SickleCell.PamRotella.com

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Sickle Cell Anemia and Nutrition
[Posted 11 October 2002] Parents of children with sickle cell anemia are told that their child's disease is genetic, with an implied meaning that the only option is acceptance. However, in his book Sickle Cell Anemia: A Solution At Last, Dr. Oji Agbai claims that sickle cell results from DIETARY DEFICIENCIES, primarily a Vitamin B-12 deficiency, and that a traditional African diet (along with herbal supplements if necessary) can resolve the problem. I haven't found much about Dr. Agbai on the internet, but there are a few sites that sell his book, as well as the informational links below:

http://www.pathlights.com/nr_encyclopedia/hn101998.htm
http://www.africanchildrenshealth.com/

Joel Wallach (author of Dead Doctors Don't Lie, Let's Play Doctor, and other famous titles), has also linked sickle cell to a deficiency of the trace mineral selenium (Joel D. Wallach, DVM, ND, and Ma Lan, MD, MS. Rare Earths, Forbidden Cures. Bonita, California: Double Happiness Publishing Co., 1994. Pp. 378-409.) Wallach originally recommended colloidal (plant-derived) minerals, although lately I've seen a few Internet claims that he now supports ionic mineral sources as well:

"In addition to the overt selenium deficiencies in the American diet, the loss of intestinal villi associated with celiac disease (wheat gluten or cows milk albumin sensitivity) frequently results in an inability to absorb selenium even if it is in the diet. The best assurance of adequate selenium for a fetus is to supplement with chelated selenium (selenomethionine) or plant derived colloidal selenium." (Rare Earths, Forbidden Cures, p. 153)

Selenium supplements have a maximum dosage per day, as higher doses could cause sickness or death, as described in Eating Well for Optimum Health by Andrew Weil, MD (New York: Harper Collins Books, 2000. P. 135):

"I take 200 micrograms a day of supplemental selenium with my vitamin E, and I recommend that to everyone as part of an antioxidant formula that also includes a capsule of mixed carotenoids (providing 25,000 IU of beta carotene along with alpha carotene, lutein, lycopene, and zeaxanthin), and the dose of vitamin C indicated above. Selenium can be toxic in amounts above 1,000 micrograms a day; the early signs of toxicity are peeling of fingernails and brittleness of hair."

I'm not aware of whether colloidal or ionic sources of selenium carry the same warning as the selenium compounds used in typical vitamin/mineral pills. Food sources rich in selenium include sunflower seeds and Brazil nuts, although Wallach cautions that minerals are unevenly distributed in soils, and sometimes depleted from overworked farmland. Therefore, foods that would ideally contain selenium and other minerals sometimes do not. This is why Wallach recommends colloidal mineral supplementation regardless of dietary habits.

Other health and nutrition articles from pamrotella.com
Today's medical fad: The Genetic Myth
Essential Fatty Acids, the "healthy fats" we all need
Copper: What aneurysms, white hair, and wrinkles have in common
Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer's BACTERIAL Mad Cow Disease theory
Mad Cow and Mark Purdey's Organophosphate theory
Multiple Sclerosis: The mercury/parasites model
Alternative medicine vs. the common cold and flu
Hulda Clark: A cure for cancer and AIDS?
Vegans and the B-12 deficiency myth
Aspartame, MSG, and other excitotoxins
Jake Beason on children and boredom

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© 2002 by Pam Rotella.

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