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You refer to many "nutritional" components of this prescription below. "All" of the vitamins? Wow.

Let me play a wild card. Truehope is competing to position a general vitamin-mineral-nutritional-supplement on the pharmaceutical market. The Common Ground article makes it sound like this is limited to a mental health or even bipolar prescription.

If you read literature by nutrition and diet oriented MDs, like Chapman, Perry, Muller, Roizen, Oz et al what you come up with either explicitly or implicitly leads to such a prescription. 

So the professionals/experts we are talking about are nutritionists and some are MDs. And we are back to the fundamental issue of what constitutes sound nutrition for physical and mental health; and of course whether the present food chain is generally unhealthy. IMO it is unhealthy in agriculture and in aquaculture. But I think it is likely to be more unhealthy for the land-based food chain. BC greenhouse vegetables use N, P, K, Ca and Mg and MAYBE a few other "trace" elements. In ignorance I used to grow them hydroponically as most greenhouse growers do (in sawdust, gravel and water-only). Hydro- as in water? Is this a marine science or land agriculture?

But E&M Minister Neufeld and Eco-Minister Penner keep up on the mineral assays of tomato, cucumber and lettuce crops here and it is easy for them to compare assays of field grown v hydroponic grown crops. Do those "organic" labels in the stores mean anything?

I have put the general argument forward on Fish-Sci begging for a reasoned rebuttal. It has to do with the start of the food chain in minerals. Every Earth element is found in the stones beneath our feet. This is Earth's Periodic Table though there are some "exotic" elements which likely occur naturally only elsewhere in the cosmos.  As St. Peter said, We are "lively stones" - not bad for an uneducated fisherman eh? If Muller et al are correct (and I think they are) most if not all of that Periodic Table from stony matter is needed for good health. 

Thus the new Plastic-Sargasso Sea in the Pacific leaches toxins into the ocean and what happens to the food chain? Coastal cities like Vancouver spew sewer waste into the Pacific and what happens to the food chain?  Common sense tells me this is unhealthy. Common sense also tells me that it is eco-nuttiness to take a shipload of iron filings out to sea and drop them in the ocean to arrest global warming. Do the micro-organisms at the start of the marine food chain eat only iron? "Let them eat cake" is brilliance by comparison with this. Where is Green Peace to stop the eco-nuts?

I just built a crushing-pulverizing machine to test mineral specimens from my prospecting expeditions. It works well. I have run some agro-geology tests with success on a smaller scale. 



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bonnie Kaplan 
  To: [log in to unmask] 
  Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 7:16 PM
  Subject: [psychiatry-research] previous discussion about Truehope


    
  I was having difficulty responding because of an email problem, so I am responding belatedly to the questions from a few days ago re: Truehope Nutritional Support Ltd.

  I am one of the people who has been studying the broad-based formulation called EMPowerplus which was developed by Truehope Nutritional Support Ltd. {Disclaimer: none of the researchers in any of the 3 countries where it is being studied is commercially affiliated with the company, and none of us ever profits from their sales.} The formula has 36 ingredients (listed at truehope.com): all the vitamins, and a long list of minerals, and a few other things (amino acids etc).

  There are 10 publications in various psychiatry and psychology journals, 3-4 under review, and a number of other studies in progress. None of the publications is an RCT (though I know of one that is in progress). The studies range from case reports to case studies with 4-6 yrs of history and follow-up, some with cognitive measures, open label case series, a case-control design, and two database analyses (one published, one under review). Sample sizes range from 1 (case studies) to 358 (one of the database studies), and include children and adults.

  What the results show in general is that broad-based micronutrient supplementation shows some promise, especially for unstable mood, and further research is warranted. But RCTs are very difficult to do without $$ from Pharma, which of course is the least likely source for this type of research as people routinely use EMPowerplus to replace traditional medications. In the meantime, other forms of evidence are accumulating, from many fields, suggesting that many psychiatric symptoms are manifestations of suboptimal nutrition. (for instance, the post yesterday about depression being associated with eating processed food: i.e., food likely with insufficient nutrients compared to fresh food)

  I have a 1-page summary/list of the published and under-review studies involving EMPowerplus which I would be happy to send to anyone who requests it.

  The writer questioned the safety of some of the ingredients. I have actually published two articles on the safety of the form of Ge used in this (and other) formulas and would be happy to send that also.

  As for the constitutional challenge, the court case opened today and is a specifically-Canadian challenge --- though not specific to Truehope (though they are the ones pressing the case). I am not affiliated with Truehope and do not feel fully competent to explain the legal issues they are addressing, but in general the court case involves the issue of whether our federal govt can determine what natural health products (NHPs) Canadians can purchase from across the border, and the case stems from the fact that EMPowerplus (and many other NHPs that Canadians purchase!) is manufactured in the U.S. (even though Truehope is a Canadian company).......and Canada randomly stops shipments at the border. This is a David and Goliath drama unfolding here in Calgary........it should be very interesting.

  If anyone wants further information about the research, I can be reached at [log in to unmask]

  Bonnie Kaplan

  ****************
  Bonnie J. Kaplan, PhD
  Professor, Depts of Paediatrics, and Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary
  MAILING ADDRESS:
  Behavioural Research Unit
  Alberta Children's Hospital
  2888 Shaganappi Trail NW
  Calgary, AB T3B 6A8

  phone 403-955-7363
  fax 403-955-2772
  ****************

  This message and any attached documents are only for the use of the intended recipient(s), are confidential and may contain privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, retransmission, or other disclosure is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately, and then delete the original message. Thank you.


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