

progessive muscular dystrophy. Science 101:93-4.

Milhorat A.T. et al. (1945). Effect of wheat germ on creatinuria in

dermatomyositis and progressive muscular dystrophy. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med.

58:40-1.

SELENIUM

The trace mineral Selenium spares vitamin E. This important biochemical

partnership, or synergy, only works if both nutrients are present. It takes

very little selenium, probably about 100 to 400 micrograms (mcg) a day to

protect your cells and membranes from harmful oxidation via the protective

selenium-containing enzyme, glutathione peroxidase, found in all body cells.

Selenium is also found in the protein matrix of the teeth.

In humans, total parental nutrition (TPN) has been found to be nutritionally

inadequate (and therefore disease-causing) because of omissions of

micronutrients. Selenium is one of these “trace” minerals which is now

recognized as essential. Selenium deficiency can cause a congestive heart

disease called Keshan disease. Higher incidence of cancer is associated with low

soil levels of selenium. Selenium may have an especially important protective

effect against breast cancer. Endometriosis may respond to selenium

supplementation, and it may also have a role in preventing sexual dysfunction,

heavy metal poisoning, arthritis and heart disease. (Williams, S. R. (1989)

Nutrition and Diet Therapy, 6th ed, chapter 9. St. Louis: Mosby)

Blood levels of selenium are reduced in muscular dystrophy. “Myotonic dystrophy

and all its major symptoms (muscle dystrophy, infertility, alopecia, cataract

and myocardial degeneration) can be cured or prevented in animals by selenium

supplementation.” (Werbach, M. (1988) Nutritional Influences on Illness, New

Canaan, CT: Keats, p 310-311. This is an excellent resource.)

See: Orndahl G et al. (1983) Selenium therapy of myotonic dystrophy. Acta. Med.

Scand. 213:237.

Foods containing selenium include nutritional (or brewer’s) yeast, seafood,

legumes, whole grains, animal products and vegetables. However, food is an

unreliable source of selenium, as selenium content of soils varies around the

nation.

Most selenium toxicity is caused by industrial pollution. Normally, overdose of

selenium is possible with regular dietary intake over 600 micrograms daily, so

easy does it. But bear in mind that in the Orndahl study cited above, muscular

dystrophy patients showed improvement with a dose of up to 1,400 mcg elemental

selenium over period of nearly two years.

Comment:

I have seen no evidence whatsoever that current muscular dystrophy research

includes megavitamin and mineral therapy. Every time I see " Jerry's kids " on a

poster or on TV, it gets me right here. And every time I'm solicited for a

donation to a medical charity, I tell the canvasser that I'll gladly contribute

the moment their organization begins to sponsor clinical trials with lecithin,

selenium, and vitamin E.

By the way, The Vitamins in Medicine was published in 1953.

 

Reprinted from the book FIRE YOUR DOCTOR, copyright 2001 and prior years by

Andrew Saul, Number 8 Van Buren Street, Holley, New York 14470 USA Telephone

(716) 638-5357

 

 

 

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