|
|
Majid Ali, M.D. |
|
WBAI-FM
New York
Dr. Ali's
Science, Health and
Healing
Radio Shows Online |
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 |
|
Order Dr. Ali's Books at
Amazon.com |
Darwin, Dysox, and Our
Fermenting Planet
POLYCYSTIC OVARY SYNDROME (PCOS)
Evolution differentiated humans into two genders slowly,
over hundreds of millions of years. Let us conduct a thought
experiment. What would we expect if the evolutionary
differentiative influences, which produced women and men,
were to be attenuated or abolished by environmental or
genetic factors? One would expect that a weakening or
disruption of evolutionary influences would gradually result
in loss of gender differentiation, such that women and men
become "gender-skewed"— females would become "male-like" and
males would become "female-like,"so to speak. If some
consistent patterns of such gender-skewing caused by
specific environmental or genetic factors could be
recognized, can a unifying model of "gender
devolution"—evolution in reverse, so to speak—be proposed to
explain a vast array of seemingly disparate observations
concerning gender differentiation?
(From Essay 6)
In little girls, one would anticipate precocious development
of primary and secondary sexual characteristics, such as the
premature appearance of pubic hair, breast enlargement, and
menarche. In older girls, one would expect phenotypic
changes to include hirsutism, male-pattern baldness,
alopecia, acne, anovulation, oligomenorrhea, and amenorrhea.
Other expected changes in this context would be higher
incidence of premenstrual syndrome, endometriosis, and the
Stein-Leventhal syndrome (polycystic ovary syndrome, PCOS).
In older women, we may anticipate rising incidences of
cancers of the breast, ovary, and other related organs. Now,
let's us consider the published data on these subjects.
During the past two centuries, the age of menarche (a sign
of sexual maturation) has been dropping in European
countries. The downward trend has essentially leveled off in
recent years. 26 The European trend contrasts sharply with
that seen in the U.S, with the onset of puberty (as
determined by age at breast development) occuring much
earlier than it did 20 years ago.27-30 For example, in a
study of 17,077 American girls, at age seven, 27.2% of
African American and 6.7% of white girls showed such
secondary development; at age eight, the corresponding
numbers were 48.3% and 14.7%.27 Amazingly, at age three, 3%
of African-American girls and 1% of white girls showed
precocious development with breast enlargement and/or
appearance of pubic hair. These data concerning precocious
pubertal development in U.S. girls contrasts sharply with
that concerning Danish girls. From an epidemiologic study
based on national registries, only 0.2% of all Danish girls
had some form of precocious pubertal development.30
On November 19, 2007, Time magazine reported that 3 million
U.S. citizens were gender- variant—children and adults who
do not identify with their biological sex. The report
indicated that gender-variant adolescent were two-to-three
times as likely to attempt suicide as children without
gender identity issues. In February of that year, Boston's
Children's Hospital opened the first U.S. clinic for
gender-variant children. The treatment plan includes
injections of a puberty-delaying hormone to regulate
gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH)—a treatment that
carries increased risk of infertility when injection therapy
is discontinued and puberty aloowed to occur.
In the 1970s, the pathologic criteria for the diagnosis of
PCOS included: (1) bilateral symmetrical enlargement of the
ovaries; (2) ovarian stromal cortical hyperplasia; (3)
multiple cysts formed by arrested Graafian follicles; and
(4) absence of microscopic evidence of ovulation failure. As
defined by those diagnostic criteria, PCOS was a distinctly
uncommon entity, encountered five to ten times a year in our
pathology department serving 11 staff obstreticians and
gynecologists, who delivered nearly 2,000 babies yearly.
Currently reported incidences of PCOS are sharply higher.
Estimates of the prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
in the general population have ranged from 2–20%.31-34
According to a December 2005 report of the CDC's National
Survey on Family Growth (NSFG), U.S. women under 25 years of
age comprised the fastest-growing segment with impaired
fecundity, as defined by the capacity to conceive and carry
a child to term. The report identified obesity as an
important characteristic of such women. Based on the 2005
NSFG report, approximately 12% of American couples
experienced impaired fecundity in 2002, a 20% increase from
the 6.1 million couples who reported an inability to have
children in 1995. I return to the crucial subject of PCOS to
illustrate core aspects of the gender devolution model, as
well as to show the folly of using drugs to treat the
disorder, as regrettably recommended by The New England
Journal of Medicine.25
The incidence of endometriosis is rising in most regions of
the world. One line of evidence for this trend is drawn from
prospective studies on asymptomatic women undergoing tubal
sterilization, who have markedly higher than expected
frequency of endometriosis lesions.35,36 Consider the
following text from the website of Endometriosis Association
(http://www. endo-online.org/):
Endometriosis affects all races, personalities, and
socioeconomic groups as well as all ages of women, from
girls as young as 10 or 11 to women in their 60's and 70's.1
The terrible impact on young women is evident in the
dramatic 250% increase in hysterectomies for endometriosis
for women aged 15 to 24 between 1965 and 1984. The same
period saw an increase of 186% for women aged 25 to 34.
Dramatic 250% increase in hysterectomies for endometriosis
for women aged 15 to 24 between 1965 and 1984! What may be
said of gynecologists who remove uteri of teenagers for
endometriosis without searching for factors that cause
endometriosis? The answer: It is a criminal act—an
intellectually inexcusable and morally reprehensible acts of
professional misconduct. Strong words! Yes. Later in this
chapter, I present a careful review of available scientific
facts concerning endometriosis that shed as much light on my
gender devolution model as do considerations of PCOS. I will
let the readers decide whether or not my words are
unjustifiably strong.
I have noted something of interest in my patients in ninth
and tenth decades of life who are in general good health.
They have sharp memories of the years of menarche, first
meeting their future husbands, and events related to the
birth of their children. Nearly all report little or no
symptoms attributable to menstruation, endometriosis, or
ploycystic overy syndrome. This contrasts sharply with my
patients in the second or third decades of life who in
nearly all instances report moderate to severe menstrual
symptoms. How may this sharp difference be explained? It
seems to me that the pandemics of disabling premenstrual
syndrome, endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, and
related menstrual derangements are varying clinical
expressions of gender devolution.
A crucial issue in this context is the matter of delayed
consequences of exposure to minute quantities of gender
twisters, including the well-recognized endocrine
disruptors. Specifically, I proposed that the pandemic of
cancer of the breast is unleashed by synthetic hormones and
exobiotics, which simulate the effects of gonadal hormones.
I devoted Breast and Prostate Cancer—Eco-Monsters and Onco-Monsters
(2006)37 to this vast subject.
Significant evidence of gender-skewing has also been
observed in animal kingdom.38,41 For example,
female-to-female pairing and other changes in reproductive
behavior have been reported in gulls exposed to higher
amounts of DDT and DDE in Santa Barbara as well as in
Roseate terns exposed to PCBs in Massachusetts.
(Please see essay 8 of the Darwin, Dysox, and Our Fermenting
Planet series for continuation of this discussion. See
"Darwin, Dysox, and Our Fermenting Planet - References " for
references)
|
|
Appointment
and Patient Information
CONTACT US
Dr. Ali's Books
and DVDs |
This
information is provided only to provide
information, it is never, ever to be used as a
self help guideline. Always consult your own
health care provider for information or
questions on your health!
Throughout this website, statements are made
pertaining to the properties and/or functions of
nutritional supplements.
These statements about
nutritional supplements have not been
evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration
and are not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease
Copyrights on this site:
©Majid Ali
©Aging Healthfully, Inc. ©The
Institute of Preventive Medicine
©The Institute of Integrative Medicine ©The
Journal of Integrative Medicine
New
Jersey - 95 East Main Street Denville, NJ 07834 New
York 140 West End Avenue NY, NY 10023
|
|
|
