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Majid Ali, M.D. |
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Editor,
The Journal of Integrative Medicine
Formerly, Associate Professor of Pathology (adj.), College
of Physicians
and Surgeons of Columbia University, NY
Formerly, President of Staff and Chief Pathologist,
Holy Name Hospital, Teaneck, NJ
Fellow, Royal
College of Surgeons of England -
Diplomate,
American Board of Anatomic and Clinical Pathology
Diplomate, American Boards of Environmental Medicine
Past President Capital University of Integrative
Medicine |
Darwin,
Dysox, and Our Fermenting Planet
Introduction to Darwin and Dysox Trilogy
No simplicity in clinical medicine—in my view—is as compelling as the simplicity
of the "dysox model of disease," described and illustrated in the Darwin and
Dysox Trilogy (the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth volumes of The Principles and
Practice of Medicine). No simplicity allows me to more effectively cope with so
many complexities of caring for ill individuals as the simplicity of three
primary homeostatic mechanisms governed by oxygen: acid- base balance, redox
regulation, and clotting-unclotting equilibrium (see chapter 2 entitled "Oxygen
Homeostasis—Oxygen's Three-Legged Throne Model and The Sun-Soil Strategy for
Healing" for details). In 1998, I introduced the term
dysoxygenosis ("dysox" for
short) for the states of respiratory-to-fermentative shift in ATP generation and
disrupted oxygen signaling.1-3 The core significance of the dysox model of
disease is: All issues related to oxygen homeostasis must be diligently
considered in caring for an ill individual regardless of the diagnostic rubric.
The great value of Darwin's seminal tenets of ecologic connectivity and natural
selection is that in biology so little explains so much. The core importance of
the dysox model of health and disease—in my view—is also that in clinical
medicine so little explains so much. Darwin's theory of the origin of species
continues to be rejected by some because they fail to see the range and rates of
transition in the evolution of species. The significance of dysox is also not
recognized by many clinicians because they fail to see the range and rates of
transition in the evolving patterns of disrupted oxygen signaling and the
respiratory and fermentative modes of cellular energetics in the evolution of
various stages and forms of illness. I devote the Trilogy to an in-depth
treatment of these crucial issues and related subjects.
Ecologic Thinking in Medicine
Darwin's essential message for biologists is that no part can be understood
without understanding its relationships with the whole. The essential
significance of the dysox phenomenon for physicians is that it explains
foundational relationships between cellular injury and adverse effects of
nutritional, environmental, and stress- related factors. I illustrate these
crucial concepts with some clinical examples. A cardiologist prescribes Inderal
for tachycardia. A dermatologist administers steroids for eczema. A neurologist
uses Zomig for headache. A gastroenterologist treats gastroesophageal reflux
disorder (GERD) with Nexium. How does Darwin inform these specialists? What
should the phenomenon of dysox mean to them?
We doctors have not been ecologic thinkers. Darwin invites us to become clinical
ecologists and understand how environmental, dietary, and stress-related
triggers cause various symptom-complexes. In caring for chronically ill
individuals, the dysox model of disease shifts the focus from the diagnostic
terms chosen for them to detecting and addressing all factors that put oxygen
homeostasis in jeopardy. It offers cardiologists, dermatologists, neurologists,
and gastroenterologists not only a clear scientific basis of those relationships
but also provides sound scientific basis of alleviating suffering and restoring
health. These simple ideas call for a radical re-thinking of the prevailing
medical philosophy.
Clinical Research
Who determines the long-term relative safety and efficacy of a drug—professors
in medical schools or clinicians in the trenches of illness? Both groups know
the answer. Clinicians focus on their patients as a community of suffering
people as individuals and commonly address concurrent problems. Professors focus
on a single drug made by a pharmaceutical company who pays for their "research."
Some decades ago, I recognized a dire need for an integrative model of clinical
research, in which teams of integrative clinicians, without any financial
conflicts, collectively and openly, care for a large number of unselected
patients with specific disorders, diligently maintaining detailed records. The
outcome data are then published in-toto showing the clinical efficacy or
inefficacy of the integrative management protocols. I wrote the Darwin and Dysox
Trilogy to fulfill that need. The readers will recognize that these studies
demonstrate the philosophy, principles, and practice of integrative medicine
discussed at length in these and other volumes of this textbook.
What Is Integrative Medicine
Integrative medicine is not, as many ill-informed doctors assert, "popping
vitamins pills" to treat non- existent problems. Rather, it is taking
individuals with serious subacute and chronic diseases—Crohn's colitis, lupus,
rheumatoid arthritis, early stages of renal failure, Hashimoto's disease,
multiple sclerosis, amenorrhea, and others—and returning them to good health in
six to twelve months. In integrative medicine, this objective is achieved as
patients are safely weaned off their drugs with nutrient, environmental, and
self-regulatory measures. The readers will find in the Trilogy ample
documentation of this. Integrative medicine is a philosophy, not preoccupation
with vitamin D, zinc, co-enzyme Q10, magnesium, or any other nutrient.
Ethics in Medicine
Ethics, simply stated, is the study of the consequences of one's actions on
others. Ethics is also the study of the consequences of one's failure to take
the needed action on others. For example, it is clearly unethical for a nurse
not to give a patient the prescribed medication. The relevance and significance
of no action by a doctor, when action is required, is self-evident. It is
clearly unethical when a doctor fails to do the necessary detective work to
uncover the substances and/or elements that cause or contribute to the illness
of a patient. In this light, how ethical is the use of Inderal for tachycardia
without searching for and addressing the environmental, nutritional, and
stress-related factors that create adrenergic hypervigilence? How ethical is
the use of steroids for eczema while neglecting the underlying causes of mold
allergy, mycotoxicosis, and adverse food responses? How ethical is the use of
Zomig for headache without a diligent search for causes of headache? How ethical
is the use of Nexium for blocking the acid pump when the real problem is
gastroparesis? Indeed, is it ethical for any doctor to suppress symptoms with
drugs without addressing the primary mechanisms of molecular and cellular
injury: disruption of oxygen signaling and respiratory-to-fermentative shift
resulting from impaired mitochondrial function. Is it ever ethical for a doctor
to ignore the adverse effects of altered gut microbiota, impaired hepatic
detoxification pathways, and environmental pollutants—industrial toxins, heavy
metals, mycotoxins, and others—before prescribing any drug for a chronic
disorder?
Humans Are Not the Apical Predators
Darwin and the dysox phenomenon have other important messages for physicians.
Biology is an equalizer. We humans position ourselves at the top of the food
chain and exult in that delusion. I do not see a food chain, only a food cycle
in nature in which every species is both a predator and prey—in the eternal
predator-prey dance of life and death, the predator often becomes a prey and the
prey a predator. The human cells sometimes destroy invading microbes, and are
sometimes killed by them. Based on extended clinical experience, morphologic
observations, and biochemical findings in patients with diverse clinical
disorders, I consider mold allergy, overgrowth of yeast species in the bowel,
and mycotoxicosis to be the most significant threats to human health. The
dysoxic effects of these factors—compounded by those of toxic metals and
synthetic chemicals— contribute significantly to the pathogenesis of autoimmune,
environmental, degenerative, and neoplastic disorders. So, these "lowly"
oxyphobic microbes can hardly be relegated to the bottom of the so-called food
chain. Nor can humans be assigned the top position. I cite the case of
Staphylococcus aureus to support my larger point here. In 1958, I learned that
S. aureus was a nuisance, present on the skin of up to 40% of healthy
individuals. In 2008, I learned that the microbial species killed more citizens
of the United States than the HIV/AIDS complex.11
Dysox and Climatic Chaos: A Fermenting Planet Cannot Sustain Healthy Humans
Times are desperate for most forms of life on the planet Earth. In considering
the predicted climatic changes, the focus is always on carbon issues, and
oxygen-related issues are completely ignored. This, in my view, is a serious
mistake. In reality, the biologic consequences of the oxygen-related issues (the
"oxygen issues") are far more important. Below is text from my three-part
article on the subject entitled "Dysox and Climatic Chaos: The Primacy of Oxygen
Issues Over Carbon Issues.5"
Butterflies, bees, and bats are disappearing with accelerating rates.6-8 Before
the fall of these flyers, we witnessed large-scale extinction of amphibian
species.9,10 The world's best scientific sleuths used their best diagnostic
technologies to uncover the underlying causes in fungi, viruses, pesticides,
industrial pollutants, habitat destruction, and climatic changes. No specific
cause was identified in any case. None of the investigators recognized the
obvious: disruption of oxygen signaling and blockade of oxygen-driven
bioenergetics caused by the cumulative effects of multiple oxygen disruptors—as
is the case in all human deaths regardless of the initiating and complicating
factors.... The fundamental bioenergetics of butterflies, bees, and bats involve
coupling of respiration with oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial ATP
generation. Except during hibernation, the mitochondrial dynamics in these
species are essentially identical to those of humans. In health, the products
of metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins enter the Krebs cycle and,
under optimal conditions, are broken down completely into water and carbon
dioxide to generate "clean" energy. When the Krebs cycle is unimpeded, all of
its intermediates (organic acids) are broken down to produce ATP (citations
renumbered from the publications).
As for oxygen-utilizing life forms, in my view, the planet Earth is fermenting.
This view of dysox is a strong explanatory power not only for butterflies, bees,
and bats, but also for humans.
The Future of Humankind Is Not a Zero-sum Game
In the context of the predicted climatic chaos, Darwin's message is: a gain of
one people must not be equated with the loss of another—the future of humankind
is not a zero-sum game. Nationalistic agendas for coping with projected climatic
changes will not only be ineffective but also divisive and counterproductive.
Humankind now faces different problems. If relentless global chemicalization,
poisoning of human habitat, and fermenting of the planet continue
unabated—global warming, without doubt, will explode the scale of oxygen
crises—the threat to human health and survival will increase exponentially.
Charles Robert Darwin developed his central ideas of ecologic connectivity and
natural selection to define his theory of origin of species. Herbert Spencer
hijacked that idea and introduced the expression survival of the fittest to
advance his social manifesto—an unfortunate choice of words that fostered
self-centeredness, abuse of power by the spiritually sclerosed, and oppression
of people. Humankind now faces different problems. If predictions about the
looming climatic chaos are realized—evidence to the contrary is
non-existent—there will not be a "fittest" left among us. What poisons some now
will poison all with time. Is there a more compelling reason in support of the
core notion of oneness of the human species—and, by extension, oneness of all
planetary life? Is there a more cogent and forceful argument for accepting and
fostering this notion of a shared planet? We physicians have important roles to
play in the great environmental and social issues of our time. The Darwin and
Dysox Trilogy is my attempt to engage that dialogue as well.
A fermenting planet cannot sustain healthy life.
References
1. Ali M: Darwin, oxidosis, dysoxygenosis, and integration. J Integrative
Medicine 1999;3:11-16.
2. Ali M: Fibromyalgia: an oxidative-dysoxygenative disorder (ODD). J
Integrative Medicine 1999; 3:17-37.
3. Ali M: Under Darwin's Glow (editorial). J Integrative Medicine 1999. 3:1
4. Ali M. Ali M. Oxygen and Aging. (Ist ed.) New York, Canary 21 Press. Aging
Healthfully Book 2000.
5. Ali M. Dysox and Climatic Chaos - The primacy of oxygen issues over carbon
issues. Part II. Townsend Letter-The examiner of Alternative
Medicine.
2008;300:121-124.
6. Mallet JL, Longino JT, Murawski D, et al. Handling effects in Heliconius:
Where do all the butterflies go? J. Anim. Ecol. 1987;56, 377:386.
7. Watanabe M. Pollination worries rise as honey bees decline. Science.
1994;265:1170.
8. Tuttle MD. How North America's Bats Survive the Winter. http://www.batcon.org/
batsmag/v9n3-2.html.
9. Bickler PE, Buck LT. Hypoxia Tolerance in Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fishes:
Life with Variable Oxygen Availability. Annual Review of Physiology. 2007;
69:145-170.
10. Becker, Habitat Split and the Global Decline of Amphibians. Science.
2007;318: 1775-1777.
11. Sack K. Deadly bacteria found to be more common. The New York Times. October
17, 2007.
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