Dr. Lieberman’s
New Year Letter to COEM Patients
I recently returned from a vacation which I took aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean. Several things came to mind as I looked around, many older people with walkers, canes, and motorized scooters. Most were obese, suffered from Macular Degeneration, and loss of hearing.
I thought that if they had come to us here at COEM we could have prevented so much of the degeneration I was witnessing. Aging alone does not account for this. Malnutrition coupled with pollution of our air, water, and food does.
The addition of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in the 1970’s ushered in so much of what I was seeing. Cane and beet sugar in limited amounts were bad enough, but high fructose corn syrup was the killer. Diabetes has become epidemic and its incidence even in children has tripled in the last 10 to 20 years alone. Alzheimer’s dementia is now recognized as Diabetes Type III.
Many of you may not be aware that the toxic metal mercury is used in the processing of corn syrup, as well as found in almost everyone’s mouth in the form of mercury amalgams placed there by the dentists who knew no differently and whom we trusted.
Many people live to an old age and do not develop degeneration. Good genes do play a role, but as we are fond to say ‘genetics may load the gun, but the environment pulls the trigger.’ This is why Environmental Medicine is so important in living a long and healthy life! Drs. Weirs and Herbert and I have so much to offer you in protecting your health and promoting longevity through the programs offered at COEM.
To simplify our approach, we say you either have too little of something, termed as a deficiency, or too much of something, termed as toxicity. Utilizing modern laboratory technologies, we can identify both problems using blood, urine, hair, or saliva samples. We encourage you to think preventatively, and not wait until you present with signs and symptoms of degeneration and rapid aging.
The next time you schedule an appointment, let’s take the time to look preventatively at your risk factors for chronic disease while addressing your immediate acute concerns. Although it is not realistic to think that the majority of you will make major lifestyle changes, by starting with one or two adjustments such as taking an appropriate multi-vitamin and reviewing your current diet and exercise or reducing your total body stress load will go a long way to counteracting future potential health concerns.
The staff along with Dr. Weirs, Dr. Herbert, and I wish you a healthy, happy, productive new year and we pledge to help you to reach or maintain your health goals in 2015. We encourage you to stop by the office and see all the exciting changes in progress, including the completion of a major renovation to the facilities and meet several new staff members who are here to better serve you.
We welcome your input and we value greatly the referrals you send to us in appreciation of the success we have together in achieving good health.
Yours in health,
Allan D. Lieberman, M.D., F.A.A.E.M.
Medical Director
Center for Occupational & Environmental Medicine
January 28, 2015