Hidden Toxic Dangers in Common Dietary Supplements

My guest today is Pamela Seefeld, R.Ph, a registered pharmacist who prefers to dispense medicinal plants and other natural substances instead of prescription drugs. We’ll be talking about—as Pamela puts it—”the good, the bad, and the ugly” of supplements: adulteration, missing ingredients, manufacturing practices, contamination, quality, and more. Pamela has more than 25 years experience choosing and sellling top quality medicinal supplements, so she’s seen it all. Pamela is a 1990 graduate of the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, where she studied Pharmacognosy (the study of medicines derived from plants and other natural sources). She has worked as an integrative pharmacist teaching physicians, pharmacists and the general public about the proper use of botanicals. She is also a grant reviewer for NIH in Washington D.C. and the owner of Botanical Resource and Botanical Resource Med Spa in Clearwater, Florida. www.botanicalresource.com

LISTEN TO OTHER SHOWS WITH PAMELA SEEFELD

transcript

TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
Hidden Toxic Dangers in Common Dietary Supplements

Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Pamela Seefeld

Date of Broadcast: April 08, 2015

DEBRA: Hi, I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world and live toxic free. It’s Wednesday, April 8, 2015. If I sound different than usual, it’s because I’m having technical problems with my computer and my microphone today, and I’m speaking to you via the old fashion telephone recorded from, not a cell phone, a corded phone, not even a cordless phone, but landline corded telephone. So there is no EMFs here on this phone at least.

So today, we’re going to be talking, it’s every other Wednesday for my guest, Pamela Seefeld, a registered pharmacist who talks about natural ways to handle health problems without prescription drugs. Even though she is a pharmacist, she prefers to dispense medicinal plants and other natural things. I have her on every other Wednesday. So it’s this Wednesday, two Wednesdays ago, two Wednesdays coming up, and we always have something interesting to hear from Pamela.

Today, we’re going to be talking about Hidden Dangers in Common Dietary Supplements. And did I say this is Pamela Seefeld? I’m a little bit distracted at the moment because of all these technical difficulties.

Anyway, my guest today is Pamela Seefeld, registered pharmacist. Hi, Pamela!

PAMELA SEEFELD: Sorry about your computer issue.

DEBRA: Me too, me too. It’s just technical things. This is now the second computer that I’ve had problems with in terms of plugging the audio in, so I just need to solve this. But we’ll do fine on the phone today.

PAMELA SEEFELD: Yes, absolutely.

DEBRA: Okay, hidden dangers in common dietary supplements. There are so many things we could talk about with this. Where would you like to start?

PAMELA SEEFELD: I would like to start, and this is actually very timely…

DEBRA: Oh, wait, wait, wait. Before you talk about that, there is something else we were going to talk about.

PAMELA SEEFELD: It’s showing up everywhere for sure.

DEBRA: The thing that I wanted to talk about was that Pamela, a few weeks ago, told me about a recipe that she had tried and that she really loved, which was to make flax chips. Now, some of you may have heard of making flax chips, which is you just take flaxseeds and you soak them and then you put them in a dehydrator or a low oven. And when you soak flaxseeds, they turn into a little gelatinous mess. And so they stick together. Then when you dehydrate them, they make these great, crunchy chips.

But they don’t taste like much. I had made them before. And I thought this was a great way to eat flaxseeds. They’re so nutritious for you.

But Pamela makes them in a different way. She adds tomatoes, onions and all kinds of things. I made them her way this week and they were so good that I couldn’t stop eating them. So I have them. I put it up on my food blog. Just go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com and up at the top, just click on food and you’ll see Pamela’s Premium Flax Chips.

PAMELA SEEFELD: That is so cute. That’s hilarious. That’s funny. That’s really very funny.

DEBRA: Do you want to say anything else about your flax chips?

PAMELA SEEFELD: Well, I think everyone really enjoyed them. And what’s good about them is that they don’t have calories. They’re going to be negligible calories because really, flaxseeds when you have them whole, they pretty much go through you untouched to some degree. You do observe some omega-3’s somewhat. But what’s good about is that it’s a low-calorie, very filling snack.

I snack on those a lot when I’m working late at night because you don’t want to eat something really heavy, but you want to have something that satisfies. It really fills you up. And since there’s no calorie, this is a very good tool for weight loss.

And it’s just super healthy and super cheap to make and easy that I think your listeners will just really find that this is super, super easy. It takes me a matter of a minute. And then you put them in a dehydrator, the oven or whatever you want to do. It’s very quick. Anyone can do it, even kids can do it. It’s very, very simple.

DEBRA: I told a friend of mine about this recipe yesterday. I told him it was weightless. He said, “Weightless?” And I said yes because there’s no calorie, there’s no fat. There’s onions, there’s those fats, there’s those omega-3. It doesn’t affect your weight at all. And you can eat them and they’re so delicious with all the vegetables in it.

Again, just go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com and click at the top of the menu, it says ‘Food’, and today the recipe is right there on top for Pamela’s Premium Flax Chips.

PAMELA SEEFELD: I just love the name. I think it’s very cute. I really appreciate you doing that. I love to share that with everybody and I know that they’re going to really enjoy it.

DEBRA: Thank you, and I have a little picture. You can go there after this show and see my picture of the little flax chips on a little dish.

PAMELA SEEFELD: Oh, my gosh. That is so funny. That’s hilarious.

DEBRA: But what I want to mention out of this first, before we talk about the hidden dangers in supplements, let’s talk about why you should take supplements at all. Why can’t you get your supplements, all your nutrients out of food?

PAMELA SEEFELD: And that’s a good question. So people, a lot of times, you’ll hear these people making excuses saying, “Oh, I don’t need to take any supplements because I’m getting everything from my food.” We do get a lot of things in our food. That is true. Eating a varied, balanced diet of lots of fruits and vegetables, especially the vegetables, you’re getting a lot of phytonutrients that have high activity in all areas of the body, especially the fat-soluble tissues depending on what you’re eating them with.

But in many cases, the amounts that you’re getting, it’s going to be sporadic because you’re not eating the same thing every day. And also too, if you’re making green juices and so forth, you’re probably getting a lot more of the enzymes of the plant. But in most cases, you’re taking the supplements, you’re getting these things, but you’re not going to have high amounts of.

A good case in point, vitamin D. People think, “Oh, you go out in the sun, you’re getting enough vitamin D.” Well, we know that the amount of D you make in your skin is inconsequential. It really doesn’t matter. So your sun tanning is never going to bring up your D level very much. So supplements need to be employed in those cases.

Also too, resveratrol is a good example. How many gallons of red wine you’re going to have to drink to get enough resveratrol to have a really therapeutic outcome? It’s not going to be possible.

I’m still even a big fan of taking a quality multivitamin because you’re really just getting a little bit of everything. The vitamins you have to be careful of of not taking too much are vitamins A, D, E and K, which are the fat-soluble vitamins. You do need to use those to some degree, but those, when you’re taking them in really high amounts, can damage the liver. So those are the ones that you really want to be careful of.

But all the other vitamins, you’re not really getting as much as you think out of some of your food. And a lot of it depends on what you’re eating the food with, are you taking it with a lot of fiber. Fiber binds up nutrients too. There are a lot of other variables. This way, you’re going to be very consistent in what you’re getting.

DEBRA: So when you say fiber binds up nutrients, that means that you’re not absorbing as many as nutrients because of the fiber?

PAMELA SEEFELD: Correct! So I’ll give you a good example. In pharmacology, we tell patients if they’re taking psyllium husk, if they’re eating All-Bran extra fiber, really, just basically, the meal is mostly fiber. It binds up everything in its path.

So a good case in point is these people use psyllium powder in the morning to try and make themselves more regular. It’s a bulk-forming laxative and what it does is it brings water into the gut and forms this bulky, gelatinous stuff in the GI tract and it moves through. It binds up cholesterol in its way through and it moves its way to the GI tract. But it also binds up medications and supplements.

So if you’re taking a lot of psyllium or if you’re making – I know I was using a vegan recipe that use psyllium for a pie crust if you’re making a torte or something, you have to realize that you’re not going to be absorbing most of the nutrients out of the food you’re eating in the proximity of two hours of consuming that. That’s important to realize.

It’s the same thing with all bread, extra fiber. I just give that as an example. The point is it’s all fiber. That’s all it is. Eating that for breakfast with a banana and milk, you’re not going to be absorbing your vitamins. So you need to separate that by at least two hours.

So those are just some examples. Fiber itself, I’m talking about where the meal is mostly fiber. I’m not talking about a salad, which contains fiber. I had a pear this morning. It has fiber. That’s different. But something that’s specifically a bulk-forming laxative and it’s all that is, fiber in that particular meal. You’re going to really have impairment of absorbing anything, especially medications. That’s very important for somebody that’s on medicine from the doctor. You’re not absorbing them if you take it with that type of a meal.

DEBRA: I think what you just said is so important and especially when people are in what one could probably call an ‘alternative diet’ where they’re trying to avoid some kind of food product and so they substitute other things. But psyllium husks is a substitute ingredient that I see frequently in recipes. And if it has that effect, then you aren’t getting your nutrients from that meal. It’s important to know about these foods.

We need to go to break. But we’ll be right back. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Pamela Seefeld. She’s a registered pharmacist who prefers to dispense natural substances instead of prescription drugs. We’ll be right back to hear more from Pamela.

= COMMERCIAL BREAK =

DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Pamela Seefeld. She is a registered pharmacist who dispenses – I’m so distracted today because of all these. I’m so distracted because of all the technical things going on here. And there’s my page. So anyway, you know she’s Pamela Seefeld

PAMELA SEEFELD: You’re so funny. Oh, my God! Hilarious.

DEBRA: Pamela, tell us about why people should call you or give your phone number.

PAMELA SEEFELD: People should call me, Pamela Seefeld, clinical pharmacist, because I’ve been doing this probably 25 years. I specialize in medical homeopathy, so all the products that you will get from me will not be available at the health food store. I actually teach this.

And the things I’m using, I see children, I see adults and I can treat anything from ADD. I specialize in mental health, but also if you have high cholesterol, if you have low energy and fatigue, chronic fatigue, viruses, anything that’s going on in your body that you would like to address.

My consultations are free. I’m here in my pharmacy pretty much every day. You can call me here at Botanical Research in Clearwater, Florida. It’s 727-442-4955. I would be greatly honored to help you and your family with any medical need you might have. And also, if you’re actually inquiring to transition off of prescription drugs, I can assist you with that as well.

DEBRA: Yes, and she’s very good and very well-regarded. I say that all the time, but it’s true.

So Pamela, tell us about hidden dangers in supplements. Where do you want to start with that?

PAMELA SEEFELD: Well, we can start with the article that the front page of the New York Times today. When I was reading this this morning, this is titled, Study Warns of Diet Supplement Dangers Kept Quiet by FDA. Basically, what they’re talking about is that there is a chemical that they want to assign. It’s available in this acacia plant. But not necessarily, it’s what’s actually in the products. And this particular chemical called MBPEA acts like a stimulant. And a lot of these diet products that have been available, they’re actually containing these stimulants and that could actually be dangerous for patients. And the FDA really wasn’t keeping track of that because what was happening on the labels of these products is that they’re actually putting that this particular plant was in there, but actually, instead of using the plant, they were actually spiking the product with this MBPEA, which actually is a stimulant. And so that’s how people were losing weight with it.

So if you have a heart condition or you have high blood pressure, you wouldn’t be taking these things. But if you don’t have it labeled properly, you wouldn’t know that you’re taking these chemicals that are stimulants and are potentially very dangerous.

So it’s front page in the New York Times today. If you want to see that, I was reading the paper this morning and it was pretty bad. And I’m not surprised. Of course, it wasn’t even a month ago, I had come out talking about how that they tested several different herbal products that were available at major manufacturers that were at regular drugstores, even at GNC and what they were finding is that it did not contain what they said they were containing.

So that’s a part of it. That’s more of an adulteration in the fact that they don’t contain things. But some of the dangers, we’ll move beyond that, but this is just…

DEBRA: Wait, wait, wait. Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question first. What is the law about labeling these things? I know that on food labels, if it’s a food product like catsup or something, they have to tell you – well, I was going to say they have to tell you everything. Let me just explain about food labels.

If you were in your kitchen and you put in sour cream and ground beef and flour, you would have to list on the label sour cream, ground beef and flour. But you wouldn’t have to list the ingredients of the sour cream. If you see on the label something like ham, for example, it would have all kinds of nitrates and coloring and stuff like that that you might see on the ham label if you were buying a ham. But if you’re buying a ham sandwich, it just says ham on the label, it doesn’t have to say all the ingredients that are in the ham. That’s the rule for food products. What’s the rule for supplement products?

PAMELA SEEFELD: That’s a good question. The rule for supplement products is probably, most likely, you don’t have to be listing everything. The ingredients are in there, but what the problem is that it’s a voluntary process to follow good manufacturing practice and have the FDA inspect your facility.

Especially these wow-crafted products that people maybe do private labeling, you don’t necessarily know what it’s in there. But these things will be changing. That’s for sure. But now, the way the law stands, if you are a medication company, a pharmaceutical company, and you manufacture something, it has to follow good manufacturing practice, KGMPs. And this is a group of regulations, its rules, it’s a huge book and you pay the FDA to come in and inspect your facility.

If I’m manufacturing a pharmaceutical product, I don’t have a choice. I have to do it. I pay them to come in. They come in, they issue a certificate of authenticity, whatever you want to call it, of what’s going on in that particular facility, whether the machines are being cleaned, the product labeling, so forth and so on. That’s that process.

But with herbal products and supplements, that doesn’t take place unless you want it. So the whole idea is a cache of a company that manufacturers of herbal products to say, “Look, we have GMPs. We have the people inspect our facility.” And that’s what separates the poor products from the other products.

Like I said too, it’s very important to realize about private labeling. A lot of people that are practitioners might label like ‘Pamela’s Vitamins’.

DEBRA: I’ve seen that. Doctors have their own brand.

PAMELA SEEFELD: Doctors do that a lot. Chiropractors do that a lot. You don’t know necessarily what you got there because there’s some third party. Basically, how that works too is I’ll go to a company, say, it’s a private label. I go to them, they put my name on the label and I have to order $2000 worth of whatever. This is a minimum order. And I have all these products. The reason why most people do that is because you can use inferior-quality products, but it has this cache of like it’s a personal product. But it’s not really my vitamins. It’s somebody putting my name on whatever they’re manufacturing.

And that’s important for people to know. That’s why I’m not a big fan of private labeling because of that. The talk we have today is about hidden dangers, but you really need to know what you’re getting.

So the dangers that have been showing up in these articles that have been front page news should be really looked at seriously. They’re very dangerous. And just the fact that they’re now figuring this out, this thing has been going on for a long time.

And also you need to realize that good manufacturing practices, if they’re not being adhered to and the facility where the products are being made and privately labeled, you don’t know where that’s coming from. The machines might not be cleaned properly.

DEBRA: Okay, good. The thing that comes to mind is that maybe there is something you’re allergic to that might still be on the machine.

PAMELA SEEFELD: Exactly!

DEBRA: And somebody who is allergic to peanuts or something like that, soy, a lot of things, you don’t even know if they’re in that.

We need to go to break. So you’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Pamela Seefeld. She’s a registered pharmacist who prefers medicinal plants and other natural substances instead of prescription drugs. And we’ll be right back.

= COMMERCIAL BREAK =

DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Pamela Seefeld. She’s a registered pharmacist who prefers to dispense medicinal plants and other natural substances instead of prescription drugs. Today, we’re talking about hidden toxic dangers that may be in some of those natural supplements that you might buy in various different places.

So Pamela, go on with – let’s see…

PAMELA SEEFELD: We were talking about private label.

DEBRA: Private label, yes. We were talking about private label.

PAMELA SEEFELD: I’m not saying necessarily that they are going to be bad. It’s just that there are going to be inadequacies in analyzing the quality of it because this is really not that person’s vitamins. It’s obviously a company. And most of the time, when people private label, they shop these things around and they want to make the most profit off the bottle.

With my stuff here, I don’t even know what I paid for mine. I have a staff running these things. I don’t know.

But if you’re going to put your name on a product, a lot of times, people will do whatever they’re making the best profit on. So maybe the product is not going to be necessarily good.

And another thing for evaluating hidden dangers is when you see a product on the back of the label, it has all these little asterisks next to it with all the ingredients, I don’t like that. And the reason why I prefer not to use those types of products is because you cannot evaluate how many milligrams of each product is in there to make a dose.

So if someone brings me a product and they bought it at some place, at a health food store, and it’s got these little asterisks next to it, when you look at that, there’s no way to adequately evaluate what dose you’re getting of each product.

So typically, when they do this kind of things and they have these blends of all of this stuff and there are little stars next to each one so they don’t tell you how many milligrams, the majority of the time, the reason why is because they’re putting more of the less expensive ingredient and less of the more expensive ingredient if that makes sense to you. So that’s what’s really happening.

And so when you see those types of products, there are a lot of multilevel marketing products that fall into those categories. I have hesitancy in saying that they would be even safe because you really have no way of knowing. The real way to evaluate something is having faith that what you’re seeing on the label is something that you can determine if this dose is appropriate for the individual. And that’s where a pharmacy comes in.

But a regular individual could look at that and say, “I don’t really know what I’m getting.” That could be a problem, especially if there’s drug interaction or if the person has allergy. How would they know what they’re even getting in the product?

DEBRA: I agree with you. I think that a lot of times, people are taking these products because they want them to have a medicinal effect. And so if you don’t know what’s in it – I mean, part of getting the effect is knowing what you’re taking and what’s the dose.

PAMELA SEEFELD: Correct. And so if you can’t adequately evaluate it because of the fact that they’re really not revealing it on the label, I have some problems with that. So that’s another thing.

Now, the fact that there are heavy metals in some of these things – and I like to point to calcium supplements and lead. They’re cleaning that up a little bit better than it was in the past, but if you look in consumer labs, there are a lot of different products. Almost 20% of the products that they reviewed had some small amounts of lead in them. And of course, lead is a neurotoxin. And that’s something that we need to be cognizant of.

And you have to think about too where the plants are grown. I mean, I have nothing against China, but I really would not be using a lot of any of these oriental products that are actually made in China. And the reason why is that the environmental pollution is so rampant there that if you’re growing the plants there in the soil and the air, the environment is pretty much destroyed as far as heavy metal contamination. When these plants are eventually put to a product you’re consuming, you might not really be aware of what you’re getting. And that’s very important.

In not only that too, the American companies, at least when you have plant material, they do genetic testing on it to make sure that’s what’s really in it. And that’s actually how they found that the products that were being carried by these various pharmacies and GNC did not have that particular product because they actually tested the DNA. What they said in the label was not what’s in the bottle.

So there’s lots of room for air. I personally use a lot of products with companies that I really like and I know follow a good manufacturing practice. A good case in point is if you go to the health food store, Nature’s Way, Nature’s Plus, they follow GMP. It’s what they’re saying in the label.

I actually went out to the Nature’s Way plant in Utah a long time ago and toured the facility. It’s very clean. The plant material was being analyzed and checked for fungi and bacteria.

And that’s really important to know. If you go to the health food store and you’re buying herbal products in bulk, maybe they’ll have bulk whatever herb you’re particularly buying, and it is in a bulk container, bacteria, fungi and bugs contaminate a lot of bulk, raw herbs.

So you got to be very, very careful about that. That would be something that if you have any issues with your immune system, if you’re immune-compromised because maybe you had a transplant, you have no business doing anything bulk. Those products need to be medical grade from a store that is specifically using products that have been tested to be free of bacteria.

And that’s probably important to know. I’m not sure what percentage of the population has immune issues. But even if someone’s been having chronic herpes infection, chronic Eipstein-Barr, any of that kind of stuff, your immune system’s already low and taking in bulk herbs that you’re buying from a container where you’re measuring out so many grams of it or whatever you’re buying, I would really hesitancy and advising against that.

DEBRA: So that would be true for culinary herbs as well.

PAMELA SEEFELD: Correct.

DEBRA: I mean, it’s all just the same herbs. They’re in [cross-talking 00:32:51]

PAMELA SEEFELD: Correct, when it’s in bulk. So if you’re buying some of those in a container, that’s pretty much had been tested and is probably free of that. But mold too, if you just think about it, it’s plant material. And even if it’s been dehydrated, there still might be small amounts of water and that’s all it takes. These are the things that you can’t see with the naked eye.

DEBRA: Right.

PAMELA SEEFELD: But if you’re drinking or eating it, it could be a big problem, especially if you’re making an extract of it. Like I said, if the person is immune-compromised, you might not realize why you’re getting these infections and it might be because of the bulk products. And you’d want to have something in a capsule that’s been sealed, that the top of the label has been sealed. That would make a big difference as well.

Now, I’m going to switch over a little bit talking about mercury in fish oil products. The best way to have mercury removed from omega-3 is by molecular distillation, fractional distillation. You think about when they process oil in refineries, there’s columnar filtration and certain things come off at certain points. And that’s the same thing with fish oil. We want to make sure that when we have something, it has been filtered in that sense that the mercury has been removed.

I also have a problem too if we talk about hidden dangers that if you have a really big bottle of fish oil, you buy something in bulk, by the time you’re halfway through the bottle, there’s so much degradation of the product inside because of oxygen being affected. That’s another thing that you actually could end up with lipid peroxidation in coronary artery disease even as a result of taking omega-3’s just because of the fact that they become adulterated from the oxygen.

DEBRA: We need to go to break. So I’ll ask you this question when we come back. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Pamela Seefeld. She’s a registered pharmacist who prefers to dispense medicinal plants and other natural substances instead of prescription drugs. Her website is BotanicalResource.com. We’ll be right back.

= COMMERCIAL BREAK =

DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Pamela Seefeld. She is a registered pharmacist who – I can’t talk. I’m just having one of those days. You know who she is. Okay, let’s go over to the question.

PAMELA SEEFELD: Exactly, you know who I am. So we were talking about the large containers of fish oil.

DEBRA: And I had a question for you. Are you talking about large containers of liquid fish oil or fish oil in capsules?

PAMELA SEEFELD: Both.

DEBRA: Okay, so my question is, does the capsule keep the fish oil fresh?

PAMELA SEEFELD: Not necessarily. It’s just a more convenient dosing mechanism for some people. What we have to realize is that oils are sensitive to light, heat and oxygen in that order actually. We know that if something has oxygen coming into it in the bottle, what happens is each time that you open the bottle and take some pills out and then close the bottle, the oxygen is let in the bottle and it stays in there.

And so what happens is the oil itself can start having derogatory products as a result of it. It becomes rancid. You don’t really smell it because it’s not really to the point of – if you think about it, if you kept a bottle of fish oil and you kept the top off and you had it sitting out for weeks on end, eventually, it would start to smell.

But even though it’s just small amounts of oxygen that you keep letting when you keep opening the cap, there are some problems with that.

So a case in point, in Costo and Sam’s, they sell fish oil in these huge, big containers, that’s not good. People think they’re getting such a deal. It’s not a good deal because you really want to have a bottle of fish oil that has maybe 120 in it or 90 capsules or whatever the case may be. You use that up within a month and get a fresh bottle after that. Each time you’re opening it up and you’re letting the capsules out and you’re letting oxygen into the bottle, the derogatory products that are going to be present there in the liquid or in the capsules, either way, those are bad because they have free radicals. And so when you’re consuming those, those free radicals, depending on your anti-oxidants status at the time when you consume them can be probably detrimental to the blood vessels.

And I really wanted to talk a little bit, just briefly, about fish oil just really quickly. There is a study that came out maybe a few weeks ago. And it was talking about how fish oil is shown that the benefits were not really derived there for these patients that had heart disease and that it really didn’t protect the heart and everything. I want to point out something to your listeners. Those patients that were in that study (and it’s very important that we look at the study) had already had a heart attack and had heart disease.

So what I’m telling you is that if you’ve already had a major health problem, you’ve had heart attack or you have heart disease and I give you fish oil, are you going to be like you and me and you’re going to be completely fine? Probably not.

Look at the studies and look at the population of the people that they’re using in that. They didn’t use healthy people. They used people that have already been sick, were on a bunch of cardiac medicines. They gave them fish oil and we’re trying to see if it would protect against further cardiac damage. And the study showed that it probably didn’t.

What that means is that maybe it’s not just fish oil that’s needed when these people are very sick and have heart disease. Maybe they need to be on B vitamins, maybe they need to be on exercise, maybe they need to be on a different diet, all these other things. It’s not all or nothing.

I think that’s important for people to realize when they see this. I read the study and people come in and say, “Well, I guess fish oil really doesn’t do what it says it does.” All these negative studies that they think that they have, you need to look and see. If they were dealing with very, very sick people, you might not have the outcomes you’re expecting because the health of these individuals is very poor.

DEBRA: I think that’s a really important point to make. I think that people read just an article where a reporter who is not trained in these subjects write something and it’s his understanding of what the study is. And when you go and read the study, it’s sometimes completely different.

PAMELA SEEFELD: Well, it is. Many times, it is. And I think, let’s face it, if you’re trying to make a name for yourself and you’re a reporter, the sensational titles really catch people’s attention.

And maybe they really should have looked at what they’re trying their outcome to be. Is a person’s heart disease going to completely go away? Probably not. But maybe if they’re using homeopathic cardiac glycosides, maybe if they’re incorporating diet and exercise and some other things that we know has shown to be helpful, maybe the outcomes would have been different.

But when you deal with a patient population that already has some baseline health issues that are pretty severe, you might not always see the results that you want. Should this mean that the person who has really bad heart disease shouldn’t take fish oil? No, they need to be taking it. But there might be other things, other variables along with it, some lifestyle factors, that probably are influencing it. That’s really important.

So I don’t want people to stop taking fish oil. I think this is just, since we’re talking about, important to bring that up because it doesn’t mean fish oil doesn’t work.

DEBRA: Fish oil has a lot of other benefits as well. And that said, I’m really understanding in my own life very much lately that it’s a combination of things. Everybody needs their own individual combination of things in order to build health. And we’re exposed to different things. Our bodies are different. And it’s not just one thing. It’s not even just one thing of avoiding toxic. I think that everybody needs to avoid toxic chemicals. Everybody needs to get toxic chemicals out of their bodies as I think like a baseline thing. But then after that, there are still other things that are needed.

PAMELA SEEFELD: What you’re saying is these are inter-individual. And that’s why I like what I’m doing here because I can select these things for you based on your family history and what you think you’re more prone to or at risk for or what situations you have cropping up. It’s really important. I can look at your blood work with you and say, “These are things that I see that are coming. They’re not being flagged yet, but I don’t like these numbers and we need to try and reverse those.”

And especially if you’re dealing with anybody that has some pre-kidney issues or some pre-liver issues, those two things in particular are very, very bad because you don’t want to end up on dialysis and you don’t want to end up with a liver transplant.

So when you start seeing some things, some changes physiologically in the person in their chemistry, their blood chemistry, those you need to act on. And those people in particular would really want to be cognizant of what supplements they’re taking because you don’t want to be taking anything that’s possibly adulterated.

And another thing too, when you see these supplements and it says, “Genko, two for a $1” That’s not Genko because there’s no way they’ll be able to sell that. That’s a lot of these products that were private-labeled by these different pharmacies that were just really junk. They were picking them up because they were cheap.

That’s what really it is. They didn’t go and explore, “Is this an adequate supply? Do these people actually test these things?” We’re looking at that because the bottom line, if you’re a retail business and you’re a chain nationwide, it’s, “What profit am I making off of each bottle?” And that’s what a lot of people need to realize, that the practitioner and the integrity of who’s dealing with the products, that’s very important.

DEBRA: Well, I want to say on your behalf, Pamela, I want to say to the listeners that it’s really a very different experience working with Pamela because not only does she have the products that she’s investigated and evaluated for herself and has been using for many years and she knows the people who are making them and things like that, but she also has the skill and experience to know exactly which products to give you, exactly which natural substance is going to do the thing that your body needs.

And it’s very different in terms of just walking into a natural food store or a drugstore or any place like that where you’re just choosing something off the shelf without having the knowledge that she brings to this. And her knowledge is so great in a large sense. She’s so experienced that she can just choose the right thing and give it to you and it just cuts right through to having the right solution.

It’s very different. I’ve never been to any kind of store like Pamela’s pharmacy. She just does something completely unique that is, I think, so needed in the world.

PAMELA SEEFELD: I really appreciate that. I really pride myself that what we’re providing is a very valuable service here, that people, once they’ve realized that we’re really micro-managing their stuff and just looking at it and we’re doing it in a very economical way, that’s what it’s really all about. It’s making sure that people have quality choices and especially if they’re on prescriptions and they don’t want to be on them or they’re coming close to needing medicine.

I see a lot of people that are coming here and they may be are needing medicine in some time in the future. And I’ll tell them exactly what they’re going to eventually give them and say, “Do you want to just get rid of the problem now? We can address it today.”

But I respect people. If they want to triage something and say, “Okay, let’s check the blood work in another month and see where they’re at,” we can do that too. And if they’re still continuing to get worse, then you have to act on it.

I think people need to have choices. And especially, I keep bringing up the kidney thing because there’s some homeopath stuff that I’ve been using for people with kidney issues and starting to have pre-kidney failure and they’re reversing pretty significantly. I’m even astounded at the numbers. There’s a big, big difference in people’s [inaudible 00:48:48].

In fact, I’m doing some speaking next week, which is continuing education for the doctors. And I’m going to be providing some of the blood work (I only blocked out the names and everything). I’m showing the blood work of people that actually went on some inexpensive, simple, medical homeopathy and his pre-kidney failure was reversed in a month. And that, to me, is just unbelievable. I wouldn’t even expect the results to be that good. Huge differences!

So people need to know there are choices for that. And I’d be very grateful to help you in anything, especially if you have any question about a supplement you’re taking. We’re talking about these hidden dangers, but if you have questions about any kind of contamination or anything that’s going on with it, I’d be very grateful to look and see if we can find us some information, if there are some questions about some kind of adverse reaction that you’ve been having to a supplement you’ve been taking because there’s a lot of that much more prevalent than you would think.

DEBRA: Well, we only have about 20 seconds left. So why don’t you give your phone number again?

PAMELA SEEFELD: Yes, absolutely. My pharmacy is 727-442-4955. I would be very grateful to help you in and your family if you have any questions you might have about your medications or your supplements.

DEBRA: And thank you very much, Pamela. We’ll be back again in two weeks with another show with Pamela Seefeld, a registered pharmacist. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. Be well.

Hidden Toxic Dangers in Common Dietary Supplements

LISTEN TO OTHER SHOWS WITH PAMELA SEEFELD

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Find Out How I Regained My Health
By Removing Toxic Products
from My Home

Get the Info on
3 Shocking Toxic Products
Right Away

ARE TOXIC PRODUCTS HIDDEN IN YOUR HOME?