Blood Circulation is Everything

Good health requires, above all else, strong and steady blood flow through clear blood vessels.

Healthy blood circulation delivers fresh nutrients to your cells, and prevents accumulation of waste materials within your cells. Both of these actions are equally necessary for healthy cells.

This basic health principle is at the heart of an alternative treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS), discovered by an Italian physician and researcher, Dr. Paolo Zamboni.

Dr. Zamboni began looking for a cure for MS in 1995 after his wife was diagnosed with it.

Dr. Zamboni's research led him to believe that rather than being an autoimmune-like condition, the root cause of MS is compromised blood flow that results from excess iron levels in the body.

Using ultrasound to examine blood vessels in the brain region, Dr. Zamboni found that in more than 90 percent of people with multiple sclerosis, including his wife, the veins allowing fluid to drain from the brain region were blocked or malformed. In people without MS, such blockages and malformations were a rarity.

Dr. Zamboni hypothesized that excess iron can injure blood vessels, allowing iron and undesirable substances to cross the blood-brain barrier, leading to an inflammatory response that results in destruction of myelin, the insulating sheath that protects nerve cells.

With a simple operation to unclog veins and allow for proper drainage of fluid from the brain region, Dr. Zamboni found that MS patients experienced gradual dissipation of symptoms. His own wife had this procedure done in 2007 and has been free of symptoms since.

Using Dr. Zamboni's approach to treating MS, researchers in Italy provided surgery to unclog veins in the head and neck region in 65 patients with relapsing-remitting MS. The results were outstanding - 73 percent became symptom-free following surgery.

Researchers in Buffalo are in the process of recruiting adults and children in the US and Canada to assess the relationship between iron levels and blood flow in and out of the brain region.

Mark Haacke, a professor at McMaster University in Hamiltion, Ontario, is asking MS patients to send their head and neck MRI scans to him so that he can further assess Dr. Zamboni's hypothesis.

Conventional medical bodies have yet to embrace Dr. Zamboni's approach to treating MS as an acceptable, first-line approach, citing lack of adequate evidence of efficacy.

No one knows if people who develop MS have a genetic predisposition for it and experience iron buildup as a result of having fluid congestion in the brain region, or if sufferers develop congestion because of blood vessel damage caused by excess iron. Further research should clarify which comes first.

For now, what to do with this information?

If I had multiple sclerosis, I would have appropriate scans to assess the health of major vessels in my head and neck region. If such scans revealed significant blockage, I would seriously consider visiting Dr. Zamboni in Italy for a consultation.

Up until now, my approach to helping people address MS through natural means has involved optimizing blood flow with a plant-based diet and proper attention to experiencing emotional balance and a physically fit body.

If Dr. Zamboni's hypothesis proves to be true, MS sufferers may need more help than a healthy lifestyle can provide. Where there is a genetically predetermined obstacle to proper blood flow and drainage in the body, cellular injury is inevitable.

For people without MS or a predisposition to develop MS, it behooves us to remember that our health can only ever be as good as the steadiness of our blood flow and the nutrients that we put into our blood.

Beyond protecting ourselves from heavy metal poisoning, to optimally protect our blood vessels, it's worthwhile to remember the following points:

1. Excessive intake of sugar and other refined carbohydrates is a primary cause of deterioration of blood vessel walls. The mechanisms involved are many, and include increased blood viscosity and hyperinsulinemia.

2. Cheap vegetable oils that are high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (safflower, sunflower, cottonseed, corn) tend to be rich sources of free radicals that damage blood vessel walls.

3. A buildup of homocysteine can induce blood vessel damage. To prevent homocysteine buildup, it's vital that you ensure adequate intake of vitamins B12, B6, and folate.

   Click here to learn about Homocysteine Care

4. Chronic anger and anxiety can damage blood vessel walls through hypersympathetic activity.

5. Excessive intake of foods that are cooked at high temperatures increases your exposure to free radicals that can contribute to blood vessel damage.

If you know anyone with multiple sclerosis, please consider passing this information along. Thank you.