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1. Good Nutrition... Under-nutrition without malnutrition...
The key rule for Anti-Aging comes from hundreds of experiments that
show that calorie restriction without giving up the nutrients will
result in a longer and healthier life for laboratory animals.
Dr. Roy Walford summed it up as follows:
"Fewer calories is always better than more calories, for the same amount
of nutrients."
Unfortunately, Dr. Walford did not make a distinction between calories
that come from carbohydrates and calories that come from protein. Protein
calories are better than carbohydrate calories because they do not cause
as great an increase in blood glucose levels.
In short, I try to eat low carbohydrate, low fat, and high protein. About one half of my plate is chicken or fish or lean beef, eggs, turkey-ham, milk, yogurt, and/or low-fat cheese; and the other half of my plate is vegetables.
Sometimes I eat a few nuts, a teaspoon of peanut butter, or a small portion of beans, and small portions of fruits. The best dessert is no-sugar gelatin with no-sugar fruit flavors, perhaps with non-fat milk.
Total calories in my plan is about 1300 to 1800 per day, total protein is about 150 to 200 grams per day. Calorie restriction conforms to Dr. Walford's idea that this is the single best proven anti-aging therapy. It is better
than Dr. Walford's recommended diet, however, because according to me Dr. Walford was mistaken to recommend high carb low fat foods, because they raise blood glucose too much.
I have added another requirement to Dr. Walford's low-calorie nutrient rich foods. This is:
"Fewer calories is always better than more calories, for the same amount
of nutrients...
The foods we choose must be low calorie, but they must also be low in Carbohydrate content so as not to greatly increase blood glucose levels."
I recommend the correct low calorie nutrient rich foods, for non-diabetics. These are basically: foods of animal origin (beef, chicken, fish, eggs, milk products); any vegetables (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, egg plant, etc.); and small portions of any fruits (berries, citrus fruits, watermelon, melon, apples, grapes, mangoes, cactus fruit, etc.) and very small portions of nuts and beans.
(NOTE: For diabetics, I recommend you can follow my general recommendations and improve results by eliminating starchy fruits and vegetables, such as carrots, dates, bananas... The dryer it is, gram for gram, the more it will raise glucose levels.)
I am convinced that if I follow this plan of nutrition in the long run
I will postpone or prevent forever that I should ever get diabetes. I am
also convinced that it is the right diet for diabetics because it will
help keep glucose levels under control, and it will prevent high and low
swings in glucose levels.
For a much longer and detailed discussion of my diet and my ideas about
diet, please see these pages:
I write in great detail about my chosen diet in
The Anti-Aging Diet
I analyze carbohydrates in
The Amazing
Carbohydrate Thermometer.
I show graphs of typical glucose levels in
Typical Glucose Tolerance Tests
I interpret glucose levels in
The Glucose Theory of Aging, and, The Correct Interpretation of Glucose Tests
Avoiding heart disease and possibly some types of cancer and avoiding diabetes in the long run means eating less fat food, and less sugar and less carbohydrates at the wrong time. Most of the fat in food comes from pork and beef, butter, cheese, whole milk, and meat fats. The worst offending meat is pork, followed by beef. Fish, chicken, and lean beef are good sources of protein, and contain some fat. Other excellent sources of protein are Non-fat milk, Non-fat yoghurt, egg-whites, tuna packed in water. There is only ONE
perfect dessert, and that is sugar-free gelatin, with non-fat milk. Evaporated
non-fat milk gives you twice the protein in half the volume, because water
has been removed.
As a general principle, good protein without fat is PERFECT, but there aren't many foods like that, and most of them don't pass the flavor test. Some fat and a lot of good protein is acceptable. It is very healthy to eat a few hard or soft boiled eggs per week, low fat yogurt, lean meat. Be more afraid of carbohydrates and excess fat than of cholesterol in the food. Even though eggs have cholesterol, that is not the cholesterol that shows up in blood tests, the cholesterol that you should be worried about is the cholesterol that your own liver produces to move fat.
Fat alone, or fat and carbohydrates without protein is NOT ACCEPTABLE. So: bread and butter is out... french fried potatoes are out...
fried peanuts are out... cakes and cookies are out... Do you notice that
all of these are known as "junk food"? There is a good reason for that.
They are junk. Don't eat too much of them.
My personal motto is "Twice as much of the good, and half as much of the bad." I do eat some "junk food" such as chocolates, cakes, cookies, french fries, but they are a very very small part of my total nutrition. The proof is in the pudding... I am slim and healthy. If you don't buy them at the supermarket, you won't eat them at home. Shop for good food. And if you must have a piece of cake, it should be as part of your meal, and not a snack between meals.
There is a good reason for that. Junk foods elevate the glucose in
your blood, which elevates the insulin in your blood. I try to keep glucose
low for as much of the day as possible by not stimulating it to rise with carbohydrates, except when necessary. This helps keep insulin down, it helps to keep my pancreas healthy, and it helps me to avoid insulin resistance in
the long run.
Sugar is 100% carbohydrates. All carbohydrates cause an increase in blood glucose levels which stimulate a release of insulin if the pancreas is not previously burned out. Sugar is 100% carbohydrates. Cereals are about 75% carbohydrates. So who was it that said that breakfast cereals are so healthy for us? Potatoes are 25% carbohydrates... So one fourth of a potato is like eating that much pure sugar... It took me a long time to understand all this but I finally understood it when I started to measure my glucose levels after eating supposedly good foods recommended to me by the U.S.D.A. Food Guide Pyramid. But once I understood it, I got to be in control of my diet, and not my diet in control of me.
Fiber is missing from most foods, so I try to get some extra fiber in every
day. It is totally absent from meat, milk, eggs, and other animal sources of protein. Fiber helps digestion, and it reduces the risk of some diseases and cancers by helping the flow of waste through your intestine. Fiber also will trap fat and eliminate it before it enters the blood, thus reducing cholesterol, which is a principal cause of heart disease. Fiber is found in fruits and vegetables, and none at all in beef, milk, eggs, and other sources of good protein. So a balanced meal must include the high protein animal origin foods, but it must also include vegetables and fruits.
Fruits and vegetables are full of excellent enzymes which help digestion and probably other important metabolic functions. Enzymes, however, are destroyed with temperature above 55 degrees centigrade, which means boiled or cooked foods have lost all the benefit of enzymes. They also contain carbohydrates,
so although fruits and vegetables are good for me, I try not to eat them
as snacks between meals, to keep insulin down between meals. At meals, it is good to eat vegetables so it is necessary to increase insulin, and that is good, and acceptable.
For more discussion of carbohydrates in fruits and vegetables, and other
foods, please see The Amazing Carbohydrate Thermometer
Fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of vitamins and fiber, and low sources of protein, and with few exceptions, zero fat. Chicken and fish are excellent sources of protein, but they contain ZERO fiber, and some fat. Cereals contain a lot of fiber. So... a well balanced daily meal plan has to include cereals, RAW fruits and vegetables, chicken, fish, non-fat milk or non-fat yoghurt, eggs.
How we eat affects how much insulin our body produces. Insulin is a double edged sword... it helps us in the short run, but it hurts us in the long run. Anti-aging nutrition means: control insulin. In general, it is important to be aware how foods affect insulin levels. Sugar and carbohydrates in our diet make insulin go UP, and protein in our diet makes insulin go DOWN. Every food affects glucose levels, but in general SUGAR and SIMPLE CARBOHYDRATES are our biggest enemy.
Therefore, LEARNING HOW TO EAT means learning what is GOOD for us and what is BAD for us, and also WHEN it is good for us and WHEN it is bad for us. FAT is BAD. PROTEIN is GOOD. CARBOHYDRATES are GOOD because they give us energy, but they cause insulin to go UP, which is NOT GOOD... so carbohydrates are GOOD at meal times, and BAD as snacks. A well balanced meal might include RAW fruits and vegetables, a few nuts, perhaps a small serving of beans... for their fiber and vitamins... AND ALSO eggs, non-fat milk, chicken and fish, low-fat cheese, for their protein... but not bread, potatoes, cakes and pastries, and candy bars... and of course, I avoid granulated sugar like the plague.
I have learned to know what to avoid. FAT AND SUGAR are our big dietary enemies. I avoid french fried potatoes (fat and carbohydrate, no protein), I avoid fried chicken or fried meat or fried fish (protein, with A LOT of fat), and I choose the better version instead: broiled chicken, broiled fish, etc.
Vegetables are best eaten raw, but if you must have them cooked, they are
best in the microwave or steamed without adding salt or oil or butter. If they are boiled in a large amount of water they lose all of the enzymes and most of the vitamins in the boiling water.
No fat, or very low fat, twice a day. This means absolutely no fat for breakfast, and also many times for supper, and always no fat between meals. (My usual breakfast consists of eggs, milk, slices of turkey-ham, fresh fruits, and non-fat skim milk... zero fat... lots of protein... ) Sometimes I will eat one meal that is all protein, or all protein and some fat, but no carbohydrate. This could be chicken livers, tuna, eggs. My third meal per day is low fat three times a week, and high fat four times each week.
If my breakfast is ever high fat, then it counts as one of the four high fat meals which I allow myself to have each week. I'm not a vegetarian, but I prefer fresh fruits and raw vegetables, and I prefer chicken and fish to red meats. I avoid eating fried foods, unless they are delicious and served in front of me, in which case I will enjoy another high fat meal. In terms of fat, this averages somewhere between 10% to 20% fat calories, and between 1300 to 1800 calories per day. I drink very little alcohol, and I don't smoke. I try to drink 10 to 12 glasses of water each day, whether I am thirsty or not.
December, 1999: A change in my program. I decided I have been mistaken all my life, not paying too much attention to the protein in my diet. Now I know Protein is King. I have decided to double the amount of protein that I eat every day, to about 150 grams of protein per day. This means I now seek protein. I concentrate on eating something with protein at every meal, and between meals, and I balance it with vegetables, and sometimes a little fruit. I eat more egg whites, more non-fat milk or yoghurt, more broiled chicken, and more broiled or baked fish (any way, but not fried).
2. Good Exercise - I ride bicycle and I walk long distances, and I do some low-weight high-repetition exercises. update Feb. 9: I have noticeably gained muscle mass around my chest, arms, back and shoulders... and I have lost a lot of fat "tires" around my belly!
3. Good Vitamins and Supplements, every day - Among the most important are an optimum amount ("much more than the R.D.A.") of vitamin A, B, C, D, and E, and the recommended daily allowance of minerals. Especially important minerals are zinc and selenium. I also take one capsule of aspirin for children, which is a mini-mini dose of aspirin. This helps me reduce my chance of a heart attack or stroke by half. Heart attack and stroke kill about half the population, so reducing the chance of premature death by 50% is a big help in my quest for El Dorado -- to live long in a young body.
4. Good Cosmetics - I take care of my skin, especially my face and my hands. Skin is the single largest organ of our body, and it is exposed to the damaging effects of the sun, wind, smoke and industrial pollutants in the air. According to the American Cancer Society, Ultra violet radiation from the sun's rays is the most important environmental factor that leads to the development of skin cancer. Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers, but it is largely preventable through the use of good skin creams and proper clothing.
The ultraviolet portion of sunlight is an invisible form of radiation that penetrates and can change the structure of skin cells. Unfortunately, the destruction of the ozone layer of the atmosphere has removed some of the natural protection we had from the sun's ultra violet rays and more of these destructive rays are reaching the earth, especially in the Southern Hemisphere (I live in Mexico, which is in the Northern Hemisphere) UV rays have also been associated with cataracts and other eye damage.
I tanned a lot in the sun before I learned all this, and my skin shows some damage. Fortunately, I have a Mediterranean type complexion, and my particular type of skin is not so easily damaged, but I am not foolish, and even if my skin does not burn as easily as blonds or redheads, now that I know better I protect my skin from ultra violet rays with a sun tan lotion with SPF (Sunlight Protective Factor) at least 4, which blocks out 75% of the sun's ultra violet rays. SPF 15 blocks out 93%; and SPF 30 blocks out 97% of the burning ultra violet rays. I also brimmed hats, and dark glasses, etc. to protect my skin and my eyes.
I use a very good moisturizing creams and skin blocks to keep my skin looking young. Why try to live long and try to rejuvenate if I'm going to look all wrinkled and old? If I can avoid it, I will avoid looking old for as long as I can!
I use a special dark shampoo to keep my hair its natural dark brown color. It is possible to help skin to produce more melanin, the natural pigment. I don't have that many white hairs, but I hate them, and I also don't like that my hair looks a dull faded brown, due to chlorine in the water in which I bathe. update Feb. '99: The most noticeable benefit of all my program has been a marked improvement in my skin. The skin of my face and the back of my hands has tightened up and now looks younger, more humid. I have no crow's feet around my eyes, and many wrinkles are completely gone... My hands look like... the hands of a young boy! Update Dec. 99: My skin is still looking very good... maybe even better.
The way I feel about it, if my teeth fall out, I'll put in new teeth. If my hair turns white, I'll dye it. If I get wrinkles on my face and I don't like them, I'll get a face lift, if I feel like it. I know looking young is only superficial, but I like to look young! That's one of the reasons why I'm doing this program! On the other hand, much of the improvement to my skin is more than just superficial... it is due to better circulation, more water, nutrients, and oxygen reaching my skin.
5. Good Parasites... dead! Parasites eat my food, and rob my body of good nutrients... Away with these unwelcome pests! Most common parasites are easy to get rid of. I take one complete treatment of "Vermox", which is very effective, inexpensive and easy to take: ONE pill, TWO times per day, for THREE days... repeat 30 days later, and repeat this every 6 months.
6. EDTA Chelation Therapy and DMSA treatment according to the protocol of Dr. Elmer Cranton. EDTA is an amino acid that is leaked into your vein in 4 hours while you are lying down on a couch... EDTA is the standard treatment to remove lead from the body when somebody has lead poisoning... It clings to all metals, and then it leads them out of your body through the kidneys and urine... It will also remove the good metals, and calcium, so after an EDTA Chelation you simply replace the good metals by drinking supplements that contain zinc, selenium, chromium, boron, magnesium, etc.
EDTA Chelation has an added benefit, besides taking toxic metals out of your body... EDTA removes metal ions (especially iron and copper) that are the catalyst for lipid peroxidation, thus it maintains cellular health by reducing harm to the cell by free radicals.
It probably also helps clean your circulatory system. Your circulatory system is really the highways of your body... Blood has to carry oxygen and nutrients to your brain and to every part of your body. You are born with a perfectly clean circulatory system, but by age 50, and depending on how much you have abused of your body with tobacco and fat foods and alcohol, if you take a cross section of your veins and arteries, it looks like a clogged sewer! EDTA Chelation is probably the only therapy that can help unclog part of this mess.
I am not sure how much it has cleaned my circulatory system, but remember that I didn't take this therapy to unclog my circulatory system... I took it because I have proof that I am filled with lead and mercury, and I want to lower my levels of these bad toxic metals. So whatever it has helped clean up my circulatory system is welcome, and an added benefit for me.
The most notable benefits of EDTA chelation after 30 treatments are:
- inhibition of platelet aggregation (blood stickiness)
- improved pulmonary function
- improvement in peripheral vascular disease and intermittent claudication
- improvement in ischemic heart disease
- reduction in serum cholesterol levels
- avoid amputation for gangrene, scheduled for surgery
- improved EKG scores
- completely cleared a totally clogged right coronary artery
- significant improvement in blood flow to the brain
- reduction of blood pressure
EDTA costs about $70 per treatment, in Mexico, and probably about $100 in the U.S. You need between 20 and 30 treatments, depending on how badly you are poisoned by these toxic metals. It isn't cheap, but it is worth it to me. I am convinced it works, and I am convinced I shouldn't have lead and mercury in my brain.
I began the EDTA Chelation in 1998, and by November 2004 I have already taken
about 35 treatments. I still have not started the DMSA treatment, which is taken orally, because I must remove the amalgams in my teeth before I do that. (Why did dentists PUT amalgams into my mouth to begin with?) These two treatments complement each other to remove lead, cadmium, mercury, and other toxic heavy metals from my brain, blood, and bones, and also to lower the level of iron in my blood. I know I must have accumulated some of these toxic metals in my lifetime.
The reason I want to remove lead and mercury and aluminum from my body is because I think this will help lower the probability of cancer, heart attack, and strokes, and I also think it will lower the probability that I will get diseases of the brain such as Parkinson and Alzheimer.
I sent a sample of hair to be analyzed in a laboratory in Chicago, to measure the levels of toxic metals present in my body. I began EDTA therapy
before I received the results because it is so evident to me that I should want to remove these toxic metals from my body that I did not wait for the results to begin the treatment, under the reasonable assumption that I did have some lead and mercury in my body, even if I have never been told that I have lead or mercury poisoning. I think the risk of having any lead or mercury in my body versus the cost and risk and benefit of the treatment is such that I decided to take the treatment. Someday I will send another sample of hair to be analyzed, and I expect it will show greatly diminished amounts of toxic metals existing in my body.
CAUTION:
The rest of this program is NOT for anybody under the age of 30... maybe 25.
7. Hormone Replacement Therapy - There are five hormones that are known to decline with age. These are (1) the various sex hormones in men and women, (2) thyroid, (3) melatonin, (4) DHEA, and (5) growth hormone. Many doctors agree with me that WE AGE BECAUSE OUR HORMONE LEVELS DECLINE... it is not the opposite, it is not that our hormone levels decline because we age, it is that we age because of our declining hormone levels. It makes sense to replace the oil levels in a car so that the car runs better. Our body is like a car in this respect... it makes a lot of sense to want to replace our naturally declining hormone levels with bio-identical hormones which have become available to us for the first time in human history only in the past few decades through the miracle of genetic engineering.
After I had a blood test to measure the levels of these hormones in my blood, I began to replace three of them, under my doctor's supervision. It was not necessary for me to take thyroid or testosterone, but my levels of melatonin, DHEA, and growth hormone were low. (note: there is no specific blood test for melatonin... it is just known to be low past the age of 30 or 40, period.) Now I take one 3 mg. capsules of melatonin before I go to sleep. This protects my brain from free radical damage, and also helps me to sleep well, and has other good benefits. I also take one 50 mg. capsule of DHEA every day. This helps my immune system, my skin, my muscles, and has several other benefits. (For more information on melatonin and DHEA, go to Life Links found below.)
DHEA is also a precursor to estrogen in men's bodies, so I take blood tests to see what level of estradiol (estradiol is an estrogen) I have, and to bring estradiol down I take Arimidex. Arimidex is a very important and very effective medicine. It blocks the enzyme that converts testosterone and DHEA to estradiol.
Growth hormone is the most important hormone that I am taking. The amount I aim to take is about the amount secreted in the body of a normal 30 years old male. (note: I have varied the dose I took through the years. For information on dosing, please write to me.) At this physiological dose no bad side effect has been found in thousands of persons who have taken growth hormone before me... there are only good results... However, growth hormone is a powerful hormone and can have
side effects so it must be taken only in the physiological doses that have been shown to be safe.
Growth Hormone is a polypeptide hormone composed of 191 amino acids, with a molecular weight of 21,500 daltons. Growth hormone is synthesized in the anterior pituitary, which contains a total of about 5 to 10 mg of growth hormone.
Growth hormone would be better named "cell repair, healing, and cell maintenance hormone" because it has been seen that it repairs just about everything in the body at the cellular level. Without it tissue atrophies. That is what occurs with age when the pituitary release of HGH declines to deficient levels. It protects the heart, it increases the amount of muscle, it decreases the amount of body fat, it improves skin, it makes some wrinkles really disappear, it increases the humidity of the skin, it fortifies the immune system, it makes bones stronger, it improves vision, and in general it improves all glandular and organ functions in the body.
Most people think of HGH as the miraculous treatment for children doomed to dwarfism, which over the past thirty years has saved tens of thousands from this fate. The next great benefit of HGH therapy appears to be in the aging population. People with age-related deficiency of HGH become overweight, flabby, frail, and lethargic; lose interest in sex; have trouble sleeping, concentrating, and remembering things; tire easily; and in general, lose their zest for life. With HGH, all these so-called signs of aging can be reversed.
Indeed, nearly 20,000 clinical studies conducted around the world document the broad benefits of pharmacological HGH therapy. These studies suggest a wide range of effects when HGH is replaced:
- reduced body fat
- increased muscle mass
- higher energy levels
- enhanced sexual performance
- regrowth of vital organs
- restoration of youthful immune function
- stronger bones
- lower cholesterol and blood pressure
- faster wound healing
- smoother, firmer skin
- regrowth of hair
- sharper vision
- elevated mood
- improved cognition
Growth hormone also helps to prevent loss of brain cells and neurons throughout the body by increasing the blood supply that reaches the brain and other neurons everywhere in the body, because blood carries oxygen, water, and nutrients. It is a fact that the circulatory system contracts with age, and Growth hormone reverses this contraction. So, by helping to conserve brain cells and neurons throughout the body, growth hormone also prevents or postpones age-related loss of memory, and age-related loss of muscle which occurs after there is damage to the nervous system.
That's a long list of good and very important benefits, and it still isn't complete...
The first month I took growth hormone six times per week. Later I changed this to seven times per week, so it is now a daily habit. This is taken by sub-cutaneous injection, one before going to sleep or early in the morning, on an empty stomach. At first I was scared to inject myself and so a trained nurse injected me for the first two weeks. But then I learned how to inject myself in the leg, and it is really easy to do, and almost painless. Sometimes I barely feel the very small insulin-type needle, or usually I don't feel anything at all.
After one month I had a blood test taken to determine the level of IGF-1. Growth hormone is not measured directly because it is only present in the bloodstream for a few seconds, or minutes, and then it disappears. But its effect is to signal the liver to make a series of "growth factors" which are the actual ones that repair the cells of the body. IGF-1 is one of these growth factors, and it lingers in the blood for a longer time. It has been found that there is a direct relationship between the amount of growth hormone and the amount of IGF-1 in the bloodstream. So I had a blood test taken and it showed that I had a level of a healthy man of age 40.
I increased my daily dose about September, 1999, and on February 9, 2000, I stopped taking all hormones for a period of 30 days, to test to see if my pituitary is still functioning. Before suspending, I took a blood test and the result showed my IGF-1 was at the level of a 25 year old man, and I consider it ideal. Some people have said that this is too high. I will review this with my doctor, and I will modify or continue, according to what we think is best. After three years taking growth hormone, I am convinced that my own pituitary is not only still producing growth hormone, it is also releasing it at a very healthy level.
Growth hormone reaches its highest level of secretion in the body of a 12 year old boy or girl, but by age 20 the amount of growth hormone secreted is down a full 75%. This is fortunate, because if not we would continue growing taller. Growth hormone continues to be present, however, and is responsible for keeping our body repaired. By the time we are 50, however, the amount of growth hormone secreted is down another 70%, and by age 80 it is down another 70% from age 50 levels. This, of course, affects our chance to survive. Compare, for example, the time it takes to heal a bone at age 20 or 25, compared to the time it takes to heal at age 80.
The decrease in growth hormone in our body parallels the decrease of our body, in terms of strength, grace, and agility. This suggests that if we replace the lost growth hormone, then perhaps we can also slow down or reverse the ageing process. In fact, this has already occurred in thousands of people who have taken growth hormone replacement therapy. Not only do they seem to have slowed down the ageing process, they seem to have repaired the damage faster than new damage is done... they seem to be growing young!!! update July 2001: I am now convinced that I will reach age 60 younger at the cellular level and looking and feeling better than when I reached age 50!
update Dec. '99: I increased GH dose and changed my diet to increase protein greatly. I took one shot of testosterone, and followed this up with testosterone cream, which caused me to increase my muscle mass.
update July, '01: It has been an amazing three years. I have a tremendous
amount of energy, I have gone up more than 35 pounds from my low of about 150 lbs, and now I weigh 187 lbs. I look better than ever, because most of it
is muscle, and I have never been a muscle freak or a body builder, and still,
I look good in my eyes. My body has improved in looks and functions in many ways, but I think that good health and a youthful outlook are the most important things I have gained.
8. Protecting my Brain - I am taking various therapies and medicines
to try to prevent the loss of my brain, which is usual and normal. (What is "normal" is not what I want for me.) I have begun to take hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy, hopefully to repair tiny damage that may have occurred in my brain or circulatory system. It is not known if Hyperbaric Oxygen (100% oxygen breathed under 1.5 atmospheres of pressure) really has any rejuvenating or anti-aging benefits for a person like me, who is not sick. But it is known that hyperbaric oxygen is beneficial for people who have had brain damage due to stroke or complications of diabetes.
These Before and After SPECT scans of the brain of a 3 year old near-drowning victim, and of a 72 year old man with persistent dizzy spells is all
I need as proof that Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy can be very effective to
restore brain functions:
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