Health & Fitness

Traditional plant-based medicine has a long history and plant-sourced medicines have largely contributed to health and Western medicine. Natural Product Insider¹ recently reported the results of botanical research in which Artemisia annua was selected as the best herbal candidate against SARS-CoV-2.

There are two common forms of Artemisia, also called wormwood. These are Artemisia vulgaris and Artemisia annua.² However, while they are from the same genus, they are distinctly different plants. Artemisia vulgaris is a moderately poisonous plant that is native to North Africa and Eurasia. Artemisia annua is called sweet wormwood and is native to Asia.

The species belong to the largest family of flowering plants, Asteraceae. The plants enjoy temperate climates and have a strong aroma from the terpenoids common to the plant. It is an annual that prefers sunny warm conditions and grows well in temperatures between 68 degrees Fahrenheit (F) and 77 degrees F.³

Artemisia has been studied as a treatment for glucose intolerance, HIV infections, pollen allergies, obesity, malaria and the treatment of some cancers.⁴ More recently, researchers have been exploring the antiviral properties of artemisia for the treatment of COVID-19.

Promising Results With Artemisia Annua Against COVID-19

Researchers from the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona, tested 30 herbs for the effect they may have against the virus that triggers symptoms of COVID-19.⁵ The researchers extracted the compounds using a 70% ethanol solvent and identified the metabolite artemisinin from more than 600 secondary metabolites in Artemisia annua.

Johanne Gerstel, Ph.D., a researcher at the Ric Scalzo Institute, said about the results,⁶ “We know there is activity that is inhibiting the growth of the virus. We have a novel and broad compound that has this anti-coronavirus family effect.”

According to the article in Natural Products Insider, the researchers first identified sweet wormwood as a potential option against COVID-19 and then tested different ethanol extracts to identify those with positive activity. Solvents were also tested to find the artemisinin metabolites that were effective against the virus.⁷

This was not the first study to determine that artemisinin influences the SARS-CoV-2 virus. A recent review of the literature⁸ pulled from online databases, such as PubMed, NCBI, ResearchGate and Google Scholar, revealed Artemisia has antiviral and immune-stimulatory potential against SARS-CoV-2.

Some African countries have anecdotal evidence that an extract of the plant has helped manage COVID-19 symptoms in the population.⁹ There have been several studies that showed artemisinin had a promising role in the inhibition of viruses.

In addition, the plant has high levels of zinc, gallium and selenium. Zinc is known to stop the replication of the virus in the cell; gallium reduces forms of cytokines that raise the inflammatory response; and selenium regulates the concentration of CD4 lymphocytes.

Further Demonstration of Antiviral Activity

A collaborative effort between researchers at Columbia University, University of Washington and Worcester Polytechnic Institute demonstrated that a hot water extract of Artemisia annua had antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2.¹⁰ The extracts were tested on the virus propagated in human cells.

The researchers used extracts from four different continents, all of which demonstrated antiviral activity against the SARS-CoV-2. The study published in June 2021 revealed that the hot water extract of Artemisia stopped the replication of the virus, including two new variants.¹¹

Although it did not appear to block viral entry into the cell, the extract did decrease the inflammatory response and blocked infection after entry. Additionally, in this study, the extract from one dried leaf sample over 12 years old was still effective.

The data revealed that the concentrations could vary by nearly 100-fold and still be effective in the cell study. In an interview with Spectrum News 1, one of the researchers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute said:¹²

"It's very important right now, because we don't have therapies, and this looks like it could be a therapy and very easy to implement globally to help us get a control on this horrible viral pandemic as you see it ravaging India."

Yet, it is important to note there have been several therapies that have shown promise in the treatment of COVID-19, including ivermectin,^13,14 hydroxychloroquine with zinc,^15,16,17 and maintaining optimal levels of vitamin D to reduce potential infection and lower the severity of disease.^18,19,20

To date, researchers are still trying to determine the mechanism of action that artemisinin has against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. There has been some evidence it inhibits enzymatic activity and stimulates adaptive immunity that targets the virus and down regulates proinflammatory cytokines.²¹

Does the WHO Recommend Artemisia?

Chinese scientists first pioneered the discovery of Artemisia annua against malaria in the 1970s.²² Currently, the WHO recommends artemisinin-based therapies against malaria,²³ especially since the growth of chloroquine-resistant disease. Resistant parasites have repeatedly shortened the ability of new drugs to be effective against malaria.

Artemisinin is currently used only in combination with other antimalarial drugs to help prevent the potential resistance from monotherapy.²⁴ Increased access to artemisinin-based combination therapies is believed to be a key factor in reducing the death toll from malaria in the last 15 years.²⁵

In August 2021, the World Health Organization²⁶ announced that it would be testing three new drugs in the next phase of the Solidarity trial. Sponsored by the WHO, the Solidarity trials aim to study possible drugs for those hospitalized with severe COVID.²⁷ The drugs approved in August are artesunate, imatinib and infliximab. Each of the drugs are approved for use in other health conditions. Artesunate is a derivative of artemisinin and currently used in the treatment of malaria.

Imatinib is used in the treatment of cancers and infliximab is prescribed for immune system conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn's disease. According to the WHO, artemisinin has been used extensively for the past 30 years in the treatment of malaria and other parasitic diseases.

The drug is considered very safe, and the Therapeutics Advisory Group has recommended the evaluation of artesunate because of its anti-inflammatory properties.²⁸ In the last phase of the Solidarity trial, the WHO tested remdesivir, which they found had little or no effect on survival.

According to the BBC,²⁹ the drug manufacturer Gilead has rejected the findings and, in a statement, said the results were “inconsistent” and that it was “concerned” results had yet to be reviewed. The four drugs were tested across 500 hospitals in more than 30 countries. As of August 2021, the BBC reports³⁰ the WHO has said there is no evidence that products derived from Artemisia are effective against COVID-19.

Artemisia Annua Tested During 2003 SARS Outbreak

Long before COVID-19, researchers had isolated a class of compounds in sweet wormwood that demonstrated activity against cancer, schistosomiasis and malaria.³¹ More recently, it was discovered that the plant is bioactive against certain viruses such as cytomegalovirus, hepatitis B and C, and members of the herpes family, including herpes virus type 1 and Epstein-Barr.³²

Following the SARS outbreak in 2003, researchers began evaluating the effectiveness of different Chinese medicinal herbs against the virus.³³ Four extracts showed promise, including Artemisia annua.

Building on this and other research, scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany collaborated with those at Freie Universität Berlin to carry out laboratory studies evaluating the bioactive compounds in the plant against SARS-CoV-2. Peter H. Seeberger, one of two scientists who oversaw the research, commented:³⁴

"Having worked with compounds derived from A. annua plants, I was familiar with the interesting activities of the plants against many different diseases, including a range of viruses. Therefore, we felt that exploring the activity of this plant against COVID-19 was worth the undertaking.”

Seeberger was also encouraged by the international collaboration as scientists work together to find compounds that may improve the treatment and management of people with COVID-19. He said:³⁵

“Given the encouraging results of Chinese colleagues in 2005 and similarities between the new virus and the one that caused SARS, plant extracts and artemisinin derivatives need to be tested as quickly as possible. This international collaboration makes this possible.”

After demonstrating antiviral capability in the lab, researchers moved to testing sweet wormwood in a human trial. They used a cultivated line of seeds developed by ArtemiLife Inc. from Kentucky. The researchers found that when the compounds were extracted from this line, they demonstrated the strongest antiviral activity.

Klaus Osterrieder from Freie Universität Berlin conducted the activity assays in which they discovered that using an ethanolic extract of Artemisia and coffee produced the best results. When tested alone, the artemisinin didn’t demonstrate as much antiviral activity. Osterrieder found the results remarkable:³⁶

"I was surprised to find that A. annua extracts worked significantly better than pure artemisinin derivatives and that the addition of coffee further enhanced the activity.”

The U.K. launched human trials in late 2020 in collaboration with the University of Kentucky to test the effectiveness of the Kentucky-grown Artemisia annua product.³⁷ In January 2021, U.S.-based Mateon Therapeutics partnered with Indian supplement manufacturer Windlas Biotech and announced a clinical trial that would test the safety and efficacy of another artemisinin supplement.^38,39

The trial is using a supplement capsule containing 500 mg of purified artemisinin against COVID-19. It was marked completed on September 9, 2021, but results have not yet been posted. If successful, these trials may mean the discovery of a treatment for COVID-19 that meets many criteria. These include being widely available, relatively inexpensive, effective and with a known safety profile.⁴⁰

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This article was previously published January 15, 2020, and has been updated with new information.

Iron is necessary for life as it is essential to transfer oxygen into your tissues. Hemoglobin, the protein in your red blood cells that contains iron at its core, reversibly binds to oxygen and supplies your tissues with it. Without proper oxygenation, your cells quickly start dying.

Iron is also a key component of various proteins and enzymes, and is involved in energy production, immune function, metabolism and endocrine function. For these reasons, low iron (anemia) can cause significant health problems.

However, what many don't realize is that excess iron is actually more common than too little, and iron overload can be even more problematic. Because your body has a limited capacity to excrete iron, it can easily build up in organs like your liver, heart and pancreas. This is dangerous because iron is a potent oxidizer that can damage your tissues and contribute to a variety of health problems, including but not limited to:

Cirrhosis1	Cancer, including bowel,2 liver3 and lung cancer4 — Elevated ferritin is associated with a 2.9 times higher risk of death from cancer5 and blood donors have been shown to have a lower likelihood of developing certain cancers than nondonors6,7
Hepatitis C8 — As noted in a 2007 paper,9 even "mild or moderate increase of iron stores appears to have significant clinical relevance" in this and other conditions	Gouty arthritis10
Cardiac arrhythmia11	Cardiovascular disease12
Type 2 diabetes13 and metabolic syndrome — Elevated ferritin has been linked to dysfunctional glucose metabolism,14 raising the risk of diabetes fivefold in men and fourfold in women, a magnitude of correlation similar to that of obesity.15 High ferritin also doubles your risk of metabolic syndrome,16 a condition associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, liver disease and heart disease	Alzheimer's disease17

Iron Overload Impairs Mitochondrial Function

Iron causes significant harm primarily by catalyzing a reaction within the inner mitochondrial membrane. When iron reacts with hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl free radicals are formed.

These are among the most damaging free radicals known, causing severe mitochondrial dysfunction, which in turn is at the heart of most chronic degenerative diseases. The hydroxyl free radicals are an oxidative stress that will also damage your cell membranes, stem cells, protein and DNA.

In addition to all this damage, research¹⁸ shows excessive iron also promotes apoptosis and ferroptosis in cardiomyocytes. Apoptosis is the programmed cell death of diseased and worn-out cells, and as the name implies, ferroptosis refers to cell death that is dependent on and regulated by iron specifically.¹⁹

Cardiomyocytes are muscle cells in your heart that generate and control the rhythmic contractions in your heart, thus allowing it to maintain a healthy rhythm.²⁰ In short, this tells us that excess iron has the ability to impair your heart function by inducing mitochondrial abnormalities and the death of muscle cells in your heart.

How Iron Overload Affects Your Risk of Alzheimer's Disease

Aside from raising your risk of heart-related problems, iron overload is also of particular concern in Alzheimer's disease,^21,22,23 the prevalence of which has dramatically risen in recent decades.

According to research^24,25 published in 2018, buildup of iron — which increases oxidative stress and has a type of "rusting effect" in your brain — is common in most Alzheimer's patients. As noted by the authors:²⁶

"In the presence of the pathological hallmarks of [Alzheimer's disease], iron is accumulated within and around the amyloid-beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, mostly as ferrihydrite inside ferritin, hemosiderin and magnetite.

The co-localization of iron with amyloid-beta has been proposed to constitute a major source of toxicity. Indeed, in vitro, amyloid-beta has been shown to convert ferric iron to ferrous iron, which can act as a catalyst for the Fenton reaction to generate toxic free radicals, which in turn result in oxidative stress."

Other research ²⁷ suggests elevated cerebrospinal fluid iron levels are strongly correlated with the presence of the Alzheimer's risk allele APOE-e4, and that elevated levels of iron in your brain may actually be the mechanism that makes APOE-e4 a major genetic risk factor for the disease.

A primary focus of conventional treatment so far has been to clear amyloid proteins, but while that approach seems logical, such attempts have met with limited success. Researchers now suggest clearing out excess iron may be a more effective way to reduce damage and slow or prevent the Alzheimer's disease process.

Iron Dysregulation Is Surprisingly Common

It's easy to get too much iron as it's commonly added to most multivitamins. Many processed foods are also fortified with iron. Two servings of fortified breakfast cereal may provide as much as 44 milligrams (mg) of iron in some cases,²⁸ bringing you dangerously close to the upper tolerance limit of 45 mg for adults, and well over the recommended daily allowance, which is a mere 8 mg for men and 18 mg for premenopausal women (i.e., women who still get their monthly period).²⁹

Unfortunately, many doctors don't understand or appreciate the importance of checking for iron overload. One of the greatest risk factors for iron overload is having a condition called hemochromatosis³⁰ — one of the most prevalent genetic diseases in the U.S. — which impairs your body's iron regulation, causing you to absorb higher than normal amounts.

The C282Y gene mutation is thought to be responsible for the majority of hemochromatosis cases. It takes two inherited copies of the mutation (one from your mother and one from your father) to cause the disease (and even then, only some people will actually get sick).

More than 30% of Americans are thought to have two copies of this defective gene³¹ and, according to one study,³² an estimated 40% to 70% of those with two defective C282Y genes will develop clinical evidence of iron overload.

If you have just one copy, you won't become ill but you will still absorb slightly more iron than the rest of the population,^33,34 thus placing you at increased risk for overload and the complications associated with it.

Common Factors That Increase Your Risk of Iron Overload

Virtually all adult men and postmenopausal women are also at risk for iron overload since they do not lose blood on a regular basis. Blood loss is the primary way to lower excess iron, as the body has no active excretion mechanisms. Other potential contributors to high iron levels include:

• Cooking in iron pots or pans — Cooking acidic foods in these types of pots or pans will elevate iron absorption.
• Eating processed food products like cereals and white breads fortified with iron — The iron used in these products is inorganic iron, not much different from rust, and it is far more dangerous than the iron in meat.
• Drinking well water that is high in iron — The key here is to make sure you have some type of iron precipitator and/or a reverse osmosis water filter.
• Taking multiple vitamins and mineral supplements, as both of these frequently have iron in them.
• Regularly consuming alcohol, as this will increase the absorption of iron in your diet.

How to Check for and Address Iron Overload

Checking your iron levels is easy and can be done with a simple blood test called a serum ferritin test. I believe this is one of the most important tests that everyone should have done on a regular basis as part of a preventive, proactive health screen. The test measures the carrier molecule of iron, a protein found inside cells called ferritin, which stores the iron. If your ferritin levels are low, it means your iron levels are also low.

The healthy range of serum ferritin lies between 20 and 80 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml). Below 20 ng/ml is a strong indicator that you are iron deficient, and above 80 ng/ml suggests you have an iron surplus. An ideal range is between 40 and 60 ng/ml.

Please note that many health sites will tell you that "normal" can be much higher than that, but levels over 300 ng/ml are particularly toxic and will eventually cause serious damage.³⁵ If you have hemochromatosis, or if a serum ferritin blood test reveals elevated iron levels, donating your blood two or three times a year is the safest, most effective and inexpensive remedy. If you have severe overload you may need to do more regular phlebotomies.

If, for some reason, a blood donor center is unable to accept your blood for donation, you can obtain a prescription for therapeutic phlebotomy. At the same time, you'll also want to avoid consuming excess iron in the form of supplements, in your drinking water (well water), from iron cookware or fortified processed foods.

You can also limit iron absorption by not eating iron-rich foods in combination with vitamin C-rich foods or beverages, as the vitamin C boosts iron absorption. If needed, you could also take a curcumin supplement. Curcumin acts as a potent chelator of iron and can be a useful supplement if your iron is elevated.

GGT Test Is Also Advisable to Rule Out Iron Toxicity

Aside from a serum ferritin test, a gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) test can also be used as a screening marker for excess free iron and is a great indicator of your risk for sudden cardiac death, insulin resistance, cardiometabolic disease³⁶ and chronic kidney disease³⁷ as well.

In recent years, scientists have discovered GGT is highly interactive with iron. Low GGT tends to be protective against higher ferritin, so if your GGT is low, you're largely protected even if your ferritin is a bit higher than ideal.

When both your serum ferritin and GGT are high, you are at significantly increased risk of chronic health problems and early death,³⁸ because then you have a combination of free iron (which is highly toxic), and the iron storage to keep that toxicity going.³⁹ That said, even if your ferritin is low, having elevated GGT levels is cause for concern and needs to be addressed.

For this reason, getting a GGT test in addition to a serum ferritin test is advisable to rule out iron toxicity. The ideal level of GGT is below 16 units per liter (U/L) for men and below 9 U/L for women. Above 25 U/L for men and 18 U/L for women, your risk of chronic disease increases significantly.

To lower your GGT level you'll need to implement strategies that boost glutathione, a potent antioxidant produced in your body, as GGT is inversely related to glutathione. As your GGT level rises, your glutathione goes down. This is in fact part of the equation explaining how elevated GGT harms your health. By elevating your glutathione level, you will lower your GGT.

The amino acid cysteine, found in whey protein, poultry and eggs, plays an important role in your body's production of glutathione. Red meat, which does not contain cysteine, will tend to raise GGT, as will alcohol, so both should be avoided.⁴⁰

Certain medications can also raise your GGT. If this is the case, please confer with your doctor to determine whether you might be able to stop the medication or switch to something else. General detoxification is another important component if your GGT is high, as your liver's job is to remove toxins from your body. The fact that your GGT is elevated means your liver is under stress.

Annual Ferritin Test Is an Important Health Screen

For adults, I strongly recommend getting an annual serum ferritin test to confirm you're neither too high nor too low. When it comes to iron overload, I believe it can be every bit as dangerous to your health as vitamin D deficiency, and checking your iron status is far more important than your cholesterol.

While a full iron panel that checks serum iron, iron-binding capacity and ferritin can be helpful, you really only need the serum ferritin test, plus the GGT test. Your doctor can write you a prescription for these tests, or you can order them from HealtheIron.com.

Again, if your ferritin is high, the easiest way to lower it is to donate blood two or three times a year. U.S. legislation allows all blood banks to perform therapeutic phlebotomy for hemochromatosis or iron overload. All you need is a doctor's order.

Also, unless you have a lab-documented iron deficiency, avoid iron-containing multivitamins, iron supplements and mineral supplements that contain iron if your levels are already high.

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November 4, 2021, the Biden administration announced two major COVID jab policies aimed at two-thirds of American workers.¹ At the time, 70% of American adults had supposedly acquiesced to the novel gene therapy, but that was not enough.

In violation of the U.S. Constitution, Biden charged the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to create a rule that all employers with 100 employees or more must have a fully “vaccinated” staff or face stiff fines.

At the same time, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) implemented a requirement that forced health care workers at facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid to be fully “vaccinated” or lose their jobs.²

The deadline for both of these policies was January 4, 2022. As predicted, OSHA wasted no time before suggesting that the policy might be expanded to companies with fewer than 100 employees as well.

Court Permanently Blocks OSHA ‘Vaccine’ Rule

Fortunately, 10 days later, November 14, 2021, a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals permanently blocked OSHA from implementing and enforcing its COVID jab rule, on the basis that the emergency temporary standard (ETS) exceeded the scope of OSHA’s authority and/or was unconstitutional.

Challenges have been filed in several federal courts, however, so the legal fight is far from over.³ What’s more, while OSHA has complied with the court’s decision, suspending its ETS and any activities related to it, the Biden administration is brazenly encouraging employers to implement the suspended rule nonetheless.⁴ It’s lawless beyond belief, so employers would be wise to think long and hard before following such dictates.

AMA Sides With and Encourages Lawlessness

The American Medical Association is also showing its true colors, actually siding with the White House on this issue. Yes, the AMA is actually telling employers to go ahead and implement the mandate in spite of the court’s permanent injunction.^5,6

Essentially, the Biden administration and the AMA are banking on the Fifth Circuit Court’s decision being overturned — and the AMA is actively involved in this legal fight⁷ — but that is a risky game. If the ruling is upheld, companies that fired employees who didn’t want to get the shot, even though the ETS had been suspended, leave themselves wide open to all sorts of legal actions.

How did the AMA go from being an association dedicated to promoting excellence, integrity and ethics in the medical field,⁸ to persecuting and “excommunicating” doctors who follow their conscience, sound medical practice — and the actual law?

The AMA has gone so far as to actually instruct doctors on how to lie to their patients and the public! In its Winter 2021 “AMA COVID-19 Guide: Background/Messaging on Vaccines, Vaccine Clinical Trials & Combatting Vaccine Misinformation,”⁹ the AMA explicitly teaches doctors how to deceive patients and the media when asked tough questions about COVID-19, treatment options and COVID shots.

The entire guide is aimed at teaching doctors how to foster confidence in the medical profession in general, as it pertains to treatment of COVID-19, but in particular as it pertains to the experimental COVID shots. The issue of potential hazards is overlooked altogether. Doctors are told to say the shots are safe and effective. End of discussion.

Since when are medical experts not to ponder the potential hazards of a novel, never-before used experimental treatment? To demand blind faith in this regard is unprecedented and unconscionable, but that’s where we are.

AMA Hunts Down Dissenting Doctors

The AMA is now hunting down doctors who think for themselves and act according to conscience and law, and is working with local medical boards to strip them of their license. (Keep in mind that rules and guidance issued by organizations such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and OSHA are not laws. None of these organizations have the authority to create law.)

The video above features a press conference given by Dr. Mary Bowden, an ear, nose and throat doctor with hospital privileges at Houston Methodist, who was suspended after a series of Twitter posts in which she stated that “Vaccine mandates are wrong,” “Ivermectin works” and “Given the current climate and the writing on the wall, I am shifting my practice focus to treating the unvaccinated.”¹⁰

According to Houston Methodist, she was suspended pending an investigation of her “inappropriate behavior” and “inappropriate and disrespectful language.” In a series of tweets, Houston Methodist said:¹¹

“Dr. Mary Bowden, who recently joined the medical staff at Houston Methodist Hospital, is using her social media accounts to express her personal and political opinions about the COVID-19 vaccine and treatments.

These opinions, which are harmful to the community, do not reflect reliable medical evidence or the values of Houston Methodist, where we have treated more than 25,000 COVID-19 inpatients, and where all our employees and physicians are vaccinated to protect our patients ...

Dr. Bowden, who has never admitted a patient at Houston Methodist Hospital, is spreading dangerous misinformation which is not based in science.”

‘They’re Trying to Make an Example Out of Me’

November 17, 2021, Bowden announced her resignation. In her press statement (see video), Bowden explained that the reason she never admitted any patients to Houston Methodist, where she’s had hospital privileges for the past two years, was because of her aggressive early treatment of COVID-19. None of her patients ended up needing in-hospital or emergency care.

Bowden said she was surprised by the suspension of her hospital privileges. “It’s astounding to me, as a physician, that I am not entitled to my medical opinion,” she said. She also said she did “not appreciate” how Houston Methodist chose to handle the situation, publicly vilifying her instead of having a face-to-face conversation.

“They could have suspended my privileges very quietly,” she said. “Instead they took it to the media ... I think they’re trying to make an example out of me ... showing people ... if you dare challenge the vaccine agenda, this is what happens to you ... They beat you down.”

In the wake of Houston Methodist’s public comments about her, trolls have been leaving fake reviews on her website and harassing her in various ways. “I don’t feel I’m getting fair coverage of my side of the story,” she said. Bowden also defended her position to KHOU11 News:¹²

"I never closed my doors. I was open seven days a week during the pandemic. I’ve tested over 80,000 people for COVID. I’ve treated over 2,000 people for COVID. I’ve tried to stay ahead of COVID. I have tried to be proactive in treating my patients.

I’m not dangerous. I’m not doing anything dangerous. For them to paint me that way is ridiculous. I will continue to see any and all COVID patients. I would never turn away someone with a life-threatening illness. But for the routine ENT [ear, nose and throat] stuff, I was going to prioritize the unvaccinated ...

If someone has an illness, they have an illness. What difference does it make if they have been vaccinated? You’re going to treat them. It’s like saying you’re a smoker, we’ll put you in the back of the line for treating your lung cancer. That’s not the way it goes in medicine."

Dissenting nurses are also finding themselves persecuted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and other leading nursing organizations, which November 16, 2021, issued a joint policy statement¹³ stating that nurses who disseminate “non-scientific and misleading COVID-19 information” will be held to account and could face disciplinary action by their board of nursing.

No License for Disinformation — Another Front Group

As I’ve explained in several previous articles, Arabella Advisors — the for-profit hub of a liberal “dark money” network — routinely sets up and runs temporary front groups to promote a specific agenda.¹⁴ The No License for Disinformation¹⁵ (NLFD) group fits this description perfectly.

As most now know, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a medical doctor in his own right, has been the primary challenger of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s lies, and the NLFD is now instructing willing individuals to report him to the Kentucky Medical Board, with the aim of getting his medical license revoked.¹⁶

The NLFD also promotes the false information disseminated by the dark-money group known as the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). But who are the NLFD?¹⁷ At the very bottom of their website, it says, “Created & Developed by EverydayAmericanJoe.”¹⁸ Here’s a screenshot of it, just in case they wisen up and change it, because it is more than a little revealing.

EverydayAmericanJoe was a website dedicated to supporting Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. (As of this writing, that site has been disabled.¹⁹) The website was created by a marketing strategist named Chris Gilroy.

According to his LinkedIn profile,²⁰ Gilroy created EverydayAmericanJoe.com, “the largest Biden-Harris grassroots website online,” as a freelance senior marketing consultant and designer for the Biden campaign. Since 2007, he’s been the president of The Microtechs LLC, an online marketing, web development and digital advertising firm that produces custom websites and apps “that our clients can manage themselves.”

Aside from the EverydayAmericanJoe clue, there’s no indication of who is actually running the NLFD. It simply claims to be a “non-partisan grassroots coalition of Americans” whose goal it is to get state medical boards to “protect the public” from medical professionals “who spread medical disinformation.” In all likelihood, the NLFD is run by a coalition of one — Gilroy himself — who is far from non-partisan.

Not surprisingly, the NLFD relies on the CCDH’s “Disinformation Dozen” report, which has been denounced as biased and flawed in the extreme by Facebook.²¹ While the CCDH claims 12 individuals are responsible for 73% of anti-vaccine content on the social media platform, a Facebook investigation found that, collectively, we account for just 0.05% of all views of vaccine-related content.

It’s quite clear that the CCDH exists to fabricate “evidence” that is then used to destroy the opposition in order to control the information, and the NLFD relies on this report to suppress First Amendment rights.²² Indeed, Biden himself has publicly promoted and relied on this dark money CCDH report.²³

NIH Director Echoes the IGCD

Expanding this spider web a bit further, the National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis Collins recently called for anyone who spreads COVID “misinformation” to be “brought to justice.”²⁴

His nebulous threat echoes that of Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla who, in a November 2021 interview with Atlantic Council CEO Frederick Kempe, stated that medical professionals who warn against the COVID shot are “criminals, because they have literally cost millions of lives.”²⁵ As noted by Zero Hedge:²⁶

“That’s an interesting benchmark given that it was once considered false to claim that COVID vaccines didn’t stop the vaccinated spreading COVID, which is now an all too obvious fact.

Quite what constitutes ‘misinformation’ about COVID-19 is anyone’s guess given that several things that turned out to be plausible or true, such as the origin of the virus behind the Wuhan lab, were once deemed to be ‘misinformation.’ It seems likely that whatever the National Institutes of Health, Anthony Fauci or Pfizer deem to be ‘misinformation’ will become the standard.”

The same kind of militant rhetoric is also coming from the International Grand Committee on Disinformation (IGCD), which functions as a “forum for information sharing, collaboration and harmonization of policies to ... achieve common goals among democratic states.” One goal in particular is the normalization and legalization of censorship, including medical and scientific censorship.

One of the cofounders of the IGCD was British MP Damian Collins, who also happens to be a CCDH board member, and is part of the U.K.’s Online Safety Bill Committee,²⁷ charged with examining the proposed “Online Safety Bill,” which some have warned would be catastrophic for free speech.

Given the connections between all of these players, we cannot be surprised to find that the U.K. Online Safety Bill includes a provision that would result in a two-year prison sentence for “anti-vaxxers” who spread “false information that they know to be untrue.”²⁸

After all, that’s what the bill is really all about. It has nothing to do with preventing online bullying or the spread of hate online. Of course, in the future, these laws will allow them to silence discussion on any topic that undermines totalitarian rule.

An Open War on the Public

We’re now in a situation where asking valid questions about public health measures are equated to acts of domestic terrorism. It’s unbelievable, yet here we are. Over the past two years, the rhetoric used against those who question the sanity of using unscientific pandemic countermeasures, such as face masks and lockdowns, or share data showing that COVID-19 gene therapies are really bad public health policy, has become increasingly violent.

Dr. Peter Hotez, a virologist who for years has been at the forefront of promoting vaccines of all kinds, for example, has publicly called for cyberwarfare assaults on American citizens who disagree with official COVID narratives, and this vile rhetoric was published in the prestigious science journal Nature, of all places.²⁹

Doctors and nurses are now facing the untenable position of having to choose between doing right by their patients and toeing the line of totalitarianism. This simply cannot go on. It’s profoundly unhealthy and dangerous in a multitude of ways.

While frustrating and intimidating, we must all be relentless in our pursuit and sharing of the truth, and we must relentlessly demand our elected representatives stand up for freedom of speech and other Constitutional rights, including, and especially, the rights of medical doctors to express their medical opinions.

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Hint: one of them doesn’t have to be a qualified ‘surgeon’ at all.

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Swallowing is a complex biological action that comprises more than 31 muscles and five cranial nerves¹ all working together to facilitate nutrition. Its two main goals are to push food from the mouth into the stomach and to protect airways from foreign objects.²

The Process Model of Feeding was created to help people understand how swallowing works whenever solid foods and liquids are consumed:³

1. Stage 1 (Transport) — Once food enters the mouth, the tongue carries it to the post-canine region to the back of the mouth to begin chewing.
2. Food processing — In this stage, the food is softened by saliva for chewing until it reaches an optimal state for swallowing. When drinking liquids, the posterior oral cavity is sealed by the tongue-palate contact to prevent leaking.
3. Stage 2 (Transport) — Once food is ready to be swallowed, it is placed in the back of the tongue to be propelled into the esophagus.
4. Pharyngeal stage — This process occurs within a second upon swallowing. The soft palate elevates and contacts the lateral and posterior walls of the pharynx to help prevent food from going into the respiratory pathways.
5. Esophageal stage — Once past the throat, the chewed food (bolus) travels down into the esophagus and into the stomach for digestion.

When Your Swallowing Muscles Experience Problems, Dysphagia Occurs

Your throat and esophagus are prone to many diseases and when either of them is affected, you may experience dysphagia, a condition marked by difficulty swallowing.⁴ It can be caused by a multitude of factors and disorders, and may lead to complications such as dehydration, malnutrition, pneumonia or an airway obstruction.⁵ Aside being unable to swallow, other prominent symptoms of dysphagia include:^6,7

Risk Factors Associated With Dysphagia

Aging is the one of the top risk factors connected to dysphagia.⁸ As people grow older, their ability to swallow becomes harder due to wear and tear on the throat and esophageal muscles. Elderly citizens also have a higher risk of developing diseases that can cause dysphagia, such as esophageal cancer, stroke, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.^9,10

The onset of neurodegenerative diseases may also increase your risk of dysphagia.¹¹ Stroke, for example, can cause paralysis that can affect any part of your body, including your throat, although it becomes minimal as time passes.¹² In addition, those who suffer from cervical spinal cord injury¹³ and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD),¹⁴ a genetic disorder, may experience dysphagia as a side effect.¹⁵

Learn How to Manage and Avoid Dysphagia in This Guide

While the complications of dysphagia are very alarming, the disease is fortunately treatable via a variety of approaches. Consuming a healthy diet, getting regular exercise and avoiding unhealthy vices can all help mitigate the risk factors associated with the underlying causes of dysphagia. In the following pages, discover which methods work best and the best practices you can implement to safeguard your health.

MORE ABOUT DYSPHAGIA

Dysphagia: Introduction	What Is Dysphagia?	Dysphagia Symptoms
Dysphagia Causes	Dysphagia Treatment	Dysphagia Prevention
Dysphagia Diet	Dysphagia FAQ

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What Is Dysphagia?

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