"Bill's Rant" - What Are They Doing to Us?
The #1 Cause of Accidental Death – Are YOU at Risk?
(download newsletter PDF)

Designer drugs. State-of-the-art machinery. Less than 45% of your hard-earned taxes fund the Canadian healthcare system.  With all this – we should be the healthiest people on Earth! 

Yet, every year, seven out of 10 deaths are due to preventable chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, stroke, and obesity. We are starting to lag behind other industrialized nations in life expectancy. 

How can that be? The answer lies in how we approach health care: like it or not, the real focus of modern medicine is on making money, not making you well. “Modern” medicine's bottom line for only treating symptoms necessitates the continual expansion of indications to feed the drug pipeline.

The definition of health "care" has become interchangeable with drug interventions. Just a few examples:

Statins: Almost 1 in 4 people take statins - drugs that lower your cholesterol levels - one of the most widely prescribed drugs in the world. Statins act by blocking a crucial  enzyme in your liver responsible for making cholesterol. But that's not all this enzyme is responsible for. This enzyme also makes CoQ10, which is essential for mitochondrial health. Many potentially dangerous side effects are associated with statin drug use.

There are more than 900 studies proving the adverse effects of statins, which run the gamut from muscle problems to diabetes, to birth defects and increased cancer risk. One recent study found that use of any statin drug, in any amount, was associated with a significantly increased risk for prostate cancer.

Mammograms: A mammogram delivers about 1,000 times more radiation than a chest x-ray, which may increase the risk of cardiovascular damage. Studies have shown that women who have mammograms suffer about the same rates of death due to breast cancer as women who do not have mammograms. If a tumor is large enough to be detected by a mammogram, it’s already in an advanced stage, so very few cancers are caught in the earliest and most treatable stages.

PSA testing: A study of 77,000 men, followed for 10 years has yet to show any benefit from PSA testing. A separate report from Europe found for every life saved by PSA testing, 47 men were treated unnecessarily.
ISM has repeatedly, over the past decade or more, stated the above about statins, mammograms and the reliability of PSA testing! What are “they” doing to us? When will “they” listen?

New Laboratory Director Joins ISM (Dec 2011)

Immune System Management Inc. is pleased to announce that Marian Laderoute, Ph.D. Medical Sciences (Immunology) has assumed the position of Laboratory Director (as of August 2011) when Dr. Ken Lin retired after over a decade of dedicated service.

Dr. Laderoute obtained her medical technology certification in 1978 from Algonquin College (general medical laboratory technology) and did her internship at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. She worked for a number of years for the Red Cross, Blood Transfusion Service in Ottawa and then migrated to Edmonton to work in the HLA Tissue Typing and Transplantation Laboratory at the University Hospital where she also did transplantation research.

In 1983 she graduated with a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Alberta and then went on to her Ph.D in Medical Sciences (Immunology), also from the University of Alberta. Her Ph.D. thesis revolved around the immunosuppression of the host and in the malignant phenotype of tumors. This discovery was considered important and lead to the creation of Biomira Inc., a biotech company specializing in cancer vaccines.

For her post-doctoral training she studied a cancer predisposition genetic disorder involving radiation hypersensitivity where heterozygote females are at a higher risk of early onset breast cancer. At this time she wrote and published her "unified theory of cancer" (Molecular Carcinogenesis, 1994) which attempts to explain how the malignant potential of the tumor relates to immunosuppression of the host.

Dr. Laderoute comes to ISM after working 15 years in Blood Safety at Health Canada and then the Public Health Agency of Canada. During her term there she discovered a novel host immunological protection mechanism, the activation of a human endogenous retrovirus - HERV-K102. About 8 % of the human genome is made up of various endogenous retroviruses, most of which has been inactivated by mutations and deletions. Until her discovery in 2007, it was not known if any of these endogenous retroviruses could actually replicate in the body or in the test tube, nor what role they played in human health. She showed that HERV-K102 could be induced to replicate under permissive laboratory conditions, and in the body appeared to be induced in response to active infections by viruses particularly retroviruses such as HIV and other bloodborne pathogens. Further studies implied that this virus could undergo lytic infections, and that it was part of innate immunity. She hypothesized that this virus might be oncolytic (preferentially infects and ruptures tumor cells) and virolytic (rupture virally infected cells) and thus, possibly a critical first response of the immune system protecting against cancer, intracellular infections, and! possibly against any adverse or toxic exposures.

In addition to providing core Aminomics testing, Dr. Laderoute hopes to evaluate the role of HERV-K102 activation in the promotion of wellness, as well as bring on-line several biological markers to further ISM’s research into Aminomics and it’s application to various chronic conditions. All that technical stuff aside……. she’s also one of the most fun and pleasant people you’ll ever run into! Welcome aboard Marian!

Start Your Day with a Smoothie

One of the best ways to ensure you take your ISM therapeutics is to mix them up in a smoothie. These ingredients can also benefit your health. Here are a few delicious recipes for you to try.

Coconut Oil Smoothie
1 can coconut milk or 400 ml filtered water
½ cup Greek Plain Yogurt
1 banana (omit or substitute with a fruit of your choice – non-citrus)
½ cup raspberries or blueberries
1-2 tbsp Ground Flax Seed
2 scoops ISM ProComplete or ProCustom
1 tbsp Oganika Virgin Coconut Oil
Sweeten with 1 tsp honey if desired

Makes 2 Servings

Holiday Smoothie Recipe

1 ¼ cup Organic Eggnog
½ cup Greek Plain Yogurt
¼ cup Filtered Water or Organic Milk
1 Banana or Fruit of your choice (non-citrus)
1-2 tbsp Ground Flax Seed
2 scoops ISM ProComplete or ProCustom
Pinch of Cinnamon
Pinch of Nutmeg

Makes 2 Servings

General Instructions:

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend on smoothie or blend setting for about a minute.

Both recipes make delicious smoothies loaded with vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber and healthy oils. The Greek yogurt is especially good to use as it contains a more concentrated form of milk protein than regular yogurt and contains all 9 of the essential amino acids needed to build protein.

“Optimal Health” is released by staff, associates and friends of Immune System Management Inc. We aim to share up-to-date news, information and diverse views for the growing integrative, alternative and complementary medicine movement, particularly as it applies to cancer and other chronic diseases.

It is our philosophy that diverse health care modalities can work in conjunction with each other as part of a unified team rather than in competition. Such an integrated approach ultimately will lead to safer and more effective healthcare.