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Dr. Alexander T. Augoustides Women’s Health and Vitality - Thriving in a Toxic World
So when the great word “Mother!” rang once more, I saw at last its meaning and its place; Not the blind passion of the brooding past, But Mother -- the World’s Mother -- come at last, To love as she had never loved before --
To feed and guard and teach the human race – Charlotte Perkins GIlman A
s we move into the 21st cen- tury, optimizing women’s health through nutrition, exercise, appro-
priate supplementation and detoxifica- tion is becoming increasingly important. Women, in today’s society and environ- ment, have a multifaceted role that is rapidly becoming difficult to sustain. Invariably some of these facets may in- clude consumer, mother, bread winner, and custodian of the family’s health! On one level or another, we are all concerned with the question of how our health is connected to the health of our planet. If, as individuals, we believe that by ignor- ing any possible connection between ourselves and the environment, we might as well read a fairy tale called “The myth
of living safely in a toxic world”. Women and children are especially
at risk because of their different and, on occasion, more vulnerable biological system. Research has shown that a higher level of fatty tissue increases the body bur- den of hazardous toxins which interfere with various biological systems. Women have more fatty tissue than men, and also have different ‘windows of susceptibility’ such as pregnancy and menopause. We see girls entering puberty at an earlier age, an explosive increase in breast can- cer, and increasing infertility amongst males, suggesting that various chemicals called endocrine disruptors interfere with the human hormonal systems. Consider breast milk, that most
perfect form of infant nutrition with its unsurpassed powers to encourage the development of the immune system, and prevent various illnesses. Because it exists at the top of the human food chain, moth- ers’ milk maybe amongst the most chemi- cally contaminated of all human foods. It carries concentrations of organochlorine pollutants that are 10 to 20 times higher than cows’ milk. Thus on average, in in- dustrialized countries breast-fed infants ingest each day 50 times more PCBs per pound of body weight than do their par- ents. The same is true for dioxins. Whilst pregnant, the placenta does an excellent job protecting the fetus from infections, but this not true for hazardous chemicals and metals. Another case in point is the wide-
spread contamination of ocean fish with mercury, which is now widely acknowl- edged as a threat to public health. In North Carolina, the recommendation is that women of childbearing age and children avoid consumption of fish that are high in methylmercury; particularly shark, swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish, largemouth bass, bowfin, tuna and chain pickerel. For more details on which fish are safe & guidelines visit - www.epi.
state.nc.us/epi/fish/safefish06.pdf. Also one may find more on the chronology of mercury in seafood at
www.ewg.org. In contrast, we can make changes on
an individual level such as: stop eating most fish, stop drinking tap water, stop swimming in chlorinated pools, stop microwaving food in plastic, etc. Or pretend we can shop our way out of the environmental crisis: buy air filters, buy water filters, buy bottled water, buy pes- ticide-removing soaps for our vegetables, and so aspire to become the ecological equivalent of the boy in the bubble. On a larger scale the time for collective ac- tion is here. You may start by finding out what
toxic chemicals are being released into your home community by visiting www.
scorecard.org and entering your zip code in the empty box. Other interesting resources include;
www.wecf.de/download/609141_inter- net.pdf - Women and Their Toxic World; Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood; Steingraber, Sandra; ISBN 0–7382–0467–6; Living Downstream: A Scientist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment; Sandra Steingraber; ISBN-10: 0375700994. I will be speaking later this month
at the The Natural Triad Health Fair & Symposium III, and will discuss vari- ous protocols that we use in our clinic including the NUTRIDETOX© program and share with you important principles which will encourage you to eat right, optimize your wellness and detoxify your body in a healthy way. So I look forward to seeing you all there!
Alexander T. Augoustides, MD, practices Integrative Medicine in Winston Salem, NC, at Piedmont Integrative Medicine, P.A. To schedule an appointment please call 336.760.0240. Visit our booth at the Natural Trial Health Fair & Symposium on March 24. See ad on page 17.
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