IN THIS ISSUE:

Royal Maca and the Hormone Replacement Study Findings

Maca as an Alternative to Discredited HRT

Good News for Men: Lucraco Plus!

Viana’s Journal: Off to Peru!

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Aren't You Glad You Have Your Royal Maca!

The big news this month is that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) stopped the Women's Health Initiative trial of the Prempro (conjugated horse estrogen, made from horse urine) and a synthetic form of progesterone called progestin because of the excessive danger to women posed by this drug. This is a major financial blow to the pharmaceutical companies (Prempro and Premarin/Provera account for more than one billion dollars in sales last year with more prescriptions written for hormone replacement therapy -- HRT-- drugs than any other category of drug).

Misleading Coverage by the Media

The front page articles in The New York Times are doing their best to protect the interests of the pharmaceutical industry. They tell the reader of the slight increased risk of breast cancer and heart disease, stroke, and lung clots in the first year of use of Prempro -- but fail to inform the reader of how high the risk became by the fifth year of use. The articles said that 8 women more out of 10,000 women would develop breast cancer after one year of use of Prempro than would have developed breast cancer would didn't take the drug. But the Times articles didn't say that the increase was 38 women on Prempro getting breast cancer instead of 30 who were not on this drug, then the rate of increase was 26% more cases of breast cancer among women on this HRT than those not taking it. But even more important, the NY Times articles fail to inform the reader of the shocking numbers that made the researchers stop the trial and urge the participants to stop taking Prempro. After five years the risk has gone up to 56% more women getting breast cancer who have been on the drug compared to those who were not taking it. Instead of 8 more breast cancers in 10,000, the number is 100 more in 10,000. Another way to look at it is that the risk of getting breast cancer on the drug is more than 1000% greater risk after five years of use of this form of HRT than after one year of use of the drug, because instead of 8 more women developing breast cancer, compared to non-drug users you have 100 more women developing breast cancer compared to non-drug users. The reason the trial was stopped was that it was expected to get even worse, for every year beyond 5 years of continued use.

Previous Studies Also Raised Concerns

This news is not really new news. Back in January of 2000 the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a retrospective study of approximately 5,000 women who from 1980 to 1995 had gone regularly for mammograms at Brigham Young Hospital in Boston. They surveyed the women to find out what kind of HRT these women were using and categorized the women into three groups: those who had never used either estrogen or progestin; those who had used estrogen only; those who had used a combination of estrogen and progestin (like Prempro or Premarin/Provera). They found that for each additional year of use of estrogen only, the women had a one per cent per year increase in breast cancer over those who used nothing. After 15 years of use, they had a 15% higher risk of developing breast cancer than those who used nothing. The women who had used an estrogen-progestin combination had a whopping 8% per year increase in breast cancer over those who had used nothing. In other words, after 5 years, their rate of increase was 40% greater and after 15 years of use their rate of increase was 120% greater than those who used no HRT.

Now Your Friends Might Listen to You About HRT!

Maca appears to be a well-kept secret! But not for long! This is the time to send an e-mail to all of your friends who are on HRT who might not have been receptive to you before about your concerns about the dangers to their health. Now that the medical establishment has stopped the clinical trial of Prempro, the whole climate towards looking for an alternative solution is much more positive.

This newsletter also includes a news release that was reviewed by thousands of media earlier this week. Please feel free to forward this release -- or the entire issue of Whole World of Herbs -- to friends who might be looking for a non-carcinogenic solution to the issue of menopausal symptoms.

News Release: Maca -- South American Herb/Food -- is Centuries-Old Alternative to Discredited Hormone Replacement Therapy

July 11, 2002 -- Rather than face the now-proven risks of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), an estimated six million women may now be searching for other options to help relieve menopausal symptoms. One option that is likely to become more familiar to women and their practitioners is the Peruvian herb maca. Maca is a cruciferous root vegetable that when freshly harvested resembles a small turnip. Maca has been used as both a food and medicine for thousands of years by native people from the Andes Mountains.

The search for safer alternatives to HRT intensified this week after reports were issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), indicating that the use of combination estrogen/progestin drugs in healthy menopausal women increases the risk of invasive breast cancer, heart disease, stroke, and blood clots, outweighing the drugs’ possible health benefits. NIH stopped a large-scale clinical trial and recommended the 16,000 participants stop taking the estrogen/progestin drugs immediately.

New York-based anthropologist Viana Muller, Ph.D., has been making collecting/study trips to Peru since 1989, exploring both the rainforest and Andes Mountains in search of effective herbal remedies unknown to North Americans. According to Dr. Muller, women who are stopping HRT may want to explore using maca root extract with one of the growing number of holistic medical doctors and other healthcare practitioners who are familiar with herbal medicine.

Says Dr. Muller, “Maca has been used successfully by native people of Peru for hormonal imbalances, menstrual irregularities, fertility, and menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes, vaginal dryness, loss of energy, libido and depression.”

Since introducing maca to medical doctors practicing CAM (Complementary/Alternative Medicine) at the Anti-Aging Medical Conference 1997, Dr. Muller has seen a dramatic increase in the use of this medicinal herb by holistic practitioners in the U.S.

Research has shown that maca contains no plant hormones, unlike soy/genistein and black cohosh. Instead, its action relies on plant sterols, which act as chemical triggers to help the body itself produce a higher level of hormones appropriate to the age and gender of the person taking it. Clinical case studies have shown that maca can be effective for premenstrual syndrome (PMS), as well as menopausal symptoms, and may help symptoms of hypothyroidism as well.

Alan Warshowsky, M.D., is an ob-gyn who serves as Director of Women’s Health at the Continuum Center for Health and Healing at Beth Israel Hospital in New York. Says Dr. Warshowsky: "At least 50 percent of my menopausal patients are using maca and doing well. I don’t recommend the genistein supplements made from soy, since research has shown that they can have a stimulating effect on breast cancer cells.

Karen Paris, a Physician’s Assistant of the Atkins Center in New York, the clinic founded by famed weight loss expert Robert Atkins, M.D., has said that the clinic began using organic maca root extract last year, finding it more effective for their menopausal patients than the phytoestrogenic herbs.

Says Paris, "We have had great success using maca in conjunction with some nutritional supplements, to wean women off of hormone replacement therapy. Some of them have been on HRT for many years. For the few women who still have some symptoms, we have developed a combination protocol that works very well, involving maca extract and a tiny amount of natural estrogen together with natural progesterone--which unlike progestin, is not carcinogenic."

Cynthia Watson, M.D., a Santa Monica physician specializing in women’s health, integrated the use of maca into her approach to menopausal symptoms six years ago. Says Dr. Watson, "I give my patients a choice--either natural hormones which are made to be bioidentical to human estrogen and progesterone or maca extract." In her opinion both approaches are equally successful. "The ones who have chosen to go with maca extract are doing phenomenally well," she added.

Dr. Muller recommends that any woman considering use of maca for menopausal symptoms do their own research. Says Dr. Muller, "If they have never used any hormone replacement, they can start using organic maca extract on their own without encountering any special problems. But if they have osteoporosis or if they have been on HRT for more than a few months, they are definitely going to need the guidance of health care practitioners who have integrated herbal therapies into their medical practice and are informed about available alternatives to prescription drugs for effective relief of menopausal symptoms."

She also feels that in order to evaluate the effectiveness of any natural therapy for the maintenance of bone strength or to help reverse osteoporosis, women need to work with practitioners who can order tests to establish base line hormone levels before starting the maca therapy, and follow up two months later with a second series of hormone tests to find out if the dose the patient is taking is sufficient.

"Even more accurate a measure of bone protection," says Dr. Muller, “is to do a base line and follow up bone resorption test to establish the rate at which calcium is being excreted into the urine. That avoids the problem of ‘false positives’ that women may get when taking phytoestrogenic herbs." For more information about maca, see the Whole World Botanicals Herbal Library. Whole World Botanicals, Inc. is involved in research, growing, harvesting, propagation and distribution of certified organic and wildcrafted South American medicinal herbs.

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Good News For Men! Lucraco Plus!

Whole World Botanicals has a new product called Lucraco Plus(TM), which contains 50% Lucraco, a South American desert plant, and 50% Uncaria tomentosa, the most potent form of Cat's Claw. According to one naturopathic M.D. in Peru, it Lucraco Plus can clear up the symptoms of prostatitis in a week. These symptoms include interrupted urination, frequent urination, and painful urination. Typically men develop prostatitis first, and only after suffering chronically or intermittently from this condition for a year or more do they develop an enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hypertrophy). The incidence of prostate cancer among men who have an enlarged prostate is much higher than among those who do not. Lucraco Plus taken intensively for a month by men who have prostatitis and then for 10 days of month thereafter find that it doesn't come back and they don't get an enlarged prostate. Men who do not have prostatitis find that taking Lucraco Plus(TM) just ten days out of every month supports a healthy prostate gland.

This product is not yet up on the Whole World Botanicals website, so call toll-free for further information or to order: 888-757-6026.

Viana's Journal

I'm off to Peru for several weeks to visit our maca growers and provide technical and financial assistance to them for building proper drying platforms to dry their freshly harvested maca. Many of the maca growers from the communities that own their land as a group have not had proper drying platforms and some of their maca has spoiled due to inadequate storage. I want to remind you that Whole World Botanicals is a Fair Trade Company. Some of you may have heard of Equal Exchange Coffee, another Fair Trade Company. Fair Traders guarantee a minimum payment for the agricultural product they are buying, since the market fluctuates up and down so wildly, depending on harvest conditions, markets, and other factors. So even if the market price drops drastically, they can count on getting a fair return for their labor and being able to feed their families. I'm packing extra protective clothing because Peru is in the midst of an unprecedented cold wave, with torrential rains and mudslides--very uncharacteristic of this time of year. Virtually none of the people have access to any heat. One of the missions of Whole World Botanicals with the maca communities on this trip will be to take immune-enhancing camu-camu powder to give to each of the families that produce maca for us, for use with the babies, children and the elderly. You can consider that this is part of your mission as well, because your purchases of Whole World Botanicals' herbal products make this giving possible.

Hasta pronto (until soon),

-- Viana

"A Whole World of Herbs" email newsletter is published regularly by Viana Muller, Ph.D. Please invite your friends to subscribe! Send them a copy with your recommendation.
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NOTE: All information is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. You should seek prompt medical care for any specific health issues and consult your physician or health practitioner before starting any supplements, vitamins, diet programs, fitness regimens, or changing prescribed treatments or medications. The statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate or prevent any disease.

Whole World Botanicals is a Fair Trade company. We are members of Co-op America, helping to support the environment, and the native peoples who are the growers and collectors of these herbs.

"A Whole World of Herbs" is copyright © 2002, Viana Muller.

Whole World Botanicals, Inc.
PO Box 322074 Ft. Wash. Station
New York NY 10032
Toll-free phone 877-885-5517
Phone 212-781-6026    Fax 212-781-0440