Nutritional Microscopy – Part 1 Course

COURSE CURRICULUM

The Nutritional Microscopy – Part 1 course takes the student through the fascinating world of Live Blood Analysis using a darkfield microscope, learning how to identify and interpret the different morphologies seen.

NUTRITIONAL MICROSCOPY – PART 1 COURSE

The Nutritional Microscopy – Part 1 Course is a compulsory course for all Doctor of Naturopathy and Holistic Medicine degree students.

The Nutritional Microscopy – Part 1 course contains 8 lessons, as follows:

Lesson 1 – Introduction to Nutritional Microscopy or Live Blood Analysis

This lesson discusses some of the advantages and disadvantages of darkfield microscopy, as well as some of the basic functions of magnification and resolution. It also introduces some of the concepts of ‘Visual Medicine’ and what can be seen and interpreted in this fascinating world of darkfield microscopy.

Lesson 2 – The Compound Microscope

This lesson covers the ‘Anatomy and Physiology’ of your microscope, including the different parts, the physics of light and colour, the objectives, a brief history of microscopy from the 16th to the 21st century, ‘how does it work,’ oculars and eyepieces, magnification and how this works, lenses and geometric optics, tube length and magnification, illumination, Darkfield Microscopy – the workings of the condensers, low and high magnification, setup and troubleshooting, oil immersion procedures, cleaning, care and maintenance, fundamentals of video imaging and photomicrography. The lesson is interspersed with many Interactive Java Tutorials as well as videos and other references.

Lesson 3 – Blood Work: Taking Samples Correctly

Taking the blood sample correctly is crucially important as this can reflect on the accuracy of the interpretation – it is possible to damage the RBCs and WBCs during collection. There are basic materials and guidelines in this lesson to guide the student into standardizing their blood taking for both live and dry blood analyses – this is crucial for their own safety as well as for optimizing the interpretation of the blood picture.

Lesson 4 – Louis Pasteur Vs Antoine Béchamp and The Germ Theory of Disease Causation

Traditional Western medicine teaches and practices the doctrines of French chemist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895). Pasteur’s main theory is known as the Germ Theory of Disease. It claims that fixed species of microbes from an external source invade the body and are the first cause of infectious disease. The concept of specific, unchanging types of bacteria causing specific diseases became officially accepted as the foundation of allopathic Western medicine and microbiology in late 19th-century Europe. Also called monomorphism (one form), it was adopted by America’s medical/industrial complex, which began to take shape near the turn of the century. These issues are discussed in detail with the work of Royal Raymond Rife, Biological Terrain Analysis, Virology, Immunology and Fungi and Moulds all placed in a historical context.

Lesson 5 – The Father of Darkfield Microscopy: Prof. Enderlein

This is an important lesson as it lays down the groundwork for Prof. Enderlein’s initial work at the beginning of the century. There are a number of links to original papers by Prof. Enderlein himself, published in his book entitled “Bacteria Cyclogeny” – it is advisable to take the time to study this material even though it appears to be ‘heavy going’ at first. You may need to read the material two and three times over to really get a grasp on it – this is quite the norm for the majority of students so do not think that you are not bright enough to understand it, as it is really a different ‘language’ that requires time to understand and assimilate. The lesson includes a lot of original reading material from Prof. Enderlein himself, as well as videos of interest to watch.

Lesson 6 – Identifying the Basic Blood Forms in Live Blood

This lesson will take us through the components of blood – given that this is the medium that you will be working with under the darkfield microscope. The basic blood compositions are examined in detail such as plasma, plasma proteins and their functions, platelets and their functions, red blood cells and white blood cells and their functions, and blood groups. There are also many Interactive Java Tutorials that look at RBC animations, and the circulatory system as well as many downloadable .pdf files consisting of over 250 pages of text.

Lesson 7 – The Oxidative Stress Test (Dry Blood Analysis)

This lesson will examine in detail Dry Blood Analysis which is also referred to as the Oxidative Stress Test (OST). In the 1920s European medical practitioners added another twist to unconventional microscopy when they began looking at dried blood samples, later called the Oxidative Stress Test. A glass microscope slide is dabbed onto a bead of blood on the finger in sequence several times, resulting in a slide with 8 individual drops of blood pressed upon the slide and allowed to air dry.

The resulting patterns seen in the dry blood under the bright field format reveal a characteristic “footprint” which can be seen in similar cases and, thus, are predictive of certain generalised pathologies. For instance, cases of advanced degenerative disease show very poor clotting, and minimal fibrin formation with many white “puddles” disseminated throughout the sample. A healthy control subject’s blood shows a tight, fibrin-rich clotting pattern with no white puddles.

Lesson 8 – Holographic Blood