Lyme Aid

Doctors—naturopathic or otherwise—practicing in the Northeast will tell you that Lyme disease is an epidemic illness affecting large parts of their practices. Fewer than fifty percent of people who acquire Lyme disease don’t remember being bit by a tick and won’t actually manifest the bulls-eye rash commonly associated with Lyme. These patients won’t realize that they’ve been infected by the spiral-shaped bacteria called Borrelia burdorferi until they start manifesting other clinical signs and symptoms of Lyme that include fatigue, visions changes, memory changes, mood swings, nervous system abnormalities and joint inflammation. In fact, the first outbreak of Lyme in 1975 in Lyme, CT was actually diagnosed based on what, at that time, was considered a bizarre outbreak of arthritis.

When 11-year old Samantha’s mother Anne checked her in at Dr. Ginger Nash’s office, she had telltale signs of Lyme such as joint pain, headache and stomach upset after eating. But she had also been manifesting some of the less-common neurological symptoms that include anger, rage and malaise or what Samantha described as “just wanting to watch TV all day.” She never had a rash.

Her symptoms began three years ago when she was taken to a medical doctor who diagnosed her using the Western blot method. She showed four strong positive bands and was put on five months of antibiotic treatment with Amoxicillin (the traditional treatment of doxycycline is not given to children). The doctors then continued her antibiotic treatment with Zithromycin and Cefdinar, which she stayed on for months and months. After several years of antibiotics, Anne reported that Samantha’s joint pain—which had localized to her right shoulder, knees and feet—receded. Her stomach pain, which spread through her whole belly, was no better and she continued to have mood swings, deep fatigue and anger. Samantha is tall for her age is also very thin; she sat with her shoulders rolled forward, her long hair forming a curtain around her face. Her skin was translucently pale and she seemed emotionally empty.

After speaking extensively with Samantha and Anne, Dr. Nash had Samantha hop up on the examination table. Samantha’s tonsils were swollen, as were the chains of lymph nodes on either side of her neck. Thinking briefly, Dr. Nash told Samantha and Anne that her treatment would focus on supporting the immune system and interfering with the bacteria’s ability to communicate and create resistance to antibiotic.

The treatment plan was as follows:

· Type O+ diet guidelines: particularly no milk.

· Polyflora O, a NAP product

· Security, a NAP product

· Lyme nosode

· For inflammation: Ananese (sublingual bromelain), homeopathic biotherapeutic drainage, fish oils

I’d like to focus here on Security, which is a product recently formulated by Dr. Peter D’Adamo for the purposes of treating chronic, stubborn infections. The characteristic of Lyme that makes it so tricky to treat is the biofilm, also known as cysts, it forms when it penetrates deeply into tissues. As this biofilm accumulates, it becomes more and more resistant to antibiotic treatment. And even more amazingly, the biofilm has the ability to signal to the receptors on other bacteria so that all of them change their genetic makeup to adhere to the biofilm, then signaling their own followers. This is how the biofilm builds up and becomes increasingly impervious to the efforts of the antibiotic.

Biomedicine has focused on trying to interfere with biofilm communication. Herbal medicine, though, has a leg up on biomedicine because naturally occurring substances have existed for centuries that interrupt this kind of cellular signaling. D’Adamo has compounded five such substances in one formulation and the results, thus far, with Lyme have been extraordinary.

The first herb, Andrographis paniculata, has been used for thousands of years in the medical traditions of India. A recent study found that it directly interrupts the signaling between biofilm. Scuttelaria baicalensis, or Chinese skullcap, encourages the body to dispel faulty cells as well as regulates the body’s inflammatory response. It has, interestingly, been shown to increase the efficacy of antibiotics by decreasing the bacteria’s ability to flush them out of their systems. Schisandra chinensis helps the body to rebuilt adrenal gland cells, which regulate the body’s stress response. This herb bolsters the body’s ability to handle an strong immune response; further, biofilm seems to thrive in states of high stress so decreasing the about of adrenaline in the body is crucial. Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae is a Chinese herb that influences the energy of the spleen and stomach, which means it supports detoxification pathways: an essential when ridding the body of a heavy bacterial burden. Finally, Eleutherococcus senticosus is the final herb in the formulation. It’s also known as Siberian ginseng and many people in the West are familiar with is for its energy-producing and stress-reducing effects. But in the case of Security, it’s most useful as a modulator of the immune response; healthy tissue repair and renewal is incredibly important to prevent recurrence of bacterial infection.

Samantha continued her treatment protocol for three months. At that point, her joint pain and headaches had decreased significantly, and she had fewer mood swings and showed more interest in hanging out with her friends and life away from the television. Five months after treatment, Samantha is reporting no joint pain and her mother says her personality has returned to what it was pre-Lyme. She is no longer on Security or the homeopathics, but continues the Polyflora O to continue to support proper gut flora and fish oils to keep inflammation in check. Anne makes sure Samantha follows the Type O diet as much as it is possible kid who loves pizza and ice cream. But trading those in so that she can live a joyful, pain-free life that an 11-year old deserves? You’ll find no debate from me.

For more information on Security, click here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/36435042/Genoma-Security-SpecSheet

The Big Sleep

Darcy—a tall, sleepy-looking blonde 20-something in sweats—walked in the front door of naturopathic physician Ginger Nash’s New Haven office, trailing behind her mom. Darcy’s mom, Janet, a rather jolly woman with a shock of dark hair and dark-framed glasses, made herself at home on the couch in the waiting area as Darcy plopped down beside her. “Hasn’t slept in days,” Janet said, extending her thumb toward her daughter, a college student in New York City. “We don’t know what to do.” Darcy had the look that is all-to-familiar to naturopathic doctors: the bleary eyes and drawn complexion of sleep deprivation. In an age when 60 million Americans have insomnia, it’s a difficult not to encounter this diagnosis on a regular basis. As a medical student, it’s something with which I’ve had far more first-hand experience than I care to dwell on. When Dr. Nash brought Darcy back to her office for her intake, it appeared that Darcy’s insomnia had its origins in anxiety and depression over a significant trauma she’d experienced in the last year, as well as over her sister’s hospitalization due to mental health problems. As homeopathic scholars describe it, psychological illness can be passed down as miasms—a sort-of transfer of energy—from generation to generation within families; Darcy and her sister were suffering from the same subset of a disease pattern, though Darcy’s were of a less severe nature.

Darcy sat up attentively in her chair and described her symptoms quietly but articulately. She couldn’t fall asleep due to hyper ideation and when she did, she’d awake every two hours, having had disruptive, disturbing dreams. After almost every meal, she’d have cramping and bloating and had taken to eating as a way of coping with the stresses of schoolwork. Occasionally, she’d be doubled over in pain after a meal due to a “spasm-like” feeling on her sides. Despite the insomnia, she described her energy levels as “pretty good” and said that her exercise was walking around the city all day. Her menses are normal and she experiences bad cramping during the first day and a half of her period. She has migraines not infrequently and is quite worried about the acne that seems to be stress-induced. She stores stress in her upper back and neck where painful knots accumulate. A psychiatrist that Darcy had seen a month prior had put her on Ativan for the anxiety, but she wanted to discontinue it, fearing a dependence on the medication and because she was experiencing the annoying side effect of dry mouth; more significantly, it had stopped working for her, particularly at night.

Dr. Nash took all of this in, nodding her head and murmuring sympathetic, understanding comments as she wrote an occasional note on her clipboard. Naturopathic doctors are trained the same as their conventional medicine counterparts when it comes to basic and clinical sciences, but they also get extensive training in counseling. Often, patients will come to naturopathic doctors not only for medical prescriptions but also for a well-trained, sympathetic ear. Dr. Nash is no exception and she provided Darcy with some excellent feedback in that regard. To calm down Darcy’s sympathetic nervous system, Dr. Nash prescribed two NAP products: Cortiguard and Tranquility Base, both of which address concerns related to nervous system upset.

Cortiguard is an excellent product for anyone with mental and physical burnout. When we are chronically stressed out, the adrenal glands, which are located above the kidneys, continually pump out cortisol (the stress hormone) and at much higher levels than is normal. High levels of cortisol have been linked to insomnia, weight gain, type 2 diabetes, bone loss, infertility, and lowered immune function, among other things. Cortiguard is effective because it contains adaptogenic herbs that provide support directly to the adrenals to fend off exhaustion and return them to as much of a baseline as possible in terms of cortisol production. The herbs contained in Cortiguard are: bacopa leaf, boerhavia root extract, panax ginseng root, and eleuthero root. Cortiguard also contains Vitamins C, B1, B5 and B6, and alpha-lipoic acid, which are essential for a healthy stress response.

Read more about Cortiguard at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/34243296/Cortiguard-SpecSheet

Tranquility Base aims to relax the body at both the physical and mental level. It contains GABA, the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, which means it has a sedative effect. L-theanine is the ingredient in green tea that keeps you from getting jittery after consuming that caffeinated beverage; it is a major amino acid that augments alpha waves in the brain, facilitating a calming effect minus drowsiness. Tranquility Base also contains two heavy hitters of calming herbs: lemon balm and chamomile.

For more information on Tranquility Base, click on:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34534005 /Tranquility-Base-SpecSheet

As for Darcy’s gastrointestinal issues, Dr. Nash associated them with her anxiety; the gut has the same number of neurotransmitters as the brain and originates from the same fetal material. So, resolving her anxiety and sleep issues would significantly reduce her bloating and cramping. Dr. Nash also gave Darcy some guidelines for eating according to her AB blood type that might help resolve some food reactivity: consume smaller amounts of meat, avoiding pork, chicken and beef; focus on lamb, turkey and seafood with some eggs, dairy and grains such as spelt, but not wheat. Dr. Nash also put her on some homeopathic remedies to further support Darcy’s nervous system.

How is Darcy doing now? By all reports she’s sleeping better and has had a significant decline in anxiety and hyper ideation, which weekly therapy has also helped. She will continue on the both the Cortiguard and Tranquility Base until her symptoms resolve more completely. Adrenal repair is not a quick fix and continuing to support adrenal function, especially in students and the otherwise chronically stressed, is an ongoing process. It is important to note that a patient who suffers from this particular symptomatology will always have some an occasional bout of insomnia and anxiety; it is never completely eradicated. The worst part about this is the feeling of powerlessness patients feel. Therefore, the goal is to provide the patient with a set of tools for dealing with the occasional flare-up—whether adding Cortiguard for a month or practicing meditation— as means for coping. The key is keeping anxiety its accompanying set of terrors to occasional visit, not a permanent stay.

Good Bugs vs. Bad Bugs: Finding a GI Cure

And we’re back. You asked for more patient cases, and so that’s what we’re giving you. For the next few months, I will be posting patient stories — along with, most importantly, treatment protocols — based on actual patients I saw while precepting in the New Haven office of top-notch naturopathic physician Ginger Nash who is a practitioner with Dr. D’Adamo at The Center for Personalized Medicine in Wilton, CT. She has graciously allowed me to share some of her patient cases, though any identifying details have been changed to protect the anonymity of her patients. Please, read on, and your feedback, as always, is welcomed and appreciated.

This month, we’re going to discuss everyone’s favorite system: the gastrointestinal tract. Bonnie, aged 28, entered the office and, right off the bat, her digestive issues were apparent on her face: she had the bloated, pasty-looking face of someone who isn’t processing her food well. As Dr. Nash started her intake, Bonnie munched on a turkey sandwich as she slowly told the story of her GI problems. She cannot tolerate fats at all, which leads to pain, foul-smelling gas and constipation. After doing some research on the Internet, she’s worried that she might have a fistula. She can’t remember a time she isn’t bloated. Dr. Nash had previously used the hydrogen breath test to determine the level of bacterial overgrowth in her gut. The breath hydrogen machine is a small apparatus that the patient blows slowly into after consuming a small amount of lactulose. The machine calculates the amount of hydrogen in the breath; only small bacteria living in the gut are able to produce hydrogen. A normal amount of hydrogen production after a meal is normal, but when the patient is suffering from malabsorbtion, undigested food backs into the small intestine and bad bacteria (like H. pylori) have a field day and overproduce hydrogen, as well as gas and a host of other problems. A number over 20 usually indicates absorption problems.

The turkey sandwich Bonnie brought in illustrates part of her problem: Bonnie is an A+ Secretor and Type A’s, as we know, do best on vegetarian diets. Type A people who eat meat will store it as fat, and will likely have a large number of digestive toxins. The bottom line is that Type A’s will have a difficult time absorbing protein because of low stomach acid and low levels of proper flora in the gut, which will result in bloating and constipation.

So, what does Bonnie need? First, she’ll require a product that will kill the bad bacteria. Once the bugs are killed, Bonnie will have a lot less gas. She’ll then need to repopulate her gut with good bugs and keep them proliferating. Of course, she needs to change her diet, as well: more fish, less meat and limit dairy while focusing on whole grains, vegetables, and fruits. Dr. Nash prescribed her ARA 6, Gastro-D and Polyflora A, which are products of D’Adamo that have proven highly effective at treating GI disturbances. Read on for brief synopses of the three supplements Dr. Nash prescribed and the rationale for each.

Gastro D: This is our bug killer. There are seven ingredients in this product. First, Safflower tops and bladderwrack help dispel the proliferation of H. pylori. Bentonite clay absorbs environmental toxins in the gut. Slippery elm absorbs excess stomach acid. Mastic gum and bismuth protect the stomach lining and mucosa. And, finally, cranesbill is a traditional herb used to address duodenal or gastric ulceration.

For full information on Gastro-D, go to: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33098484

Polyflora A: After we kill the bad bacteria, we want to replace the good flora. Polyflora is a probiotic. We all know we should be taking probiotics from time to time, since the stresses of everyday living and eating deplete our stores of good bacteria. But what’s unique about Polyflora is that it’s specific to blood type, which is important because blood group specificity has been found to be a marker of intestinal bacteria. That means that Type B’s will have different friendly bacteria than Type B’s than Type O’s. And if you take the wrong strain of probiotic for your blood type, it can actually cause unwanted inflammation in your GI tract. The proper probiotic will ensure that your body is producing proper digestive enzymes, decreasing food sensitivities and decreasing the intestinal permeability that will lead to malabsorption. Polyflora A contains the following ingredients: probiotic blend specific to Type A (Bifidobacterium bifidus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus reuteri), Burdock root, Chicory root extract, and Jerusalem Artichoke.

Check out the complete product description at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33098518

ARA6: With this product, we’re feeding the good bacteria; this is also known as a prebiotic. ARA 6 makes sure the good bacteria proliferate! The main ingredient in ARA 6 is larch arabainogalactan. In effect, larch acts to increase good bacteria like Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus, while decreasing bad bacteria. As a dietary fiber, it also increases short-chain fatty acids, which are essential for colon and gall bladder health.

Find all of ARA6's details at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33098081/ARA-6-SpecSheet

Magnesium: For Bonnie’s constipation, Dr. Nash gave her this trusty standby.

Bonnie returned a month later and reported that her GI symptoms were essentially diminished. She had diligently taken her supplements and improved her diet about 60%. Dr. Nash took her off the Gastro-D and ARA 6, but kept her on the Polyflora A to continue to repopulate the gut and magnesium for any occasional continued constipation. I call this a triumph of good over evil…bugs, that is.

A Vaccine for Breast Cancer? And, Unrelatedly, How to Convince a Die-Hard Vegetarian to Eat Meat

I’m back after a few weeks of midterm madness and, in response to my dear readers’ request for more information on how we’re formulating treatments, I’m going to keep going with the patient snippets. So without further ado, here are a couple of the interesting cases we’ve seen in the last few weeks.

Debbie, aged 56, came in to see us with late-stage breast cancer. She’s been seeing a naturopathic doctor in the UB Clinic and has arrived at the Personalized Medicine Shift for nutritional recommendations that will complement the treatment she’s already undergoing. After seeing her, Dr. D’Adamo recommended that she pursue allopathic oncologic treatment, continue with all of the prior recommendations made by her ND, and start with her personalized dietary recommendations that we’d be making to her. Dr. D’Adamo’s approach to cancer is unique; so let me try to explain it, as best I understand it. When cells become cancerous, they glycosylate in an unusual fashion. In his protocols, D’Adamo seeks to target and, as much as possible, halt aberrant changes in cell membrane glycosylation. When normal cells become cancerous, they show various antigens on their surfaces— most commonly the Tn and Thomsen-Friedenreich (T) antigens. Our patient is a Group A secretor, which makes her particularly well suited to this kind of cellularly targeted approach.

D’Adamo’s protocol, then, is several-fold. First, in the SWAMI software, he activated the oncology sequence that I’ve referred to in a previous blog here: it’s called Deep Blue and it tweaks diet preferences to fight cell glycosylation. We walked her through her diet carefully and made sure she understood particular food harmonics and foods to especially avoid and emphasize. We also tweaked her diet to enhance methylation, which will decrease generalized inflammation. Her supplements will be the following: arabinogalactan (ARA6), a snail lectin product (HELIX), and a marrubrium/baptisia combination (REKON). Later, D’Adamo would like her to take the probiotic Polyflora A to combat Tn induction via activity in the gut. If Debbie starts to receive chemotherapy, he recommends we switch her diet to enhance histone deacetylation, which will essentially open up all of her cells so they are most available to radiation.

The last thing he recommended is her getting the typhoid vaccine. This is a novel approach based on the approach originated by Georg F. Springer, MD (whose wife died of breast cancer). It’s known as the Springer Vaccine and it has shown 5-10 year cancer survival rates for late-stage cancer. What the vaccine does is stimulate the immune system to fight cancer cells that specifically have the T and Tn antigen. The vaccine is in three parts: 1) degraded O-group blood cells with T and Tn antigens, 2) the Salmonella typhii vaccine or typhoid vaccine, also containing T and Tn antigens, and 3) calcium phosphate, which Springer believed the T and Tn antigens stick to. The vaccine is given subcutaneously every six weeks “ad infinitum,” according to Springer. T and Tn antibodies are, thus, stimulated, and cancer cells stand less of a chance of survival. The Springer Vaccine, as it was originally conceived, was no longer available after Springer died in 1998 but the typhoid vaccine (which is a component of the vaccine) is accessible — and that is what D’Adamo is seeking to get for Debbie. We are currently seeking an allopathic doctor who can work in conjunction with us to administer the vaccine.
For more information on the Springer Vaccine, check out this article by Dr. D: http://www.dadamo.com/science_Tantigen.htm

Our next patient, Nadine, is a 50-year with a calming and lovely demeanor, which became a bit feisty when we told her — a lifelong vegetarian — that she, as an Explorer, needed to start eating meat in order to see her health shift in a positive direction. We see a lot of vegetarians coming into Clinic who would do well to be eating meat. They have the same pasty complexion, spaciness, fatigue and general lack of physical resilience. I’ve never seen one doctor or student clinician talk someone out of vegetarianism, try as they might. This case was interesting to me because I saw Dr. D’Adamo did the impossible: get someone who hasn’t put a morsel of animal flesh in his or her mouth in decades on the road to meat eating. Her chief complaint was chronic sinus headaches that started a few months ago. D’Adamo attributed these to vascular stasis and inflammation from a liver functioning improperly without adequate diet, which causes the sinuses to flare up and headache to ensue. We put her on a battery of supplements: Migrafew (with feverfew that is specifically useful in combating headaches), Collinsonia Plus (with Collinsonia canadensis that is indicated for sinus function and larch arabinogalactan, which is an immune-enhancer among other things), the probiotic Polyflora A, Explorer Activator (which contains NAG, milk thistle, artichoke and malic acid to support liver detoxification) and Explorer Catalyst (a complex supplement that also supports detoxification processes).

So how did Dr. D’Adamo convince her to try meat? I’m fairly certain Dr. D’Adamo would be a very successful car salesman if he needed another career. The man is very convincing. First, he drew a parable from a recent program he saw on National Geographic, which showed an eagle plucking a salmon out of a rushing stream. The salmon, he said, seemed to have a look on its face that this was part of the natural order of things, and indeed it is, exclaimed Dr. D’Adamo! I’m not doing justice to the eloquence with which Dr. D delivered this description, but Nadine backed down a little bit from her defense of vegetables after mulling over this story. Dr. D’Adamo then told Nadine about his friend, another hardcore vegetarian and a Type O who came down with pemphigus. He started to eat meat and most of his symptoms cleared away. What was the friend’s takeaway from the experience? “I refuse to die for the cause of vegetarianism,” he said. And this is what’s most important, probably, to impart to patients. If a patient is completely well, then why are they coming to see us doctors? If what they’re doing is working, then why are they here? We urged Nadine, then, to be open to changing something as important as diet, even as an experiment to see what shifts if she introduced more complete protein sources. To use another Dr. D analogy: an Explorer eating vegetarian is like putting low octane gasoline into the Porsche that is her body. It’s interesting to note, too, that D’Adamo, himself, is a Type A vegetarian. Ultimately what we tried to impart to Nadine is that if you can change your belief system, you can grow.

A week later, Nadine called in with some questions about her program and to give us an update on her progress. She’d been eating fish every night, as well as egg whites. Her headaches were gone and she’d lost two pounds. Red meat might seriously be on the dinner menu next week.

D'Adamo, Unfiltered

Last week, Dr. D'Adamo was the keynote speaker at Grand Rounds at UBCNM. After the presentation, your faithful blogger solicited some questions from the audience. Here are some selected responses from the good doctor.


How did Dr. D’Adamo come up with the lists of beneficials and avoids? Did he test every food and, if so, how did he do it?

The starting point was of course, many of the empirical observations recorded by my father, James D’Adamo. This became the ‘framework’ from where values were added and subtracted, validated and discarded. To that I added the existing literature on direct food-blood group antigen interactions, mostly in the form of published lectin specificities. Certain foods for which I was suspicious, but could not find specific references in the literature were eluted via SDS Page electrophoresis and compared against banks of carefully categorized (ABO/A1-A2/Secretor/Lewis/MN/P1/Ii/CDEcde) erythrocytes. For a while I was also doing this against a simple benchmark I developed using categorized sera and measured myeloperoxidase activity to examine the effect of food constituents on viability prolongation of intracellular Candida inclusions in neutrophils.

I also began testing foods for the ability to induce opposing blood group antibodies: either through basic saline isohemagglutinins titration or a more advanced form of ‘block titration’ that I rediscovered from the work of Elvin Kabat using anti-IgG1-4 antibodies subsequently applied to the basic isohemagglutinins titers, or to the results of direct and indirect antiglobulin (Coombs) testing. I also scanned the published literature for relative concentrations of blood group antigens in dietary food sources.

I’ve also looked at other, more generalized, biomarkers of digestive disturbance to see how they related to poor food matching. These have included tests such as the urinary indican (Obermayer) and more recently sequential breath hydrogen testing.

Of course this was done in the mid 1980s-early 90s, long before CLIA!

Finally, there was just very simple reverse engineering from the pathophysiologies associated with these polymorphisms. For example, numerous studies have shown group A individuals (even normal subjects) have higher blood viscosity. My father has always recommended that his group A patients drink a bit of lemon and water in the morning. He felt that it helped with their inherent mucosity. Now, Dr. John Bastyr once told me that the juice of six lemons roughly equaled the anti-thrombotic effect of a conventional anti-coagulant, so I thought this was a recommendation well worth preserving, maybe even embellishing.

Another might be the difference in digestive phosphatase activity between the blood groups. Again looking at group A, we see that their levels intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) is quite low, which compromise several assimilation functions. Now, besides the fact that the physical expression of the blood group A antigen actually inactivates IAP (not something you can not do much about) a quick look at the enzyme kinetics shows that it can be influenced, both positively and negatively, by the amino acid phenylalanine. Hence high phenylalanine foods are probably more bioactive in the digestive tract of blood group A individuals, especially with regard to mineral absorption.

My interest of late is more along the lines of ‘food inter-relatibility.’ Trying to find the multidimensional relationships between clusters of foods and whatever therapeutic objectives I have in mind. In trying to accomplish this I think I’ve become a better software engineer, since the methods behind actually accomplishing this (which has seen a simple manifestation in the ‘GenoHarmonics’ routines in SWAMI) is very much similar to what is known as ‘object orientation’ in computer science. You make certain ‘classes’ of foods and nutrients that together work on their own unique and specific clinical circumstances and data. You create whatever classes you need (‘AGE removal’, ‘Endothelial shedding’, ‘Overgrowth Inhibition’) then set them free on the person. It’s like looking the individual tiles in tile floor for a while, then stepping back and realizing that it is actually a mosaic. Perhaps amazingly (though not for a confirmed surrealist) the computer term for the ability of these objects, each in its own way, to respond differently to identical messages is known as a ‘polymorphism.’


As a student about to graduate, I really admire your career and the work you've done as an ND. What's your secret? If you could offer advice to naturopathic students just graduating and starting out, what would it be?

1) You have to be you own polymath. This involves surmounting serious confidence issues, since in our intellectual theocracy, one is made to feel that they have to gain permission from some properly endowed expert in order to think seriously about something. Not true, although you can expect a fair amount of flak from less imaginative quarters that may feel that you are ‘uppity’ and should have played by the game.

2) Don’t deprive your failures of their spiritual significance. Failures can crush and de-enervate you. They can also force you to re-evaluate your methods, question your basis and re-invigorate your appetite to get to the top of the mountain next time. Let failure hone the future ‘austere’ version of yourself.

3) Build your organization from the ground up. Keep it simple for starters, but never let an opportunity slip by that could increase your scope and reach.

4) Keep strong family ties and a mattress by the window. You’re in school now, where everything is ‘bubbly yours,’ as John Lennon used to say. However, it is a lonely profession you embark upon once you get out. You will be broke and most likely in debt in a world where people value wealth. You will have an ND degree in a world where most people will think your degree is a typo. A percentage of the people to who you describe yourself will think you are a weird quack. You will have your failures. Patients will die. You needn’t take it personal. Once you start thinking for yourself you are bigger than your profession, so let it off the hook every once in a while.

5) Love every patient, despite his or her best efforts otherwise. Throw their problems into the recesses of your subconscious. You’ll be surprised just when and where you’ll get an answer.

6) Don’t compete against your colleagues. A lot of ND’s seem to fight over the same patient pool. Develop the tools to bore your own shaft, sink a mine and excavate for your own patients. Much nicer!


What do you think the future of our profession holds? Do you think it's going to take off, as everyone says?

I have given a few commencement addresses, and honestly, they’ve usually come of as somewhat depressive affairs. The future for our profession? Probably OK for a while longer with our current working model. You guys will do well, since we now have newly licensed states that will need ND’s. Long term? Frankly unless we reorient our focus, I’m more pessimistic: More co-opting of our legacy from the top by the more socially acceptable mixer-type MD’s and from the bottom by the health food hucksters; more plagiarism of our teachings and wisdom by Madison Avenue. We need to stop worrying about what the ‘others’ think about us and stop believing that if we just act in the expected manner-- give everybody a low fat diet and some Echinacea, we are somehow going to be accepted on some sort of terms we could live with. So my major worry is this disturbing trend towards what some people consider ‘normalcy’: A kinder, gentler Naturopathy stripped of whatever bothers the pure scientists. As far as I’m concerned, you are not practicing naturopathy correctly unless you are making the ‘science-with-a-capital-s-apparatchiks’ apoplectic. We have a robust profession that contains innumerable insights into new resources for healing. We should be running towards these insights, not away from them.


I’m so interested in how the idea for GenoType took shape – how did this come to Dr. D’Adamo? Did it develop slowly after seeing lots of patients or did it come to him in a burst of inspiration?

Almost everything I do comes about thru a rather excruciating step-by-step process. Working with blood groups was easy; the starting point was my father. The Epigenotypes are a process at I began working on two decades ago; however it was a stop-start sort of thing, because I knew what I wanted the concept to comprise, but at point in the journey, the avenues of approach were not yet possible. Also at the end of two decades work with ABO, I had exhausted almost any possible point for further exploration in that area, so the idea of adjusting people to their genes, started giving way to the notion of adjusting genes to their owners.

I’d always been intrigued with inter-generational aspect of pathology. I think the miasms are a brilliant concept that deserves to be examined with an eye towards their epigenetic elements. I suppose I was trying to figure out a way to influence the patient ‘after’ the one who was actually in my office.

Two Newbies

After last Friday, which was our first week of four new patients in four hours, we are beginning to get the hang of things. Dr. D’Adamo is continually and masterfully tinkering with the patient flow so that everyone is working at her most effective; the pace does not let up, though, as we go from lab to clinic room for measurements to consultation. D’Adamo has been using military metaphors to describe how we will all work in concert with one another so that everything gets done, and done well, and it seems applicable. So, when the clock hits ten, we are set in motion, a regular, well-oiled battalion, as it were.

Our first patient, Hillary, is an 63 year-old administrator at University of Bridgeport—a soft-spoken and agreeable middle-aged woman, simply dressed and seemingly mellow about her health concerns. Her chief complaints are hypertension that she’s had for five years (today it’s 130/90), borderline high cholesterol (210-220) with an elevated HDL, and chronic sinusitis. Lab results return that she is a type A non-secretor and her hydrogen breath test indicates moderate small intestine bacterial overgrowth, which is a more rare result, as most of our patients have come in with overgrowth at a much higher level. SWAMI tells us that she is a Warrior. One of the markers of Warrior is endothelial dysfunction, which speaks to her high cholesterol. D’Adamo says he wants to decrease her soluble endothelial factors by emphasizing plant-based proteins in her diet, especially glycitine and genistein—both of which are isoflavones found in soy products, which have protective effects on vascular inflammation and act as potent antioxidants. He also puts her on 100 mcg/day of selenium, Histona that contains magnolia for overall metabolic support, CoQ10 because she’s on a statin, and Genoma Cardia that contains hawthorn, which is known to improve cardiac health.

Dwight is our second patient, a charming 60-year old African-American man who has been brought to the Clinic by his daughter, a naturopathic medical student. Dwight is a pastor and former software programmer, which immediately captures Dr. D’Adamo’s attention. The two men have a brief chat about computer languages and then Dr. D’Adamo turns his attention to Dwight’s skin condition, which appears to be vitiligo, as his skin is mottled and dry in places. His other chief concerns are massive edema throughout both legs, powerfully debilitating allergies, and hypothyroidism. Of main concern is his incredibly allergic immune response: past IgE labs have been over 34,000. In the past he’s been on immunosuppressants such asCyclosporin, but he stopped because it increased his blood pressure. He is currently not taking anything. When we take his hydrogen breath tests, he blows the highest number D’Adamo has ever seen: 150. The doctor quickly determines that if we address his small intestine overgrowth, his immune response will quickly normalize. Dwigh is given his GenoType diet (he’s an A-positive secretor Teacher). Dr. D’Adamo also recommends a list of supplements for him: Polyflora, Intrinsa, Gastro D, apocyanum for edema, quercetin and arabinogalactan for mast cell stabilization, bromelain as an anti-inflammatory, and the homeopathic cistus Canadensis 30C for his skin condition. As part of our future plan for Dwight, we will propose a detox, as well as hydrotherapy.

Cancer's Deep Blues

Today is our first day of seeing four new patients, as opposed to the two we’ve been seeing in previous weeks. Needless to say, it’s going to be a whirlwind. Dr. D’Adamo has even warned us to bring snacks. Dr. Ginger Nash, an excellent ND who works at The New England Center for Personalized Medicine with Dr. D’Adamo, is on hand to see patients. At ten o’clock on the dot, our first two patients arrive and it’s time to hustle. Jen and I meet James and his wife Liz in the lobby. They’re both in their 60’s, a sophisticated and stylish couple: he in jeans, a blazer and loafers and she in a white sweater wrapped with a belt, cool-looking chunky silver jewelry and red lipstick. After we’re finished doing James’s secretor test in the lab, we take him upstairs to start on his patient history and measurements.

As I peruse his intake forms, which he’s filled out, I notice that Liz has made little footnotes throughout, to clarify or expand on any points of interest; she is also holding Cancer: Fight It With Your Blood Type Diet by D’Adamo. James, it turns out, is a big-time state prosecutor but it’s Liz, I’m starting to think, who’s the brains behind the operation—at least when it comes to looking after the couple’s health. She, a Type O who beat breast cancer some years back, has had the both of them on their blood type diets for some time and has found it to be effective. They’re both very active: he plays racketball several times a week and she runs and does Pilates and I find they share a deadpan sense of humor. When James makes a few jokes that are dryly humorous, she says, “Oh, ignore his non sequiturs.” When she starts to talk about how much he loves sugar, he replies with a chuckle, “It’s always nice to bring your critic with you.” Despite the levity, their reason for being here is serious: a recurrence of James’s prostate cancer.

In 2004, a biopsy confirmed a malignancy in James’s prostate, with a Gleason score of 7, which indicates a more highly aggressive form of cancer. His prostate was removed in a robotic prostatectomy, which is less invasive and traumatic than an open prostatectomy. He had no chemotherapy. In the last five years, James has suffered from both impotence and incontinence, the severity of which, he jokes that no one really gave him a heads-up on. In a recent trip to his GP, lab results indicated that his PSA (prostate specific antigen) had gone from 0 to 4/5, so it appears the cancer is recurring, despite the removal of his prostate—a cruel reality that sometimes does occur to prostatectomy patients. In the next week, James will have an MRI of his prostate bed to determine where the cancer is and how far it’s spread. In the meantime, he and Liz want some dietary supplement recommendations to best contain the cancer and build up his vitality. It turns out, from his measurements, that James is a Nomad; he is also a Type B + secretor. We talked about the first three GenoTypes last week, so this time let’s talk about the last three.

As its name would suggest, Nomad is a GenoType that has developed over years of living in different environments, never too long in any one specific place. Their immunity, then, is a bit of a hodge-podge, as they never stayed put anywhere long enough to develop a specific survival strategy. “The price they pay for their more selective immunity is a problematic connection between their immune system, their cardiovascular system, and their nervous system, resulting in a lack of coordination between the three. This makes the Nomad prone to highly idiosyncratic health problems, such as chronic viral infections, debilitating long-term fatigue, and memory problems,” writes D’Adamo in The GenoType Diet. When they are healthy, their immune systems are very balanced; they also have an excellent mind-body connection and handle stress well. Personality-wise, they are quietly witty (like James), easy-going and optimistic. They fall at the extremes of the height scales: either quite tall or short, have a squarish head and have a higher number of red-headed, green-eyed people like Elizabeth I, who D’Adamo speculates was a Nomad.

Teachers, D’Adamo says, are remarkable for their immunological altruism. Developing from a time, perhaps, when people first started migrating and encountering other environments—and germs—Teachers can withstand a pretty strong assault of bacteria and viruses, without the quick immune response of the Hunter. The problem with this is that they can carry the precursor to disease for some time without any symptoms, until the disease state hits, and hits hard. They are particularly prone to digestive problems, lung disorders, and cancer. With the GenoType diet, the Teacher’s immune responses can be trained to be more effective, thus protecting the lungs, stomach, and colon, in particular. They are often Type A, or sometimes AB and tend to look wiry, with a more masculine body type. Like Abraham Lincoln, a probably Teacher, these people are balanced, spiritual and have great powers of analysis.

D’Adamo is a Warrior, in case you’re wondering (I’m an Explorer). Warriors are one of the newer GenoTypes, dating from several years B.C.E., nonetheless. This was a time in D’Adamo’s estimation when people lived in agriculturally harsh conditions and wars first started breaking out, so people had a lot of children to ensure the survival of the tribe. Warriors had to learn how to survive, so their strength and resilience is remarkable. When active, metabolism is great and Warriors burn lots of calories; when they’re sedentary, they put on weight very easily. In youth, they are beautiful, but they can age badly and early, turning rather round and insulin-resistant. They are also prone to stress-related illnesses, chronic gastrointestinal problems, hormonal imbalance and infertility and heart disease. Type As and ABs, they are intellectually very sharp and often need to force themselves to relax.

So let’s get back to James, our stylish and witty lawyer with a recurrence of prostate cancer. While we’re formulating his diet plan, D’Adamo throws a switch in SWAMI called Deep Blue, which is special for cancer patients. Essentially, Deep Blue tweaks the diet so that it includes foods with anti-cancer properties, such as:
• Anti-oxidants (petunidin, peonidin, cyanidin, delphinidin, catechins, quercetins)
• Lectins (cellular agglutinins)
• Mineral chelators, which deprive cancer cells of nutrients (phytic and oxalic acids)
• Cellular growth factor inhibitors (squalenes, polyamine production inhibitors).
Deep Blue also cuts out foods that might be detrimental to cancer patients. As for supplements, Liz has a long list that James is already on. D’Adamo reviews this and then adds a few (if you’re really interested, see below for descriptions from dadamo.com). After a long appointment, I show the couple to the lobby where Liz tells me they’re on their way south for a few days of vacation to bolster themselves for the fight ahead. We’ll check in with them again in a few weeks.




James’s Supplements:

Helix plus: As mentioned in Eat Right 4 Your Type, Helix has a powerful component, which helps the immune system to function more effectively and efficiently. This species, Helix Aspersia, is not the common edible snail (‘escargot’), but rather a hard to identify distant relative. The consumption of this species of snail may serve as a very potent protective agent, allowing your immune system to more accurately distinguish between healthy and unhealthy cells, especially in blood type A and AB.
Intrinsa: Created for use in his clinical practice, Dr. D’Adamo has blended two synergistic dietary nutrients, Butyric Acid and Caprylic Acid, with Larch Arabinogalactan to create a superior formula to protect and support stomach, intestine, and colon health. For this patient, in particular, it is being used to prevent histone deacetylation.
Polyflora B: Polyflora B was especially designed by Dr. Peter D'Adamo to deliver therapeutic levels of blood type friendly bacteria (probiotics) and growth media (prebiotics) specific for type B.
Rekon pro: There are times when the body needs immune support that goes deeper. Dr. D’Adamo designed his exclusive Rekon Pro formula for use in his clinic. Blended from botanicals historically known for their immune enhancing properties, Rekon Pro boosts healthy natural antibody function, which tends to drop with age and infirmity.
Scienca: Turmeric, quercetin and bromelain to protect against oxidative stress and inflammation.
Scutellaria: Scutellaria has been shown to decrease inflammatory cytokine production from human mast cells (immune system hormones which ramp up inflammation). Scutellaria also has a cell-regulating effect; encouraging the body to more efficiently remove cells which have become dysfunctional, either though age or malformation.
Itaru tea: Green tea, a powerful antioxidant, has been found to reduce cancer risk.