There's a program we use at the Tahoma Clinic that helps a lot of the patients we see-usually in just about two months, and no matter what their symptoms are. And unlike many other treatment programs, which work better if you're younger, the percentage helped with this program increases with age: The older you are, the more likely it is to help. It's nothing flashy or high-tech. In fact, you might consider it a little boring-at least until you learn what it can do for you and your health.

This "miracle" program is nothing more than supplemental nutrients: replacing the ones your body is missing and boosting levels of the ones it's not getting enough of.

I talk about vitamin and mineral supplements every month in Nutrition & Healing, but, in this case, there is a "catch": The program we use with such great success at the Tahoma Clinic uses an intravenous (IV) drip to provide these essential nutrients.

Every time I recommend IV treatments, I have some needle-shy readers and patients ask me why they can't just take oral supplements. There are a few very specific reasons why oral supplements aren't always the best option, but before we get into those, let me share how this therapy has helped my patients suffering from conditions ranging from hypertension and osteoporosis to depression and insomnia.

Quench your body's nutrient needs with the 22-ingredient "cocktail"

On her first visit, Paula D. told me that she was mildly hypertensive and had been diagnosed with hypoglycemia and insulin resistance.

To deal with this, she had previously put herself on a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. But in order to lose weight she'd had to eliminate all fruits and even most vegetables, which left her feeling like she wasn't getting all the nutrition she needed.

She was right: We tested Paula's blood for amino acids, her hair for minerals, and her stomach for acid production and found some unsettling-but common-results. Her stomach function was very low, and probably had been that way for several years. Her amino acid test disclosed abnormally low levels of five of the eight essential amino acids. And her hair mineral analysis showed a "malabsorption pattern." The majority of the nutrient minerals were below median-many of them quite far below.

Based on these results, I recommended the "rapid IV nutrient replacement" program to Paula. And since her gastric analysis showed that she had practically no stomach acid, which is an essential part of digesting protein as well as minerals from other foods, I recommended she take hydrochloric acid with pepsin capsules with meals from then on. I also advised her to continue taking the multiple vitamin and mineral supplement she'd been taking before, along with extra calcium and magnesium, since most people need more calcium than a once-a-week IV can accommodate.

So every week, Paula had two IV drips: one containing 14 different minerals, and another containing all eight essential amino acids. She also received intramuscular injections of vitamin B12, folic acid, and adenosine monophosphate (AMP), the immediate precursor of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the principal "energy molecule" for every cell in our bodies.

After two months on this program, Paula came back to discuss her situation. Right away, I noticed that she looked considerably better, and she said she felt much better too.

Her blood pressure was significantly lower, her hypoglycemic symptoms were gone, she'd cut the thyroid supplement she'd taken for years from 90 to 60 milligrams daily, and she'd lost 18 pounds. She also told me she'd been able to add back in many more non-starchy vegetables and still lose weight.

"I have much more energy. My head's clear, and I feel more grounded. My memory's improved, I'm more focused, and I can concentrate better. Even my reading comprehension's better. I've been able to get back to walking three miles every day. I need less sleep. I'm even growing less facial hair!"

Another patient, Betty M., came to the Tahoma Clinic with problems of osteoporosis, fatigue, intermittent abdominal bloating, and lack of energy. Like Paula, Betty had hypertension, but she also had high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and a slight elevation of "hemoglobin A1C," a blood test which indicates either mild diabetes or recurrent episodes of high blood sugar preceding actual diabetes.

After her initial screenings, we discovered that Betty also had very little remaining stomach acid, and multiple low levels of essential amino acids and nutrient minerals. I recommended the rapid IV nutrient replacement program to her, along with a high-quality multiple vitamin-mineral, calcium and magnesium, and, in her case, extra strontium because of osteoporosis. I also recommended hydrochloric acid-pepsin capsules with meals.

Like Paula, Betty was considerably improved after just two months. Her energy was restored, she was sleeping better, and she reported she'd regained interest in many of the activities she'd "just stopped doing." Her blood pressure was significantly lower, and her hemoglobin A1C was now well within normal.

IV nutrients bypass your body's roadblocks

If Betty and Paula had been decidedly against needles or IV treatment, I would have recommended oral amino acid and mineral supplementation, along with other nutrients. An entirely oral program would definitely have helped them feel better-but progress would have been much slower. To achieve solid improvement without intravenous or injectable nutrients would most likely have taken them up to a year, or even longer. There are several reasons why:

Even when digestion is optimal, as it usually is in a young person, no nutrient is 100 percent digested and then assimilated. The "food" your body assimilates most efficiently is, unfortunately, the worst one for you-refined sugar. But most nutrients, especially minerals, are assimilated at less than 40-50 percent efficiency. Quite often, you only assimilate 20 percent or less of the essential nutrients from what you eat. And this is if your digestion is operating completely up to par.

In most cases, digestion isn't optimal, which further compounds the problem of absorbing or assimilating nutrients from your food. As we all get older, the efficiency of digestion and assimilation almost always declines, as does our vision, hearing, strength, and many other functions. This happens even when there aren't any specific digestive or absorptive defects, and, of course, it's aggravated by specific conditions such as low stomach acid (hypo-chlorhydria), weak pancreatic digestive function, low or absent (because of surgery) gallbladder function, and other digestive/absorptive defects.

Not only is your own stomach working against you, but the foods you're putting in it probably aren't helping much either. Even if you avoid packaged, processed foods, the things you do eat may not be as nutritious as they should be. Unless most of your diet is organically grown, the nutrient content of nearly any food you eat is considerably less than it was for the same food a century or more ago. For example, in the 1960s, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a map showing that in 37 of the 50 (U.S.) states, agricultural soils were deficient in zinc. This is still the case for the large majority of all minerals. It takes years—even decades—of organic farming to restore both the quantity and availability of the entire range of nutrient minerals to optimal levels.

And on top of all that, hidden food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances, estimated to affect over half of us, also interfere with nutrient assimilation to variable degrees.[1]

So all of these factors are standing in the way of you absorbing—either from foods or supplements-all the nutrients your body needs to be healthy and disease-free. But when nutrients are injected intravenously or intramuscularly, they bypass those roadblocks and go straight into your blood stream where they can be delivered immediately to the areas that need them. While it's true that some of them are promptly excreted again by the kidneys and liver, your body knows what it's doing, so if it really needs one or several of the supplemental nutrients, it will "hang on" to a larger proportion.

Other factors to consider when digestion isn't the issue

The majority of people who respond to rapid IV nutrient replacement have developed low levels of multiple essential amino acids and minerals because of poor stomach function. But there are other causes of nutrient maldigestion and malbsorption, too.

For example, Jim K. came to the Tahoma Clinic with fatigue, anxiety, digestive upset, and depression. He'd seen several mainstream physicians over the prior few years, and the last one had given him a prescription for a patented antidepressant. Although the antidepressant had lessened his depression, he also experienced some of its adverse effects, including decreased libido.

Most individuals who respond to patented antidepressants actually have low levels of essential amino acids, so I recommended that Jim have his levels measured, along with a hair mineral analysis and gastric analysis.

Seven of the eight essential amino acids were low, along with the large majority of his minerals, so I expected that his gastric analysis would be abnormal, too. To my surprise, it was almost normal. We discussed Jim's personal history and family history further, and based on our conversation we decided he should have a blood test done for gluten/gliadin (two subfractions of grain protein) intolerance. This test came back quite positive.

I recommended that Jim see the Tahoma Clinic nutritionist to help with planning a totally gluten- and gliadin-free diet program. But since his amino acid and mineral tests had been so poor, I also recommended the rapid IV nutrient replacement program. As with Paula and Betty, I also recommended he continue taking a multiple vitamin and mineral, along with a fish oil high in EPA and DHA, which would help target his symptoms of depression (supplements of these essential fatty acids have been linked to lessening depression in many studies).

Three weeks after eliminating all gluten and gliadin and following the injectable nutrient program, Jim observed a definite improvement in his digestive symptoms, along with a significant lessening of fatigue and anxiety. He said he thought his depression was less, too. At our consultation following the completion of the two-month program, he reported "plenty of energy," and no anxiety. He was eager to start tapering off his patent medicine antidepressant, which he did success- fully (working with his doctor, of course) over the next few weeks.

So individual problems or factors like Jim's gluten intolerance can also play a major role in your body's ability to absorb nutrients.

Can you afford to do it? Can you afford not to?

The combination of amino acids is available through routine IV material suppliers and compounding pharmacies as "Freamine," as are vitamin B12, folic acid, and AMP, which I gave to Paula as part of her program. A caution about adenosine monophosphate (AMP): It should not be given intravenously except in very special circumstances, and this program is no exception. It should only be given intramuscularly under a physician's supervision.

The 14-mineral combination (called a "comprehensive re-mineralization IV") is one I've worked with at Tahoma Clinic for over 20 years. It's available to your physician through McGuff Compounding Pharmacy Services in Santa Ana, California (800-854-7220; www.mcguffpharmacy.com).

The major drawback to the rapid IV replacement program is cost. Including their administration, the intravenous amino acids and minerals add up to over $1,900, and the injectable vitamin B12, folic acid, and adenosine monophosphate add up to a little less than $100 for the 2-month program. There's also the time involved with intravenous administration; usually it's one or two trips to a clinic a week for two months.

However, there's no arguing with the results. With oral supplements alone, it routinely takes considerably longer, often over a year, to achieve results. But with the IV program, improvement is almost always substantial and quick, occurring in just two months.

And as long as you correct or compensate for any other factors (hypochlorhydria or gluten intolerance, for example), the results are usually permanent. Occasionally, someone does have to come back in for more IV sessions if, for some reason, he or she hasn't been able to stick to the recommended follow-up program. The need for follow-up or additional IV treatments is more likely in the 75-80+ age group, but it can happen.

Maintenance generally involves taking more than just a multi-vitamin/mineral, since most folks do come in with specific problems that require support from an individualized group of supplements. Plus, we often work with patients to tailor a program of numerous "anti-aging" supplements too. But once the two-month IV program is completed, these and any other necessary supplements can just be taken orally.

If you want to explore rapid intravenous nutrient replacement with your doctor, make sure that she or he is skilled and knowledgeable in nutritional and other natural therapies. If you need a list of natural medicine physicians in your area, contact the American College for Advancement in Medicine at (800)532-3688.

Citations available on the Nutrition & Healing website, www.wrightnewsletter.com. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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