One third of baby rice on sale in British supermarkets contains an unsafe level of arsenic, say researchers.

'One third of baby rice has arsenic'

Extract from the Telegraph:

"It means some children could be getting six times the amount of inorganic arsenic that they should be receiving for their weight and height because the rice is also found in other common foods.

Researchers from Aberdeen University also found high levels of arsenic, which has been found to cause an increased risk of some cancers, in other rice foods, including rice milk and puffed rice cereals.

Prof Andrew Meharg and colleagues tested 17 samples from three unnamed brands of baby rice bought in British supermarkets. He said it was time to re-examine the safe levels of arsenic in food."

Eating five tomatoes a day could help protect against sunburn and premature ageing, new research has revealed.

Eating tomatoes 'keeps you safe in the sun'

Extracts from the Telegraph:

"Experts at Manchester and Newcastle Universities found the fruit improved the skin's ability to protect itself against ultra-violet light.

The researchers calculated that the protection offered by eating tomatoes was comparable to applying factor 1.3 sunscreen.

The team is now hoping to carry out more research to find out if eating tomatoes can protect against more severe forms of sun-damage such as skin cancer."

"Analysis of skin samples from both groups also showed that the tomato diet had boosted the skin's procollagen levels, a molecule which gives the skin its structure. Losing procollagen leads to the skin ageing and losing its elasticity.

It was also found that the increased levels of lycopene reduced damage to mitochondrial DNA in the skin. Damage to that particular genetic material is also linked to ageing skin."

Cancer patients are at risk from an unproven "cure" - the chemical DCA (dicholoracetate) - marketed over the internet

Warning over internet cancer 'cure' DCA

Extracts from the Telegraph:

"Cancer patients are at risk from an unproven "cure" manufactured by a pest-control company and marketed over the internet, the government has been told.

Dr Ian Gibson, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on cancer, is reported to have warned that increasing numbers of British patients are risking the final months of their lives taking the chemical DCA (dicholoracetate), believing it to be a cure for cancer."

"Cancer Research UK and Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority, which has successfully closed down UK-based websites selling the drug, have both strongly recommended against using DCA."

Breastfeeding 'cuts mother's cancer risk' - and the risk of her baby becoming overweight/obese.

Breastfeeding 'cuts mother's cancer risk'

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Mothers should breastfeed for six months after giving birth to cut their risk of developing breast cancer, researchers have advised.

The advice follows a World Cancer Research Fund survey that shows three out of four women are unaware of the link.

Two thirds are unaware that being breastfed cuts a child's risk of being overweight - a major risk factor for cancer.

And just 13 per cent of men are aware it could cut a mother's risk of developing breast cancer."

You can reduce your risk of developing cancer by avoiding salt and salty food.

Report urges doctors to stop prescribing harmful antipsychotic drugs to dementia patients.

Stop drugging dementia patients, urges report

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Ministers should step in to stop inappropriate prescriptions of powerful antipsychotic drugs for Alzheimer's patients, an influential group of MPs said today.

Up to 105,000 people with dementia in Britain are wrongly being treated with the drugs, which are used to control behavioural symptoms such as aggression, they claim. Research has shown that the medications have side effects which can accelerate mental decline, triple the risk of stroke, and double the chances of premature death.

They are intended for psychotic patients suffering from delusions, paranoia and hallucinations. Yet the drugs continue to be used as a first resort to address the challenging behaviour of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia, according to the MPs. A report from the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on dementia demanded Government action on the problem and urged the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), the health watchdog, to carry out a review.

The report, A Last Resort, points out that no audit or regulation of such prescriptions exists. Jeremy Wright, the group's chairman, said: "Antipsychotics can double risk of death and triple the risk of stroke in people with dementia, (can) heavily sedate them, and (can) accelerate cognitive decline.

"The Government must end this needless abuse. Safeguards must be put in place to ensure antipsychotics are always a last resort."

I think the doctors who recklessly prescribe these harmful drugs in this way should be severely punished.

You can lower your risk of developing dementia by avoiding salt and salty food.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

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

Children and Obesity

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

advice for pregnant mothers

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

A superbug capable of killing previously healthy youngsters within 48 hours is on the rise in Britain's playgrounds

Playground superbug can kill children within days

Extract from the Telegraph:

"A superbug capable of killing previously healthy youngsters within 48 hours is on the rise in Britain's playgrounds, and has left at least 10 children fighting for their lives.

Cases of the bug, known as Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), have more than doubled since 2005, official figures show.

Doctors are particularly concerned that many young people could have been exposed to the infection in their school playgrounds or in local parks.

Children are especially vulnerable to PVL, a member of the Staphylococcus aureas family of infections, and it can combine with MRSA, the deadly hospital superbug.

Once contracted, the infection acts quickly to kill off white blood cells, an essential part of the body's immune system.

The bug can also enter a patient's skeleton, where it becomes particularly hard to cure. Doctors often have to treat the disease by removing infected bone.

Cases of PVL combining with MRSA were first reported in America several years ago and are becoming increasingly common.

Doctors claim that the Government is not taking the threat of the bug seriously enough.

Mark Enright, professor of molecular epidemiology at Imperial College London, said: "This infection can kill healthy children in one to two days, but the authorities are continuing to treat MRSA as purely a hospital problem and trying to assuage public opinion."

Professor Richard Wise, a leading microbiologist, told a Sunday newspaper that he warned a Government health minister of the threat three years ago."

Gene therapy test offers hope of sight to visually impaired patients

The Telegraph reports on how gene therapy helped visually impaired teenage student

Extract from the Telegraph:

"The treatment transformed the life of a severely visually impaired 18-year-old. Healthy genes were injected into one eye, leading to a significant improvement.

The technique could be ready for use within two years to treat people suffering from some inherited diseases of the retina, which affect 20,000 people in Britain.

Within five years it could be ready for testing on people who suffer age related macular degeneration, a condition that affects 500,000 Britons.

In the trial carried out by a team at the University College of London Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital, the world's first gene transplant for blindness produced an unprecedented improvement in Steven Howarth's sight.

The student suffered from a genetic mutation, called Leber's congenital amaurosis (LCA), which usually begins affecting the sight of sufferers in early childhood and eventually causes total blindness during a patient's twenties or thirties."

It is a pity that Delia Smith is encouraging the use of convenience foods in meal preparation - because most convenience foods are high in salt...

Delia Smith's 'cheats' fly off the shelves
article in the Sunday Telegraph about the increase in sales of convenience food products featured in Delia's 'How to Cheat at Cooking’ book and TV programme

What a pity Delia is encouraging the eating of convenience foods - because most of them contain a lot of added salt. - As well as increasing the incidence and severity of obesity, added salt raises blood pressure and has many other ill-effects on people's health.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

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

Children and Obesity

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

advice for pregnant mothers

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

Children hate their bodies and yearn to be thin. Anxiety about eating can lead to eating disorders.

Children hate their bodies and yearn to be thin

Extract from the Sunday Telegraph:

"Young children associate being thin with being "popular" and being overweight with being "nasty", attitudes that experts say could lead to eating disorders later in life.

The stresses faced by young children are revealed in the eighth series of the BBC's Child of Our Time, which has followed 25 children since their births in 2000.

The influence of so-called "size zero" culture was revealed when the children, none of whom was overweight, were asked to choose their ideal figure from a series of drawings. All the girls aspired to be thinner and thought that the fuller figures would have fewer friends. One girl said, unprompted, that the largest figure would be "nasty because she is fat". One child, Rhianna, a healthy, normal-sized seven-year-old from Yorkshire, said in the first episode: "I just don't like my body shape. I think I look really fat. I don't like it."

John Oates, a psychologist with the Open University, which has co-produced the series, said: "For the girls, in particular, weight was linked to attractiveness. The media portrayal of attractiveness being about thinness is picked up by children at an early age. Anxiety about eating is definitely a problem that can lead towards eating disorders.""

If everyone was to be told the truth about how people become fat, then there would be very few people with eating disorders. The truth is that obesity has a number of possible causes. Fluid retention/water retention/salt sensitivity is a major and unrecognised route to child obesity because most children these days eat too much salt and salty food. There are other additional possible causes in adults.

Whatever has caused a person to be overweight/fat/obese, they will lose much of that excess weight if they avoid eating salt and salty food.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

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

Children and Obesity

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

Infection rates in British hospitals are ten times higher than those in other countries

British hospitals 'worst for superbugs'

Extracts from the Sunday Telegraph:

"Infection rates in British hospitals are 10 times higher than those in other countries, according to a damning report.

The report, from a panel of government advisers, warns of "a fifty-fold increase since 1990", with one in five cases of the killer bug Clostridium difficile now affecting patients below the age of 65.

A leading infection expert, Prof Richard James, director of the Centre for Healthcare Associated Infections, said the figures meant Britain's death rate from the bug was likely to dwarf those of other countries. The unpublished report, seen by The Sunday Telegraph, urges hospitals to improve hygiene, testing and isolation procedures to slow the spread of the infection, which was caught by more than 50,000 people last year."

"A television programme tonight warns that C. difficile infection is becoming increasingly resistant to treatment.

• 'Panorama: How Safe is Your Hospital?', BBC1 10.20pm, Sunday April 27th."

You can improve your resistance to infection by eating less salt/sodium and salty food.

Is your child overweight/obese? - Here is the safe, healthy answer - and it's not dieting...

Children need to avoid salt and salty food to reduce the fluid retention that is causing them to be overweight.

See Sodium in foods and Children and Obesity

Also see FAT RETENTION

Caffeine in Red Bull may have contributed to the death of Asda worker, Alfredo Duran.

Heart attack man 'drank four Red Bulls a day'

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Fears have been raised over the safety of high-caffeine energy drinks after an inquest heard they could have brought on a fatal heart attack.

Alfredo Duran, 40, who drank four cans of Red Bull every night, collapsed and died after working a supermarket night shift.

An inquest into his death heard that he had an enlarged heart and that caffeine may have triggered an attack.

Dr Ian Roberts, a pathologist, said the amount of Red Bull Mr Duran drank could have contributed to his death.

Levels found during the post mortem examination were not fatal, but were dangerous for a man with an underlying heart condition.

He said: "For an individual with this condition, the risk of problems with the heart is increased by stimulants such as caffeine and may be triggered by levels which would have no effect on people with a normal heart.

"My feeling is, given the evidence available, it was a cardiac arrest, possibly contributed by sub-toxic caffeine ingestion.""

You can reduce the size of an enlarged heart and reduce your risk of heart attack by avoiding salt and salty food. See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

Sun bed ban for under-18s is being considered to reduce cases of skin cancer.

Sun bed ban for under-18s to cut cancer

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Children under 18 may be banned from using sun beds in a move designed to reduce cases of skin cancer.

The Department of Health confirmed that ministers were considering proposals to introduce an age limit, along with tighter regulation of the sun bed industry.

Another proposal being considered is a ban on coin-operated tanning salons, which campaigners say lead to over-use.

About three million people regularly use sun beds, while malignant melanoma rates have risen to 8,000 a year. With 1,800 deaths annually, skin cancer is the most common form of the disease among people aged 15 to 34."

Risk of brain damage from anti-cancer chemotherapy drug

'Brain damage risk' with chemotherapy drug

Extract from the Telegraph:

"A chemotherapy drug used to treat thousands of cancer patients could cause serious brain damage with effects that are felt for years, research suggests today.

The drug, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), which is one of the most commonly prescribed anti-cancer medicines, is used for tumours of the breast, ovary, colon, stomach, skin, pancreas and bladder.

However, tests showed that it destroys brain cells and could be responsible for side effects known as "chemo brain", which include memory loss, poor concentration, and in more extreme cases, seizures, impaired vision and dementia. Most chemotherapy drugs are toxic to some degree, often noticeable because of hair loss and nausea. They can affect healthy as well as cancerous cells.

Doctors have urged patients not to abandon the drug as it is an effective weapon against cancer.

The findings, reported today in the Journal of Biology, could explain some of the neurological side effects associated with chemotherapy.

Eight out of 10 breast cancer patients reported some form of mental impairment after chemotherapy. Studies have found that up to a fifth had problems that lasted for years. The research, from the University of Rochester Medical Centre in New York state, showed that 5-FU attacks the cells in the brain that play a crucial role in the central nervous system.

They produce myelin, the fatty material that enables signals between cells to be transmitted rapidly and efficiently.

However, myelin deteriorates quickly and has to be constantly replenished.

Without a healthy population of these cells to renew it, normal communication between brain cells is disrupted. Scans of cancer patients with mental difficulties have shown evidence of loss of myelin leading to the loss of nerve fibres making up the "white matter" in the brain.

The researchers treated mice with doses of 5-FU comparable with those given to cancer patients and also exposed brain cells in dishes to the drug.

Months after exposure, the key cells both in the cell cultures and the brains of mice were undergoing extensive damage.

The disruption was so severe that after six months the cells had virtually disappeared from the mice.

Dr Mark Noble, of the medical centre, said: "It is clear that, in some patients, chemotherapy appears to trigger a degenerative condition in the central nervous system."

You can lower your risk of developing most cancers by avoiding salt and salty food.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

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

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

Chief vet warns against allowing your dog to sleep on your bed.

Don't sleep with dogs, warns chief vet

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Fred Landeg, who is acting Chief Veterinary Officer, has urged people to be more vigilant about their household pets as they can transmit illnesses just as easy as farm animals.

Among diseases thought to be carried by dogs are common food poisoning bugs such as campylobacter and salmonella as well as exotic diseases.

Dr Landeg said: “When you look at new and emerging diseases many are zootic and passable from animals to man. We can think recently of Sars, which came from animals and another disease, the Hendra virus, from bats.

“As a veterinary surgeon I would never advise people to keep dogs in their bedroom.”"

Invisible man-made chemicals are being linked to increasing infertility

Infertility: handle with care

Extract from the Sunday Telegraph:

"Roughly one third of infertility remains 'unexplained', a third is female-related - apart from the fact that women are trying for children later, sexually transmitted infections and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are on the rise - and the rest is male-related. Studies across Europe have recorded an alarming drop in sperm counts and a study not yet released has found the same here in Britain. 'Something has changed in the past 20 or 30 years,' says Allan Pacey, the secretary of the British Fertility Society. 'We don't know what it is, but we need to be very concerned.'

Many modern-day habits are known to play a part - drinking, smoking and overeating for example. What we don't know is whether there's something else going on - in the air we breathe, water we drink and food we eat. The thousands of invisible chemicals that have poured into our world since the Second World War to make life non-breakable, non-stick and flame-resistant are being linked to miscarriage, PCOS, endometriosis, and low sperm counts - as well as testicular cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

Shanna Swan, an epidemiologist at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry in America, has spent the past 20 years studying environmental reproductive risks. 'There's no question now that chemical exposures impair fertility,' she says. 'We have 80,000 chemicals in circulation and when we look we see strong evidence that comes out constantly in scientific journals and in small conferences. Yet somehow we haven't reached the tipping point where people take notice. With global warming, it took 20 years. The American surgeon general said in 1964 that cigarettes caused cancer. How long did that take to get around? Maybe it takes a disaster - and I think impairing our ability to reproduce is potentially the most serious disaster there is.'

Two highly ubiquitous chemicals, phthalates (the 'ph' is silent) and bisphenol A, are the cause of most concern. Both chemicals are everywhere - tin cans, baby bottles, water bottles, CDs, plastic toys, the list is endless - and because of their 'leachy' nature (they're not very good at binding to their products) they are in us, too. In a study by Shanna Swan of mothers and babies, all the babies had measurable phthalate levels - and those exposed to the most baby-care products had the highest. Often described as 'endocrine disrupters', phthalates mimic the female hormone oestrogen, so could play havoc with hormones and reproductive systems - particularly in men.

'There's good evidence that sperm counts are falling and that something environmental is going on,' confirms Pacey. Male infertility is now the reason for half of British couples having IVF. While our grandfathers probably had a sperm count of about 120 million in one millilitre of seminal fluid, the average male sperm count now stands at about 60 million. (Anything less than 25/30 million is classified as infertile.) At the same time testicular cancer, which is linked to low sperm counts, is rising fast."

If obesity is the cause of your infertility then avoiding salt and salty food would help you. -Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

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

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

Are you taking antipsychotic or other psychotropic drugs and finding that you are putting on a lot of weight?

The problem is fluid retention because the drugs are causing you to be sensitive to salt and so salt is holding excess water in your body. If you cut down on salt you will excrete some of this water and therefore lose weight.

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html and other pages on the website.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions

Ghostwriters, guest authors re. Vioxx and rofecoxib

So you thought all those Vioxx studies in medical journals were independent, hands-off affairs? Not necessarily. An examination of medical journal articles about Vioxx and court documents from Vioxx lawsuits found that Merck employees or ghostwriters were frequently involved in various articles, but the primary authors were often academics who actually had little to do with the studies or didn't always disclose financial ties to Merck.
Read article at pharmalot.com

An examination of medical articles about rofecoxib (a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug) and court documents from litigation related to this product indicates that company employees or other unacknowledged authors were frequently involved in writing clinical trial articles and review articles, but that primary authorship was often attributed to academically affiliated investigators who may have had little to do with the study, or who did not always disclose financial support from the sponsor of the study, according to an article in the April 16 issue of JAMA.
Read article at physorg.com

Scientists attack exaggerated claims made about 'breakthrough' cancer drug treatments

Exaggerated claims are being made for new cancer treatments that are not justified by the evidence, scientists warned yesterday. Drugs hailed as breakthrough treatments for cancer, Britain's biggest cause of death, may be less effective and cause more harm than suspected, they said.
Read article in The Independent (UK)
Comment: Cancer is a multi-billion dollar business. The drugs used in chemotherapy kill cancer cells - but they also kill healthy cells too. That fact alone is bad enough, but it doesn't stop there. The drugs used in chemotherapy also have side-effects and many cause new cancers and new diseases, leading to the use of yet more drugs which in turn have new side effects. It's a vicious circle and a license to print money for the pharmaceutical industry. To learn the facts on chemotherapy drugs used as treatments for cancer, click here.

Doctors demand freeze on use of diabetes drug for heart patients

SCOTTISH doctors have said there is "no defence" for the use of a widely prescribed diabetes drug after warnings that it should not be used in patients with heart problems, The Scotsman can reveal. The consultants, who work in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, recommend no new patients are given Avandia - also known as rosiglitazone.
Read article in The Scotsman (Scotland/UK

Tranquillisers are putting children's lives at risk

I don't understand why doctors who prescribe recklessly are not severely punished... I have copied the following from the latest Dr Rath Health Foundation newsletter
http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/Newsletter/archive/newsletter_2008_04_apr_18.html

Tranquillisers putting children's lives at risk
· Anti-psychotics may cause long-term harm, say critics
· Youngsters under 6 being given unlicensed drugs
New evidence has shown children's lives are being put at risk by a surge in the use of controversial tranquillising drugs which are being prescribed to control their behaviour, the Guardian has learned. The anti-psychotic drugs are being given to youngsters under the age of six even though the drugs have no licence for use in children except in certain schizophrenia cases, the report says. The number of children on the drugs has doubled since the early 1990s as the UK begins to follow a trend started in the US, but critics say they are a "chemical cosh" that could cause premature death.
Read article in The Guardian (UK)

2.5m children on drugs in US
Anti-psychotic drugs for children have taken off in the US on the back of a willingness to diagnose those with behavioural problems as having manic depression. Even children barely out of babyhood are getting a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, the modern term for the condition.
Read article in The Guardian (UK)

Self-testing sugar levels could harm diabetics

Self-testing sugar levels could harm diabetics
article in the Telegraph

Champix, the anti-smoking drug, may have led to TV editor's suicide

Champix may have led to TV editor's suicide
Telegraph article about the death of Omer Jama

Migraine sufferers 'have increased risk of heart attacks and strokes'

Migraine sufferers 'have increased risk of heart attacks and strokes'

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Millions of people who suffer from migraines have a greatly increased risk of suffering heart attacks and strokes, according to new research.

People who have the debilitating headaches just once a month are one and a half times more likely to go on to suffer a heart attack.

Those who have a migraine once a week are three times more likely to have a stroke than those who don’t suffer, the Harvard Medical School study found.

Around nine million people in the UK suffer from migraines and 80 per cent of those - some 7.2 million - have an attack at least once a month.

The findings of the study, which is one of the first to make a link between the frequency of migraines and serious illness, could lead to increased monitoring of migraine sufferers and preventative treatment to reduce the risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

Dr Tobias Kurth, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, who led the study, said: “Our findings suggest that migraine frequency may be an indicator for increased risk of cardiovascular disease, particularly ischaemic stroke.""

Well I've been linking migraines with strokes and heart attacks and other serious illnesses for years. - The risk of and severity of all of these health problems (which are all connected to weakened blood vessels) are reduced or eliminated by avoiding salt and salty food.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions

Obese women are '50pc more likely to die of breast cancer'

Obese women '50pc more likely to die of breast cancer'

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Significantly overweight women are almost 50 per cent more likely to die of breast cancer within five years of diagnosis, experts warned yesterday.

Doctors at the 6th European Breast Cancer Conference in Berlin warned that it was more difficult to diagnose the disease in obese patients who also risked getting poorer treatment because doctors feared giving them a high enough dose of chemotherapy for their body weight.

Almost 1,500 patients a year in the UK could be diagnosed earlier if they were not obese, research at the conference suggests. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women, and almost 45,000 cases are diagnosed in the UK every year, around 9,000 in clinically obese patients.

However, that percentage is predicted to increase because of lifestyle factors that have led to a quarter of women being diagnosed as obese.

Obesity has previously been shown to increase the risk of developing the disease, by raising the level of sex hormones such as oestrogen."

I wonder if that last claim is true - that obesity raises the level of oestrogen in the body? - I rather doubt it. - Because I know that the opposite is definitely true - i.e. that raised oestrogen levels cause weight gain. This is because higher oestrogen levels cause sodium and water retention (aka salt sensitivity). - Thus salt/sodium is the vector for fluid retention, which is, of course, the cause of obesity. - Obese people easily and rapidly lose weight if they avoid eating salt and salty food. - So the best thing to do to avoid breast cancer and/or reduce excess weight is to cut out salt.

The two main causes of extreme obesity in women are prescription drugs - mainly tricyclic antidepressants and steroids - and pregnancy. - If they were informed that these caused sodium retention and water retention and that therefore salt intake should be minimised, then the huge weight gains would be avoided - and the cancers and other health problems that result from the weight gain - but they are not given this vital information...)o:

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

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

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

Drinking accelerates onset of Alzheimer's Disease

Drinking accelerates onset of Alzheimer's

Extracts from the Telegraph:

"People who have more than two alcoholic drinks a day develop Alzheimer’s disease five years earlier than those who do not drink, a comprehensive study linking the condition to lifestyle has found.

Those who smoke are affected by the illness two years earlier than non-smokers, while those who smoke and drink are likely to hasten the onset of the disease by seven years.

People who suffer from high cholesterol in middle age are one and a half times more likely to go on to develop Alzheimer’s.

The impact of lifestyle on the development and the advance of the disease, which affects more than 400,000 people in Britain, was disclosed in two separate studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology’s Anniversary in Chicago."

"Alzheimer’s causes loss of memory, personality changes and is terminal."

You can reduce your risk of dementia and of high cholesterol and high blood pressure and many other health problems by eating less salt.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

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

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

Dust mite products do not help asthmatics

Dust mite products fail to help asthmatics

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Asthmatics should stop wasting money on special mattress protectors and vacuum cleaners to tackle dust mites, experts said yesterday.

A review found that they failed to curb the allergens that can trigger asthma attacks."

If you have asthma or any other breathing difficulties, it can be helpful to reduce your salt intake. See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions

I watched the first part of tonight's "The Diets That Time Forgot". - What nonsense the programme is!

I couldn't bear to watch more than the first part of the programme - about a quarter of an hour, I suppose. - What nonsense! - What a lousy programme!

Some of the 9 volunteers are trying to lose weight by eating mostly meat. Some are eating what they like but chewing each mouthful 32 times. And some are eating a calorie-controlled diet.

Well a diet that is mostly meat is clearly not a healthy diet. Our bodies do best on a varied food intake, not just animal protein, and including plenty of fruit and vegetables.

And chewing each mouthful 32 times is plain silly.

And there is a wealth of evidence that reducing/restricting/counting calories does not in itself produce weight loss in overweight people. - In fact, weight gain is far more common than weight loss on a calorie reduction diet. Hunger does not make fat people slimmer; it makes them tired, cold and miserable.

The only way that fat people can safely reduce their weight by what they eat, is by eating less salt/sodium and/or more potassium. This reduces fluid retention, the cause of obesity, and to some extent reduces fat retention. - That means in practice, avoiding salt and salty food and making sure you eat plenty of fruit and vegetables. Additionally, if fat retention still is a problem, then extra dairy calcium will help to remove this in the faeces and so further weight is lost.

If the volunteers on this silly programme do lose any weight then it will be because they have eaten less salt and/or more fruit and vegetables and/or more dairy calcium.

It's a shame and a pity that neither ITV nor the BBC ever have a programme with TYPICAL overweight subjects trying to lose weight. - These will be people who keep their appetite in check, keep their calories down, often go hungry and try to take exercise even though they are tired.

Ideally, they would be instructed NOT to go hungry and encouraged to eat far more calories than they have been eating - even TWICE AS MANY - BUT NOT TO EAT ANY SALT OR ANY FOOD THAT HAS HAD SALT ADDED TO IT. AND TO EAT PLENTY OF FRUIT AND UNSALTED VEGETABLES AND PLENTY OF FULL CREAM MILK AND DAIRY YOGURT.

And no diet junk AT ALL, and as far as possible, no weird food additives - just fresh food, not processed stuff.

THEY WOULD LOSE WEIGHT FAST AND SAFELY.

DIETING IS NOT THE WAY TO SLIMNESS OR TO HEALTH.

Obesity is caused by fluid retention, not by gluttony, and is reduced not by dieting and exercise, but by eating less salt.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

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

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

Teenager with liver failure warns of the harm done by binge drinking

Binge drinking caused teen's liver failure at 14

Extract from the Telegraph:

"A teenager has told how her binge drinking caused her liver to fail at the age of 14.

Natasha Farnham, who is now 18, is believed to be the youngest person in Britain to be diagnosed with alcohol-related liver failure, claims the charity British Liver Failure.

She started drinking at 12 and within a year was consuming up to six bottles of wine a day.

Two years later she was taken to hospital after drinking 16 bottles of wine, cider and spirits in three days.

Doctors diagnosed liver failure - usually suffered by middle-aged alcoholics - and told her to stop drinking. But she ignored the warning and has gone into rehabilitation at the age of 18.

Doctors tell her that she will die if she drinks again.

Miss Farnham now has memory loss problems."

Patients are dying because their doctors are failing to detect that they have cancer, the Government's leading expert on the disease has warned.

GPs' failure to spot cancer raising death rates

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Professor Mike Richards, the national cancer director at the Department of Health, claimed that incorrect diagnoses had become "a significant concern".

He said: "Ultimately, it can mean that the cancer has progressed to a stage where it can't be cured."

He added that failed diagnoses also meant that when the disease was eventually spotted, the only available treatments were particularly aggressive, such as chemotherapy or surgery.

"That could mean a mastectomy, rather than perhaps a breast conserving operation," he said.

The Government has identified late diagnosis as a major reason why Britain lags behind other European countries in terms of cancer survival rates. The disease killed 153,491 Britons in 2005, although death rates are falling."

You can reduce your risk of developng most cancers by avoiding salt and salty food.

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions

Are you one of the unthinking majority who believe that obesity is caused by greed and laziness?

And do you try to bully people into losing weight? - Do you reckon insulting obese people is therapeutic for them?

Why don't you try using your brains and read the evidence? That's what intelligent people do...

Read The political background to obesity in Britain

and Do you believe that obesity is caused by overeating?

and Heinz Asthoff eats more than 12,000 calories a day but does not gain weight

Obesity is caused by fluid retention, not by gluttony, and is reduced not by dieting and exercise, but by eating less salt.

I remember reading articles by Professor John Yudkin in which he described sugar as "pure, white and deadly".

I remember reading articles by Professor Yudkin - in the 70s, I believe - in which he described sugar as "pure, white and deadly". I've no doubt he was right in that a lot of sugar can be harmful in many ways.

But I'd say these days that salt is a bigger enemy of health for most people. - "Pure, white and deadlier still..."

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
amitriptyline
prescribed steroids and HRT
See Sodium in foods
and Associated health conditions
and FAT RETENTION

Which are the best and safest slimming pills?

Strangely enough, you don't really need pills to lose excess weight. You can lose excess water weight (fluid retention) simply by avoiding eating salt/sodium and salty food and making sure you eat plenty of fruit and unsalted vegetables, and you can reduce excess fat (fat retention) by making sure you have plenty of dairy calcium (and vitamin D) and other minerals.

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
amitriptyline
prescribed steroids and HRT
See Sodium in foods
and FAT RETENTION

But if you are VERY overweight and water-logged because of taking prescribed steroids (like prednisone and prednisolone and HRT) or prescribed antidepressants (like, notoriously, amitriptyline) or other dangerous prescription drugs, then you may feel you need a bit of pharmaceutical help. In this case, the correct therapy is a thiazide diuretic like bendrofluazide/bendroflumethiazide in low dose. This has the same effect as lowering salt intake, because it removes sodium and water from the body. Unfortunately it also has the undesirable effect of removing potassium from the body, so it is not as safe as simply cutting out salt, and high dose is certainly not a good idea. But it is much safer than most pharmaceutical drugs and it certainly removes excess water which is the primary cause of the overweight and it lowers high blood pressure and has other good effects.

An extraordinary decision: Mother is denied her daughter's kidneys

Mother is denied her daughter's kidneys

Extract from the Telegraph:

"A mother in need of a kidney transplant was denied her daughter's "perfect match" organs after her sudden death.

Laura Ashworth died, aged 21, at Bradford Royal Infirmary after a suspected asthma attack.

She had spoken of her desire to help her mother, Rachel Leake, who has kidney failure, but despite being on the national organ donor register, did not formally record her wish for her mother to benefit.

A transplant co-ordinator then told Miss Leake, 39, that her only child's organs would go to strangers.

One of Laura's kidneys went to a man in Sheffield and the second to a man in London. Her liver was given to a 15-year-old girl."

You can reduce your risk of kidney damage by cutting down on salt and salty food.

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions

Blueberries and some other fruits 'improve memory' - possibly because of their bioflavanoid content.

Blueberries 'improve memory'
article in the Telegraph

Nicolas Sarkozy inspires plastic surgery boom among 'alpha males'

Nicolas Sarkozy inspires plastic surgery boom

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Growing numbers of middle-aged men embarking on second marriages are trying to turn the clock back with plastic surgery, experts claim.

Surgeons at a Harley Street clinic say more and more "alpha males", particularly those who are marrying younger women, are going under the knife, with Botox and male breast reduction top of the list.

They have called the trend "The Sarkozy Effect", after the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who last year married Carla Bruni, a former supermodel 13 years his junior.

The Harley Medical Group says 50 per cent more men aged between 35 and 55 had Botox injections to reduce wrinkles so far this year, compared with the same period in 2007.

Demand for male breast reduction surgery has increased by 47 per cent, and 43 per cent more men have undergone microdermabrasion - when the outer surface of the skin is sloughed off.

Chin lifts, blepharoplasty - the removal of eye bags - and face lifts are also more popular than ever among what surgeons call FAMs - forty or fifty-year-old alpha males."

I suggest that if you are considering male breast reduction surgery you first try seriously reducing your intake of salt and salty food. - This will reduce your male breasts without the trauma and expense of surgery.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

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

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

Many conventional wines are "systematically contaminated with pesticides"

Many leading brand wines on sale in the European Union are "systematically contaminated with pesticide residues, concludes a new report published by Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe. PAN Europe, together with NGOs from Austria, France and Germany, recently carried out an investigation of 40 different wines purchased inside the EU - including some premium wines from world famous vineyards. 100% of conventional wines in the analysis were found to contain pesticides, with one bottle containing 10 different pesticides. On average each wine sample contained over four pesticides. Of the 24 different pesticide contaminants found in the samples tested, five are classified as being carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxic or endocrine disrupting by the European Union.
Read article on the Natural Products Online website (UK)

Cancer drug trials are 'being stopped too soon' - for commercial reasons.

Cancer drug trials 'being stopped too soon'

Extract from the Telegraph:

"The usefulness of some cancer drugs is being exaggerated because manufacturers are stopping trials the moment they find a benefit, experts will warn today.

Researchers have discovered a sharp increase in the number of studies that are terminated early and they argue that drugs companies are halting the trials whenever benefits are discovered. They use the premature results as the basis for licence applications.

As a result, the researchers claim, drugs that are hailed as breakthroughs could be of less benefit or even cause more harm.

A team from the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, in Milan, found that of 14 drugs trials stopped early between 2005 and 2007, 11 were used to support a licence application.

Writing in the online journal Annals of Oncology, Dr Giovanni Apolone, of the research team, said: "This suggests a commercial component in stopping trials prematurely.

"We are aware that trials stopped early because they are showing benefit may result in the identification of promising new treatments for patients.

"However, findings obtained in this way require subsequent confirmation. Without such evidence, unsafe and ineffective drugs could be marketed and patients' health could well be jeopardised."

Trials on well-known drugs regarded as breakthroughs, are among those which stopped early. They include Herceptin and Tyverb for breast cancer and Avastin for bowel and renal cancer."

Kylie Minogue's cancer was 'misdiagnosed' initially

Kylie Minogue's cancer was 'misdiagnosed'
Telegraph article.

Her spokesman said that Kylie wanted "“to let people know she believes one should trust one’s instincts and not be afraid to seek a second opinion”."

Fraudulent claims were made about cholesterol-lowering drug.

Extract from http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/THE_FOUNDATION/vitorin_study_2008jan.html

"Hundreds of millions of people worldwide (100 million in the USA) again have their health and lives put at risk in order to increase profits for the drug companies!

Newly released information about the study with Vytorin, a widely prescribed cholesterol lowering drug, reveals that the drug does nothing to reduce plaque build up in the arteries. Just the opposite – using Vytorin doubled plaque growth and led to an increase in heart attacks and strokes. The study, conducted on 720 patients (most in the Netherlands) with high blood cholesterol levels, tested the effects of Vytorin (a "multi-drug" combining Zocor, a statin which inhibits cholesterol production in the liver; and Zetia, a drug that inhibits cholesterol absorption in the intestine). Although Vytorin lowered cholesterol levels in the blood by about 20% more than Zocor alone, it did not show any beneficial effects on slowing down progression of heart disease - it worsened it! Although some people may be surprised with the result, we at the Dr. Rath Research Institute are not.

More than a decade ago, Dr. Rath presented scientific evidence that indiscriminate lowering of cholesterol does not prevent heart attacks and strokes. This is because high cholesterol is a symptom but not the cause of heart disease. The production of cholesterol increases in response to weakening of the structure of the arteries of the heart and the need for their biological "repair". The most frequent reason for such weakening is impaired production of collagen – the building material of the blood vessel wall – which is caused by insufficient intake of micronutrients in our diet, such as vitamin C, Lysine, vitamin B6, copper and others. If these nutrients are not supplied, then cholesterol starts depositing in the arteries which with time leads to clogging of the blood flow, heart attacks and strokes. The cholesterol-based theory of heart disease does not explain why we are getting heart attacks but not nose or other organs attacks, why blockages occur in the arteries not veins, or many other aspects of heart disease. This theory only serves as a marketing tool for cholesterol lowering drugs."

You can lower your risk of heart attack and stroke by eating less salt. This also lowers high cholesterol levels. There are no adverse effects from reducing salt/sodium intake.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

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

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

More than one in four adults admitted to hospitals, care homes or mental health units are suffering from malnutrition

One in four adults in hospital 'malnourished'

Extracts from the Telegraph:

"More than one in four adults admitted to hospitals, care homes or mental health units are suffering from malnutrition, the largest survey of its kind has found.

Women and the elderly were at greatest risk, says the report from the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (Bapen), which is published today.

More than 11,000 patients were screened for signs of being under-fed and 28 per cent were found to be malnourished."

"Patrick South, of Age Concern, said that food should be a high priority for hospital and care staff. "Not only do a significant amount of people arrive in hospital and care settings already malnourished, six out of 10 older people are at risk of becoming malnourished, or their situation getting worse in hospital.

"Malnutrition is still rife in the community, with up to 14 per cent of people aged 65 and over in the UK being malnourished."

Christine Russell, of Bapen, said that doctors, nurses and dietitians "must work to implement consistent nutritional screening policies to ensure that malnutrition is effectively addressed"."

Sunbed users are increasing their risk of developing a life-threatening form of skin cancer by three-quarters

Cancer danger among young using sunbeds

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Sunbed users are increasing their risk of developing a life-threatening form of skin cancer by three-quarters, experts have warned.

A report has established that using sunbeds from an early age increases the risk of malignant melanoma by 75 per cent. It was released by Cancer Research UK as part of the SunSmart campaign, which will focus this year on the dangers of sunbeds.

It comes after the British Association of Dermatologists called for under-18s to be banned from using tanning beds and for tighter controls on unmanned and coin operated booths.

Skin cancer is the fastest rising cancer in Britain, with cases increasing by almost half in the last decade. Almost 9,000 cases of malignant melanoma are diagnosed in the UK annually and more than 1,800 die from the disease each year."

Heinz Asthoff, a German, eats more than 12,000 calories a day and does not gain any weight because he is not sensitive to salt.

German man suffering from incurable hunger

Extracts from the Telegraph:

"A German has been dubbed "the man with the bottomless stomach" as he binges on over 12,000 calories a day without gaining an ounce in weight.

Heinz Asthoff was struck with an incurable hunger following the death of his wife 22 years ago.

His incredible ability to eat endlessy without getting fat has been the subject of scientific studies and a TV programme in his homeland."

""I can't eat out anymore. Last time I went to a pub I ordered a potato pancake and ended up eating 100 of them. I can't afford it."

He is nearly six feet tall and weighs 15 stone. "My doctors say my stomach is like the mine I worked down for 36 years – black and bottomless," he said.

Doctors confess that they have no idea why his metabolism demands so much food."

"His doctor Henning Huesch said: "He does not have especially high cholesterol, is not physically ill through eating, but is clearly addicted to it."

Mr Asthoff is to undergo more tests at a university clinic near his home next month."

If doctors were not so fixated on the calorie theory of weight gain/loss they would not be looking for a metabolic explanation for why this man does not gain weight despite overeating. - They would realise and acknowledge that overeating does not cause overweight.

It is fluid retention/salt sensitivity/weakened veins that causes weight gain, and dieting increases fluid retention so does not reduce weight in obese people. - People with strong healthy veins and healthy kidneys, like Heinz Asthoff, simply excrete any excess sodium and water via the kidneys and bladder, and excrete any excess fat in the faeces. - Calories are not involved...

So obesity is not caused by overeating! - It is caused by fluid retention and is made worse by dieting.

To reduce fluid retention you need to cut down on salt/sodium - i.e. avoid eating salt and salty food. - Forget about calories! - If you are overweight, you KNOW that dieting does not work! - Cutting down on salt DOES work. - Try it!

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

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

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

Rising number of serious complaints about the NHS

Number of complaints against the NHS soars

Extract from the Telegraph:

"A growing number of NHS complaints are being upheld amid falling nursing standards and rushed GP appointments, according to a report published today.

The Healthcare Commission, the independent watchdog, investigated more than 10,000 cases last year. Complaints included cases of patients left in soiled bedding and allegations about rude nurses.

The commission upheld 20 per cent of complaints, more than twice as many as the previous year. Almost a third of complaints about hospitals involved lapses in basic nursing care.

Patients reported that they did not receive regular baths or showers and, in some cases, were left for hours in soiled bedding or clothes.

Nurses barged in on patients when they were changing and could be "abrupt" or "sharp" when speaking, making them feel like a nuisance, the watchdog found.

In some cases call bells were left out of reach and elderly patients were not given help with eating.

Patients also complained that they were given revealing hospital nightgowns to wear.

Charlotte Potter, from Help the Aged, said: "It is astounding that 30 per cent of complaints about hospitals concerned lapses in fundamental aspects of nursing care.

"Nutrition, privacy and dignity, and communication should not be optional extras. It is never acceptable to be left in soiled bedding."

Complaints over GPs included claims that they were too busy to spend enough time with patients.

More than 20 per cent of those who complained about GP service said that the diagnosis of their illness had been incorrect or delayed because of the lack of time. Most of these cases involved the eventual diagnosis of cancer.

Patients also complained that GPs withheld full information about their treatment because of fears that they "could not cope"."

Most patients rightly fear being 'punished' if they make a complaint - especially those without relatives to protect them from victimisation or bullying, so the number of complaints is very much an underestimate of the dissatisfaction felt.