Most of us don’t mind getting some gray around the temples as we age. I know I’ve been seeing a bit more of it in the mirror over the years.

But I just had to tell you about a recent study into why we go gray, because it’s a perfect example of how medicine today is focused on treating the symptoms – and not the root causes – of health issues.

The study, published in the online journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, found that gray hair is caused by too much hydrogen peroxide.

In essence, we’re bleaching our hair from the inside.

You see, we produce hydrogen peroxide naturally, but then our bodies break it down. As we age, we keep making all that hydrogen peroxide – but we start to lose the ability to break it down. So it builds up in our hair, bleaching it.

I believe every word of this – but here’s the problem. The researchers concluded that in order to battle gray hair, we need to find ways to block the production and storage of hydrogen peroxide in our bodies.

If that sounds like the wrong approach to you, well, it is. Hydrogen peroxide and resulting gray hair are symptoms, not causes. Our bodies develop these symptoms when they’re trying to tell us that something is not quite right.

As a doctor, I’d be much more interested in finding out why a patient can’t break down hydrogen peroxide any more. There may be a hormonal or nutritional deficiency, for example, that could cause problems far beyond gray hair. That’s what needs to be corrected.

But, instead, medicine today is completely focused on controlling symptoms. That’s why, when you’re diagnosed with arthritis, you just get a painkiller. Forget what’s causing your painful condition – just treat the symptom. The same holds true for most modern illnesses.

And, really, this is why many people who visit doctors never get well. Medicine today is focused on symptom control and not true healing. I broke away from that approach several years ago, and my Montana clinic is completely focused on correcting the underlying causes of illness.

Now many of my patients still have gray hair – but at least I know I’m not causing it.

We’ve all seen about a million television shows or movies where it seems like the villain is about to get caught, and then he somehow makes a daring escape.

I’m often reminded of that frustrating plotline when I read medical research. Sometimes the researchers are so close to understanding a fundamental truth… to uncovering the real culprit behind a disease… that it breaks my heart when they don’t.

Case in point, researchers from the West Virginia School of Medicine recently took a group of kids with allergies and asthma and moved them from an Italian city to the countryside for a week of camp.

After just one week in the countryside, they all improved. They were able to breathe easier, and their lungs functioned better in clear and measurable ways, according to the results published in the March issue of Pediatrics.

Unfortunately, the researchers were achingly close to making a conclusion that would have helped an awful lot of asthmatics… but they didn’t. Instead, they concluded that we need to improve air quality in cities and reduce pollution so that our children can breathe better.

That’s an admirable goal – but for all the folks suffering from asthma right now, it’s not going to be of much use.

The real message of this study should be that asthma is an autoimmune disorder, triggered by allergens. So if you live in a city and have asthma, there may be some allergens in the air (or just in your home, for that matter) that are helping cause it. Get yourself away from those allergens, and you could start to feel better.

Now, as a longtime resident of Montana, I have to say I’m a little biased towards fresh air and open skies. But we have folks here who suffer from asthma and other illnesses because they’re allergic to ragweed pollen. Or all the timothy grass you’ll often find on the vast ranches and prairies. Or the majestic elms that dot our great state.

See, battling asthma isn’t about urban areas versus rural ones – it has more to do with identifying the specific allergens in your life, and removing them. In this case, rather than remove the allergen, they removed the people. That can work, too, as long as the allergen is not present in your new location – but it’s not really a practical solution for most people.

So for the rest of us, we need more accurate and thorough testing for our allergies, so that we can better understand what is triggering our symptoms. Then, rather then moving away, see if you can remove those allergens.

Much like the kids in this study, I think you’ll see improvements, and relatively quickly. Our bodies have an amazing capacity to heal themselves when given the chance, and you don’t need a vacation in the Italian countryside to enjoy that everyday miracle.

You may have noticed by now that I’m always suspicious of studies that “prove” the only solution to a health problem comes on a prescription pad.

Take this new survey out of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, which concluded that patients suffering from high blood pressure get better results from drugs alone than from drugs and lifestyle changes combined.

Since this flies in the face of all clinical evidence, the researchers concluded that people in the “real world” must be making lifestyle changes differently than people being studied in a clinical setting.

I can buy that… I truly can. And the next step should be to find out how to duplicate the clinical success of lifestyle changes in the real world.

But, of course, the researchers went in a different direction – and you’ll have no trouble believing the direction they chose. They outrageously concluded that drugs are the only real and certain solution for lowering blood pressure.

All I can say is, try telling that to my patients. I cure high blood pressure all the time, and I’m not relying on dangerous prescription drugs to do it. In fact, many of my patients come to me after they have unsuccessfully tried prescription drugs for years.

You see, high blood pressure is often the result of an imbalance of epinephrine and norepinephrine, which are produced by your adrenal glands. This imbalance can be caused by a simple nutritional deficiency. Fix the deficiency, and you can fix the high blood pressure.

That may seem overly simple, but I’ve seen it work time and again. In fact, I’ll be sharing the nutrient regimen I recommend to my patients with high blood pressure in the May issue of Health Revelations. Click here to sign up for Health Revelations today! 

I’ve also seen patients experience remarkable results from lifestyle changes, like altering their diets, exercising more and managing stress.

You’ve got to realize that developing hypertension is not like catching a cold. You don’t go to bed one night perfectly healthy and wake up the next morning suffering from consistently high blood pressure. It’s something that develops over time. Lifestyle modifications can take you at least part of the way back, but how far – and how long it’ll take – will depend in part on the severity of your high blood pressure and what’s causing it.

But don’t believe for a second that lifestyle changes can’t help. I have too many patients who are living proof that they can make a big difference. And, unlike prescription drugs, the only side effect of lifestyle changes is overall better health.

One of the things I’ve always believed in very strongly is empowering people to make their own choices about their health. This is not as simple as offering a patient a choice of drugs, but giving them the information they need to choose between drugs and an alternative.

I’ve found that people are quite capable of deciding on their own when they have enough information. That old saying “knowledge is power” is true.

The problem right now is with many of those TV ads we’re always being forced to watch… the ones where Hollywood doctors or silky narrators sell America on drugs they claim will cure everything from chronic heartburn to restless legs.

Now, if you’re like me you can’t help but laugh at some of these ads, especially that quick list of possible side effects the FDA forces them to tell you about.

Once the chuckles stop, however, you might find yourself wondering if maybe you have, say, a restless leg. Was that just a common muscle twitch, or do you need medication? Better ask your doctor.

And that’s where they get you.

See, studies show that once you ask your doctor about a drug, you’re likely to get that prescription. And next thing you know, you’re on the Big Pharma train to nowhere. All because you were misinformed by some slick ad.

So what’s the solution? Well, a new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that when ads were required to include fact boxes comparing the drug to a rival, patients made better choices.

But this study didn’t quite go far enough. It provided fact boxes that allowed patients to choose between two drugs. Imagine how much better it would be if those fact boxes provided a non-drug alternative? Some of these FDA-approved prescription drugs have proven to be barely better than placebo, and less effective than natural cures or lifestyle changes.

Wouldn’t that be worth knowing?

Personally, I’d love the irony of it. Big Pharma would have to pay for their ads to include information that they’re usually trying to hide.

I’m guessing we might start seeing less of these “wonder drug” ads. And that would be just fine with me.