Beware the salty salad! (McDonald's)

McDonald's salads 'are saltier than a Big Mac' - Telegraph

Extract:

"Some McDonald's salads contain nearly a third more salt than a Big Mac burger and fries, new research shows.

A survey of 156 ready-made salads and pasta bowls from coffee shops and fast-food restaurants found that while the overall average of salt levels was healthy - 1.4g - nearly a fifth (19 per cent) had more than the 2g recommended for a meal.

The saltiest salad in the survey by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) - the Thai noodle bowl from EAT - had 4.4g of salt per portion, nearly three quarters of the total recommended daily salt intake of 6g.

Cash said some salads should carry health warnings rather than manufacturers marketing them as healthy meals.

The research found the McDonald's crispy chicken Caesar and grilled chicken Caesar contained 3.5g and 3.3g of salt per portion respectively - more than the supposedly less healthy Big Mac and small fries, which contains 2.5g of salt.

Graham McGregor, a professor of cardiovascular medicine and chairman of Cash, said cutting salt intakes would save thousands of lives.

He added: "Many people think of a salad as a healthy lunch. And in many cases this is true and we would encourage people to look out for low salt, low fat salads as a good lunchtime option."

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

The National Health Service pay deal was rushed, went over budget and has produced little benefit for patients

King's Fund: NHS pay deal failed to deliver for patients and staff - Independent

Extract:

"The overhaul of National Health Service pay was rushed, went over budget and has produced little benefit for patients, the Government will be told today.

Under the new system, more than one million NHS employees - including nurses, midwives, porters and most managers - were put into one of nine salary bands in an attempt to harmonise pay across the country.

But the King's Fund, an independent health think-tank, has delivered a damning verdict on the pay structure, which was finally introduced after five years of negotiations with unions.

It concluded that transferring staff to the Agenda for Change system became "an end in itself" for some NHS trust managers rather than a way to deliver benefits such as treating patients more quickly.

The fund found nurses were unhappy with the pay structure and it warned that the costs of the new system, which exceeded its budget by £220m, were more obvious than the benefits."


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Discovery of two genes that increase the risk of multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis genes uncovered - Telegraph

Extract:

"The discovery of two genes that increase the risk of multiple sclerosis has brought scientists closer to understanding the cause of the disease and could lead to the development of new treatments.

Two international teams of scientists have found that possessing defective variants of one of two genes increased the risk of MS by 20 to 30 per cent.

Dr Lee Dunster, head of research at the MS Society, said: "One of the great unknowns about MS is what causes it, and this looks like a welcome breakthrough in getting to grips with the genetics behind the disease.

"People with MS often worry whether it will affect their children, so a better understanding of the role of certain genes is good news."

MS can cause muscle weakness, vision loss and coordination problems, and is the most common disabling neurological disorder in young adults. It affects around 85,000 people in the UK.

The illness occurs when the body's immune system mistakenly attacks myelin - the protective sheath that surrounds nerve fibres."


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

NHS beds crisis is resulting in great suffering.

See Whistleblower: Surgeon breaks cover over NHS beds crisis - Independent on Sunday

Soaring rate of childhood obesity will continue relentlessly because the 'expert' advice is catastrophically WRONG.

Half of all boys will be obese, warns leaked report - Observer

Extract:

"The government's pledge to halt the soaring rate of childhood obesity within three years in fact cannot be achieved until 2050, warns a damning report commissioned by ministers to help them tackle the problem.

The number of six- to 10-year-olds who become obese will keep rising relentlessly until the late 2040s, with as many as half of all primary school-age boys and one in five girls dangerously overweight by 2050, according to the document.

Health campaigners last night said the dramatic findings showed that Britain is facing an unprecedented public health crisis. 'They are frightening preliminary findings and the implications for both the NHS's budget and, more importantly, for children's health are really disturbing,' said Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrats' shadow health secretary. 'I'm not entirely surprised by the direction of the trend but I'm shocked by the scale of it, which is horrifying.'

The confidential document was commissioned by the former Department of Trade and Industry. The paper predicts that both adult and childhood obesity in England will continue rising unless there are dramatic changes in official policy and people's lifestyles. It foresees big increases in heart problems, strokes and diabetes if current upward trends in obesity are not reversed. Few experts expect that to happen.

The 74-page draft document, dated 22 June 2007, also estimates the NHS will have to spend billions more pounds every year on treating patients with obesity-related illnesses. 'A target on childhood obesity was introduced to halt the year-on-year rise in obesity among children aged under 11 by 2010 in the context of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole. As yet there is almost no evidence that the rise in obesity levels is changing.'

And the report goes on to say: 'There is evidence that among children aged six to 10 years, males will be more obese than females, with an estimate of 50 per cent being obese by 2050, compared with 20 per cent of female children. Among children aged 11 to 15, the prediction is different: 23 per cent for males and 37 per cent for females.'

I find it somewhat ironic that it was the former Department of Trade and Industry that commissioned this report, because I wrote to the Department of Trade and Industry over two years ago, explaining that obesity is caused not by overeating, but by salt sensitivity, often caused by prescription drugs, and that reduction in salt intake, rather than dieting, is the way to reduce obesity. I wrote several letters to them, including to Sir David King and to Dr Chris McFee. I informed them about the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7423/1085 which reports actual research on what happens when the standard medical advice is followed! - Over 800 obese adults were put on energy deficit diets, given diet sheets and loads of instruction and help from trained staff, and apparently, visited fortnightly for a year, at the end of which they had GAINED weight. - Clearly my information was not acted upon, inasmuch as the harmful and counterproductive dieting advice continues to be given to the overweight and obese victims of the government's and the medical profession's misinformation, and parents of overweight children will no doubt continue to be blamed for their children's weight problems, when it is actually the 'expert' advice that is to blame for this catastrophic incidence of obesity and its attendant ill-health. Doctors are giving the wrong advice.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

NHS managers blocked 75pc of GP referrals - Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Three quarters of GPs who referred patients to hospital have had their decisions blocked, a poll for The Sunday Telegraph reveals.

Family doctors say that new "referral management" systems, set up to allow primary care trusts (PCTs) to overrule decisions taken in the surgery, are being used to delay and cancel hospital care, and to divert patients referred to a hospital consultant to cheaper clinics in the community.

Other schemes run by PCTs have offered GPs payments if they reduce the number of patients sent to hospital.

Of 750 doctors polled across Britain, 75 per cent said they had referred patients to hospital only to have their decision overruled, with 40 per cent saying that it happened regularly. Dr Laurence Buckman, the chairman of the British Medical Association's GP committee, himself a London family doctor, said such schemes were a short-sighted attempt to save money by delaying hospital care."

Huge amounts of money would be saved, and health improved, if the correct advice were to be given about how overweight or obese people can lose weight. - See below:


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

All men over 50 'should be offered heart pills' is the foolish opinion of the Government's heart tsar!

All men over 50 'should be offered heart pills' - Independent

Extract:

"Every man over 50 should be offered a pill to cut their risk of a heart attack, according to the Government's heart tsar.

Mass medication of the population would be the best way of cutting Britain's high rate of deaths due to cardiovascular disease, which claims more than 200,000 lives a year, said Roger Boyle, the National Director for Heart Disease.

But he acknowledged that the public was not yet ready to accept such an approach which would turn millions of "healthy" people into patients and draw accusations of a nanny state.

He called for a public debate on the pros and cons of "medicalising" the population by treating millions more people with statins - drugs to reduce cholesterol which are already saving thousands of lives. For women, whose risk is lower, treatment would be offered at the age of 60, he suggested.

Statins have been described as wonder drugs because they can reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke by a third, if the dose used is high enough, and have few side-effects. Three million patients are taking statins in England, which are preventing an estimated 10,000 deaths a year at an annual cost of £550m.

The number is set to double to six million patients under new guidance lowering the threshold for treatment published by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) in June.

Dr Boyle, who takes a statin himself - "the cheapest available" - said that since the mid- 1990s, when Britain was the heart disease capital of the world, the death rate had fallen by 36 per cent, thanks in part to the increased use of statins.

"It is not perfect yet but we have seen substantial improvement," he said. "We now need to move on. Despite the reduction in the death rate, cardiovascular disease is still the main cause of death, more than for all cancers combined. We have still got a huge task. We may no longer be the cardiovascular disease capital of the world but in a nation such as ours we ought to be achieving optimal results.""

Dr James LeFanu's articles (click on tab below this post) on the adverse side-effects of statins have made clear that they are at best a very mixed blessing, and at worst no blessing at all.

Cholesterol levels can be safely lowered at no cost and without drugs by lowering intake of salt and salty food. This would also, independently, lower high blood pressure and obesity, lower the risk of developing late onset diabetes, stroke and heart disease/attack and many other degenerative conditions including most cancers.

It's what you could call 'a no-brainer'...(o:

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Contamination problems in canned foods and in pharmaceutical drugs...

New Scientist Short Sharp Science Blog: Total Recall - New Scientist

Extracts:

"If we can send people to the Moon, why can't we make canned chilli that's safe to eat? That's the question that's on my mind today as I read about the recall of various types of canned chilli, beef stew and other meat products from the Castleberry Food Co. company, which is based in Augusta, Georgia, US. Inspection officials reportedly said on Thursday that the dangerous botulism toxin found in cans of the chilli sauce might have resulted from an equipment malfunction.

Great. So now, on top of spinach, peanut butter, olives and tomatoes, here's another food I'll eat with trepidation, at least in the short term. It certainly doesn't help that the US Food and Drug Administration is overwhelmed and has recently scaled back the number of food inspectors it employs."

"Roche Pharmaceuticals announced this past June that some batches of an AIDS drug called Viracept produced at its Swiss plant contained a dangerous chemical. The company reportedly says that the recall affects 45,000 patients worldwide. The New York Times describes how poor people in developing countries face a horrible dilemma: "The recall has left those patients with the painful choice of discontinuing a lifesaving medicine, or using a drug that might contain a dangerous contaminant.""

With regard to the dilemma caused by possibly contaminated pharmaceutical drugs. the best course surely is to transfer our trust from Big Pharma to good nutrition.

Reducing salt in food to an absolute minimum, and eliminating unnatural chemicals that would never normally be present in food and drink, would be a boost to good health and the body immune system.

IMO, Big Pharma's products do far more harm than good and are really of benefit only to the shareholders.

A bowl of tomato soup every day can help boost fertility among men, scientists claim

Bowl of tomato soup a day 'boosts fertility' - Telegraph

Extract:

"A bowl of tomato soup every day can help boost fertility among men, scientists claimed yesterday.

They have discovered that lycopene, which gives tomatoes their bright red colouring, can turn sperm into super-sperm.

Researchers at the University of Portsmouth studied the effect of lycopene in the diet on a random group of six healthy men, with an average age of 42. The men were asked to consume a 400g tin of Heinz cream of tomato soup every day for two weeks.

The researchers, from the university's biomedical science department, said that during the two weeks, levels of lycopene in the men's semen rose between seven and 12 per cent, which was "significant".

They added that further studies should be carried out to discover whether the same boost would be seen in infertile men.

The results, published in the British Journal of Urology, said that infertile men have lower levels of lycopene in their sperm. The study suggests that higher levels of lycopene are associated with increased fertility."

Women whose fertility is low because of being overweight, can easily and safely lose weight by cutting down on salt (sodium) and salty food and therefore boost their fertility and improve their health at the same time.

I must say Heinz cream of tomato soup is absolutely delicious. - I'd love to eat it myself, but as it contains salt I have to avoid it because I am a steroid victim and therefore extremely sensitive to salt.



Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

A bit more re. the UK's recent floods.

This is the National Flood Forum: http://www.floodforum.org.uk/

and here is the Red Cross National Floods Appeal: http://www.redcross.org.uk/standard.asp?id=71823&cachefixer=

and this is a site about making a flood insurance claim: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/6915827.stm

I listened to Mark Lawson talking to Margaret Atwood earlier this evening on BBC Radio 4's arts programme, Front Row.

I really like to hear the ubiquitous and extremely well read Mark Lawson on the radio. And it was especially interesting tonight because I admire Margaret Atwood's novels so much. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frontrow/past_programmes.shtml

She has a surprisingly monotonous and unattractive speaking voice, but the sparkle of her vocabulary and the originality and intelligence of her ideas more than make up for the unmusical sound, and she also leavens it with little witticisms and infectious chuckles.

I was pleased to learn that she is nearing the end of another of her books, though she gave no clues about its content.

And I was very gratified to hear that she does not regard the present as a post-feminist era. - Not by any manner of means! - The thoughtful author of "The Handmaid's Tale" knows only too well how women are held back and discriminated against still, and that it is only in certain pockets and in certain occupations that women have achieved what might be called equality of treatment with men.

Her first stage play, The Penelopiad, opens at The Swan Theatre in Stratford on Thursday 2nd August 2007.

She is, apparently, being spoken of as a likely winner of the Nobel Prize. - I think she would be a popular choice.

Amazing, isn't it? that GSK has reported better-than-expected first half results, when its drugs cause so much harm to the patients who take them...)o

Glaxo triumphs despite drug scares - Guardian


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

The latest diet advice: don't hang around with fat people. - What nonsense!

The latest diet advice: don't hang around with fat people - Independent.

Extract:

"Nicholas Christakis, professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the study, said: "What appears to be happening is that a person becoming obese most likely causes a change of norms about what counts as an appropriate body size.

"People come to think that it is OK to be bigger since those around them are bigger, and this sensibility spreads."

James Fowler, an expert in social networks at the University of California and a co-author, said: "This is about people's ideas about their bodies and their health. Consciously or unconsciously, people look to others when they are deciding how much to eat, how much to exercise and how much weight is too much."

"Social effects are much stronger than people realise. There has been intensive effort to find genes responsible for obesity and physical processes responsible, but what our paper suggests is that you really should spend time looking at the social side as well.""

This 'research' is nonsense!

Obesity is not caused by overeating; it is caused by fluid retention. It is easily and rapidly lessened by reducing sodium intake. Calorie counting and advice about increasing exercise and reducing fat intake to reduce obesity are ineffective, counter-productive and often damaging. - See the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 for actual research on what happens when this advice is followed! - Over 800 obese adults were put on energy deficit diets, given diet sheets and plenty of instruction and help from trained staff, and apparently, visited fortnightly for a year, at the end of which they had GAINED weight! This mirrors the real experience of obese people, viz. - dieting makes you fat.

It is commonly accepted now, except by the 'experts', that less than 5% of dieters actually lose weight, and most gain weight as a result of dieting. - Even the ones who manage to lose weight do not usually improve their health. - See report in The Guardian of Monday, June 27th 2005. It is about a huge research study of nearly 3000 people over a period of 18 years. The study found that overweight people who diet to reach a healthier weight are more likely to die young than those who remain fat. It also found that dieting causes physiological damage that in the long term can outweigh the benefits of the weight loss.

Contributing to the increase in obesity we have the widespread prescribing of steroids like prednisolone and prednisone, HRT, tricyclic antidepressants like amitriptyline, and other drugs which cause fluid retention and therefore weight gain, and the failure of doctors to adhere to the protocols connected with the prescribing and monitoring of steroids. But pre-eminent, in my opinion, is the catastrophically damaging calorie-reduction advice that continues to be given despite such a wealth of evidence that it is bad advice.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

You can read about some of the many Conditions that are often linked to salt sensitivity and fluid retention here.

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

Conditions linked to salt sensitivity and fluid retention can often be prevented or made less severe, or their progress slowed down, by eating less salt. They include type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure/hypertension, stroke, dementia, most cancers, obesity, tiredness, depression, thin, fragile skin, swollen veins, proliferating veins, hair loss, breast tenderness, red face, aching feet, painful hands, arthritis, constipation, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, rosacea amd many, many more.

Lose weight safely and improve your health in general by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

Are you vulnerable/sensitive to salt? - Check here.

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/vulnerable_groups.html

You are also likely to be sensitive to salt if you are dieting or if you ever have dieted.


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

If your child is overweight, it's best if you give them meals that are low in salt. - There is no need for them to go on a diet.

Children would be better not eating salted nuts and salted crisps, and not eating Marmite sandwiches, because Marmite contains a lot of salt. Salt is usually more harmful to children than it is to adults. Salt can cause fluid retention and that means unhealthy weight gain.

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html

You can also lower your risk of heart attack and stroke, as well as lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

Have you ever looked at the ingredients list of drinks like Capri Sun?

High Fructose Corn Syrup is one of the ingredients. - It looks distinctly iffy to me...)o:

See http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/cornsyrup.html

You can also lower your risk of heart attack and stroke, as well as lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

Diabetes drugs, Avandia (rosiglitazone) and Actos (pioglitazone), are causing widespread heart failure.

Scientists link diabetes drugs to heart failure - Guardian

Extract:

"Two of the most commonly used drugs for diabetes, which were taken by hundreds of thousands of mostly overweight people in the UK last year, are causing widespread heart failure, scientists warn today.

Use of the drugs, prescribed by doctors for type II diabetes, has doubled in the past three years as a consequence of a growing obesity problem. Last year 1.8m prescriptions were written across the UK, which scientists say equates to several hundred thousand patients taking the drugs which are recommended for use across the NHS by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).

But researchers today call on Nice to think again, revealing that as many as one in every 50 patients taking the drugs Avandia (rosiglitazone) and Actos (pioglitazone) over a period of 26 months will have to be hospitalised for heart failure.

The class of drugs, they say in the journal Diabetes Care, doubles the risk of heart failure, and even those with no history of heart problems are affected.

"This means that the diabetes drugs could have caused thousands of additional cases of heart failure, creating a substantial burden on hard-pressed NHS services," said Dr Yoon Loke, a clinical pharmacologist at the University of East Anglia who carried out the research with Wake Forest University in the US. "I think Nice should re-evaluate their decision to recommend these diabetes drugs."

Concerns about the safety of the drug were triggered in May when a leading US cardiologist published evidence of a link to heart attacks and death. The manufacturers strongly contested his study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

But today's evidence will add urgency to a special meeting of the US regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which was already scheduled for Monday to discuss the safety of the drugs which are taken by 7 million people in the US.

Global sales of Avandia, made by the British company GlaxoSmithKline, have dropped by 22% in the US since the heart attack data was published in May, but are still worth £349m.
However, in Europe sales have continued to grow by 20% to £63m. Avandia is the company's second best-selling drug."

Most prescription drugs are harmful so only take them if it is really necessary, and always check what side-effects are listed for them. - But bear in mind that not all side-effects are listed...)o:

There is no need at all for overweight people ever to take 'slimming' drugs and dieting is ALWAYS harmful. - Obesity is caused by fluid retention not by overeating, and fluid retention can easily be reduced by eating less salt/sodium, so avoid eating salt and food containing salt.

You can lower your risk of heart attack and stroke, as well as many other illnesses, and lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

Air pollution increases risk of heart attack and stroke. So does eating salt and salty food.

Pollution 'increases heart attack risk' - Telegraph

Extract:

"Exposure to air pollution multiplies the increased risk of heart attacks and strokes caused by high cholesterol, scientists say.

Researchers have identified how tiny particles in exhaust fumes combine with low density lipoprotein (LDL) fats - so-called "bad" cholesterol - to cause blocked arteries.

The findings suggest that those who have been told they are at greater risk of heart attacks and strokes should try to avoid living in polluted areas.

Dr André Nel, a medical expert at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and lead author of the study, said: "When you add one plus one, it normally totals two, but we found that adding diesel particles to cholesterol fats equals three.

"Their combination creates a dangerous synergy that wreaks cardiovascular havoc far beyond what's caused by the diesel or cholesterol alone."

Chemicals that coat particles can trigger the inflammation of blood vessels, which encourages the build-up of cholesterol deposits.

This process increases the risk of blood clots that trigger heart attacks and strokes."


You can also lower your risk of heart attack and stroke, as well as lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

The National Patient Safety Agency reports that many hospital fatalities are avoidable.

Hundreds of hospital fatalities 'avoidable' - Telegraph

Extract:

"One third of deaths in hospital investigated by a patient safety watchdog could have been avoided, claims a report released today.

The National Patient Safety Agency looked into 1,804 fatal hospital incidents reported to it in 2005. It found that 576 were "potentially avoidable" if there had been better communication between staff, faster recognition of the patient's deteriorating state, improved training and more accurate interpretation of test results.

Some 425 of the deaths investigated by the NPSA in 2005 were in acute or general hospitals. Of these, 71 were reported to be related to diagnostic errors, in 64 cases the patient's deteriorating condition was not recognised or not acted upon, and 43 involved a problem with resuscitation after cardiac arrest.

The remainder were connected to medication errors, suicide or still-birth."

Many thousands of deaths both in and out of hospital are avoidable - and the suffering that precedes them. - If only the public were to be told the truth about obesity and if only the medical profession would stop giving the dangerous, futile, counterproductive advice that to lose excess weight it is necessary to eat less/to eat fewer calories/to cut down on fat/carbohydrates, etc! - Obesity is caused by fluid retention, not by overeating.

Obesity is not caused by overeating. It is caused by the conjunction of salt sensitivity and sodium intake, which leads to fluid retention.

It is over 50 years since steroids were first prescribed and it is beyond belief that most doctors are still unaware in practice of their potential for causing sodium and water retention and morbid obesity and the many other serious health problems attendant on these...

Calorie counting and advice about increasing exercise and reducing fat and carbohydrate intake to reduce obesity are ineffective, counter-productive and often damaging. - See the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 BMJ article for actual research on what happens when this advice is followed! - Over 800 obese adults were put on energy deficit diets, given diet sheets and plenty of instruction and help from trained staff, and apparently, visited fortnightly for a year, at the end of which they had GAINED weight! This mirrors the real experience of obese people, viz. - dieting makes you fat.

It is commonly accepted now, except by the 'experts', that less than 5% of dieters actually lose weight, and most gain weight as a result of dieting. - Even the ones who manage to lose weight do not usually improve their health. - See Overweight who diet risk dying earlier, says study for a report in The Guardian of Monday, June 27th 2005. It is about a huge research study of nearly 3000 people over a period of 18 years. The study found that overweight people who diet to reach a healthier weight are more likely to die young than those who remain fat. It also found that dieting causes physiological damage that in the long term can outweigh the benefits of the weight loss.

Contributing to the increase in obesity we have the widespread prescribing of steroids and HRT and other drugs which cause weight gain, and the failure of doctors to adhere to the protocols connected with the prescribing and monitoring of steroids. But pre-eminent, in my opinion, is the catastrophically damaging calorie-reduction advice that continues to be given despite such a wealth of evidence that it is bad advice.

Another possible factor is the increase in the amount of oestrogen in the water table.

Salt produces weight gain only in vulnerable people, i.e.

1. People whose veins are weak because of immaturity (babies, children),

2. People whose veins are relaxed or weak because of steroids, HRT, amitriptyline or certain other prescribed drugs, too readily prescribed, often in very high dose.

3. People whose natural hormone levels are altered (e.g. pregnant women).

4. 'Slimmers' - People whose blood vessel walls have been weakened by 'slimming' - i.e. eating insufficient food.


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

advice for pregnant mothers

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

Smokers to get drug before cancer patients do

Smokers get drug before cancer patients - Telegraph

Extract:

"A controversial drug to help smokers quit has been approved for use on the NHS at the same time as cancer sufferers and others have been denied potentially life-saving medication, it was disclosed yesterday.

Champix helps four times as many people stop smoking as those who take nothing and will be given free on the NHS.

The announcement was greeted with dismay as some patients are campaigning for access to cancer drugs, Alzheimer's medication and a treatment to prevent blindness.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) argues that helping people to quit smoking will save the NHS money in the long run because fewer will develop smoking-related diseases.

Champix, also known as varenicline, costs £163.80 for a 12-week course. Nice calculated that Champix would cost £6 million a year but treating fewer smoking-related diseases as a result would save about £11 million a year.

Joyce Robins, of Patient Concern, said: "It won't be a lot of comfort for those whose mother is deteriorating with Alzheimer's or if you are going blind. There are lots of ways to give up smoking - you can get patches from the chemist or join a club. Why does the NHS need to fund it?"

The drug, which is made by Pfizer, eases smokers' cravings and reduces the satisfaction from a cigarette."

I can't say that I regard smoking as a disease and so I don't see why the NHS should be involved in funding drugs that are claimed to help in quitting smoking. If smokers choose to spend money on cigarettes, surely they equally can choose to spend money on methods of stopping smoking...


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

Health risks ahead in Britain as some flood waters begin to recede.

What lies beneath the floods - Independent

Extracts:

"As the filthy flood waters begin to subside, they are revealing a scene of devastated homes. Now there are warnings of a mounting health risk from toxic chemicals and fatal bugs left behind in the wake of the deluge."

"The filthy brown flood waters may have been subsiding yesterday but the tide of human misery they have left in their wake was relentlessly swelling.

Few aspects of everyday life across huge swathes of central England have been unaffected by the unprecedented deluge of last weekend. It will be many weeks before normality returns.

The grim task of sifting through possessions was already under way yesterday. A steadily mounting pile of soaked and soiled items seemed to stand guard at every front door, waiting to come under the calculating eye of the insurance loss adjustor.

For more than 350,000 people in Gloucestershire the most pressing issue was not the loss of possessions, many of them prized. The biggest problem remains the lack of clean water after the county's main treatment plant was knocked out.

And it emerged last night that in the event of the flooding of Walham power station ­ which escaped being hit by waters from the Severn by two inches in the early hours of yesterday ­ ministers had drawn up plans to carry out evacuations inn Cheltenham and Gloucester.

Yesterday in communities which only a few days ago were coping with little more than the inconvenience of the wretched British summer, residents were told it could be up to two weeks before they are reconnected to the mains water supply.

In the meantime they must queue for bottled water or fill containers at 900 bowsers in Gloucester, Cheltenham and Stroud. The council also issued an urgent plea for portable lavatories.

There were warnings of a mounting health risk from thousands of gallons of sewage and toxic chemicals that have spilled into homes, gardens and streets in recent days. The Health Protection Agency urged people to keep out of the water to avoid contact with potentially fatal microbes such as E.coli. The agency also warned of a sharp rise in stress-related illnesses as a result of the flooding. "

Paediatrician, David Southall, will not contest application to extend the ban on his working with child abuse victims.

Banned paediatrician bows to GMC decision - Guardian

Extract:

"The paediatrician who accused the husband of solicitor Sally Clark of murdering their children will not fight moves to extend his ban on working with child abuse victims, his lawyer said today.

David Southall, 59, was forbidden from working on child protection cases for three years after he was found guilty of serious professional misconduct in 2004.

A review meeting held today at the General Medical Council (GMC) headquarters in Manchester heard the doctor would not contest an application to extend the ban for 12 months.

His lawyer, Alison Foster QC, said the doctor would "freely accept" restrictions banning him from working on child protection cases.

He was severely criticised by the GMC for contacting the authorities after watching a Channel 4 Despatches documentary about the case in April 2000.

Despite having no previous involvement with the investigation into the deaths of the couple's children, Dr Southall told police it was "beyond reasonable doubt" that Steve Clark murdered his sons, Christopher and Harry.

The doctor was branded irresponsible by the disciplinary panel which investigated the case following a complaint from Mr Clark."

I hope the GMC continues to extend its ban on this arrogant, foolish man, who has caused so much needless distress to so many people.


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

Cases of MRSA down, but many more cases of C Diff in NHS hospitals

NHS urged to redouble efforts as MRSA infections show decline - Guardian

Extract:

"The government today calls on all NHS trusts to redouble their efforts against hospital infections which can kill fragile patients, as official figures reveal that MRSA appears to be slowly retreating but Clostridium difficile continues to rise.

Health minister Ann Keen warned trusts that patients must be treated in a clean and safe environment. "We know that cleanliness and infection control are of great concern to patients," she said.

The Health Protection Agency's statistics, published today, show a fall of 6.4% over the last quarter to March in the number of bloodstream infections of MRSA - the so-called superbug, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Compared with the same quarter last year this is a drop of 28%. Over the whole year, April 2006 to March 2007, MRSA cases have fallen 10% from 7,096 to 6,378.

But C difficile affects more people and is proving hard to tackle. There were 15,592 cases in English hospitals between January and March, an increase of 22% over the last quarter."


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

I watched The Truth About Food last evening on BBC2. It included food suggestions re. macular degeneration.

This is the website link for the programme I saw: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/humanbody/truthaboutfood/young/

In brief, the clearest, most definite things I learned from the programme:

Most detox diets are not worth bothering with. The expert explained that nutrition is far more complicated than is realised by the people who keep recommending detox diets.

Eating spinach helps to prevent "age-related macular degeneration", a major cause of poor eyesight and sometimes blindness. It can even repair some damage to the macula that has already occurred! - The nutrient involved is lutein. This nutrient is also contained in kiwifruits, leeks, peas, eggs, broccoli, etc. You can find them easily by using a search engine.

Eating tomatoes helps to protect your skin from UV damage by the sun. The nutrient involved in this protection is lycopene.


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

Towards reversing some of the brain damage caused by Alzheimer's disease

Step closer to 'Holy Grail' cure for Alzheimer's - Telegraph

Extract:

"Doctors have moved a step nearer to finding a cure for Alzheimer's and reversing damage already caused by the disease, it was announced yesterday.

A team in Scotland have developed a chemical that can prevent the disease from killing brain cells, which causes memory loss and other symptoms.Although it is likely to be several years before the compound can be developed into a drug for use in humans, campaigners described the breakthrough as "exciting".

Researchers at the University of St Andrews, working with scientists in America, developed man-made compounds capable of blocking a nerve cell interaction known to lead to symptoms of the disease.

In the very early stages of Alzheimer's, a toxic protein called amyloid builds up in nerve cells and kills them. It then moves out of the cells and collects in clumps known as senile plaques. The amyloid latches on to an enzyme called Amyloid Beta Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ABAD) and switches it off.

The researchers at St Andrews developed a three-dimensional shape of ABAD to understand how amyloid attaches itself.

They were then able to develop a chemical decoy called a peptide which attracted the amyloid to stick to it instead of the ABAD.

It also caused some amyloid to decouple from ABAD where it was already attached and link up with the peptide instead. Some symptoms of learning problems and memory loss improved in mice.

Dr Frank Gunn-Moore, a senior lecturer at the university's school of biology, who led the research, said: "We have shown that it is possible to reverse some of the signs associated with Alzheimer's disease. Our research holds a possible key for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, particularly in its early stages."

Dr Gunn-Moore believes it will take another three years to develop the peptide into a drug and then several more years before the first human trials can be carried out."

You can reduce your risk of developing dementia and many other serious chronic illnesses by eating less salt/sodium.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

The Fat Man with the Red Face

It was about 9 years ago, I think. - I was standing in a long queue and knew that I'd be standing in that queue for some time. - I started a conversation with the man just behind me in the queue. He was very overweight, rather breathless and his face was very red. His forehead was wet with sweat.

After we had exchanged a general remarks, I took a mental leap of courage and embarked on a rather difficult topic. - I asked him if he had high blood pressure and if he took atenolol and, a little surprised that I should have guessed so accurately, he agreed that that was the case. "Well today is your lucky day!" I said to him. - "I'm going to tell you about salt!"

And I did. - I told him how I had gained a great deal of weight quickly and inexplicably (because I had not been eating more than before) years ago and had become grossly obese, with high blood pressure, a hot, sweaty forehead like his, painful feet and hands, and like him had been prescribed atenolol, a betablocker, for the high blood pressure. - And how years later, I had discovered that simply by reducing salt intake, I had lost weight easily, as if by magic. My blood pressure had come down to normal and I no longer needed to take the atenolol. I felt much better and had more energy.

I showed him photos of me when I was very fat and he could see how different I had become. - The person to whom he was talking was not really recognisable as the very fat person in the photographs.

I asked him if he ate salt and he said that he did - that he always sprinkled salt all over his meals. I suggested to him that if he were to stop doing that he would lose a lot of weight too. - He was a pretty desperate man, I think. - He had been trying unsuccessfully for years to lose weight by dieting - by eating less - by counting calories - by going hungry. - He had only continued to gain weight. - When he had spoken to his doctor about it, the doctor always said to eat less, that he must be eating too much. - But he wasn't overeating.

George (his name) said he would do as I suggested. - I gave him my phone number and asked him if he would be kind enough to give me a ring in a few weeks time and let me know how he was getting on.

That was on a Thursday afternoon. - On the Saturday morning two weeks and two days later, I had a phone call from him. - He said the weight was simply falling off him! - His face was less red. He was sweating less. His blood pressure was much lower. He was feeling sooooo much better! - He said he and his wife would like to thank me very much indeed because I had saved his life!

If you or someone you know is very overweight, you could do as George did. - Stop eating salt and lose weight like magic. - Absolutely no dieting required...(o:

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

Patients groups have criticised GPs over cost of phone calls

GPs criticised over pricy phone codes - Telegraph

Extracts:

"Patients groups have criticised GPs for switching their phone numbers to expensive 0844 dialling codes.

Although the phone numbers are not technically premium rate they are around four pence per minute more expensive than a standard local call.

Campaigners have called for an end to the practice saying it is unfair on elderly patients who can run up large bills calling their surgery regularly.

It is understood that 1,200 GP surgeries have switched to the new numbers and argue that it allows them to provide a better service.

Getting through on the telephone to GP practices can be extremely difficult as some surgeries operate a system where appointments can only be booked on the day, causing a rush of calls in the early morning.

However, the telcoms watchdog, Ofcom, has said it is not appropriate for public sector organisations to use the more expensive phone lines.

Joyce Robins, co-director of Patient Concern, said: “It is quite ridiculous. People should not pay more for their calls to their GP. I thought this had been stopped by the Government, but they have obviously found a loophole. "

"Two years ago the Department of Health banned the use of 0870 numbers in GP surgeries which are premium rate and cost 10 pence a minute to call. "

"But the Say No To 0870 campaign against chargeable numbers said that patients were put in a queue system when using the 0844 numbers which cost them money without talking to anyone.

And Michael Summers, chairman of the Patients Association said it was disgraceful and immoral to charge sick and vulnerable people more than necessary to call their GP practice.

He said: “It is a scandal. It is another way to extract money from the people who can least afford it. We have got excessive car park charges at hospital, bedside telephones and now this new one.

“These people are ill. These are not the people who should be targeted to have money extracted from them. It is immoral.”"


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

Statins could increase cancer risk

Statins could increase cancer risk - Telegraph

Extract:

"Drugs taken by millions of people to cut the dangers of suffering of heart attacks or strokes could increase the risks of developing cancers, scientists say.

Researchers found patients taking statins to lower their cholesterol levels had a slightly elevated chance of getting cancer.

However, they said it was unclear where the higher risk was caused by having lower levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol or by taking the drugs."

A completely safe way to lower high cholesterol levels is to reduce your intake of salt/sodium. This has many other health benefits too, including lowering the risk of developing cancer or of having a heart attack or a stroke.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

Doctors are irresponsibly prescribing more and more antidepressants and other mind-altering drugs to children

Child use of antidepressants up four-fold - Telegraph

Extract:

"The use of antidepressants and other mind-altering drugs among schoolchildren has more than quadrupled in the last decade, it is revealed today.

New figures show that GPs are prescribing pills in record numbers to combat stress, violent behaviour and even tiredness.

Under-16s were given drugs for mental health problems more than 631,000 times last year, compared to just 146,000 in the mid-Nineties.

The huge increase has been blamed on a rise in childhood mental illness sparked by family breakdown and high-stakes school exams.

But there are fears that family doctors are coming under pressure to prescribe drugs such as Prozac as a "quick fix" solution, when counselling would be better.

Politicians and children's charities last night branded the rise "very dangerous" and said a generation of young people risked becoming hooked on prescription drugs.

The findings come despite the publication of research showing that children given antidepressants run a higher risk of self-harm and are more likely to attempt suicide."

It is thoroughly irresponsible for our overpaid doctors to prescribe these brain-altering drugs to children! - And I don't buy the excuse that parents pressurise them into prescribing the antidepressants. - Nonsense!

The respected mental health charity, MIND, reported in May that a walk in the country was the most successful way of lifting depression - an admirable approach. See link

My own recommendation would be good healthy meals - low in salt, because salt can be particularly harmful to children. Good nutrition is a good doctor.

Prescription drugs are manufactured and sold for the benefit of the drug companies and their shareholders. GPs should not be damaging the health of their patients, especially the health of their child patients, with pharmaceutical junk, when there are perfectly safe - and cheaper - and better - alternatives.


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

Hong Kong's bra designers are working on achieving better fitting bras for women in China.

Bra scientists find formula for that perfect fit - Telegraph

Extract:

"Curvy women could soon find a bra revolution making life slightly more comfortable.

For 70 years bra designers have stuck to a formula which decides sizes through measuring under and across the bust.

But now researchers in Hong Kong have come up with a different mathematical equation which they say will produce shapelier outlines and greater comfort for Chinese women. If successful, their bra-sizing system could be adopted across the globe.

They say there are more than 100 key measurements necessary to produce the perfect fit, and bra sizes should be based on a new depth/width ratio - or DWR.

Writing in the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University team says that a "woman's breast is a very complex 3D geometry" and the existing sizing system may be "inappropriate in the categorisation of breast sizes for bras".

As a result, the report points out, as many as 70 per cent of women in Britain are wearing the wrong-sized bra.

Until now, bra sizes have followed a formula devised in America in 1935. "Alphabet" bras were born - advertised then as A cup (youthful); B cup (average); C cup (large); and D cup (heavy)."


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

I watched The South Bank Show tonight: Melvyn Bragg and Emma Kirkby, soprano

I enjoyed it very much. - I like the sort of music that she sings and I loved the clarity and beauty of her voice. It is always a pleasure to hear Melvyn Bragg interview someone because he is so interested in and so attentive to what his interviewee has to say, rather than wanting himself to show off. Emma Kirkby made clear that for her the words are of paramount importance when singing, and that's my feeling too. And I too dislike it when vowels get distorted by some singers and sound so unnatural and forced.

Great programme.

Are you sick to death of dieting and genuinely puzzled that you can't seem to lose weight? - Here is the solution to your problems!

WHEN is the truth going to be told about obesity? - Dieting does not reduce obesity.

Read my Mensa article Obesity and the Salt Connection

All that is necessary to curb the growing incidence of obesity is to tell the truth about what causes it! - Obesity is NOT caused by overeating. - It is caused by fluid retention, frequently because of taking prescribed medications, especially steroids such as prednisolone, prednisone and HRT, and anti-depressants such as amitriptyline. (When doctors prescribe drugs that cause sodium retention and water retention they should warn the patient not to eat salt, or food containing salt, while taking the medication. When they do not give this warning, the inevitable consequence is considerable weight gain.)

Read here about the groups of people who are vulnerable to salt: vulnerable groups

Obesity can be easily reduced by seriously reducing your salt/sodium intake and eating plenty of fruit and fresh vegetables. - It is important not to restrict calories. - 'Slimming' or 'dieting' is unnecessary, ineffective and often harmful.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

Is fat a middle-class issue? - No: it's a consequence of misinformation by the 'experts'...

Fat: a middle-class issue - Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Middle-class mothers who work long hours increase the risk of their offspring being overweight or obese, according to an astonishing new study.

Research revealed by The Independent on Sunday for the first time will turn perceived wisdom on its head with the revelation that the nation's higher-paid working mothers bear much of the responsibility for the country's ticking obesity time bomb, and not the poorer working-class families who are usually blamed.

More shockingly, the risk of childhood obesity soars in direct correlation with family income. Children in families where household income is greater than £33,000 are significantly more likely to be overweight or obese than youngsters from families with the lowest incomes, the new study shows. And in higher income households, the longer a mother worked each week, the greater the risk of the child being overweight.

"Long hours of maternal employment, rather than lack of money, may impede young children's access to healthy foods and physical activity," say the researchers from the Institute of Child Health at University College London (UCL) and Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh), writing in the International Journal of Obesity this week.

Children from families with incomes of £22,000 to £33,000 were 10 per cent more likely to be overweight or obese than children from families in the lowest income group, the study found. "For every 10 hours a mother worked, children from households with an annual income of £22,000 or higher were more likely to be overweight than children from the lowest income group," researchers wrote.

Where the annual income was £33,000 or more, children from those households were 15 per cent more likely to be overweight than children from the lowest income group.

Compounding the misery for working mothers, the study found that children's weight problems got worse if mothers relied on a nanny to hold the fort while they pursued their careers.

Children in childcare are 24 per cent more likely to be overweight or obese than children cared for by their mother or her partner."

Fancy! - As well as obesity 'experts', there is even an International Journal of Obesity! - Not doing much good, are they? - The more they give their standard advice, the higher the incidence of obesity rises! - That's because their advice is WRONG...)o:

Read here http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html for what causes childhood obesity and for suggestions about preventing or reducing it.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

UK Army doctors in Baha Mousa case 'colluded in cover-up'

UK Army doctors in Baha Mousa case 'colluded in cover-up' - Independent on Sunday

Extract:

"Doctors who examined Baha Mousa, a 24-year-old Basra hotel worker who was kicked and beaten to death in British custody in 2003, have been reported to the General Medical Council.

The move follows allegations that army doctors who treated the detainees colluded in a cover-up by misdiagnosing and failing to properly document the extent of prisoners' injuries. Doctors who examined Baha Mousa said in legal evidence that they saw no injuries on his body, except "a little dried blood" around his nostril.

However, a post-mortem found that Mr Mousa had 93 injuries. Photographs of his corpse show clearly his face, chest and upper body covered with contusions and bruising.

The details of Mr Mousa's injuries and his medical inspections are outlined in a 383-point dossier submitted to the Ministry of Defence by Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers, who is acting on behalf of the former detainees.

The dossier will increase the pressure for the Ministry of Defence to hold a full public inquiry into the abuse and torture of Iraqi civilian prisoners in Basra by UK troops. Mr Shiner has listed every example of inconsistency in evidence or allegation of abuse to come out of the courts martial – which jailed one soldier and acquitted six others – into the 2003 beatings.

The former detainees, all civilians with no links to insurgency groups, are now launching a civil action against the MoD, claiming they were hooded, beaten, subjected to sleep deprivation and noise, and held in stress positions during their detention.

Further developments last week saw one of England's most senior judges order the release of evidence used during the courts martial, which the MoD had been withholding from Mr Shiner."

Many sunbeds emit dangerous levels of cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation.

Warning over the rising risk of sunbeds - Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Sunbed users are being warned that four out of five of the devices emit dangerous levels of cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation.

More than 80 per cent of sunbeds transmit UVB, the most damaging type of UV ray, at levels above European and British standards, a study has found. Researchers discovered a huge rise in sunbed use and a growing danger linked to the use of increasingly high-strength, stand-up booths and sunbeds.

The number of private sunbeds rose by 30 per cent from 1997 to 2005, according to the study in the British Journal of Dermatology.

The study, which compared the use of sunbeds in parts of Scotland in 1997 and 2005, showed a big increase in health risks. While the 1997 study showed the cancer risk to be equal to the UK summer sun, the average unit now carries the same risk as the midday Mediterranean sun.

Users were ignorant of the risks. Asked about the dangers of sunbeds, almost half did not cite skin cancer.

Last month, a mother of two children, died from skin cancer after using a sunbed twice a day for seven years. Zita Farrelly, from Salford, died at 29, three days after her daughter's first birthday."

Many pre-packaged salads contain bacteria which can cause potentially deadly food poisoning.

One in 10 salads has poisonous bacteria - Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Food safety experts are calling for stricter production controls on ready-to-eat salads after tests revealed that many contain bacteria which can cause potentially deadly food poisoning.

A report compiled by the government's Health Protection Agency (HPA), found that one in 10 pre-packaged salads containing meat or seafood was contaminated with the listeria bacteria. Evidence of E. coli and salmonella was found in some bags of salad.
The HPA report, which involved testing more than 2,600 ready-to-eat salads, concluded that the control of bacteria in food manufacturing and in shops was essential to minimise the potential for hazardous food contamination."


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...