As alluded to previously there are phenotypic variations of both Duchenne
and Becker dystrophies.  These range from mild versions of Duchenne Type
D, *usually the most severe,* to very severe cases of the Becker type,
*which is usually the milder type.*  In the Becker type, usually some
*dystrophin* is nevertheless still produced.  This is supposed to account
for the milder symptoms, when it is milder. In the Duchenne type the DNA
reading frame is disrupted and it cannot read a part of the gene which is
not deleted, which, if it could be read, could help produce the
missing dystrophin. There are three speculations as to why the small
amount of dystrophin makes such a big difference in performance.  One
postulation is that the absence of dystrophin disrupts the normal
biochemical mechanism which makes it possible to control the release of
cellular calcium, which is essential for the contraction of muscles.
Another hypothesis is that the absence of dystrophin weakens all the
membranes of the muscle fiber, especially the cell membrane.
Consequently, the muscle cells are more vulnerable to damage when the
muscle contracts and relaxes.  Still another postulation is that a defect
in dystrophin might permit excess calcium to enter the muscle cell.  In
this case calcium would activate the enzymes within the cell,
particularly proteases (an enzyme for the digestion of proteins) and
phospholipases (enzymes that digest phospholipids, a type of fat).
Naturally if the enzymes of the cell were free to digest the cell itself
the muscle will be weakened and digested away, but I seriously doubt this
hypothesis.  The cell guards its enzymes inside the lysosome purposely to
prevent them from digesting the cellular substances.  Actually, these are
merely postulations, hypotheses, and theories.  No one actually knows
exactly how the deletion affects the muscle cell according to my
source as of this writing. Another enigma is that the gene deletions in
various families are not all the same.  Since the gene varies in length
in different families with the same disease, how can we attribute the
symptoms solely to a particular genetic structure?  The gene differences
would cause the symptoms to vary accordingly.  This itself would either
hinder or improve the chances of recovery.  A failure to utilize calcium
normally is a significant explanation of Duchenne dystrophy, although
this could be just another educated guess.  But if it has some validity
it strengthens the chances of recovery.  Since the metabolism of calcium
is not determined by one gene only, and it may not even be associated
with the Duchenne gene, perhaps we should cease to think of this disease
as one which is inescapable.  If calcium metabolism has a bearing on
whether or not symptoms of Duchenne Dystrophy develop, do you not think
it important to regard this disease amenable to Hygienic Care? I should
think so, especially since Dr.  Shelton told me that he had cared for
three cases and they had all recovered. Let me remind you that all
diseases are genetically determined.  By living correctly we can avoid
many of them.  The more severe and the more damaged the gene, and the
more needed or important the metabolic defect occasioned by the missing
or malfunctioning gene, the more difficult to avoid the serious
consequences.  But, in most serious cases Health can at least be improved
by Hygienic Care.  In serious cases, maybe in many more than we even dare
to hope for, complete recovery is possible.  And remember, point
mutations can be corrected, and reverse mutations are a reality.  It is
not at all improbable that they could take place when the affected
individual is carefully guided in the correct way of living.

CYSTIC FIBROSIS
Now, for the last disease you asked about; Cystic Fibrosis.  It is
characterized by a malfunction of the exocrine glands, i.e.  those glands
which have ducts.  It involves the mucus secreting glands as well as the
ecrine sweat glands throughout the body.  Therefore, serious damage
occurs in various tissues, especially in many vital organs.  An odd
symptom evident at birth is that the sweat glands produce abnormal sweat
containing a super abundance of sodium chloride, but the devastating
symptoms of Cystic Fibrosis may begin at anytime from birth to
adolescence.  The mucus secreted by the sick individual is abnormally
thick, and sticky.  It is so viscous it does not flow freely.
Consequently, the ducts become obstructed, and are stretched to
accommodate more and more of this thick secretion.  The stretched ductal
walls tend to squeeze and close off blood vessels that nourish the wall
itself, causing the duct cells to die.  Fibrous tissue, which is
internal scar tissue, replaces the once normal glandular duct.  This is
why the disease is called cystic fibrosis -- because cysts full of thick
mucus form, and then the involved ducts die and are replaced with fibrous
tissue. Since Cystic Fibrosis can commence at anytime from birth to
adolescence, it makes us aware of the fact that some people are more
susceptible than others, and that it takes environmental factors along
with the gene damage to generate the full blown disease.  With superior
health habits even serious genetic problems can often be overcome,
especially if Hygiene is instituted before destruction of vital
organs takes place.  With a better diet, in all likelihood the mucus
would become more fluid, and the sweat glands would also normalize their
secretions. I vaguely remember someone telling me about putting a child
with Cyptic Fibrosis on a fruit diet and the child got better.

SUMMARY
Looking at the entire biological, genetical picture we discover that all
diseases are genetically inherited.  Most of the inherited metabolic and
structural changes are not sufficiently significant to cause disease
early in life. Therefore, we call this an inherited tendency to a
disease, or we call some diseases familial.  The expression of these
tendencies does not necessarily have to manifest. They will, however, do
so from an unwholesome way of life.  Most of the diseases we call
"genetically determined"  are the ones in which that researchers have
definitely found a defective gene or a lost one or some chromosomal
aberration.  But our structural variations and metabolic differences are
genetically inherited also. Environmental pollutants, including all types
of radiation, are causing mutations to increase and causing the
multiplication of other serious diseases. Additionally, new crops of
diseases are bursting forth almost as rapidly as corn can pop. At one
time, perhaps mutations were caused only by severe malnutrition and
chance mutations from background radiation.  This is no more.  But, that
does not mean we should give up!  *Under the right conditions reverse
mutations can and do occur.*  The body heals its genetic structures just
as it does its body structures. Furthermore, we can do something for many
of those already afflicted.  We do not really know just how much we can
do for people with some serious genetic diseases because most people seek
medical care.  This is understandable because the experiments which have
been done, such as Pottenger with his cats, are not widely publicized.
Hygienists have not had the opportunity to care for these cases.  We do
not know that successful recoveries are impossible, and we do not have
sufficient evidence to prove what little we do know.  It remains for
future doctors who have faith in the human body and Hygiene to further
our knowledge in this area. In *Volume II of the Hygienic System* by Dr.
Shelton, he mentions how diseases are inherited from nutritional
deficient parents.  He also recounts the experiments on cats done by F.M.
Pottenger, M.D., and D.G.  Simonsen. The eport was carried in Vol.  39
(pages 21-31), 1939 of the *Transactions of the American Therapeutic
Society.*  The experiment was carried out over many generations of cats.
They had two groups of cats, and fed both groups meats and vegetables.
They were both cared for equally except that one group had raw meat
and the other had cooked meat.  Shelton recounts, "These men report that
all the cats that received the uncooked flesh led normal lives, appeared
perfectly healthy and were able to reproduce themselves throughout the
length of the experiment which ran through several generations.  On the
other hand, none of the cats fed cooked meat were able to maintain good
health for any length of time, nor were some of the second and third
generations able to reproduce.  All of the cats eating cooked flesh
developed very serious troubles, such as softening of the bones,
including those of the skull, bowed legs, rickets, curvature of the
spine, paralysis of the legs, thyroid abscesses, convulsions, cirrhosis
of the liver and kidneys, enlarged colon, degeneration of the motor nerve
ganglion cells throughout the spinal cord and brain stem, with some cells
affected in the cerebellum and cerebral cortex." Dr.  Shelton points out
the *cumulative effect* of parental malnutrition on the following
generations.  He was speaking of genetic damage.  The following
generations of cats were born more and more damaged until finally they
could not reproduce.  This was genetic damage brought on by nutritional
deficiencies.  It took approximately three generations on raw meat for
Pottenger to completely rid his cats of structural damages caused by
feeding the parent cats cooked meats. *Nutrition is master of heredity!*
We now have evidence that Genetic damage can be reversed in animals.
This strengthens our stand that genetically determined diseases can most
certainly be prevented by a healthful lifestyle, if not in this
generation at least in succeeding ones, with noticeable differences even
in the first generation.  I emphatically state again that:  *Nutrition in
its entirety is the foundation of Heredity.*

                                              [[ by Dr. V. V. Vetrano ]]
...
o.b.t.s.j. ([log in to unmask])