Natural Body Health w/ Dr. Mark E. Laursen

Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar
© 2009 NaturalBodyHealth.com
“Death in a Jar”
Newsletter 05/15/09

We chose to analyze “Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar” as it represents many of the candy, chocolate products that line the checkout aisles of businesses that want to make you glucose sick as you leave their store. In fact, Hershey’s makes many of the products that are placed in the checkout aisles.

Content: 1 bar (regular size)

Calories 210
Fat calories 110
Total fat 13g
Sat fat 8g
Trans fat 0g
Cholesterol 10mg
Sodium 35mg
Total carb 26g
Fiber 1g
Sugars 24g
Protein 3g
Calcium 8% *
Iron 2% *

*(if you ate a 2000-calorie diet)

Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, milk, chocolate, cocoa, butter, lactose, milk fat, soy lecithin, PGPR emulsifier, vanillin, artificial flavor).

Here is my opinion:

As you can see, chocolate can contain many things, some artificial. In the food industry, chocolate is labeled differently, in part based upon what can be placed in it.

Milk Chocolate - A combination of chocolate liquor (not alcohol), cocoa butter, sugar and milk or cream. Milk chocolate contains mostly sugar. Milk chocolate must contain at least 10% chocolate liquor and at least 12% total milk ingredients. Currently there has been interest from chocolate product manufacturers, like Hershey’s, in obtaining food industry standard changes so that chocolate can be produced with less cocoa butter by using other forms of fats (cheaper).

Calories – The calorie content of candy like chocolate bars from Hershey’s is very high. In the smaller, basic size milk chocolate candy bar, 210 calories is a lot, and if you are like most of America, overweight, then eating even one candy bar is going to undermine any healthy diet plan. Eating candy at all, is most likely going to cause you to gain weight. With obesity becoming the biggest cause of reversible death in the United States, why would anyone want to consume the high calorie count chocolate. Yet it is the whole group of candies that are pushed onto consumers at checkout aisles all across the United States. Often, products like these are placed all the way to the floor for your children to be enticed to buy.

Sugar, though natural, is the greatest toxin in the world at this time, doing more damage than all the foreign chemicals combined. Going from 15 pounds of sugar consumption per year, per person “pre-Hershey’s,” to over 175 pounds of sugar consumption per person per year today, is the main reason for the destruction of the health of the population, resulting in excess weight, obesity and eventually diabetes. Overuse of sugar leads to lessened willpower, fatigue and resultant hypoglycemia. The Hershey’s chocolate bar contains 24 grams of sugar for a small bar, close to many soda pop beverages. Sugar is essential in order to turn the chocolate into an edible sweet. Without sugar, chocolate has a very bitter taste.

Milk is the second ingredient listed. Milk is a natural product from cows and is one of the highest allergenic food products in the world. If you want to eat an older Paleolithic food plan, which is better for your health than even the Mediterranean diet, then you have to avoid cow milk. Cow milk has had more interest recently from health conscious consumers, from the residue of hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals used in the dairy industry. Not a good choice for the modern world if you want to be healthy. Lifelong intake of allergenic or contaminated foods is likely the cause of many long-term diseases according to many doctors.

Chocolate - is listed next followed by cocoa. Chocolate is made from cacao so it is a terminology issue that the label lists the 2 products separately. Chocolate is any product made primarily of cocoa solids and cocoa fat. Cocoa fat is more expensive than other types of fats, which is why many producers of chocolate desire to introduce other fats into chocolate, lowering the cocoa content.

Chocolate contains alkaloids such as theobromine and phenethylamine. Theobromine is toxic and deadly to some animals such as dogs and cats. Chocolate also contains some tryptophan. Chocolate can have a mood calming effect and has been linked to serotonin levels in the brain, which relates to feeling depressed or not. Chocolate is also a stimulant due to the presence of theobromine and caffeine, which is part of my opposition to its consumption, due to adverse health effects of continual stimulant usage. It is very stimulating for horses such that its use in horse racing is prohibited.

Cocoa is a botanical and thus herbal product, which contains many types of chemicals: polyphenols, purine alkaloids, organic acids, and sugars. Cocoa beans are the source of both chocolate and cocoa powder. After being picked, the beans are fermented, dried, roasted and ground to remove the inner seed, which contain all of the cocoa butter. Cocoa is the product made by removing part of the fat (cocoa butter) from the cocoa beans and grinding the remaining material minus the shell.

Cocoa powder, in an unsweetened variety, contains 12 mg of caffeine per 1 tablespoon. I estimate one Hershey’s milk chocolate bar contains 9-20 mg of caffeine, though this fact is not listed on the label because it is inherent to the cocoa and doesn’t have to be disclosed. Caffeine has a stimulating effect on the body and I consider it unnatural and detrimental to continually be consuming caffeine.

Butter – Butter is a high fat dairy product made from cow milk. Butter is a high source of calories and makes anything taste more appealing.

Lactose – Lactose is the milk sugar added to this product to create the sweetness that bitter cocoa requires to make it palatable. Sugar consumption has already been described due its detrimental effects on the insulin hormonal status of the body. Lactose is in particular, one of the more allergenic food products that children and adults are known to react adversely. The problem with any allergenic food is not so much the initial symptoms of rash, irritability or gastrointestinal distress, but the lifelong consuming of allergenic food results in a lifelong immune war going on within your body, which is to say inflammation. Inflammation is thought by many doctors to be the ultimate cause of chronic illness, arteriosclerosis, and more.

Milk fat – Milk fat is the cow dairy product that contains the cream of the cow’s milk. It has a higher fat content than just milk.
Soy lecithin – Soy is a very allergenic product for many people. Lecithin derived from soybeans, provides texture and mixing properties to the chocolate. Soy contains a group of natural chemicals called phosphoglycerides, which provide the emulsifying function to soy.

PGPR emulsifier - Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate (PGPR), is an emulsifier usually made from castor beans, which reduces the viscosity of chocolate. This is added as a “mixing” agent for the chocolate.

Vanillin – Vanillin is part of the constituency of vanilla. Today, almost all vanillin is artificially derived and synthetically made from either guaiacol or from lignin, a constituent of wood, which is a byproduct of the paper industry. It is considered to be potentially, a slight aphrodisiac and is used presumably as a food flavor enhancer. As you can gather, many of our popular beverage and candy “vices” are actually legally allowable and mildly addicting chemical foods.

Artificial flavors – Artificial flavors means just that. Not listed on the package label interestingly, besides the caffeine content, are what the artificial flavors are. In today’s toxic world, I suggest no one eat artificial anything. That the Hershey’s company does not disclose what that artificial flavoring really is, should give great concern to anyone considering consuming it.

More information:

Lead Content - Chocolate has one of the higher concentrations of lead with a potential to cause mild lead poisoning. Studies have shown that although the beans themselves absorb little lead, it tends to bind to cocoa shells and contamination may occur during the manufacturing process. A recent peer-reviewed publication found significant amounts of lead in chocolate. A review article published in a peer-reviewed journal in 2006 states that despite high consumption levels of chocolate, there is a paucity of data on lead concentrations in chocolate products. In a USDA study in 2004, mean lead levels in the samples tested ranged from 0.0010 to 0.0965 µg lead per gram of chocolate, but another study by a Swiss research group in 2002 found that some chocolate contained up to 0.769 µg per gram, close to the international (voluntary) standard limit for lead in cocoa powder or beans, which is 1 µg of lead per gram. In 2006, the U.S. FDA lowered by one-fifth the amount of lead permissible in candy, but compliance is only voluntary. There is no known threshold for the effects of lead on children's brain function and even small quantities of lead can cause permanent neurodevelopmental deficits including impaired IQ. I suggest you ask the food company directly for lead tests on their products if you intend to consume them.

Cancer risks - Several population studies have observed an increase in the risk of certain cancers among people who frequently consume sweet 'junk' foods such as chocolate. However, very little evidence exists to suggest whether consuming flavonoid-rich dark chocolate may increase or decrease the risk of cancer. Evidence from laboratory studies suggests that cocoa flavonoids may actually possess anti-carcinogenic properties.

Potential Benefits - Studies have suggested that cocoa or dark chocolate may possess certain beneficial effects on human health, too. This is mainly thought to be caused by a particular substance present in cocoa called epicatechin. Chocolate, eaten in moderation, may lower blood pressure. Dark chocolate has been promoted for its health benefits, particularly its antioxidants that can reduce the formation of free radicals. However, consuming milk chocolate or white chocolate, or drinking fat-containing milk with dark chocolate, appears largely to negate the health benefit. Processed cocoa powder (Dutch chocolate), processed with alkali greatly reduces the antioxidant capacity as compared to "raw" cocoa powder. Processing cocoa with alkali destroys most of the flavonoids.

It is common knowledge among restaurateurs that you can make any food more appealing by adding more sugar, fats(oil and butter) and salt to any product. You can also make a product more addicting and stimulating by adding caffeine to it. Chocolate contains 3 out of the 4 before mentioned products.

In the cultural use of chocolate today, I consider chocolate a damaging herb, but strictly speaking, it is actually an overused herb. I have actually recommended its use twice for patients as therapeutic to their particular health concern at the time.

In 1900, Milton S. Hershey developed the company. Hershey’s is primarily owned (78%), totally controlled and operated by the surviving Hershey family members through the Hershey Family Foundation. That legal entity is owned primarily by Connie and Barry Hershey.

Like so many food conglomerates and corporations today, they are now owned and controlled by people who prioritize personal fortune over public good. Knowing what we know now about damaging foods, many of these company’s products should be produced either at higher quality ingredient standards, or in some cases, not produced at all. However, once fortunes are involved in these companies, most people choose not to consider the damage they are propagating on the world population.

Most of these old companies that exist today were founded by individuals seeking financial fortunes back in the day when chemical food harm wasn’t really considered potentially damaging. True, some products like alcohol and tobacco were known to be physically and life damaging and were still produced and distributed by selfish people and families that had only fortune on their mind as their goal. The concept of damaging food was not really scientifically known when Milton started his company. Today however, one really cannot dismiss the knowledge of deleterious health effects from the actions of the current owners, managers and distributors of these products, or to those who partake in any way in their propagation. It is sad when legal entities such as many of the giant food conglomerates, now seem to have greater power and reality than the actual people placed on the planet and this is very bad.

The opinion expressed is that of Dr. Mark Laursen, M.D.
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Starbucks Coffee - Regular
© 2009 NaturalBodyHealth.com
“Death in a Jar”
Newsletter 05/01/09

Starbucks coffee is going to be similar to all coffees given some small differences between different sources of the coffee bean. Coffee is a usually consumed hot, but sometimes used cold, brew of a botanical plant seed in use as a cultural phenomenon since the mid 1400’s but became very common in the early 1900’s.

Content: From the label of the Starbucks coffee container – stainless steel can, is the following information (All labels have to list the main ingredients first): Water and caffeine.

Here is my opinion:

One of the main concerns with the cultural habits of people is drinking coffee with sugar and milk, and oftentimes, pastries and desserts. The larger cultural problem of ingesting sugar in a liquid form, which enters the blood stream quickly and derails a natural insulin/glucagon hormonal balance is important for damaging health. Milk has its own issues in regard to food allergy potential which is much more common in society than most people realize. Still, analyzing coffee in this appraisal is based on pure black coffee alone.

Coffee is served in various containers small, medium, large and super-large. For comparison purposes we will analyze a 12 fluid ounces serving of coffee.

Caffeine content = A 12 ounce cup of Starbucks Tall Coffee contains 260 milligrams of caffeine on average, as different coffee blends will have slightly different amounts of caffeine.

      Caffeine content. Caffeine is a natural product produced in some plant products. Caffeine causes a spike in insulin in the body and is a stimulant. Caffeine is thought to reduce bone density, which is of particular concern for older men and especially women. Insulin is a hormonal player in the regulation of sugar metabolism in the body and is central to the disease state in the common illness of diabetes.
      My main concern with caffeine as well as sugar is how they both create a “high” in the body’s emotional nature but then that wears off dropping people into a feeling of low energy. Often people get on a roller coaster ride of continually eating sugar and consuming caffeine to be alert. This is addictive on a certain level and leads to disempowering of an individual. Caffeine alone or with sugar lead to energy changes in the body up and down. This makes it difficult to maintain evenness to one’s moods. Self-discipline, willpower and focusing ability when the caffeine wears off – all are adversely affected. The deregulation of one’s natural energy state is my chief concern with the use of coffee – it undermines responsible consciousness when used chronically and daily.
      I consider coffee a damaging herb or at best, a greatly overused herb in modern culture. Anyone having difficulty sleeping should avoid caffeine or coffee use even if they consume the coffee in the morning. Caffeine interferes with the natural insulin response and in an age of increasing diabetes, one should avoid it.
      Caffeine is a stimulant, which interferes with a person’s natural mood cycles and energy. The main “feeling” problem after ingesting coffee is not the high or alertness one gets, but the depressing energy and attention that follow. Then, as many people do, they become addicted to the constant need for coffee to feel alert. I believe this has more detrimental effects than current medical testing has found. Emotionally, it is very damaging to be a coffee drinker. Anyone having depression should not take any mood elevators or depressants, and coffee is a big stimulator of impermanent duration. The key for health is responsible consciousness of which all stimulants or depressants fall into this detrimental category.
      Hypertension – Caffeine increases the pulse rate of people, which is usually associated with a poorer condition of health. Caffeine also increases the blood pressure of people who are sensitive to raised blood pressure. One of the first things I have to do when someone presents with high blood pressure is to get them to stop the use of any caffeine. Often, the key to good health is not what someone needs to start taking but what they need to STOP taking which is the definite case with caffeine and coffee use.
      Cardiac – It is my experience that oftentimes, people who consume coffee for many years can start to have cardiac tachycardia or rhythm problems. Coffee has been related to increase heart attacks.
      Insomnia –Even decaffeinated coffee still contains some caffeine. Whenever someone cannot sleep, they must stop coffee use.
There are some uses for caffeine in reality such as using it to keep awake in extreme situations. Many people will drink a caffeine product to stay awake while driving at night. I would prefer people pull over and truly rest or sleep, but that is not a decision many people will make.
      Addiction and Headaches. – For all practical purposes, coffee becomes addicting for many people both physically and emotionally. Such is the physical addictive property of coffee that many people who stop the consumption of coffee experience one or two weeks of headache withdrawal symptoms. Caffeine is obviously playing a hormonal role in people who consume it regularly. People’s natural alertness and wake-up patterns can become quite disturbed after consuming coffee for a long time. Caffeine is wrongly used as an energy builder for those who have consumed coffee for a long time.
      GERD, Gastritis, esophageal reflux. Anyone experiencing reflux or stomach irritation of any kind, nausea, etc. should stop all coffee use. Due to acidity, caffeine or other compounds, coffee can irritate any GI issue involving the upper GI tract. Any sphincter problems from reflux to erectile dysfunction, people should stop coffee use in my opinion.
      Drug effects. People not used to consuming caffeine or coffee, once drinking coffee or consuming any caffeine, often will get an immediate bowel movement, showing the immediate drug effect of the product. Caffeine seems to inhibit smooth muscle action while stimulating cardiac muscle.
      Coffee interferes with DNA synthesis and DNA repair according to studies. This is important because much of life and resultant illness is related to DNA repair or the lack thereof. Coffee increases insulin resistance in diabetes, increases homocysteine levels, which relate to cardiac problems and reduces magnesium absorption, which is a vital mineral. Coffee also increases stress response hormones. Coffee and caffeine can negatively affect blood glucose through directly raising serum glucose and subsequent hypoglycemia.
      Tannins are a class of chemicals found in coffee, which are still being investigated. Tannins tend to bind with proteins, starches and minerals. Tanners use the strong protein binding ability of tannins to produce leather from animal hides. Tannins have a dehydrating effect in this manner.
      Acidity. Coffee has a variable acidity of around 4.7, which is on the acidic side of acid/alkaline balance. It is generally considered healthier to eat or ingest food on the alkaline side of the acid/alkaline scale of food health.
      Beneficial effects of coffee. Like all herbs, scientific studies are greatly lacking on them, partially due to the difficulty in testing multi-chemical herbal products, which all herbs inherently are. Some studies and people believe coffee may help erectile dysfunction. Some reports of improving headaches have been reported, but I believe this may be due to those people already addicted to caffeine use and those people get headaches when they reduce their coffee intake and then “fix” their headaches when they retake caffeine. Other reports have been made that coffee helps people with diabetes, reduces colon cancer and prevents dental cavities.
      Coffee enemas are recommended by some alternative therapists for detoxifying the liver. I personally don’t use this therapy, but it is well-known among alternative healthcare providers and is part of the Gerson anti-cancer protocol.
      Comparable Good products: Comparable good products that could be substituted for coffee would be the occasional use of herbal teas that do not contain caffeine. Also decaffeinated coffees are available which greatly improve upon the caffeine levels, (keep in mind that decaffeinated coffee still contains some caffeine and that the process of decaffeinating coffee adds other undesirable chemicals). A potential similar problem with the social activity of drinking coffee is the social use of tea where people may tend to eat other sweets and use dairy products along with this type of beverage.
      Starbucks along with Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds are major providers of coffee to the public in retail environments. Maxwell House and Folgers are the major companies supplying coffee to grocery stores for the American consumer. Howard Shultz took over the original Starbucks in 1987. It now has more than 3,300 stores in over 18 countries. Coffee beans are produced in third world countries where coffee is purchased at inexpensive labor prices. This makes coffee an ideal financial product since it is then sold in affluent civilized countries for great profit.
      I consider all coffee to be a detrimental product for the public in the amounts and frequency that they are consumed today - due primarily to the destructive effect caffeine has on mind and mood stability. Without stability of mind and mood, people become ill from the inside out. Coffee and its caffeine, is one of the most addicting over-the-counter products for sale in restaurants across the United States. Entire restaurant chains are now devoted to marketing this overused product.

The opinion expressed is that of Dr. Mark Laursen, M.D.
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Coca Cola or Coke is a black liquid beverage that we chose to analyze for content. Coke is similar to most of the “soda pop” beverage products and is one of the oldest, which is why we chose to analyze it first.

Content: From the label of the Coke bottle – plastic (also available in aluminum can) is the following information (All labels have to list the main ingredients first): Carbonated water, High fructose corn syrup, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors and caffeine.

20 fluid ounces
Calories = 240
Sodium = 75mg
Sugars = 65gms
Caffeine content = 57mg

Here is my opinion:

Our concerns with this product are this: Obesity today is the number one preventable cause of death and disease. Children and adults are increasingly coming down with this disease. Sugar consumption is the number one physical cause of obesity. Sugar is a natural substance (that’s good), but in the dosages people consume it today it is toxic to your body. It has been estimated that 50 years ago people consumed an average of 15 pounds of sugar per person per year. Today that number has been calculated to be 175 pounds per person per year. Sugar is toxic to the kidneys and pancreas in particular when in higher amounts in the blood.
            Diabetes is the disease rapidly increasing in the population, which is an inability to handle sugar metabolism. While all the scientific studies are still ongoing, it is clear that over consumption of sugar is a tremendous offending factor in this disease. Still, despite this number one priority of obesity and sugar consumption, many companies produce and market sugar products enticing people to become more sick. This applies to children and adults where in the “impulse buying” sections of most grocery store check-out lines you will see stacked to the ground for you and your children to impulsively buy this type of sugar product.
            High fructose corn syrup is an unnaturally concentrated sugar product made from corn. Many people are expressing concerns about the use of high fructose corn syrup, which is common in innumerable processed foods found in grocery stores. This is understandable given the obesity and diabetes epidemic in the United States. There are also concerns of what other trace chemicals may be found in high fructose corn syrup. Still, the vote is still out on the use of high fructose corn syrup.
            Caffeine content. Caffeine causes a spike in insulin in the body and is a stimulant. Caffeine is a natural product produced in some plant products. Insulin is a hormonal player in the regulation of sugar metabolism in the body. My main concern with caffeine and sugar is how they both create a “high” in the body’s emotional nature but then that wears off dropping people into a feeling of low energy. Often people get on a roller coaster ride of continually eating sugar and caffeine to be alert. This is addictive on a certain level and leads to disempowering of an individual. Caffeine alone or with sugar lead to energy changes in the body up and down. This makes it difficult to maintain an evenness to one’s moods. Self-discipline, willpower and focusing ability when the caffeine wears off – all are adversely affected.
            A potential great risk of any caffeine use is that it is believed that caffeine can dramatically damage your bone density, which is a great concern for women and older men. Osteopenia and osteoporosis are the medical names given to various degrees of “thin bones.” Thin bones break more easily when a fall or trauma occurs. Falls and hip fractures are often the precipitating events in the demise of older people.
There are some uses for caffeine in reality such as using them to keep awake in extreme situations. Many people will drink a caffeine product to stay awake while driving at night. I would prefer people pull over and truly rest or sleep but that is not a decision many people will make.
            Sodium. Sodium is a natural mineral required by the body for health but is usually supplied in too high amounts in processed foods. Sodium is the mineral most responsible for high blood pressure.
            Aluminum cans are considered by some to be a source of ingesting aluminum into the body, which has been associated with Alzheimer’s Disease. Plastic bottles also have become a concern for plastic ingestion into the body in the form of phthalates. Both chemicals are suspect for causing illness now. There are a vast number of food products now packaged in plastic and aluminum containers so Coca-Cola is not alone in this area. The original glass bottles are probably the safest container for these types of products if you consume them at all.
            Acidity. Coca cola is an acid of pH 2.0 to 4.0. All acids are generally considered harder on stomach endothelium leading to ulcers for some people. Coke contains phosphoric acid added for reasons unknown to us at this time. It is generally considered healthier to eat or ingest food on the alkaline side of the acid/alkaline scale of food health.
            Coke is a product that contains primarily after water the ingredients: sugar, sodium and caffeine. Why would anyone concerned about health drink it! The pharmacist who originally conceived of the product included cocaine into the drink. If the originating pharmacist was actually trying to formulate an addictive product like tobacco or just trying to devise a commercially successful product is unknown. Today the Coca-Cola made does not have cocaine in it anymore but still has many of the harmful health effects that concern me.
            Coke is a product manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. The Board of Directors of Coca-Cola consists of, as you would expect, many big business, large fortune people. The intermingling of these entities among other big business companies is vast. For example, the Wal-Mart Board of Directors includes a representative from the Coca-Cola Company. The primary owners of Coca-Cola are the original family members, SunTrust bank, Warren Buffet and Emory University.
            I consider all the soda pop industry manufacturers to be producing detrimental products for the public - due primarily to the sugar and caffeine content. Close to the addiction potential of cigarettes and tobacco, the combination of sugar and caffeine is nearly as addicting and now the number one destructive product for sale in grocery stores in the United States.
            Interesting among the coke label ingredients is what seems to be the omission of the main characteristic ingredient, the coke resin. However, the listing that signifies the “coke resin” is the term “natural flavors.” Natural flavors could be anything natural from rock/mineral to plant to insect and animal products.
We are of the understanding that the natural flavors in Coke refer to botanical compounds however we don’t really know. Even basic supplements produced for commercial service must list the exact botanical species when herbs are listed for sale. So it is a wonderment how the coke product has gotten by with not listing the exact botanical ingredients. Whenever a product is offered for sale to consume and I am not told exactly what is in it I would not use it. You have no idea of what you’re putting into your body and the history of commercial food and beverage production is not convincing of the safety of the consumer being foremost in any corporation’s motto of performance. So use Coke at your own risk.
            Comparable Good products: In comparing soda pops you can make less damaging selections by choosing those sodas that do not contain caffeine. However, the basis of all soda pops is basically sugar in water, and all such liquid sugar drinks are quite unnatural and damaging. They deliver sugar into your bloodstream very quickly. That upsets the endocrine balance of the body. Diet sodas with artificial sweeteners may pose health risks in themselves in terms of delivering advanced glycosolated end products, which carry risks of carcinogenicity.

The opinion expressed is that of Dr. Mark Laursen, M.D.