A Common Sense Approach for Keeping Healthy

“Everything comes down to education. We will stay the course to fulfill our destiny and to help heal the people—life is that way.”

Life is mobile, it is certainly not stagnant. The daily routine we all know, it is the cycle and it does not matter of your station in life, the order of life affects everyone. I was told some good news regarding those whose health had been restored: avoiding the heavy burden of chemical treatments for stage three cancer tumors to becoming completely cancer free following our naturopathic protocol. And then there was one, never jabbed, active and slim, thought to be healthy and upon diagnosis was given the grim news of having stage four cancer.

You never know what curve ball this life will hurl your way. My philosophy is to focus on the good, though it is hard to do when good seems to be the last thing on your mind. However, from a positive perspective, you will find the light. Meditate and pray, spread your love, try to be kind, and always leave room for the unexpected.

I was ordering raw materials from the US this week and discovered that we were the only company in Canada and the US ordering calcium orotate. I know I should not be surprised; it happens to me quite often. In our two countries none are using calcium orotate except through Life Choice, it is very disappointing. With decades of evidence, we formulated our Opti-Cal/Mag Complex around this material since it does not plaque the arteries and prevents osteoporosis. It is a lack of education when people buy what is on sale and not what is effective and best for their health. Most suppliers will not take this financial risk of standing alone, it is not for the faint of heart, but it is the right thing to do if in the business of health. In the end we secured the raw material, now the task of helping others to become healthier. I was thinking of a way to bring this subject to attention, the discovery of raw materials only purchased by Life Choice. Then I read the article The Dark Side of Antidepressants.[1]

It talks about selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), how they are widely prescribed for depression and anxiety, but their impact on individuals and society is deeply concerning. These medications are linked to severe side effects, including emotional numbness, sexual dysfunction (often permanent), agitation, violent psychosis, cognitive decline, and birth defects. Most alarming is their association with suicides and instances of homicidal violence, including mass shootings. Despite this, the psychiatric field frequently dismisses these issues, interpreting side effects as signs of worsening mental illness, which often leads to more medication and devastating outcomes. Additionally, SSRIs can induce aggressive behaviors and are highly addictive, with many patients experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms upon discontinuation, through the system they become addictive yet support for those attempting to quit is very scarce.

The harm caused by SSRIs is further exacerbated by systemic denial and cover-ups. Reports of psychotic violence and suicides emerged during clinical trials but were suppressed by pharmaceutical companies and overlooked by regulatory agencies like the FDA, which faced a flood of complaints after Prozac’s release. These drugs can profoundly alter personalities, diminishing motivation and leading to long-term derailments of personal goals and aspirations. The widespread, often unjustified use of SSRIs underscores the urgent need for transparency, accountability, and better resources for those harmed by these medications.

I think about the children, mental illness affects some 1.2 million of our children and youth. By age 25, that number rises to 7.5 million (about one in five Canadians). „The use of mood and anxiety medication in Canadian children and youth ages 5 to 24 has been steadily increasing. In 2020, the rate was more than twice as high for females than males.” Have they ever considered the diet by cutting out sugars, looking at insulin resistance? Also cell phone use and lack of proper sleep? “In 2023, antidepressants had the highest number of prescriptions in Canada of the four drug classes, with over 70 million prescriptions, an increase of 18% from 2019.“ „The category of psychostimulants, used primarily to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has seen a significant increase, from 8 million prescriptions in 2019 to nearly 13 million in 2023, an increase of 56% between these two years.“

After reading this, I remembered the 3.5 years it took us to get Kava Kava licensed in Canada after being banned from the marketplace for 11 years, a battle royal with Health Canada, since SSRIs treat neurological conditions. A natural SSRI alternative like Kava, as demonstrated by Duke Medical University double blind placebo-controlled study, was proved to be equally effective as Prozac or Valium but without the side effects. According to the study, “the aqueous Kava preparation produced significant anxiolytic and antidepressant activity and raised no safety concerns at the dose and duration studied. Kava appears equally effective in cases where anxiety is accompanied by depression. This should encourage further study and consideration of globally reintroducing aqueous rootstock extracts of Kava for the management of anxiety.”[2] We were successful, we given the right for licensing and it removed the stigma for kava globally, then the education process started. There is no patent protection for innovation for natural health products like there is for pharmaceutical drugs, once licensed and all the hard work performed the competitors can jump in to capitalize on the work performed. The sad part is the copy cats do not have to maintain the same quality standards as the company who was first to market, they can substitute inferior immature kava root or stems and leaves to dominate the market with a cheaper version and get the same licensing, which they did. Health Canada is not about health, it is about enforcing regulations.

Today, the fight continues with multiple first to market products, sales are low in comparison of what they should be if the quality standards were enforced. We think upon the thousands of folks whose lives we have been fortunate to help and it makes it all seem worthwhile, like the following. An office tech asked to speak with me in regards to his teenage son, a straight-A student who had lost his zest for life. He refused to get out of bed or eat, being in deep depression. With these drastic changes, he was taken to a psychiatrist who placed him on SSRI prescription medication making matters even worse. The psychiatrist wanted to increase the dosage but I suggested to father give his son Kava Kava before increasing his medication. A few days later the tech came back in gratitude: he said “how would I have known, I would have done whatever they said,” his son had returned to normal and he has continued that way without medication.

As a society, it looks like we are getting sicker and sicker. The global incidence of early-onset cancer (EOC), defined as cancers diagnosed in individuals under 50, has risen by a staggering 79.1% from 1990 to 2019, according to data presented by Dr. Irit Ben-Aharon at the 2024 ESMO Annual Meeting. This surge signals an emerging epidemic that the oncology community must address. Many of these cancers, particularly those affecting the gastrointestinal tract, are linked to obesity and underscore the role of diet and the microbiome in cancer risk. As this trend continues, it may lead to higher rates of chronic diseases and cancer in older adults as these younger patients age.

Experts are divided on how to address this crisis. Some advocate for rethinking prevention strategies, such as lowering the age for cancer screenings or exploring pharmacologic prevention, including anti-obesity drugs. However, others caution against premature changes, citing the need for evidence-based approaches to screening and the broader importance of lifestyle interventions over pharmacological solutions for combating obesity and its associated risks. “Attention to risk factors and lifestyle matters a lot from childhood. It is realistic to think that if the body’s cells undergo more damage, a cancer can develop earlier at the same chronological age.”[3]

When I was in clinical practice cancer treatments always included Thymus Gland and Pure Vitamin C without GMOs, back then there were no GMO’s. It took me two years to qualify to buy the Quali brand vitamin C from Scotland, since 95% of the vitamin C on the market today comes from China and all is GMO from corn starch.

Melapure Melatonin was also a part of my cancer treatment while in clinical practice, fully supported by numerous clinical studies. The protocol needed to be aggressive with higher dosages, remembering that melatonin is a hormone and all hormones must be USP grade. Recent studies have linked low levels of melatonin to the risk of developing cancer, research shows that low levels of melatonin in the body (e.g. working night shifts for many years) may be linked to a higher risk of certain cancers, e.g. women with lower melatonin levels have a higher risk of breast and colorectal cancer while in men melatonin might have an influence on prostate tumor growth.

This connection between melatonin and cancer has resulted in several studies using melatonin in cancer treatment. When used alone and when combined with chemotherapy or radiation therapy, or hormone or immunotherapy in a number of studies treating various forms of cancer. The results revealed that melatonin can reduce tumor development formation, a beneficial component for cancer prevention and treatment that may extend survival and improve the quality of life for the patient, and supportive treatment for certain types of untreatable cancers, even when insufficient on its own.[4]

An Italian clinical trial with 250 patients of various forms of advanced and metastasized tumors compared the results of patients who received chemotherapy to those who received chemotherapy with melatonin. The study showed that the one-year survival rate and objective tumor regression rate were much higher in the patients who were also treated with melatonin compared with the chemotherapy alone group. Similar results came from other studies e.g. tumor remission, overall survival, and the mitigation of treatment side effects. [5]

In other studies melatonin has shown dose-dependent antioxidative effect which provides protection against carcinogenic substances and acts as a free radical scavenger having anticancer properties in solid tumors and in leukemia.

Everything comes down to receiving the right education. Save a life…save the world. I think we can all agree that this world needs saving. We will stay the course to fulfill our destiny and to help heal the people—life is that way on our daily journey.

References:

[1] A Midwestern Doctor. 2025.

[2] Sarris, J et al. 2009.

[3] Ferrario, Cristina. 2024.

[4] Dugald Seely, ND, MSc, FABNO, Ping Wu, MD, MSc. 2011.

[5] Alicia González González; Noemí Rueda Revilla, Emilio J. Sánchez-Barceló. 2019.