Forget The Ice Bucket: Here is Real Help for ALS

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OK, so the ice bucket BS has raised about 80 million dollars for ALS research as of this writing, and it will most likely surpass 100 million very shortly. However, do you know where your money has gone? To their credit, the ALS foundation openly states that only 27 percent of all funds end up for research and none of your hard earned money go to proven natural resolutions.

ALS also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease is a neurological disease that progressively attacks nerve cells in the spinal column and brain that control muscles. As this disease progresses, the muscles gradually weaken and then atrophy.

By now you have most likely heard the term ‘pink washing’. During October, breast cancer awareness month goes into overdrive marketing anything and everything with a pink label, including cancer causing fried chicken, synthetic perfume, even fast food, anything to make a buck by cashing in on the public’s sympathy and charitable nature.

By this account, there’s also a lot of ‘green washing ‘going on as well. Color something green and you automatically think it’s environmentally safe and good for your family when the exact opposite is true.

So now let’s add ‘ice washing’ to the mixture. This plan is to use emotional triggers and promises of a fun time to generate money to find a cure for ALS, but the truth is that the only one having a good time here are the people who are raking in the dough. YOUR dough.

Where does all this money donated to ALS actually go?

CEO Salary: $340,000
Chief Financial Officer: $201,000
Chief Public Policy Officer:$183,000
Chief of Care Services Officer:$161,000
Chief Chapter Relations and Development Officer: $153,000
Chief Development Officer: $179,000
Chief Communications and Marketing Officer: $143,000

There are just a few of the top paid. There are more with salaries exceeding 100K.

Even the ALS website will tell you that only 27 percent of donated money goes to research. Of course, education, fundraising costs, patient and community services seem legitimate enough, but any non-profit organization that gives six figure salaries to the people who work there should be a red flag to all of us.

There have been a large number of research studies in peer-reviewed journals that show that there are more than 60 natural compounds that can be used TODAY to alleviate the suffering from ALS.

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Photo credit: bigstock

Take a look at just some of the substances known the help with ALS and statements taken directly from studies.

Reduce Exposure to Lead – “ALS was also associated with blood and bone lead levels, with a 1.9 fold increase in risk for each mug/dl increment in blood lead and a 2.3 to 3.6 increase for each doubling of bone lead.”
Vitamin E – “Conclusion: A high intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E is associated with a 50 to 60 percent decreased risk of developing ALS, and these nutrients appear to act synergistically.”
Smoking Cessation: “After adjusting for age, sex, religion, and education, ever having smoked cigarettes was associated with an increase in risk for ALS by 70 percent.”
Vitamin B12 – One study found that taking 25mg daily the survival time, or the period before persons become respirator bound, was significantly longer than the group that did not take B12.
Acupuncture: “Significant neurological improvement in two patients with ALS after 4 weeks of treatment with acupuncture injection point therapy.”
Progesterone: “Increased PROG was observed in spinal onset and slow progress patients.”
Vitamin D: “Eighty one percent of patients with ALS had a vitamin D level that was lower than 30ng/ml and 43 percent had vitamin D levels lower than 20ng/ml.”
Whey Protein: Patients in the treatment group (the ones that received whey protein) increased body mass index, arm muscle area, high white blood cell count, and reduced creative-kinase.

Scientists have also evaluated five very large studies that together had more than 1 million subjects. Researchers found that those with the highest intake of carotenoids from any source had the lowest risk of developing ALS. This means that simply by eating a healthy diet full of dark leafy green veggies could prevent ALS.

It’s also interesting to note that several studies show a link between the cholesterol lowering types of drugs commonly called statins and the development of ALS. An ALS like syndrome has been described by those who take these statin dugs, and this has received almost no media attention. Why is this? Because the ALS association’s corporate sponsors are all makers of cholesterol lowering drugs. What a coincidence.

Do we really want to start curing brain diseases such as ALS and Alzheimer’s? Then let’s start by admitting that damage to the human brain is worldwide, not just to what degree YOU might be experiencing it. Let’s start avoiding radiation and chemical overexposure. Let’s take back our brain health!

Much more help to ALS patients than the ice bucket thingie is to spread awareness of what is already known to man about the possible causes, as well as the natural solutions, for this disease.

Sources:

Beatrice A Golomb, Edwin K Kwon, Sabrina Koperski, Marcella A Evans. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-like conditions in possible association with cholesterol-lowering drugs: an analysis of patient reports to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Statin Effects Study. Drug Saf. 2009;32(8):649-61.

I Ralph Edwards, Kristina Star, Anne Kiuru. Statins, neuromuscular degenerative disease and an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-like syndrome: an analysis of individual case safety reports from vigibase. Drug Saf. 2007;30(6):515-25.

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