Hello, and welcome to
Health for a Lifetime.
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I'm your host, Don Maclntosh.
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We're glad
you've joined us today.
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Today we're going to be talking
about a disease that has put
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fear in many people in Europe
and now recently has also been
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something that has come
on to specter in America
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and perhaps other
places around the world.
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We're going to be
talking about this disease with
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Dr. Tim Arnott.
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He is a physician at the
Lifestyle Center in Oklahoma.
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That's actually a place where
people go to address the common
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killer diseases of America,
diabetes, high blood pressure,
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all these different things, and
address those diseases through
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lifestyle means.
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He's a medical doctor whose
practiced for about 14 years.
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Dr. Arnott we're
glad you're with us today.
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- Thank you,
it's good to be here.
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- Now what is this disease that
is striking some fear in the
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hearts of Americans that
has also been something that
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the Europeans
have struggled with.
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- Well, many people are familiar
with bacteria, viruses, fungus,
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as infectious agents.
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Things that you could transmit
from one organism to another.
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But there is a new agent that
most people now are familiar
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with and that is a
protein - an infectious protein.
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- And what is this
infectious protein?
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It's an infectious
protein that if you've studied
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physiology at all,
biochemistry, you understand
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that proteins have
a specific shape that
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gives those proteins
their unique function.
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And you also understand if you
study biochemistry that if you
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change one amino acid in that
protein chain it will change the
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shape and give
you a new function.
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- So what is this
variant protein that
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we're worried about?
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It's called a prion protein.
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And it's a protein that
all of us have, we all have
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the prion protein.
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But in the case of this disease
that we are going to be talking
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about, this prion protein
takes on an abnormal shape.
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In fact the shape of the normal
protein has much of the coil
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structure that we find.
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Ok, so what is this?
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You're killing me
here... what is this
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thing we're going to talk about?
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- We're going to be
talking about mad cow disease.
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- It's a prion, it's a protein
that's not shaped the right way
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and causes problems?
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That's right.
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This prion protein is abnormal
protein got into the food supply
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of the cattle and
sheep over in Great Britain.
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Because they were rendering or
taking the remains of a sheep,
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the remains of a cow and they
were removing that sending it
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to the rendering industry
and then they were reprocessing
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that into a high
protein food supplement,
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feeding back to the animals.
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- So they were
feeding the animals
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and this caused the problem?
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That's right.
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That re-infected more and more
sheep, more and more cattle with
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the abnormal prions.
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- So why are people
so concerned about this?
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What does this do?
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- We've discovered, it
was thought there was a
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species barrier and that humans
where not able to get infected
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by the abnormal prion in
the sheep or in the cattle.
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But as we have learned
over in Great Britain in 1996,
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if you ate meat that
was infected with these
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abnormal prions, in the form
of a hamburger, for example,
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especially the hamburgers
that came from meat that was
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processed using a highly
mechanized method that was able
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to invade the spinal cord
and some of the brain tissue
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and include that in that
hamburger, those individuals
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picked up high amounts of these
abnormal prions and came down
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with a human form of the
disease, which we call CJD or
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Creutzfeldt Jacob's Disease,
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in their teens, 20's and 30's.
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And did they live?
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- It's always
fatal, no treatment.
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- So this is why people are
so upset because it's something
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that's hard to watch
an animal go through but
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if you get it you die.
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So people are just really
interested in this, especially
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of course over in Europe
it changed things and now
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coming here to this side of the
country and probably in other
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parts of the world people
are also watching this closely.
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What effect has this had,
the discovery of this disease,
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on physicians?
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- Well, the Centers for
Disease Control publishes a
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weekly report, The Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report
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out of the Centers
for Disease Control.
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In one of the most recent issues
in January published a report of
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the very first mad cow that
was discovered in this country
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and we got the confirmation that
it was indeed a mad cow from the
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International Reference
Laboratory in Great Britain
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on Christmas Eve of last year.
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of it, the government has moved
very quickly to reassure the
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public that they are taking
steps to prevent the spread
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of this kind of disease, but
the CDC wanted to let physicians
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know that they should be on the
alert for patients that may have
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symptoms
indicative of variant CJD.
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- So they've been communicating
with the physicians
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and I suppose... well, if the
disease is fatal if you get it,
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it's not because they
want them to treat it,
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because there's no real
treatment for it, but they want
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to know whether or
not there's a problem.
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- They want to know
if there's a problem.
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They want to know
how wide spread it is.
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They want to know indeed, ok
we've got a mad cow, what about
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the effect in humans?
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Do we have humans in
this country who are dying of
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the variant form of CJD which
is the form that you develop
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when you eat an infected prion?
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In fact, recently in the state
of Washington, a gentleman died
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in his, about his fourth decade,
so very young, who had an
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inconclusive test for
the variant form of CJD,
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but he had the diagnosis of CJD.
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So we're not really sure.
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People are developing these
diseases and we're not really
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sure if it's the variant form or
if it's the more sporadic form.
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- Well this has come more on
the radar screen, and you know,
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sometimes people watch a program
and they'll say, "Oh, they're
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just trying to hype this
and get everybody frightened.
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I'm sure you're not trying to
do that, but as a physician you
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really think people should
be aware and take steps that
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can protect them of
getting this disease.
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Is that the reason?
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- One of the reasons
that we talk about this at the
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Lifestyle Center of America
is that we want individuals
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to know the fringe benefits
of adopting a plant based diet.
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- Fringe benefit, you
mean it's not a big concern,
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but it is there?
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Yes, exactly.
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I mean this is not a huge issue.
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It was estimated that
probably a million cattle
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in Great Britain were infected
with these abnormal prions
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and yet only 150 Great Britain's
actually came down with the
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overt variant
form of the disease.
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Probably a lot of
people were exposed
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that didn't come down with it.
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- Lots of governments have taken
steps in dealing with this.
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I know that some of them
will just say, "Hey, wait until
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you get that taken care of. "
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"We can't allow your product
to come into our country"
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and these different things.
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So many different governments
relate in different ways
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and different people around
the world will be watching
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the program and thinking
about it from their perspective.
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What has the United States done
to try and make sure that this
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doesn't spread?
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- Well, one of the most
highly at risk cattle groups,
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if you will, are
what we call downer cows.
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Now, downer cows are those cows
that are disabled to the point
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where they're not
able to walk any more.
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They're not able to stand up.
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And one of the presenting
symptoms of mad cow disease
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is a cow that is neurologically
compromised to the point
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where it can no longer stand up.
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And so if you've got cattle
that are having that problem,
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that's where you
want to do your testing.
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That's where you
want to put your focus.
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Previous to Christmas Eve
of 2003 we were allowing these
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100,000 plus downer cows
to go into our food supply
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in this country.
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One of the first steps that
the government took in reaction
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to finding a mad cow in
the United States was to say,
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"Ok no more downer cows
can enter the food supply. "
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- And they were
actually allowing 100,000
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a year to go in?
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They were falling
down and all that stuff?
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That's correct.
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What else have they done?
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The other thing
that they were doing,
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and that they're now
not doing, fortunately,
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is that if they took a cow out,
they suspected perhaps it may
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have mad cow
disease, and they pull it out,
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and they would sample its brain
tissue, send it to the lab,
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and the rest of the carcass
would be stamped USDA approved
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and it would be sent on
into the human food supply
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even before the
test results were back.
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So now we're requiring that the
test results get back before the
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cow carcass is released for
entry into the human food chain.
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- That sort of doesn't
make sense to let it go without
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really testing it out.
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But they're
really looking at it now.
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That's right.
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A lot of good things
are coming out of this.
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One of the other things that's
coming out of this is that
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previously they were allowing
certain high risk tissues to
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enter the food chain.
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Currently, if a cow is over
2.5 years of age, there a number
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of different tissues that
are not allowed to enter the
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human food chain.
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Such as the spinal cord, the
skull, the trigeminal ganglion,
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in other words
different nervous tissues.
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- Parts of the brain
and parts of the nerves.
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Well, if those things
are affected how do they know
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it's not infecting other parts?
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- Well, see that's the
thing, if you're test isn't very
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sensitive, you can miss the
prion in muscle, for example,
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and think it's not there.
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That's why adopting a
plant based diet, or at least a
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largely plant based diet,
is just a win- win because
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you can avoid many
of the animal diseases,
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the diseases that
is, that are in animals.
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- Well, we've talked about this
disease, we've called it mad cow
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disease but we've also called
the human form, something called
00:11:06.82\00:11:10.68
CJD, but then I also
hear this acronym BSE.
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I don't know what to think.
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- Well, BSE is the scientific,
sophisticated form of
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mad cow disease.
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Bovine for cattle, spongiform
because when you take a slice of
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the brain and look at
it, it look like a sponge and
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encephalopathy, a brain disease.
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- And what's then CJD,
are they the same thing?
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- CJD is the equivalent disease
in the human, caused by the
00:11:39.35\00:11:43.98
prion, the abnormal prion, but
it's the form in a human being.
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- So give me just a
little history of this
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BSE that led to CJD.
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- Basically back in the 1700's
they had mad sheep disease
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which they called scrapie
because the sheep would become
00:12:00.26\00:12:03.10
infected with the
prions, and by the way,
00:12:03.13\00:12:05.90
it's not really known how the
sheep initially were infected
00:12:05.94\00:12:09.66
with prions.
00:12:09.70\00:12:10.70
You can actually have a
genetic disorder where you
00:12:10.73\00:12:14.52
have a deformed prion
protein just from birth,
00:12:14.56\00:12:18.32
from your parents
- you inherited it.
00:12:18.35\00:12:19.68
That's a rare situation.
00:12:19.71\00:12:21.56
But somehow the sheep got
these abnormal prion proteins
00:12:21.60\00:12:25.16
back in the 1700's.
00:12:25.19\00:12:26.75
Then as time went by we were
doing the rendering of the sheep
00:12:26.79\00:12:31.37
- In other words,
feeding animals to animals.
00:12:31.40\00:12:33.39
- Feeding animals to animals
which led to spread of the
00:12:33.42\00:12:36.83
disease, spread of
this infectious prion
00:12:36.86\00:12:39.90
into other sheep, sheep
are being fed to cattle,
00:12:39.93\00:12:42.68
cattle picked it up,
cattle being fed to cattle,
00:12:42.71\00:12:45.71
so it spread in the
cattle population, and in the
00:12:45.74\00:12:48.66
late 1980's humans
actually started picking it up.
00:12:48.69\00:12:53.13
So that's kind of the
history of how we got it.
00:12:53.16\00:12:56.82
Now there's 20 countries in
Europe that have mad cow disease
00:12:56.85\00:13:01.03
and Israel, and
Japan also had a few cases,
00:13:01.07\00:13:06.16
Japan's had about 3 cases,
Canada of course, most of us
00:13:06.19\00:13:09.71
are aware, had a case
recently, and then now
00:13:09.75\00:13:12.15
we have our own case.
00:13:12.19\00:13:13.45
- They talk about
variant and then classic CJD.
00:13:13.48\00:13:17.88
What does this mean?
00:13:17.92\00:13:18.93
- Well, for decades we
have had CJD in this country.
00:13:18.96\00:13:22.93
We've had Crujsfalt Jacobs
disease - a prion disease.
00:13:22.97\00:13:26.79
But typically it occurred
in individuals who are about
00:13:26.83\00:13:30.58
70 years of age, the mean age
about 68, and these individuals
00:13:30.62\00:13:36.13
would actually succumb
very quickly in a matter
00:13:36.17\00:13:40.26
of 4, 5, or 6 months at most.
00:13:40.29\00:13:43.91
And the presenting symptom,
the initial symptom, was a frank
00:13:43.95\00:13:48.79
dementia.
00:13:48.82\00:13:49.87
These individuals developed
a very bad dementia, very quick
00:13:49.91\00:13:54.26
clinical course.
00:13:54.29\00:13:55.60
So that's the classic form?
00:13:55.63\00:13:56.87
That's the classic form.
00:13:56.91\00:13:58.08
If you do an EKG of the
brain the electroencephalogram,
00:13:58.11\00:14:02.96
where they put the electrodes,
put those wires everywhere,
00:14:03.00\00:14:05.98
you get these classic
spikes in that sporadic.
00:14:06.02\00:14:10.71
- So that's been around a
long time, but what's variant?
00:14:10.74\00:14:14.48
- Variant is the same kind
of disease, caused by prions
00:14:14.52\00:14:18.22
it has this progressive
neurologic deterioration,
00:14:18.26\00:14:21.64
but there are some differences.
00:14:21.67\00:14:23.38
It occurs in young people.
00:14:23.42\00:14:25.35
The mean age is 28
years of age not 68.
00:14:25.39\00:14:30.01
People can last almost
2 years before they die.
00:14:30.04\00:14:34.52
- And there's no chance of
reversing it once you have it.
00:14:34.55\00:14:36.94
That's exactly right.
00:14:36.98\00:14:38.02
It's known that the variant
disease, the young people's
00:14:38.05\00:14:42.81
disease, is definitely
associated with infected food.
00:14:42.84\00:14:46.56
There's not that
definite knowledge of how we get
00:14:46.59\00:14:50.94
the other disease, but I will
tell you that a recent cluster
00:14:50.98\00:14:55.10
of the old form of the disease,
the sporadic CJD, occurred in
00:14:55.14\00:14:59.23
New Jersey
recently, about 6 cases.
00:14:59.26\00:15:01.06
- That's the
older form, the classic.
00:15:01.10\00:15:02.83
- That's the older form, but
they all occurred in individuals
00:15:02.86\00:15:05.18
who lived in the same
area and frequented the same
00:15:05.21\00:15:10.56
racing track there in New
Jersey and ate meals there.
00:15:10.59\00:15:15.87
We really don't know what the
cause is but it maybe that it's
00:15:15.91\00:15:20.17
just a lower level prion intake
and it takes longer to show up.
00:15:20.20\00:15:23.64
- We're talking
with Dr. Tim Arnott.
00:15:23.67\00:15:25.82
We're talking about mad cow
disease and we're getting an
00:15:25.85\00:15:28.91
update on that.
00:15:28.94\00:15:29.91
There are some things
to be concerned about.
00:15:29.92\00:15:32.50
There are some comforting
things as well as we see
00:15:32.53\00:15:35.72
different governments taking
steps, really wanting to get
00:15:35.75\00:15:39.06
a handle on this.
00:15:39.09\00:15:40.06
When we come back we're going
to look more at this interesting
00:15:40.07\00:15:42.89
unfolding story, if you
will, we hope you join us.
00:15:42.93\00:15:45.28
Have you found
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00:15:46.28\00:15:47.95
shed a few pounds?
00:15:47.98\00:15:48.97
Have you been on a
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00:15:49.01\00:15:51.67
But not found anything the
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00:15:51.71\00:15:54.88
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Call or write
today for your free copy:
00:16:33.39\00:16:35.78
Welcome back.
00:16:46.21\00:16:47.18
We've been talking
with Dr. Tim Arnott.
00:16:47.19\00:16:48.88
We've been talking
about mad cow disease.
00:16:48.92\00:16:50.97
We've been talking about what
causes it, prions, and we've
00:16:51.01\00:16:54.69
talked about some things we know
about it, some things we don't
00:16:54.73\00:16:57.58
know, like for instance we
don't know how to treat it.
00:16:57.61\00:16:59.82
The Dr. today says
once you get it, that's it.
00:16:59.85\00:17:02.19
That's why people are
so concerned about it.
00:17:02.23\00:17:04.50
We're not trying to hype
it and make you more and more
00:17:04.54\00:17:08.54
concerned, but we
just want you to be aware
00:17:08.57\00:17:10.60
of the most resent updates.
00:17:10.63\00:17:12.08
And joining us to help us
with that is Dr. Tim Arnott.
00:17:12.12\00:17:15.31
He is a physician at the
Lifestyle Center of America
00:17:15.35\00:17:18.46
in Oklahoma where they
treat many different diseases
00:17:18.49\00:17:21.62
that Americans struggle
with, heart disease, diabetes,
00:17:21.66\00:17:24.72
hypertension, obesity, all these
different things and he's with
00:17:24.76\00:17:28.34
us today giving us an
update on mad cow disease.
00:17:28.37\00:17:31.52
Glad you're with us again and
we've looked here at some of the
00:17:31.56\00:17:35.97
history of this and how
there are classic forms of it
00:17:36.00\00:17:40.18
and there are variant forms
of it, they're all very serious.
00:17:40.22\00:17:43.38
We've talked about how
the different governments have
00:17:43.41\00:17:46.79
attempted to relate to this and
our own government in America
00:17:46.83\00:17:50.23
here has
attempted to relate to it.
00:17:50.26\00:17:51.84
It's a serious thing, but
you've said something that
00:17:51.88\00:17:56.26
I want to pick up on.
00:17:56.30\00:17:57.59
You said that it's caused by
prions and prion type diseases
00:17:57.62\00:18:01.41
like this have been
around for a while in America.
00:18:01.44\00:18:04.88
Prions are those variant
proteins that aren't formed
00:18:04.92\00:18:08.33
quite right and
they cause problems.
00:18:08.36\00:18:10.82
Would you say we have a big
prion problem in this country?
00:18:10.86\00:18:14.19
- Well, actually we
do have an epidemic.
00:18:14.22\00:18:17.10
What's an epidemic?
00:18:17.13\00:18:18.10
- Well, we have millions of
animals that have prion diseases
00:18:18.11\00:18:23.09
in this country.
00:18:23.12\00:18:24.15
But it's the wild animals.
00:18:24.19\00:18:25.90
It's the deer, the elk,
and the antelope, including the
00:18:25.94\00:18:30.31
mule deer, and
recently the white tailed deer.
00:18:30.34\00:18:35.29
As many as 1- 2% of the animals
are infected with prions and
00:18:35.33\00:18:41.09
are developing
this wasting disease.
00:18:41.12\00:18:43.71
The chronic wasting disease
that we see in the wild animals
00:18:43.75\00:18:47.79
and Dr. Rice at the
National Institute of Health
00:18:47.83\00:18:51.50
recently did a study where he
looked at the prions that were
00:18:51.54\00:18:55.62
infecting mad cows, the prions
infecting wild game in this
00:18:55.66\00:18:59.66
country, prions that were
infecting sheep, and he tried to
00:18:59.69\00:19:03.90
look and see if there were
differences enough so he could
00:19:03.93\00:19:08.10
subcategorized them.
00:19:08.14\00:19:09.41
Ok that prion has this
little bit of a shape subtlety
00:19:09.45\00:19:13.80
we know that's a mad cow prion.
00:19:13.83\00:19:17.09
What he found was
he couldn't distinguish
00:19:17.12\00:19:20.08
between the different prions.
00:19:20.11\00:19:21.12
They were so similar - the
one that causes mad cow disease,
00:19:21.15\00:19:24.79
the one that causes the
mad wild animal disease,
00:19:24.83\00:19:28.32
that he could not put
them into separate categories.
00:19:28.35\00:19:31.81
You know that's
a bit of a concern.
00:19:31.84\00:19:33.94
We have a major prion disease
in this problem, but probably
00:19:33.97\00:19:37.56
the most important message here
is if you are into hunting...
00:19:37.59\00:19:41.27
- You think you're going to
avoid getting this by having
00:19:41.31\00:19:44.95
your own meat that you
hunt, what you're saying is
00:19:44.99\00:19:47.40
that that's not
really going to work?
00:19:47.44\00:19:48.94
You're exactly right.
00:19:48.98\00:19:50.63
I mean, a lot of people are
saying, "Let's go to the wild
00:19:50.67\00:19:53.27
animals, they're lean,
they don't have the fat content
00:19:53.31\00:19:55.88
of the beef, for example. "
00:19:55.92\00:19:57.42
But for example, we had
a couple of hunters up in
00:19:57.46\00:20:00.38
north east
Oklahoma, deer hunters.
00:20:00.42\00:20:04.44
These two
individuals died with CJD,
00:20:04.48\00:20:08.49
one just shy of
his 30th birthday.
00:20:08.53\00:20:12.48
If you have a young
person in their 20's, 30's, 40's
00:20:12.51\00:20:16.42
who develops an Alzheimer's
like dementia, that's a red flag
00:20:16.45\00:20:21.61
and that's an
indication that that individual
00:20:21.65\00:20:24.72
has probably ingested a prion.
00:20:24.76\00:20:26.63
So if you're into hunting,
don't eat what you shoot
00:20:26.67\00:20:30.46
and probably even
better, avoid shooting.
00:20:30.50\00:20:32.63
- How do we stop
the spread of this?
00:20:32.67\00:20:36.97
You said it's in the wild animal
population, we've seen now
00:20:37.01\00:20:40.75
that it's also in some of
the animals that we raise to eat
00:20:40.79\00:20:44.50
or rather raise to
feed to other animals to eat
00:20:44.54\00:20:47.49
which we don't do anymore.
00:20:47.53\00:20:48.88
How do we stop
the spread of this?
00:20:48.92\00:20:51.34
We already know it's
here, how can we stop the spread
00:20:51.38\00:20:53.34
in our country?
00:20:53.37\00:20:54.34
- Well I think one of the
most important principles is
00:20:54.35\00:20:56.98
illustrated by the discovery
of a mad cow in this country
00:20:57.01\00:21:01.86
in 2003.
00:21:01.89\00:21:03.53
It led to an
immediate, aggressive movement
00:21:03.57\00:21:07.34
by our government by other
state authorities to deal with
00:21:07.37\00:21:12.21
this problem, to
protect the public to an
00:21:12.25\00:21:14.12
even a greater measure.
00:21:14.16\00:21:15.45
So knowledge is power and the
more you know about where you
00:21:15.49\00:21:19.23
stand with this problem the
better you're going to be able
00:21:19.27\00:21:22.98
to protect the
public and put into measures
00:21:23.01\00:21:25.20
that protect the public.
00:21:25.23\00:21:26.20
So the classic example of
how best to protect the public
00:21:26.21\00:21:30.26
and to deal with this problem
is illustrated by the Japanese.
00:21:30.29\00:21:33.60
What do they do?
00:21:33.64\00:21:34.91
- The Japanese test every
cattle brain that goes through
00:21:34.95\00:21:40.97
the slaughter house.
00:21:41.00\00:21:42.66
In other words, every cow that's
going to be slaughtered, get's
00:21:42.69\00:21:46.85
tested and it isn't sent out.
00:21:46.89\00:21:48.33
Doesn't that take a long time?
00:21:48.37\00:21:49.74
- Well actually they're using
in Japan and they're using in
00:21:49.77\00:21:52.93
Europe a much more
rapid test than we use.
00:21:52.96\00:21:55.83
We use a test that's just
as sensitive, it's just as good
00:21:55.87\00:21:59.10
as what they're
using, but it takes 2-3 days
00:21:59.14\00:22:02.01
to get the results back.
00:22:02.04\00:22:03.16
Whereas they can get results
back in just a few hours.
00:22:03.19\00:22:06.61
So while that animal carcass
is going down to temperature
00:22:06.65\00:22:09.85
in the freezer room, by the
time it's in a frozen situation
00:22:09.88\00:22:15.02
they can have a test result back
and they can either discard it..
00:22:15.05\00:22:18.12
- They have a very small country
I don't know if they even raise
00:22:18.16\00:22:21.20
very many cattle over there.
00:22:21.24\00:22:22.26
I mean it's not a very big
country, they probably raise
00:22:22.30\00:22:24.63
some but we probably
raise millions, don't we?
00:22:24.66\00:22:28.50
- We slaughter 35 million
head every year so it would
00:22:28.53\00:22:32.18
be a major step for us.
00:22:32.22\00:22:34.52
But the reality is
that we've got to do
00:22:34.56\00:22:37.25
better than we're doing.
00:22:37.29\00:22:38.26
We've only tested
60,000 cattle so far
00:22:38.27\00:22:42.07
in our history of testing.
00:22:42.10\00:22:43.44
You can see how you can
underestimate the problem
00:22:43.47\00:22:48.21
and then not deal
with it as aggressively.
00:22:48.24\00:22:51.20
- So you're suggesting more
aggressive testing and so are
00:22:51.24\00:22:54.45
others suggesting that.
00:22:54.49\00:22:55.46
What about labels
on foods or something?
00:22:55.49\00:22:58.50
Do they have anything
helping us out with that?
00:22:58.53\00:23:00.91
Well actually yes.
00:23:00.95\00:23:02.24
If you see on a label just the
word meat or meat food product
00:23:02.28\00:23:08.50
these are products
that are higher risk.
00:23:08.53\00:23:12.15
In fact they are currently
in the process of banning those
00:23:12.18\00:23:16.08
products but you may
still see them on a store shelf
00:23:16.11\00:23:19.08
because those products are
meat products that were obtained
00:23:19.12\00:23:23.46
using a mechanical
method that can actually be more
00:23:23.50\00:23:26.78
invasive to the spinal cord,
it's more likely to take a piece
00:23:26.81\00:23:29.89
of the spinal cord
tissue where the prions are
00:23:29.92\00:23:31.84
concentrated or
the brain tissue.
00:23:31.88\00:23:33.63
- In terms of our government
what are plans that they
00:23:33.66\00:23:36.87
are putting into place?
00:23:36.91\00:23:38.18
Are they going to have
more rapid testing and any
00:23:38.21\00:23:40.20
other things
they're going to do?
00:23:40.23\00:23:41.20
Yes, that's one of the things.
00:23:41.24\00:23:42.21
A recent commission, by
the way our government enlisted
00:23:42.22\00:23:45.63
the services of an
international commission to look
00:23:45.66\00:23:49.05
over our shoulder and see how
we reacted to the 2003 discovery
00:23:49.09\00:23:55.37
of the mad cow and
make some recommendations.
00:23:55.40\00:23:57.34
One of the recommendations they
made was, yes, we need to start
00:23:57.37\00:24:00.91
using the rapid test so
that we can more easily discover
00:24:00.95\00:24:05.51
the disease if it does exist.
00:24:05.54\00:24:07.08
They also suggested that
mad cow disease is endemic
00:24:07.11\00:24:11.16
in this country.
00:24:11.19\00:24:12.16
What's that mean?
00:24:12.17\00:24:13.16
- Well, it means that we have
it here, it's not just crossing
00:24:13.20\00:24:15.96
over from
Canada, it's rooted here,
00:24:16.00\00:24:18.37
we have it, it's a problem
we need to deal with and not
00:24:18.41\00:24:21.99
think that it
just came as a visitor.
00:24:22.02\00:24:24.92
- That's quite an
acknowledgement and also makes
00:24:24.95\00:24:26.81
us more aware and makes
us safer just by saying that.
00:24:26.84\00:24:29.56
- Exactly and what it actually
will hopefully do, is encourage
00:24:29.59\00:24:33.30
us to move to
that plant based diet.
00:24:33.33\00:24:36.58
- What are the
riskiest foods we could eat?
00:24:36.62\00:24:39.35
- Well, the riskiest
foods that you can eat would be
00:24:39.39\00:24:41.71
foods that, such as the
hamburger, the sausage...
00:24:41.74\00:24:47.63
Why are those so risky?
00:24:47.67\00:24:48.92
- Well those are foods that are
taken from... after they remove
00:24:48.96\00:24:53.51
the steaks and the chops
and the main muscle cuts,
00:24:53.54\00:24:57.26
then a lot of the things
that are left are ground up
00:24:57.30\00:25:00.94
and put into those sausages into
the hamburgers, for example.
00:25:00.98\00:25:05.07
You're more likely to get some
of the nervous tissue that's
00:25:05.11\00:25:09.17
not in the muscle tissue.
00:25:09.21\00:25:10.45
- So what are the
safest foods then?
00:25:10.49\00:25:11.89
- Well, the safest foods,
of course, are going to be
00:25:11.92\00:25:14.07
plant foods, the beans, there's
actually more protein in the
00:25:14.11\00:25:19.12
soybean then any meat,
any steak, for example.
00:25:19.16\00:25:23.56
Beans are an
excellent source of protein.
00:25:23.60\00:25:25.81
But if you eat meat...
00:25:25.84\00:25:28.20
- If you eat meat, then
you basically want to avoid any
00:25:28.23\00:25:33.20
processed meats,
any ground meats...
00:25:33.24\00:25:35.72
Any wild...
00:25:35.76\00:25:36.73
Any wild meats, exactly.
00:25:36.74\00:25:38.87
And you want to
basically be looking for...
00:25:38.90\00:25:42.70
- Imported from
Japan at this point.
00:25:42.73\00:25:44.72
- laughter -
basically yes - laughter -
00:25:44.76\00:25:46.68
Now that you mention that,
we should be aware that about
00:25:46.71\00:25:50.58
10% of the beef in this country
is actually sold to overseas.
00:25:50.62\00:25:55.77
And it represents
quite a chunk of money.
00:25:55.80\00:25:58.37
Right now the Japanese,
for example, are not allowing
00:25:58.40\00:26:02.71
our beef into their country.
00:26:02.74\00:26:05.21
We need to watch some of these
other countries and take how
00:26:05.25\00:26:09.71
their responding
to our meat seriously.
00:26:09.75\00:26:11.63
- Someone that's been
eating meat all their life and
00:26:11.66\00:26:14.75
different animal products,
they're listening now and they
00:26:14.79\00:26:17.93
say, "Hey, I've been
doing this all my life,
00:26:17.96\00:26:19.83
maybe I already have it. "
00:26:19.87\00:26:21.14
Can they decrease
their risk by stopping now?
00:26:21.18\00:26:23.97
Or does the fact that they've
been eating it all their life
00:26:24.00\00:26:26.91
just kind of, you know,
they already have the risk?
00:26:26.94\00:26:28.75
- No, there's no
question about that.
00:26:28.78\00:26:29.91
Remember over in Great Britain
a million cattle will probably
00:26:29.94\00:26:34.57
affected with these abnormal
prions and consumed by the
00:26:34.60\00:26:37.75
public over there.
00:26:37.79\00:26:38.76
And yet about only 150,
mostly young people, came down
00:26:38.77\00:26:42.87
with the disease.
00:26:42.91\00:26:43.90
They've done some studies
and they show that some of these
00:26:43.94\00:26:47.22
young people were eating the
highest risk meats, hamburgers
00:26:47.26\00:26:51.94
that came into the food
market in the most cheap method.
00:26:51.98\00:26:56.82
In other words, methods
that were highly mechanical,
00:26:56.85\00:26:58.91
methods that were most likely
to get the brain and spinal cord
00:26:58.94\00:27:02.03
tissue mixed in
with that hamburger.
00:27:02.06\00:27:03.77
So probably the young people
had gotten the highest dose
00:27:03.81\00:27:07.50
of these prions.
00:27:07.53\00:27:08.89
Those are the ones that
came down with the disease.
00:27:08.93\00:27:11.87
We know in lab studies of
animals that if you give them
00:27:11.90\00:27:14.81
greater amounts of
prions they'll come down with
00:27:14.84\00:27:17.48
the disease more
quickly - earlier.
00:27:17.51\00:27:19.70
- So if you're eating
meat and you've heard this
00:27:19.73\00:27:22.14
and you're thinking about
it and you think maybe I should
00:27:22.18\00:27:24.56
stop, it's probably a
good idea, you can definitely
00:27:24.59\00:27:26.60
decrease your risk?
00:27:26.64\00:27:27.61
Absolutely!
00:27:27.63\00:27:28.65
In fact there is a genetic
predisposition to the disease
00:27:28.69\00:27:31.71
and if you don't have that
predisposition, then it may be
00:27:31.75\00:27:35.21
years before you
ever get the disease.
00:27:35.24\00:27:37.37
- We've been
talking with Dr. Tim Arnott.
00:27:37.40\00:27:39.46
He's a physician at the
Lifestyle Center of America
00:27:39.50\00:27:41.79
in Oklahoma.
00:27:41.82\00:27:42.79
He helps people with many
different Western diseases
00:27:42.80\00:27:46.70
as they do there at the
Lifestyle Center of America.
00:27:46.73\00:27:48.62
Today we have gotten some
very practical tips and an
00:27:48.66\00:27:51.36
update on mad cow disease.
00:27:51.40\00:27:53.23
We hope that today's
program has been helpful to you
00:27:53.27\00:27:55.82
and as a result
you'll have health
00:27:55.85\00:27:57.13
that lasts for a lifetime.
00:27:57.16\00:27:58.66