We hope this finds you all well and wish you a Good Friday and a Blessed Easter weekend for those celebrating. We Eastern Orthodox observe later this year but look forward to hearing all about your festivities and joyful spring breaks.
In this edition you’ll find:
- Aspirin cuts liver fat
- Fish oil is great for cognitive decline and immune health -and some versions are more powerful.
- Jonathan Haidt has a new book -Anxious Generation- and is starting a new movement to combat the mental health challenges of our youth.
- Health Medicine- a deep dive into a better Integrative Medicine approach
- The growing strain of the U.S. “health care” system pushing people into medical debt
- Achieving greatness -from Caitlin Clark to the great leaders of history
- Thinking about Good Friday and why the Eastern Orthodox celebrate at different times.
Aspirin Cuts Liver Fat in Trial
10 percent reduction seen in small study of disease that affects up to a third of U.S. adults
Fatty liver, now more commonly described as MASLD (Metabolic dysfunction Associated Steatotic Liver Disease), is estimated to affect up to a third of U.S. adults. Whereas as weight loss and improving insulin resistance are appropriately thought of as the treatment of choice, a simple baby aspirin has been shown to help. I believe that for most people the much-maligned aspirin, especially at a small dose and with food, would be an excellent choice for those with MASLD aka fatty liver.
Fish Oil prevents cognitive decline
“In summary, fish oil supplementation may play a protective role in cognitive function across all APOE genotypes, while non-oily fish and oily fish consumption have no protective association among older diabetic patients.”
Therapeutic Use of Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Immune Disorders In Search of the Ideal Omega-3 Supplement
Excellent article by Jeffrey Bland Ph.D., the founder of IFM and one of the original pioneers in the world of Functional Medicine discusses the evolving roles of other Omega-3 derivatives like DPA and Pro-Resolving Mediators (PRMs) which are collectively known as Specialized Pro-Resolving Mediators (SPMs). These latter derivatives seem to have a more beneficial effect on immune and gut health and improvement in inflammation.
Our new favorite fish oil: MegaMarine
This excellent new product has all of the usual Omega 3 derivatives with the additional DPA and PRMs. It’s been shown to be helpful for gut health and we’ve seen it work well for lowering inflammation as well.
We are also huge fans of SPM Active by Metagenics.
FREE THE ANXIOUS GENERATION
The mass migration of childhood into the virtual world has disrupted social and neurological development.
This disruption includes social anxiety, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction. Alarmed by the rates of anxiety and depression in adolescents, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt wrote The Anxious Generation. The book explores these growing phenomena and attributes them to the transition from a play-based childhood to a phone-based childhood.
The Evidence – The Anxious Generation
The Anxious Generation begins by examining adolescent mental health trends. What happened to young people in the early 2010s that triggered the surge of anxiety and depression?
Haidt’s plan: The Four New Norms
Health Medicine
An engaging and well-thought-out article about deeper Health and health care by one of the early advocates of Integrative Medicine and arguably the most famous Naturopath (ND), Joseph Pizzorno, ND, Editor in Chief – Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal
For almost two centuries, disease-treatment medicine has dominated healthcare. This has resulted in many benefits, especially for acute infections, injuries, acute life-threatening diseases, congenital malformations, etc. However, we have also seen a parallel and relentless increase in chronic disease. In fact, we now suffer the highest burden of virtually every chronic disease in every age group ever in human history. Why? It is not because disease-treatment medicine is wrong, but rather because it is incomplete. Today’s healthcare is missing health care and is focused almost solely on disease. Through recorded history, there has been an ongoing philosophical dynamic between treating disease vs promoting health. Dominance by either side is insufficient. This editorial explores Health Medicine and why embracing this concept is critical for solving our healthcare crisis. It is organized as follows: a brief review of history, the rationale for “Health” medicine, what defines it, why organizing under it is important, how an optimal system could be organized, and the potential response of conventional medicine.
| Disease Treatment | Health Promotion |
|---|---|
 Generic care | ✓ Personalized care |
| Symptom relief | ✓ Treatment of underlying causes |
| End-stage pathology | ✓ Physiological optimization |
| Secondary prevention | ✓ Primary prevention |
| Dependence on doctors | ✓ Education & self help |
| Dependence on drugs | ✓ Vis medicatrix naturae |
| Environmental pollution | ✓ Decreased toxin release into the environment |
| Nutritional deficiencies | ✓ Public and farmer education to increase food nutrient density |
| Excessive costs | ✓ Prioritization of health promotion as much as expensive end stage care |
Personal Medical Bankruptcy: Made in DC
Medical debt now affects more than 100 million people in America as the U.S. healthcare system pushes patients into debt according to this NPR article.
The Mises Institute has a detailed report and assessment of the challenges of personal medical bankruptcy. Unfortunately, I’ve not heard any politician address this adequately.
A 2021 Census Bureau study found that 19 percent of households couldn’t pay for medical care when needed. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported in 2022 when debt collectors contacted consumers, medical debt was the most likely reason.
Poor health and financial troubles are connected to bankruptcy. The link was notably made in a 2000 study that concluded medical bills accounted for 40 percent of federal bankruptcy filings in 1999. Medical debt is one of the leading bankruptcy causes, cited in 66.5 percent of federal bankruptcy cases in a 2019 study published by the National Institutes of Health. Medical bankruptcy continues to be common despite Obamacare becoming law in 2010.
Greatness
Two insightful articles on greatness. As a father of a girl who loves basketball, it has been inspiring to see the rise of women’s college basketball in general and specifically to witness the outstanding achievements of Caitlin Clark playing at Iowa.
Achieving greatness without falling apart
Caitlin Clark is a star, transforming and elevating the game of women’s basketball in a way that we’ve yet to see. At the heart of her story is the pursuit of greatness, striving for the outer bounds of her potential. How do we channel the passion, drive, and borderline obsession that the greats often possess, without letting it consume us?
My brother Tom is one of the brightest and most well-read people in the field of leadership and history. Here he takes the thinking about the above article to another level by demonstrating that we should think about being great and good-something which most of the illustrious athletes mentioned above are probably lacking.
Great and Good- Rethinking Greatness as the Ideal Form of Leadership
‘Greatness,’ what I call extra-ordinary or a high level of achievement, is important as an element of leadership. But by itself it is an incomplete descriptor or working concept for us to use as growing and upwardly mobile leaders. We should learn that many leaders were great but not good, including renowned transformational figures such as Alexander the Great.
By referring to Lincoln and Socrates, Collins (author of Good to Great) illustrates for us my point: these famous leaders, unlike Patton or Caesar, are Great and Good. We shouldn’t conceive of them on a continuum of ‘good-to-great’ but rather exhibiting both attributes at the same time – Great and Good.
They’re only truly great who are truly good. ~ George Chapman, 1559-1634, English dramatist, translator, and poet; translator of Homer
GOOD FRIDAY and HAPPY EASTER
Wishing all those who are celebrating a blessed Good Friday and a Happy Easter. My friend and great educator Andrew Zwerneman has written a powerful article looking at the question of death and life through the lenses of ancient, classical, and Christian literature and beliefs.
We Eastern Orthodox celebrate later this year and although will miss out this weekend will be able to get some good discounts on Easter candy. I’ve included some good articles explaining this. It remains a difference in calendars and not belief.
The One Way to Unity: Resurrection
Andrew J. Zwerneman – Cana Academy
“The question of our death and life after death has been a perennial one since the dawn of Western literature and, thus, from the classical beginnings of liberal education. We find in the greatest texts that life is a drama of greatest significance: How we live now shapes how we live hereafter. Death looms over life, but life now affords the possibility of life beyond death.”
Why Orthodox Easter and Easter Are on Different Days
Orthodox Easter takes place between April 4 and May 8, following the first full moon after Passover. Orthodox Easter always falls after the Jewish celebration of Passover, because, according to the New Testament, the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ took place after he entered Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. In 2024, Orthodox Easter occurs on May 5.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII instituted the Gregorian calendar to correct inaccuracies in the Julian Calendar. The new calendar added leap years to correct an 11-minute miscalculation that caused seasons to become out of sync with the calendar, thus pushing Easter away from the spring equinox. Under the Gregorian calendar, churches established Easter to be held on the first Sunday after the full moon which occurs on or after the spring equinox. In 2024, Easter is celebrated on March 31.
Why does the Orthodox Celebrate Easter On a Different Day than Other Christians?
-Dr. Lewis J. Patsavos, Professor of Canon Law, Holy Cross School of Theology
This topic has long been a concern of ecumenical dialogue. This was the spirit that predominated at a consultation on the matter held in Aleppo, Syria in 1997.
One of its conclusions was that the underlying reason for the differences in the date of Pascha was the differences in the calendars and lunar tables (paschal cycles) employed rather than any theological disagreement between Eastern and Western Christians.
In view of the fact that today both the Julian and Gregorian modes of calculation diverge from the astronomical data, it behooves all Christians to return to the norms determined by the Council of Nicaea, taking advantage of the most up-to-date astronomical data for the vernal equinox and the phase of the moon.
