4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL November 9, 2016
O PINION
It's time to make mental health a priority
BY SUSAN JOHNSON
For the Sentinel
M
any of us ignore physi-
cal symptoms—an ach-
ing tooth, a shoulder that locks
up, early signs of diabetes or
high blood pressure. Maybe
we’re afraid of the dentist, don’t
want to face possible surgery or
don’t want to deal with medica-
tions and lifestyle changes.
We may also ignore signs of
depression and other mental ill-
nesses for a variety of reasons.
We might feel mental illness is
a sign of weakness or fear that
friends, family, or employers
would judge us or discriminate
against us. Already, too many
Americans experience preju-
dice, discrimination, abuse and
victimization based on a mental
health diagnosis. And for too
long, Americans paid for health
insurance that did not recognize
that treatment for mental health
and substance use disorders is
as essential as other medical
treatment.
It’s time for us to let people
who are living with mental
health conditions know that
they are not alone, and that this
administration is providing im-
portant protections for people
experiencing mental illness. A
recent report from the Mental
Health and Substance Use Dis-
order Parity Task Force includes
a series of new actions and rec-
ommendations to ensure that
insurance coverage for mental
health and substance use disor-
der services is comparable to—
or at parity with—general medi-
cal care because, just as with
other illnesses, we can’t afford
to neglect our mental health.
Mental illnesses take huge
tolls on individuals and society
as a whole. The annual direct
and indirect economic costs
of mental illnesses in the U.S.,
particularly untreated mental
illnesses, are estimated to be in
the hundreds of billions of dol-
lars. Productivity and income
are reduced, healthcare costs for
other illnesses rise, and addic-
tion, homelessness, and disabil-
ity rates rise. Most importantly,
individuals and families suffer.
According to the most recent
statistics, 43.4 million adults
aged 18 or older experienced
some form of mental illness in
the past year, and the CDC proj-
ects depression will be the sec-
ond leading cause of disability
worldwide by 2020.
Though disabling when
symptoms persist, depression is
treatable, and most Americans
greatly improve with treatment,
services and recovery supports.
Signs of depression include ex-
periencing some of the follow-
ing, most of the day, for at least
two weeks:
Persistent sad, anxious, or
“empty” mood
Feelings of hopelessness or
pessimism
Irritability
Feelings of guilt, worthlessness
or helplessness
Loss of interest or pleasure in
hobbies and activities
Decreased energy or fatigue
Moving or talking more slowly
Feeling restless or having
trouble sitting still
Diffi culty concentrating,
remembering, or making deci-
sions
Diffi culty sleeping, early-morn-
ing awakening, or oversleeping
Appetite and/or weight changes
Thoughts of death or suicide, or
suicide attempts
Aches or pains, headaches,
Offbeat Oregon History
‘Father of Oregon Geology’ left his mark on
the state — literally
BY FINN J.D. JOHN
For the Sentinel
college teacher in state history. And
yet, oddly, he fell into the profession
almost by accident.
Thomas Condon was born in Coun-
ty Cork, Ireland, in 1922, and emigrat-
ed to New York when he was 10 years
old. When he came of age, he went
off to seminary, and when he was 30,
as a newly minted Congregationalist
minister, he embarked with his wife,
Cornelia, on a sailing ship for a jour-
ney “around the Horn” to the Oregon
Territory. They arrived in 1852.
The young Reverend was not ini-
tially very successful in his work. The
church started him out in St. Helens,
then moved him to Forest Grove, and
then south to the Albany area. Noth-
ing quite clicked. He was working
long hours teaching and preaching;
the congregations were small and
slow-growing, and consequently so
I
f you’ve ever taken the National
Parks Service tour of the Oregon
Caves, you’ll probably remember the
part where the guide points out a sta-
lagmite covered with names, scrawled
out on its creamy surface in the
crabbed longhand style of the 1800s.
The names are those of University
of Oregon geology professor Thomas
Condon and his students. And the stu-
dents had journeyed all the way down
to Cave Junction from Eugene — no
mean feat of overland travel in those
days — to learn about their state’s ge-
ology fi rsthand.
It was a classic Thomas Condon
move, this fi eld-trip-with-the-whole-
class thing. Condon was a true state
treasure, and possibly the most gifted
cramps or digestive problems
without a clear physical cause
and/or that do not ease even
with treatment.
Physical diseases like diabe-
tes, arthritis, or heart disease can
increase your risk of depression.
Factors such as age, gender, eth-
nicity, family history, major life
changes, and where you live can
also play a role in depression.
Help is available. If you or
someone you love exhibits signs
of depression or another mental
illness, the fi rst step is to get
screened. In Oregon, you can
call or visit Alcohol and Drug
Help Line at 1-800-923-4357,
Mental Health Crisis/Suicide at
1-800-273-8255, or Youthline at
1-877-968-8491 for assistance.
For providers near you, visit
Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administra-
tion’s (SAMHSA) Treatment
Services Locator, or call 1-800-
662-HELP (4357).
Susan Johnson is the Regional
Director of the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services,
Region 10.
was the Condon family’s income.
But then, in 1862, gold was found
in China Creek, setting off a gold
rush in eastern Oregon and Idaho. All
those hard-living miners needed spiri-
tual guidance, and there wasn’t much
holding the Condons back; so they
followed the gold trail out to the wild
new frontier, settling into The Dalles.
It was there that Condon found
his niche as a minister. At fi rst, there
were only fi ve members of Condon’s
Congregational church, and they met
for services in the top fl oor of the
courthouse, above the jail; smoke
and sound fi ltered easily up through
gaps in the fl oorboards, and on some
Sunday mornings the rowdies in the
hoosegow downstairs, just sobering
up after an epic Saturday-night spree,
would loudly sing along with the
hymns using bawdy lyrics that they
made up. Still, thanks in large part
to the basic decency and humility of
Condon himself, the church began to
grow steadily.
Now, Condon had always been a
geologist and rockhound, fascinated
with fossils. In The Dalles, his col-
lection really started to grow. All the
CONTACT YOUR
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cilors:
Mike Fleck, At Large: 942-
5501
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Large: 942-5501
Jake Boone, Ward 1: 653-
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125 East 8th Street
Eugene, OR 97401
Phone: (541) 682-4203
Fax: (541) 682-4616
Oregon State House of
Representatives:
Rep. Cedric Hayden (REP)
District: 007
900 Court Street NE
Suite H-288
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: (503) 986-1407
Fax: (503) 986-1130
Email: rep.cedrichayden@
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Jeff Gowing, Ward 2: 942-
1900
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942-4800
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District: 004
900 Court Street NE
Suite S-319
Salem, OR 97301-0001
Phone: (503) 986-1704
Fax: (503) 986-1080
Email: sen.fl oydprozanski@
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Faye Stewart, East Lane
Commissioner
Lane County Public Service
Building
miners knew of his interest, and when
they stumbled across old bones and
interesting fragments, they collected
them for him. He also found time to
go on expeditions of his own — often
with Bible in one hand, rock hammer
in the other. He also found that the
best place to write his sermons was
out in the beauty of Nature.
During the Civil War, Condon’s
enthusiasm for fossils and geology
spread to the soldiers at Fort Dalles,
who took to collecting specimens
while on patrol. Condon, who dili-
gently kept up with the news from the
nascent national geology/paleontol-
ogy community, recognized some of
their fi nds as really signifi cant. So in
1865, he joined them on an expedi-
tion of discovery, like Darwin on the
H.M.S. Beagle. And it was probably
at this point that his geology hobby
really started competing with his avo-
cation as a pastor.
The expedition resulted in the dis-
covery of the John Day Fossil Beds,
one of the most productive sources of
fossils from the early Age of Mam-
mals in the world.
Soon Condon was correspond-
ing with the famous paleontologists
of the day: Spencer Baird, Thomas
Leidy, and of course the “Bone Wars”
antagonists — Edward Drinker Cope
and O.C. Marsh. He sent them speci-
mens of his fossils to help them in
their studies.
Marsh actually undertook an expe-
dition with graduate students into the
John Day Fossil Beds with Condon,
in 1871. But Marsh not only refused
to return the specimens Condon lent
him, but didn’t even name-check Con-
don in the scientifi c articles he subse-
quently wrote based on them; Marsh,
it was clear, didn’t consider Condon
to be a “real” geologist. But although
Condon persisted in writing to request
the return of the specimens (for de-
cades!), he never showed resentment
for the obvious disrespect.
Meanwhile, Condon’s “hobby”
continued to take over his life. He
started traveling across the state giv-
ing lectures on the fossil record.
Condon’s status as a Congregational
minister was an important part of the
acceptance of these fossils, too; he
Please see OFFBEAT, Page 10A
Fight breast cancer with fl ax and chia seeds
BY JOEL FUHRMAN, MD
For the Sentinel
T
he old adage “an ounce
of prevention is worth a
pound of cure” best describes
what our focus should be regard-
ing breast
cancer,
which is the
most com-
mon form
of cancer
that affects
women and
the second
leading
cause of death for women af-
ter heart disease. While a great
deal of money and attention is
focused on breast cancer aware-
ness, it would make more sense
to concentrate on preventing the
disease from occurring in the
fi rst place.
There are nutritional strate-
gies that are safe, easily imple-
mented and have been proven
effective in reducing the risk of
breast cancer. Among the most
powerful anti-cancer foods are
fl ax and chia seeds, which are a
rich source of lignans. Lignans
have anti-estrogenic effects that
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
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inhibit cell growth in breast tu-
mors.
Let’s take an in-depth look at
lignans and why they are so ef-
fective in combating breast can-
cer: Plant lignans are one of the
four classes of phytoestrogens
(isofl avones, lignans, stilbenes,
coumestans). Phytoestrogens
are a group of chemicals found
in plants that can act like the
hormone estrogen. In particu-
lar, lignans are structurally simi-
lar to the main mammalian es-
trogen, estradiol. Plant lignans
are modifi ed by bacteria in the
human digestive tract into en-
teroligans.
Enterolignans are structurally
similar to estrogen and can bind
to estrogen receptors. This ca-
pability allows lignans to either
have weak estrogenic activity or
block the actions of estrogen in
the body. For this reason, plant
lignans are classifi ed as phy-
toestrogens, and there has been
much interest in the potential
contribution of lignan-rich foods
to reduced risk of hormone-re-
lated cancers.
It is important to recognize
the role of healthy bacteria in
this process, because antibiotics
can destroy benefi cial bacteria
in the gut, resulting in long-term
reduction in enteroligans. Eating
commercial meats expose us to
antibiotics, as does the overuse
and inappropriate prescribing of
these drugs by physicians.
Flaxseeds are the richest
source of plant lignans, hav-
ing about three times the lignan
content of chia seeds and eight
times the lignan content of sesa-
me seeds. It is important to note
that fl axseed oil does not contain
lignans, because they bind to the
fi ber. The other plant foods on
the list have about one-tenth or
less the amount of lignans as
sesame seeds per serving.
Flaxseeds (85.5 mg/ounce)
Chia seeds (32 mg/ounce)
Sesame seeds (11.2 mg/ounce)
Kale (curly; 1.6 mg/cup)
Broccoli (1.2 mg/cup)
Enterolignans inhibits aro-
matase7 and estradiol produc-
tion in general, lowering serum
estrogen levels. Plant lignans
also increase concentration of
sex hormone binding globulin,
which blunts the effects of es-
trogens. These benefi ts were
documented when 48 post-
menopausal women consumed
7.5 g/day of ground fl ax seeds
for six weeks, then 15 g for six
weeks — and signifi cant de-
creases in estradiol, estrone, and
testosterone were noted, with a
bigger decrease in overweight
and obese women.
In a mouse model, a fl axseed
diet (fi ve percent, 10 percent)
shows dose-dependent inhibi-
tion of breast tumor growth. Hu-
man trials also confi rmed similar
benefi cial effects. A double-
blinded, randomized controlled
trial of dietary fl axseed demon-
strated dramatic protection.
Women ate either a control
muffi n with no fl ax seeds im-
bedded, or a 25 g fl ax-contain-
ing muffi n, starting at time of
diagnosis of breast cancer for
just 32-39 days until surgery.
Tumor tissue analyzed at di-
agnosis and then at the time of
surgery demonstrated surprising
benefi ts even in this short time
frame. There was a signifi cant
apoptosis (tumor cell death) and
reduced cell proliferation in the
fl axseed group in just the one
month.
Likewise, women eating more
fl axseeds with a documented
higher serum enterolactone
were found to have a 42 percent
reduced risk of death from post-
menopausal breast cancer and a
dramatic 40 percent reduction in
all causes of death.
Flaxseeds are clearly super
foods; even with a mediocre
diet they offer powerful protec-
tion against breast cancer. An-
other interesting study on fl ax
followed women for up to 10
years and found a 51 percent re-
duced risk of all-cause mortality
and a 71 percent reduced risk of
breast cancer mortality. In addi-
tion, intake of dried beans was
associated with a 39 reduced
risk of all-cause mortality. En-
dometrial and ovarian cancer
have not been as extensively
studied, but the few studies that
have been conducted suggest a
protective effect.
Bottom line: don’t forget to
take your ground fl ax seeds (or
chia seeds) every day. When
used in conjunction with dietary
exposure to greens, onions,
mushrooms and beans, dramatic
reductions in the risk of breast
cancer are possible.
Dr. Fuhrman is a #1 New York
Times best-selling author and a
board certifi ed family physician
specializing in lifestyle and nu-
tritional medicine. The Eat To
Live Cookbook offers over 200
unique disease-fi ghting deli-
cious recipes and his newest
book, The End of Heart Disease,
offers a detailed plan to prevent
and reverse heart disease using
a nutrient-dense, plant-rich eat-
ing style. Visit his informative
website at DrFuhrman.com.
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