I opened the May 21, 2007 issue of Dynamic Chiropractic and read Dr. Donald Petersen's editorial admonishing chiropractors to be careful of the reading materials they leave in their waiting room since many may be blatantly anti-chiropractic.

Dr. Petersen quoted statistics stating 92% of people in a doctor's or dentist's office read or look at magazines and 62% of "trust the articles in magazines found here." These readers usually asked the health professional about something they read or saw in them. Dr. Petersen ended by saying "Spend the next few weeks looking for posters, pamphlets, magazines . . . that will reinforce your message about chiropractic and wellness, rather than contradict it."

 This excellent piece of advice was cleverly printed next to a full page advertisement touting MPA Media's to your Health consumer-oriented magazine. I've had issues with Dr. Petersen's publications before but this was truly a brilliant piece of marketing aimed at the advertiser. I found myself thinking "if Titan Laboratories were to run an ad in this publication it would encourage the patient to ask his chiropractic physician about Titan drug alternative products."

Then I read the June issue of to your Health!

Report of My Findings:

An Open Letter to Dr. Donald M. Petersen, Publisher, MPA Media's Dynamic Chiropractic & to your Health

  from Galen O. Ballard, President, Titan Laboratories

Nationally, most Chiropractic Physicians and Naturopaths offer some form of nutritional counseling and many of us in alternative medicine offer nutritional advice, research on healthy living, and drug alternative supplementation. Your June 2007 issue of “to your Health” does all of us in the CAM field a disservice with the unbelievably asinine and totally inaccurate article by Julie Engebretson titled “It’s all in the Preparation”.

Ms. Engebretson states that “fresh, frozen or canned versions of the same food have relatively equal nutrient profiles; that microwave cooking is one of the best ways to preserve nutrients because it uses minimal water, heat, and a short cooking time; and that anyone on the go or busy parents trying to ensure their children eat right should be comforted by this wonderful (erroneous) news!

What makes this article especially insidious is MPA’s “to your Health” publication is suggested for the practitioner’s reception area and targeted to the patient!

In addition to being a freelance writer Ms. Engebretson is also an associate editor of MPA’s Massage Today publication. When it comes to nutritional advice Ms. Engebretson is clearly out of her field and should have remained in her area of expertise.

MPA’s Dynamic Chiropractic publication has several nutritional experts who contribute articles regularly such as G. Douglas Andersen, James Meschino, and Brian Sutton. These gentlemen should have been consulted or asked to review this particular article prior to its publication.

Most of the information utilized in the "It's All in the Preparation" article came from a ten year old  study by the University of Illinois Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. The study was immediately picked up and touted by both the FDA and the American Dietetic Association. Of course, the FDA believes that only synthetic drugs can “cure” disease and the typical dietitian believes that a Big Mack® with lettuce and tomato constitutes a balanced meal. So much for the credibility of these venerable organizations!

 Given the “right” set of assumptions it can be scientifically proven that the earth is flat and the moon is made of green cheese. Whenever the results of a “scientific” study appear to overturn common sense and time tested traditional knowledge it becomes prudent to “follow the money” that sponsored the study. What were the sponsor’s perceived motives and how would the study affect them financially depending upon the results obtained.

Having said that, I find it significant that the study “proving” canned foods were as nutritious as fresh offerings was conducted on behalf of the Steel Packaging Council of the American Iron and Steel Institute whose members have a tremendous and profitable vested interest in manufacturing canned goods containers. What a coincidence!    

Had Ms. Engebretson researched this article in greater depth and been less gullible she would have uncovered the following facts not mentioned in the above “scientific study,” specifically:

A study spearheaded by the Environmental Working Group, a public interest watchdog organization based in Washington, D.C., found the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in over 50 percent of the name-brand canned goods tested. In some cases, a single serving was enough to expose a woman or infant to BPA levels that were 200 times higher than the government's safe level for industrial chemicals. BPA is a known estrogen mimicker, and can cause hormone-disrupting effects, toxicity, low sperm counts and cancer.

Ms. Engebretson does acknowledge that canned goods are notoriously high in salt (sodium) and sugar content; however, she flippantly glosses over this fact and moves on. She fails to mention most canned goods also contain another salt, calcium chloride, added in canned goods to maintain product firmness. Calcium chloride’s other uses are industrial, as a deicer on roads, sidewalks and driveways, as a dust control agent, and in oil well drilling.

Still another salt utilized in canned goods for color retention is EDTA Disodium, also utilized in detergents, fertilizers, and in the textile industry as a bleach stabilizer. Sounds yummy!

MSG or monosodium glutamate is an additive utilized extensively in canned goods because it tricks your brain into thinking the food you are eating tastes good. Manufacturers can therefore use inferior ingredients and make a product seem tastier than it really is. MSG can cause headaches, migraines, stomach upset, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma attacks, heart palpitations, balance difficulties, Parkinson's, M.S., Alzheimer's, and behavioral disorders in children and teens. 

Food manufacturers know that consumers are weary of this product, so they hide the fact that MSG is an ingredient in our food supply. Hydrolyzed protein, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, autolyzed yeast, and gelatin – all widely used in canned products – contain MSG.  

There are over 3,000 FDA-approved additives with another 10,000 additives being “incidental” to the agriculture and food processing industry. More than one billion pounds of chemicals are routinely added to food each year. Ms. Engebretson' s assertion that “fresh, frozen or canned versions of the same food have relatively equal nutrient profiles” conveniently ignores this toxic profile.

But, wait, it gets worse! "It's All in the Preparation" goes on to state that “microwave cooking is one of the best ways to preserve nutrients.” The truth is that two researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Biochemistry, Blanc and Hertel, confirmed that microwave cooking significantly changes food nutrients.  Microwave cooking further alters food molecules and forms radiolytic compounds, which are mutations unknown in the natural world.  According to US researcher William Kopp, microwave cooking may be one of the most prevalent causes of ill health today!

MPA Media's "to your Health" article has caused irreparable harm to holistic practitioners who stress the importance of eating foods as close to their natural state as possible and to avoid anything in a can, bottle, or package with a long shelf life. Very simply, food spoils, non-foods don’t!  The human body was not made to ingest non-foods. Our modern diet is about as normal as a test tube of chemicals. We live like no other generation before us. We are a giant experiment of toxic ingestion.

The "It's All in the Preparation" article in MPA’s supposedly holistic publication contradicts the basic teachings of both the chiropractic and naturopathic philosophies! Worse, it provides the patient with an excuse to continue his or her poor eating habits and pass them on to their children as being healthy! Talk about giving the patient a false sense of security!

Chemical usage in canned goods and radiation of our food supply has the power to produce mutations through chromosome damage called mutagens. They cause disruptions of the genetic code which are responsible for over 15,000 inheritable, genetic disorders. Sadly, this may have drastic consequences to our grandchildren we can’t even begin to imagine.

Note:  Back in June the author emailed the above letter to Dr. Petersen who choose to ignore it. Apparently Dr. Petersen prefers not to allow his professed love of chiropractic stand in the way of making money or correcting information damaging to the profession and those who believe in holistic health!