"Moral corruption" of the medical industry

A Nobel Prize-winning scientist has hit out at what he terms the "moral corruption" of the medical industry. Britain's Sir John Sulston says that profits are taking precedence over the needs of patients, particularly in the developing world.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

European Regulators To Limit Antibiotics

The European Medicines Agency recommends restricting the use of antibiotics based on moxifloxacin because of the potential risk of liver damage, and also wants strengthened warnings.
Read article at pharmalot.com

Mum's vitamin D during pregnancy strengthens her children's teeth

Higher intakes of vitamin D during pregnancy may lead to stronger teeth in children, according to researchers from University of Manitoba, Canada.
Read article at nutraingredients.com

The hospital trust at the centre of Britain's worst recorded hospital superbug outbreak which led to the death of 331 patients has escaped prosecution

Superbug hospital escapes criminal charges
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Clostridium difficile contributed to the deaths of the patients over two-and-a-half years at three Kent hospitals a health watchdog report found.

Appalling standards of care, crowded wards, financial problems, a shortage of nurses and poor hygiene all led to the outbreak the Healthcare Commission found in a highly critical report in October.

However after studying that report, Kent Police and the Health and Safety Executive said there would be no charges over the deaths at hospitals run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Hospital Trust.

Assistant Chief Constable Allyn Thomas said: "Whilst the report makes for grim and at times distressing reading, our review has not identified any information that would indicate a need or duty to conduct a criminal investigation into the Trust at this time."

Relatives of those who died in the outbreak reacted angrily to the announcement.

Steve Stroud, whose 77-year-old stepmother Doreen Ford died in Maidstone Hospital said he was "disgusted" by the decision.

Mr Stroud, husband of former Bucks Fizz singer Cheryl Baker, said: "This is disgusting. Someone has got to be held to account over all these deaths and if it is not the hospital trust, then who the hell can it be?

"Someone really should have to carry the can over this... for no charges to be pressed is really disgusting. I can't believe it".

Baker, described the death of her mother-in-law as "legalised killing".

She said: "The Trust is to blame, I know that, everyone knows it and it makes my blood boil.

"Those patients didn't die by chance, they died because they contracted C diff at the Trust because of poor hygiene and care, so they are to blame, without a shadow of a doubt."

The Healthcare Commission had found the infection probably or definitely killed 90 people and was a factor in a further 241 deaths.

It also criticised the then chief executive of the trust, Rose Gibb, who left before the findings were published and is now reported to be fighting for a payout of several hundred thousand pounds.

But police said the report held no evidence that the deaths amounted to manslaughter."

Beggars belief, doesn't it?- All those deaths. All that suffering. All that sadness. - No-one held to account...

Without accountability there is less likelihood of improvement...

A study of more than 3,000 children shows that those who had a gene were less likely to feel "full" than their classmates. - False conclusions drawn.

Obesity gene 'increases appetite'
Article (about child obesity) in the Telegraph. - Here is the concluding paragraph:

""It is not simply the case that people who carry the risky variant of this gene automatically become overweight – but they are more susceptible to overeating. This makes them significantly more vulnerable to the modern environment which confronts all of us with large portion sizes and limitless opportunities to eat." "

I'm very sceptical about most gene research, including this research, led by Professor Jane Wardle, from University College London. - No doubt the actual findings are correct, but it's the unwarranted extrapolation - the conclusions/explanations/dodgy reasoning - that debases any claim to be good science...)o:

The genes in question won't have just suddenly evolved, will they? - But obesity and in particular, child obesity, are very recent. - But 'overeating' is not a recent phenomenon. And, unfortunately for Prof Wardle's 'reasoning', there is no research to back up her basic assumption that it is overeating that causes obesity. - Since the premise of her argument is false, so also must be her conclusion.

In addition, it should be remembered that heavier children need more calories than lighter children - to carry their heavier body around and to keep their larger body warm, so when they eat more than the lighter children, they are not necessarily overeating anyway...(o: - They are responding to their bodies' greater calorie requirements - what we might call their natural hunger/appetite.

You can read about the causes of obesity on my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (the site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information) and in particular about child obesity on this page - http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html

If you are overweight/obese and want to lose weight, you can do it easily and safely. - Read these pages to see how:

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, 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!

Well tonight I watched the Channel 4 Dispatches programme about shop-bought sandwiches

And clearly Boots sandwiches are much, much safer than the others - much the lowest salt and much the most accurate, honest labelling of what the sandwich is made of and the nutritional information.

And clearly some sandwiches are quite likely to give you food poisoning! - See the following link:

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/dispatches/sandwiches+unwrapped/2356872

The programme was very well presented by Channel 4 News presenter Alex Thomson, but was badly let down by some of the 'experts' who featured in it. - Professor Tom Saunders perpetuated the canard that calories and fat and sugar are the causes of obesity. - No, they're not, Tom! - I am constantly amazed at how this guy fails to grasp the truth about obesity. Salt sensitivity and the fluid retention, etc that accompanies it are what mainly cause obesity. (People who are not sensitive to salt do not become obese, even if they overeat and take little exercise.)

And although we were correctly informed that salt intake contributes to stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, Professor Graham MacGregor failed yet again to tell the millions watching the programme about obesity and the salt connection, and about how salt sensitivity comes about...)o: - He should have been telling - and indeed stressing - that salt reduction is the safe, effective, healthy way to lose weight.

And none of the experts mentioned the connection between high cholesterol and salt sensitivity - that reducing salt intake rapidly reduces high cholesterol levels.

Well I hope that if you watched the programme it put you off buying sandwiches from a shop, unless that shop is Boots. But as the presenter said at the end, it's best to make your own sandwiches...(o:

If you are overweight/obese and want to lose weight, you can do it easily and safely. - Read these pages to see how:

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, 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

See Sodium in foods

See also FAT RETENTION

Parents are to get school "fat reports" detailing their children's weight .

Fat reports on children to be sent to parents
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Rules to be introduced at the start of the academic year in September will see the parents of all children aged between four and five, and 10 and 11 receive the reports, after Government-commissioned research suggested the weight problem among Britain's children is worse than originally thought.

The most recent figures available show that one in 10 children aged between four and five are obese and 13 per cent are overweight, with the figures rising to 17.5 per cent and 14.2 per cent by age 11.

The research for the Department of Health reported that despite a well-publicised campaign to tackle childhood obesity and produce a comprehensive picture of the problem, the results "may underestimate the true population prevalence of obesity and overweight at national, regional and local level".

A Department of Health spokesman last night (SUN) said: "If you do not opt out and your child is measured at school you will automatically get feedback.""

It is appalling that parents are not being told what causes child obesity. - It is not overeating; nor is it inactivity. - The cause of obesity in children is the same as the cause of obesity in adults; it is fluid retention. In children a salty diet results in fluid retention and therefore weight gain/overweight/obesity. - To prevent or reduce child obesity it is necessary to reduce the amount of salt and salty food children eat. - They do not need to eat less food - just less salt/sodium. - There is more information here:

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/sodium_foods.html and

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

Hunger is not Nature's way of telling you you are getting slimmer; it is your body telling you that you need food!

Dieting is harmful and unnecessary. - If you are overweight/obese and want to lose weight, you can do it easily and safely. - Read these pages to see how:

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, 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

See Sodium in foods

See also FAT RETENTION

Beware that Subway sandwich! - It is laden with salt!

Supermarket sandwiches have 'more fat than two McDonald's burgers'
Article in the Telegraph

Extracts:

"Channel 4's Dispatches programme examined products from five of Britain's largest sandwich companies - Boots, Greggs, Subway, Pret a Manger and Marks and Spencer.

Researchers measured the levels of fat, saturates and salt in 100 sandwiches using the Food Standards Agency's traffic light system.

According to the FSA, a red light indicates that the food is "high in something we should be trying to cut down on" and should only be eaten occasionally."

"Subway came bottom of the list in terms of salt content with 93 per cent of the sandwiches tested earning a red light.

The retailer's foot-long 'Meatball Marinara' contained 9.4g of salt, equivalent to 18 packets of ready-salted crisps.

Pret a Manger came third, followed by M&S and Greggs. Boots again faired best, with 7 per cent of its sandwiches earning a red light for salt."

If you are overweight or have high blood pressure/hypertension you need to avoid salt and salty food.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, 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

See Sodium in foods

See also FAT RETENTION

Los Angeles bans new fast food outlets and California outlaws trans-fats

Los Angeles bans new fast food outlets and California outlaws trans-fats
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"On Friday night, California became the first state to prohibit the use of artery-clogging trans-fats in all its restaurants and bakeries, in legislation signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Planners in America's second largest city have backed an unprecedented moratorium on the opening of new outlets of chains such as Burger King and KFC in South Los Angeles, in an attempt to impose better eating habits on the area's mainly black and Hispanic population.

The restriction is the most recent example of local leaders across America seeking to impose a healthier lifestyle on residents to counter soaring obesity rates.

Last week in New York, health inspectors began to fine restaurant chains that fail to display prominently the calorie counts of their offerings.

Some major fast food franchises, which are backing a legal challenge against the regulation, reluctantly began to post the often alarming calorific breakdowns just one day before the new regime of fines took effect.

In Los Angeles the full council is expected on Tuesday to approve the restrictions across a 32 square-mile area of the city, where fast-food eateries currently make up 45 per cent of restaurants.

Officials have received inquiries from other American cities which are considering adopting a similar law. But the California Restaurant Association condemned the move as "damaging, misleading, uncalled for and bad for business".

The state, often a trailblazer on nutritional issues, is also ordering the phasing-out of trans-fats, a synthetic product linked to heart disease, from its 88,000 restaurants by 2010 and other food outlets such as bakeries by 2011.

"Today we are taking a strong step towards creating a healthier future for California," said Gov Schwarzenegger. New York was the first city to ban trans-fats from its restaurants and Boston and Baltimore have voted to follow suit.

New York's calorie count initiative is also being copied. San Francisco plans to implement the same rules later this year, in the face of opposition from the restaurant industry which plans court actions to try to block the move.

Health inspectors issued 277 "violation notices" to chains with outlets that failed to display the calorie information during an initial 10-week grace period in New York. Last night officials could not yet say how many actual fines - of up to $2,000 - had been levied since last weekend.

Already the new law has led to shocking discoveries by customers, including 630-calorie muffins, 1,300-calorie salads and a 2,000-calorie "Bloomin' Onion" appetiser - only just short of the recommended government calorie intake for an American adult for a day."

Well I'm sure trans-fats are food baddies and I'm well in favour of banning them, but the widespread belief that reducing calories will reduce obesity is absolutely wrong.

To reduce obesity it is necessary to reduce salt/sodium intake, not calories. Restaurants should be required to display the salt content of the food they provide, rather than the calories.

The fattest people - the morbidly obese - are usually the victims of prescribed drugs that cause sodium and water retention. Doctors prescribe these drugs far too readily/carelessly/recklessly, often in high dose, and without the important warning that while taking them the patient should avoid eating salt of salty food.

See Health problems associated with salt sensitivity and fluid retention

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, 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

See Sodium in foods

See also FAT RETENTION

Children should only use mobile phones in emergencies and adults should try and keep them away from their heads, a leading cancer expert has said

US cancer expert Ronald Herberman warns against children using mobile phones
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Ronald Herberman, the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute director, issued the warning as he urged mobile users to protect themselves from cancer risks.

Dr Herberman made the pronouncement in an internal memo to thousands of staff saying it was based on early unpublished data on the possible risk of brain cancer.

"We shouldn't wait for a definitive study to come out, but err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later," Dr Herberman said.

"I am convinced that there are sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some precautionary advice on cell phone use."

His warning came even though no major academic study has yet found any evidence that exposure to mobile phone signals affects brain function and the US Food and Drug Administration has said that, if there is a risk, it is probably very small.

Dr Heberman, however, said there was a "growing body of literature" which linked long-term mobile phone use with adverse health effects, including cancer."

Researchers at the National Institute for Agricultural Botany in Cambridge have produced a GM wheat that releases fewer calories into the body.

New flour means bread could fight obesity
Article in the Telegraph

Extracts:

"Researchers at the National Institute for Agricultural Botany in Cambridge have produced a genetically modified form of wheat that releases fewer calories into the body compared to other varieties currently available.

Food made from the new crop is also digested slower, making people feel fuller and less likely to eat more food. The scientists hope that these qualities could help make staple foods such as bread, pasta and other flour products healthier."

"Scientists at Birmingham University have also discovered a new method to replace fat in food products by using a protein found in mushrooms. The protein creates an air filled capsule that mimics the texture of fat.

The researchers claim that the protein could be used to replace fat in foods such as salad dressings, mayonnaise, sauces and even ice cream where most of the fat is used to provide a rich texture rather than taste.

Dr Phil Cox, one of the researcher on the team, said: "It is hoped that, by making indulgent foods more healthy, the consumer will be able to continue to enjoy those foods that are currently seen as bad for you, without worrying about the fat content.""

Wouldn't it be great if the researchers gave up this misguided research and did something useful instead?! - They could at least check that their research is founded on reliable evidence. - There is no evidence whatsoever that reducing calorie intake reduces obesity. Nor is there evidence that reducing fat intake reduces obesity. - And they've never even tested out these theories to check if they are right...)o:

The facts are that obesity is caused by salt sensitivity/sodium retention/fluid retention and sometimes, additionally fat retention, i.e. obesity is not caused by overeating or by taking too little exercise. - Obese people can easily lose excess weight, i.e. excess fluid and excess fat, by significantly reducing their intake of salt/sodium and by eating plenty of fruit and unsalted vegetables. - Reducing calories or fat intake has no effect on fluid retention so does not result in loss of excess weight. - Slim people do not have the problem of salt sensitivity; THAT IS WHY THEY ARE SLIM! - It isn't that they don't overeat. - Frequently slim people are the ones you see eating like there's no tomorrow and taking no exercise, but nobody tells them they are greedy or lazy. - It's only the fat people that get gratuitously insulted and accused of greed, yet most fat people are counting calories/dieting MOST OF THE TIME and so they are hungry and UNDER-EATING most of the time.

The fattest people - the morbidly obese - are usually the victims of prescribed drugs that cause sodium and water retention. Doctors prescribe these drugs far too readily/carelessly/recklessly, often in high dose, and without the important warning that while taking them the patient should avoid eating salt of salty food.

See Health problems associated with salt sensitivity and fluid retention

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, 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

See Sodium in foods

See also FAT RETENTION

Dawn Page awarded £810,000 damages for diet advisor's harmful advice that lead to water intoxication and brain damage.

Hydration Diet woman awarded £810,000 damages
Article in the Independent

Extract:

"A woman who was left brain damaged and epileptic after going on a radical diet has been awarded more than £800,000 damages at the High Court.

Dawn Page, 52, who has two children, was told to drink an extra four pints of water daily and cut salt intake to prevent fluid retention and lose weight. But within days of going on the Amazing Hydration Diet she was vomiting uncontrollably and suffered an epileptic fit.

Mrs Page of Faringdon, Wiltshire, was admitted to intensive care, but has been left suffering from epilepsy and a "cognitive deficit" which has affected her memory, concentration and ability to speak normally.

Mrs Page was forced to quit her job, suffers frequent mood swings, and has relied on her husband, Geoff, 54, for help ever since.

Mrs Page secured a £810,000 payout last week from her nutritionist's insurer after a six-year legal battle. Barbara Nash, who refers to herself as a "nutritional therapist and life coach", denies any fault. The High Court in London ratified the settlement without mention of liability."

The 'nutritionist' should not have advised drinking all that extra water...)o: Antony Andrews, the actor, drank litres of water during a theatre performance years ago and collapsed and had to be rushed to hospital with water poisoning. He'd been influenced by that widespread stupid advice to drink lots of water...)o:

Symptoms of water poisoning include lightheadedness, vomiting, headache, nausea and unresponsiveness. It is clearly dangerous folly to tell someone that vomiting is fine and is "part of the detox process". BBC2 had a programme a year or two ago which found definitively that there is no need for, or benefit from, 'detoxing'.

Then there was that woman who died from water poisoning in a radio competition in Sacramento - http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/catheri...the_blame_game

Cavemen and women lived without added salt in their diet for thousands of years and that is how our bodies evolved, so unless there is a particular medical reason for an individual to have added salt, food with no added salt is the natural way for our bodies to thrive. Societies which in these days eat that stone age sort of diet live long and healthy lives.

I reckon thirst is the body's way of telling us we need water or other fluid, and that when we have satisfied our thirst we should not drink a lot of extra fluid. There's too much emphasis on hydration these days, in my opinion.

Tougher targets for lowering the salt in food have been announced after research shows Britons still consume on average 50 per cent more than advised.

Britons still eating 50pc too much salt
AArticle in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Breakfast cereals, bread and cheese are among 80 everyday foodstuffs that should have further cuts made to their salt contents, according to the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

New research carried out by the FSA on nearly 700 British adults showed that average salt intake was 8.6g per day - significantly higher than the Government's national target of 6g, or one level teaspoon.

The findings, which come after a high-profile campaign to encourage people to reduce their salt intake, show that average consumption has continued to decline, falling from 9.5g in 2001 and 9g last year.

But reducing the average daily intake to 6g could prevent about 20,200 premature deaths every year from strokes, heart attacks and heart failure, according to the FSA.

It also says "substantial achievements" have been made by some producers - including breakfast cereal manufacturers, who have reduced salt in cereals by an average of 43 per cent since 2006; some crisp makers, who have managed a 55 per cent drop; and the makers of Pot Noodles, who have cut salt in the snack by half."

If the 'experts'would tell people the truth about the role of salt in the incidence and severity of obesity there would be such an outcry and a demand from consumers for lower salt or unsalted food that the manufacturers wouldn't keep playing silly beggars with their customers' health; they'd reduce the salt content substantially and pronto.

But of course not everyone needs to reduce salt/sodium intake. - In my opinion there should be ranges of food provided containing absolutely no added salt - so that steroid victims and amitriptyline victims and other very overweight people can have food that is safe for them to eat and is also convenient - because when you are very overweight you feel really tired and it is difficult and exhausting always to have to cook from scratch so as not to gain even more weight. - And there could be other food ranges that do have added salt, for the people who are slim and who do not have high blood pressure. - But the two ranges would need to be kept apart and be very easy to distinguish one from another.

And of course all the ranges could stop putting the calorie count on packs because it's irrelevant: calorie reduction does not reduce obesity AT ALL.

See Health problems associated with salt sensitivity and fluid retention

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, 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

See Sodium in foods

The babies of women who take topiramate, an epilepsy drug, while pregnant are at increased risk of birth defects, scientists warn.

Warning over epilepsy drug topiramate linked to birth defects
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The drug topiramate, which is also used to treat migraines in some people, was linked to a significantly higher risk of cleft palate or lip and genital deformities.

Experts say that epilepsy drugs should be used with caution in pregnant women due to the risks.

However, epileptic seizures can also harm the unborn child and lead to miscarriages so women with epilepsy are advised to consult their doctor when trying to become pregnant.

A new study published in the journal Neurology, examined 178 babies born to women who fell pregnant while taking topiramate alone or in combination with other drugs.

Sixteen babies had major birth defects, three of them were born to women only taking topiramate and the others were born to women taking it in combination with other drugs."

A boy who was sent away from hospital three times before he collapsed and died at home could have survived if he had been admitted for observation.

Boy, 11, died after hospital sent him home three times
Report in the Telegraph

Extract:

"After visiting his GP, he was referred to the hospital's Nightingale ward where he was briefly admitted before being sent home with antibiotics for a suspected urine infection.

His mother took him to accident and emergency at 6am the next day where he was again examined but sent home to give the antibiotics more time to work.

By Saturday, Joseph was vomiting blood so his mother rang NHS direct and doctors referred the family back to the hospital where the boy stayed overnight.

A doctor diagnosed 'non specific abdominal pain' and suggested a surgical consultation might be needed if he did not improve.

The next morning, Monday June 10, Dr James Crossley, discharged Joseph after learning he had managed to eat breakfast.

He arranged to see him four days later but the youngster, who had made a full recovery since undergoing bowel surgery as a baby, died the next day. A post mortem revealed an obstruction in Joseph's bowel."

I regard this as medical negligence and also stupidity on the part of the doctor. - How can 'vomiting blood' possibly be diagnosed as PAIN? - The pain this poor boy suffered was the RESULT of the internal problem that was causing him to vomit blood; it could not possibly be the CAUSE of vomiting blood.

Up to 75,000 people in Britain will die as influenza or a similar disease sweeps the world in an "inevitable" pandemic, according to a Lords Committee

Disease pandemic 'inevitable' in Britain warns House of Lords
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Changes in lifestyle are leading to new infections and providing them with opportunities to spread rapidly, the report warns.

An outbreak in Britain will cause "massive" disruption, it concludes. More should be done to provide early warnings.

The Lords intergovernmental organisations committee says the "dysfunctional" World Health Organisation needs to be better organised to cope with the threat. The peers describe the Government's evidence to it as "sobering".

They were told by ministers: "While there has not been a pandemic since 1968, another one is inevitable.

"Estimates are that the next pandemic will kill between two million and 50 million people worldwide and between 50,000 and 75,000 in the UK. Socio-economic disruption will be massive." The committee says that with three quarters of newly emerging human infections originating from animals, more stringent ways of detecting diseases are needed.

Lord Soley, the chairman of the committee, said: "The last 100 years have seen great advances in public health and disease control through the world, but globalisation and changes in lifestyles are giving rise to new infections and providing opportunities for them to spread rapidly."

You can strengthen your immunity to infections by reducing your intake of salt and salty food.

Major causes of ill health are the chronic degenerative diseases Heart disease, Hypertension, Stroke, Cancer, Diabetes, Osteoporosis and Alzheimers.

You can reduce the risk of ALL of these by cutting down on salt and salty food.

See Health problems associated with salt sensitivity and fluid retention

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, 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

See Sodium in foods

Pet owners are increasingly feeding their animals a dangerously unhealthy diet of junk food, causing them to become obese.

Junk food is causing pet obesity epidemic
Article in the Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Researchers for The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals found that in the past year there has been a 10 per cent increase in the number of overweight animals.

Around 500,000 pets are affected, ranging from cats and dogs to rabbits, rats and even budgerigars.

They are suffering symptoms identified with obesity in humans, such as low energy levels, breathing problems, arthritis, asthma, diabetes, liver and heart disease and poor fertility."

It's the high levels of salt in junk food that cause the pets to become obese because of fluid retention. Pets need to be fed food which contains little or no added salt/sodium.

See Lose weight

An NHS chief has apologised 22 times for his hospital's failure to care properly for an 89-year-old war veteran who died of the superbug C. diff

Letter that proves the sorry state of NHS care for elderly
Article in the Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"In an extraordinary letter of confession, John Rostill, the chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, tells Susan Davies repeatedly that he is sorry for his staff's failure to provide adequate treatment for her father, Vic Jones, who served as a corporal in the Army in the Second World War.

Mr Jones died in May of a C. diff infection, which he had contracted in Worcestershire Royal Hospital after being admitted with pneumonia.

According to Mrs Davies, conditions on the wards were "grim". Her father was left next to a window in blazing sunshine in temperatures of over 80F, causing him to become dehydrated, she said.

Water was placed where he could not reach it, the hospital ran out of his medicine, and staff failed to order probiotic drinks that had been prescribed for him.

"There were faeces on his bandages and on the walls," she said. "Every day there were signs of neglect. I had to constantly complain to get even the most basic care for him.""

This appalling, cruel, negligent treatment and suffering is what we pay our high taxes for!

And even now, some deluded people speak of the NHS as the envy of the world! - Yeah, right!

More people visit my website about amitriptyline than for any other single reason. So it would seem it is widely prescribed and usually causes obesity

If you are taking or have taken amitripyline/Elavil and have, therefore, gained weight, you may like to visit my webpages about amitriptyline - http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html - and about losing weight - http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/lose_weight.html

Even with very skilled surgeons, there can be devastating consequences. Jan Stanek has had to pay compensation to a face lift/liposculpture patient.

TV plastic surgeon Jan Stanek compensation pay out
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The internationally acclaimed cosmetic surgeon Jan Stanek has agreed to a six-figure compensation payout to a face lift patient who claims she suffered a devastating stroke whilst under his knife.

Diane Newbould, 53, who claims she was originally paralysed down one side, said she will never recover from the face lift and liposculpture operation carried out by Mr Stanek at a private hospital in central London in January 2002.

She sued Mr Stanek and the anaesthetist during the operation, claiming their negligence wrecked her life, leaving her a severely disabled shadow of her former self.

Yesterday, her counsel, Simeon Maskrey QC, told London's High Court that Mr Stanek and the anaesthetist had agreed to a substantial settlement of Mrs Newbould's case.

The settlement was agreed without any admission of liability by Mr Stanek, or the anaesthetist.

Mr Stanek is considered one of the leading surgeons in his field and is well known around the world after featuring in the Channel 5 series, "Plastic Fantastic," and most recently in the popular Channel 4 series, "10 years Younger"."

With regard to liposuction or liposculpture, the safest way to lose weight is to avoid eating salt and salty food. Surgery always carries risk and in my opinion should be avoided if at all possible.

See Lose weight

Drinking a couple of cups of tea a day can halve the risk of dementia, according to new research.

Tea halves the risk of dementia, study shows
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Scientists found those who drank two or three cups of black tea a day were less than half as likely to exhibit early signs of dementia as those who never or rarely drank it.

But drinking coffee had no protective effect on the brain, the study found.

The scientists concluded that it was not the caffeine in tea that had a beneficial effect, but compounds called polyphenols.

Previous studies have already suggested polyphenols in green tea can protect against dementia and Alzheimer's, which affect an estimated 750,000 in Britain today.

That number is set to double over the next 40 years as Britain's population ages.

But this is the first time a comparative study has been made on the protective effects of black tea, by far the most popular variety drunk here.

Britons drink 168 million cups of black tea a day, although most of us put a splash of milk in it.

You can also reduce your risk of dementia by cutting down on salt and salty food.

Women who examine their breasts for cancerous lumps do not reduce their chances of dying from the disease, scientists warn

Checking breasts for lumps does not reduce deaths from cancer, researchers warn
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"A review of research studies involving more than 380,000 women concluded there was no evidence that self-examination had any effect on deaths from breast cancer.

It may even be doing more harm than good as women who thought they found lumps underwent biopsies that turned out to be unnecessary.

Self examination led to twice as many biopsies that turned out to be negative for cancer than women who did not check their breasts."

You can reduce your risk of developing breast cancer and most other cancers by eating less salt/sodium and eating plenty of fruit and (unsalted) vegetables.

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

Obesity could increase with each generation because overweight mothers give birth to offspring who have a tendency to become heavier, experts say.

Obesity will increase with each generation, medical experts warn
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"A team of scientists believe that the genetic mechanisms that control the weight of a baby may be changed if the mother is obese before and during pregnancy.

This change could lead in turn to the baby becoming heavier than normal.

Scientists in Houston, America, made the claim after studying the eating habits of several generations of mice."

This prospect could easily be avoided if people were given the correct information. - Obesity is caused by salt sensitivity/sodium retention/water retention/fluid retention and not by overeating. All the advice about reducing calories to reduce excess weight is completely false and is exacerbating both the incidence and the severity of obesity.

To reduce obesity significantly and to prevent it in children, it is necessary to avoid eating salt and salty food. So there really needs to be a ban on adding salt to processed food and bread, because these are the foods that contribute most of the salt that people eat.

The second very important preventive measure is to curb the reckless overprescribing of drugs by the medical profession, because so many of these drugs CAUSE sodium retention/fluid retention, etc and therefore their patients/victims become obese and frequently become morbidly obese needlessly. I consider it medical negligence not to warn patients that when they are taking these drugs that cause sodium retention that they will gain a lot of weight UNLESS they avoid salt/sodium and salty food while taking the medication. - The main drugs that cause weight gain in this way are steroids like prednisone and prednisolone and HRT (because of the oestrogen content), and antidepressants like amitriptyline/Elavil and other tricyclics, and antipsychotic drugs. There are many other drugs too that cause weight gain, but they usually have a smaller effect than the steroids, the tricyclics and the antipsychotics.

Doctors and other 'experts' should be forbidden by law from telling people to cut down on calories/eat less because this is harmful and does not reduce obesity at all.

Likewise exercise is good for people in many ways but it does not reduce the weight of obese people AT ALL. - It would be better for fat people to lose weight (by seriously reducing salt intake) before embarking on much exercise, because exercise is very tiring for fat people and it also tends to be hazardous for them, raising their blood pressure, etc.

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

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/sodium_foods.html and

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

More than 350 errors in surgery are reported every day in England

Report finds 350 surgery errors every day
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"More than 350 errors in surgery are reported every day in England, often because doctors operate on the wrong part of the body, and with sometimes fatal results, a report by Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, has found."

GlaxoSmithKline could pay Swiss company Actelion up to 3.3 billion Swiss francs (1.6 billion pounds) to develop an insomnia drug

GSK to pay Actelion up to 1.6 bln for drug rights
Article in International Herald Tribune

Extract:

"Glaxo, Europe's biggest drugmaker, beat many of the world's top pharmaceuticals companies to partner Actelion's sleeping pill almorexant and the deal sent the Swiss biotech's stock soaring nearly 10 percent on Monday."

If you suffer from insomnia you can improve your sleep without taking drugs. - Reducing salt/sodium intake improves sleep so just try to avoid salt and salty food.

A website that rates doctors, with ratings and reviews by their patients.

http://iwantgreatcare.org/

This may be useful to people who have moved house and are wanting to register with a practice in the new area, or to people who would like information about consultants and surgeons.

Obesity is the country's most serious health crisis and sufferers are not doing enough to lose weight, Britain's senior doctor will warn.

Obesity is Britain's biggest health problem, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson warns
Article in the Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, will signal that he cautiously supports David Cameron's declaration that the obese should take more responsibility for eating more healthily and doing more exercise.

Obesity will be one of the key issues highlighted in Sir Liam's annual report, which will highlight that cases of a cancer linked to the condition have almost doubled in British men.

Britain now has the highest rates of gullet (oesophageal) cancer in Europe, leading Sir Liam to issue a "public alert" urging doctors to look out for the condition, which is declining in other parts of Europe."

"Sir Liam is understood to have some sympathy with the views expressed by Mr Cameron earlier this month when the Conservative leader said: "We talk about people being 'at risk of obesity' instead of talking about people who eat too much and take too little exercise.""

A pity that even Sir Liam Donaldson knows so little about the causes of obesity and the best way to reduce it! - It is NOT caused by eating too much and taking too little exercise. Obese people are being misinformed by the people who advise them to eat less and to take more exercise.

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!
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.)

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/sodium_foods.html and

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

If you take vitamin/mineral supplements and want to continue in the doses you prefer

You may like to visit this site http://www.consumersforhealthchoice.com/ and/or sign this petition http://www.consumersforhealthchoice.com/phpPETITION/

I don't usually sign petitions but I've signed this one.

Do you have difficulty rising from a chair? - Did this problem develop quickly?

I have some suggestions you may like to consider.

Reducing your salt/sodium intake would help with this problem.
Eating plenty of fruit and (unsalted) vegetables would also help.

Make sure you are not short of vitamin D and calcium and magnesium. - You may like to consider taking one a day of those multivitamin/multimineral tablets to make up for any nutrients your body may be short of.

IF YOU ARE DIETING, GIVE IT UP! - DIETING WILL NOT MAKE YOU SLIMMER. - TO LOSE EXCESS WEIGHT YOU NEED TO GET RID OF EXCESS FLUID (FLUID RETENTION) IN YOUR BODY AND YOU CAN DO THIS MAINLY BY AVOIDING SALT AND SALTY FOOD. AVOIDING SALT IS SAFE AND HAS MANY OTHER BENEFITS FOR YOUR HEALTH TOO.

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!
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.)

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/sodium_foods.html and

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

Unintentional poisoning of pet dogs - by chocolate, grapes, painkillers et al

Dog poisoning cases up by almost 50 per cent
Article in the Telegraph

Extracts:

"Dogs that have swallowed chocolate, grapes and raisins are fuelling a huge rise in pet poisoning cases.

The number of dogs falling ill after eating chocolate soared by 48 per cent last year to 1,166, according to the Veterinary Poisons Information Service.

Chocolate contains theobromine, a stimulant found in the cocoa bean, which affects the central nervous system as well as the heart muscle and can kill a dog.

The service, which advises vets, has also seen an increase of 91 per cent in dogs becoming sick after eating grapes, raisins or sultanas.

Toxins from the fruit can cause renal failure in the animals. In some cases, small dogs have died after eating as few as four grapes.

The problem has only been recognised in recent years and the number of cases reported to the service rose from 117 to 224.

Vets believe many owners are unaware of the dangers and have fed their pets food such as cake and biscuits containing chocolate or grapes as treats, while in other cases the animals have helped themselves.

Most common dog toxins

Rat poison 1,283 cases in 2007

Chocolate 1,166

Ibuprofen 710

Paracetamol 414

Oral contraceptives 334

Grapes, raisins and sultanas 224

Slug bait 190

Carprofen – an anti-inflammatory drug for dogs which can produce adverse reactions. 188

Diclofenac – used to treat arthritis in humans. 155

Snake bites 153"

Salt and salty food can also harm your dog by causing it to become overweight.

See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk

WALL-E - fattism causes anger in fat pride groups. - If only people were told the trutyh about what causes obesity!

WALL-E's 'fattist' satire angers fat pride groups
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"For many film fans it is already an animated movie classic, a charming tale of a robot driven by the need to clean up earth after thoughtless humans and his search for the girl he loves.

WALL-E has garnered rave reviews for its satire on consumer culture, in which future humans are depicted as a group of obese gluttons who never leave their padded floating arm chairs.

But one group is not amused - the swelling ranks of fat pride groups, who believe the film propagates anti-obesity hysteria comparable with the quest for the perfect body by the eugenics movement in Nazi Germany.

The backlash has become a cause celebre for a growth industry in the United States, where pro-flab "fat-tivists" are campaigning for human rights for the full of figure."

Well the ignorant/inadequate/uninformed/prejudiced slim people who feel the need to insult and bully and be sarcastic about fat people are wrong. - It is not gluttony and laziness that causes people to become fat; it is salt sensitivity/fluid retention/water retention/sodium retention that is the cause. - And the remedy is to tell the truth about how to reduce excess weight, i.e. by avoiding salt and salty food, NOT BY DIETING AND TRYING TO DO STRENUOUS EXERCISE THAT CAN BE HAZARDOUS AND EXTREMELY TIRING FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE OVERWEIGHT/OBESE/FAT.

And as far as human rights are concerned, people should have the human right to be given the facts about the causes of obesity and how to prevent/reduce it.

WHEN is the truth going to be told about 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!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Taking aspirin every day could help to prevent the painful bone-wasting disease osteoporosis, scientists believe.

An aspirin a day 'could help prevent osteoporosis'
Article in the Telegraph

Here is an extract, but it is probably best to read the whole article:

"The pain killer could offer a new treatment against the condition, also known as "brittle bone" disease.

Research has shown that the drug can help increase bone density in mice. It could prevent the premature death of bone forming cells in the animals.

Aspirin also blocked the effects of other cells which act destructively on the bones."

If you wish to avoid taking aspirin, you can also reduce your risk of osteoporosis by avoiding salt and salty food and by avoiding dieting.

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/sodium_foods.html and

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

A senior pharmaceutical executive has been forced to resign his position as an advisor to the schools inspectorate, Ofsted.

GlaxoSmithKline executive resigns as Ofsted adviser
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Paul Blackburn, the vice-president and financial controller at GlaxoSmithKline, was appointed to Ofsted two weeks before the company won a contract to vaccinate 12 and 13-year-old schoolgirls against the sexually transmitted virus linked to cervical cancer.

Yesterday GSK said "unfounded allegations" were made to Ofsted and Mr Blackburn had been asked to resign by the schools watchdog.

It had been hoped that Mr Blackburn would bring private sector expertise to the public sector. His contribution had been praised by Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary."

We are told that the average adult has five litres (8.8 pints) of blood. I doubt that is any longer true.

When people become overweight or obese their blood volume increases because of fluid retention. Now that such a high (and rising) proportion of the population is obese, the average person's blood volume must be quite a lot more than 8 pints.

But it would be very difficult to get this checked out because there is some risk of harm from the blood measurement procedure and so health professionals rarely do this measurement.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Damning report on Britain's overcrowded and understaffed maternity services.

Maternity services report: Key points
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Inadequate numbers of midwives to provide one to one care for women in labour and women are left alone too often.

Consultants not present on the wards often enough with a senior doctor available for just 10 hours a week in some units when they should be there for 40 or 60 hours depending on the number of births.

There were too few beds and bathrooms, particularly on labour wards with only one in six having one bath per delivery room and one third having one shower per room."

Canadian women intend to sue over getting breast cancer after taking HRT drugs Premarin and Premplus

VANCOUVER - An international maker of a hormone replacement drug has lost its bid to block a B.C. lawsuit, clearing the way for a possible class-action suit on behalf of breast cancer survivors. Hundreds of B.C. women who claim they got breast cancer after taking the drugs Premarin and Premplus have contacted the law firm involved in the B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit. David Klein, the lawyer for the women, said it means if the company is found at fault, the international firm would be held accountable in a Canadian court.
Read Canadian Press news story at yahoo.com

Premarin is the drug that harmed me so much...)o: - though it did not cause me breast cancer.

Schools Secretary Ed Balls is at the centre of a controversy over the appointment of a top executive with the drugs company GSK to the board of Ofsted

The following paragraph is copied from http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/Newsletter/archive/newsletter_2008_07_jul_09.html

A scandal is mushrooming because the Schools Secretary has appointed a Glaxo exec to the board of the government's official education watchdog agency, known as Ofsted. And the move occurred less than a month before the government awarded a reported $200 million contract to Glaxo for its HPV vaccine for school-age girls 12 years and older, which some parents fear will give a green light to teenage sex, The Daily Mail reports. The appointment also comes at a time when a growing number of families are filing lawsuits against Glaxo over its Paxil antidepressent, claiming the drug caused suicide or attempted suicides.
Read article at pharmalot.com

Smells fishy to me...

Doctors should start giving statins to children to combat an obesity "epidemic", according to a prestigious American academy. - What folly!

Children 'should be prescribed statins to combat heart disease'
Article in the Telegraph

Extract from the article:

"The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued guidelines recommending wider cholesterol screening for children and more aggressive use of cholesterol-lowering drugs starting as early as the age of 8 in hopes of preventing adult heart problems.

The push to aggressively screen and medicate for high cholesterol in children is certain to create controversy amid a continuing debate about the use of prescription drugs in children as well as the best approaches to ward off heart disease in adults.

But proponents say there is growing evidence that the first signs of heart disease show up in childhood, and with 30 percent of the nation's children overweight or obese, many doctors fear that a rash of early heart attacks and diabetes is on the horizon as these children grow up."

When children become obese and develop heart disease and high cholesterol it is because they are eating salty food. - To prevent/reduce these health problems in children their salt/sodium intake needs to be significantly lowered and they should eat plenty of fruit and (unsalted) vegetables. There is no need for them to reduce calorie intake. They also need to be protected from high doses of prescription drugs that cause fluid retention/obesity/sodium retention/salt/sensitivity.

Medics always seem to want to push more and more drugs. - Drug-pushing of statins onto children is not a good idea. - Deal with the cause of the problem in order to solve/reduce it by minimising salt intake; don't prescribe drugs unnecessarily,, especially as so many people report very unpleasant side-effects from taking statins. - There are only good side-effects from lowering salt intake...(o: - losing weight, lowering high blood pressure, lowering cholesterol, lowering risk of stroke and heart disease and heart attack and type 2 diabetes, etc etc.

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

A foolish, ill-informed David Cameron has attacked "moral neutrality", saying the obese, the idle and the poor have no one to blame but themselves.

David Cameron launches 'moral neutrality' attack on obese, idle and poor
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"We talk about people being 'at risk of obesity' instead of talking about people who eat too much and take too little exercise."

Absolutely wrong, Mr Cameron! - Where's your evidence? - Any research to support your offensive, false assumption? - Of course not! - You are as ill-informed about obesity as is the prejudiced, ignorant Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of the BMA Council. - See http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2007/08/fat-people-are-just-greedy-says-ill.html

Dieting, i.e. eating less food/fewer calories does not reduce obesity, nor does increasing exercise. - This is because obesity is not caused by overeating.

WHEN is the truth going to be told about 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!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Marmite, cheddar cheese, raisins, Corn Flakes and honey are to remain banned from being advertised during children's television programmes...

This is crazy! - Raisins, honey and Marmite banned from children's television adverts
Article in the Telegraph

I'm all in favour of banning Marmite ads: Marmite is laden with salt and therefore very bad for children. But raisins and other dried fruits are very low in sodium/salt and are high in potassium and therefore tend to reduce the risk of child obesity, not increase it. - Child obesity, like all obesity, is caused by fluid retention, not by fat/sugar/calories. - See this page about children and obesity - http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html

And the ads for Kellogg's Special K Sustain are allowed! - Yet this cereal is very high in sodium - 0.45g sodium per 100g product. - See http://www.kelloggs.co.uk/products/specialk/cereal/special_k_sustain.aspx

Extract from the article:
"However, the FSA said monitoring calories per 100 grams was the most effective way of cutting down on childhood obesity."
This is categorically untrue! - The most effective way to cut down on child obesity (and adult obesity) is to see that they avoid eating salt and salty food. - I don't know how the FSA (Food Standards Agency) gets away with giving the wrong information about the cause of child obesity. - Monitoring calories has absolutely no role to play in reducing child obesity.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, 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/ (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 - http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/obesity_and_the_salt_connection.html

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

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

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/sodium_foods.html and

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

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/pregnant_mothers.html

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

If you need my further help, I can be contacted from my website. - My help is free.

A glass of red wine a day, or eating certain fruits, could help to prevent breast cancer, a new study shows.

Red wine could help prevent breast cancer
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Laboratory tests have shown that a chemical found in the skin of grapes could halt the development of most cases of the disease.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women, and almost 45,000 cases are diagnosed in the UK every year.

Now scientists have found that a chemical called resveratrol, which is also found in blueberries, bilberries, cranberries and peanuts, can suppress the creation of tumour cells.

The chemical works by blocking the way that oestrogen combines with DNA in a woman's bodies to create the cancer.

Researchers found that even low levels of resveratrol, the equivalent to that found in a typical glass of red wine, was enough to create the effect."

But alcohol increases the risk of developing breast cancer. - See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1585095/A-little-alcohol-%27increases-breast-cancer-risk%27.html so the fact that red wine contains low levels of resveratrol is a red herring really. - To minimise risk of breast cancer, alcohol intake should be minimised. - Get your resveratrol from the fruits themselves...(o:

Reducing salt intake also reduces the risk of breast cancer and most other cancers.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, 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!

Toddlers who turn their noses up at foreign spicy food could be branded racists by a Government-sponsored agency - the National Children's Bureau...

Toddlers who dislike spicy food 'racist'
Article in the Telegraph

Extracts:

"The National Children's Bureau, which receives £12 million a year, mainly from Government funded organisations, has issued guidance to play leaders and nursery teachers advising them to be alert for racist incidents among youngsters in their care.

This could include a child of as young as three who says "yuk" in response to being served unfamiliar foreign food.

The guidance by the NCB is designed to draw attention to potentially-racist attitudes in youngsters from a young age."

"Nurseries are encouraged to report as many incidents as possible to their local council. The guide added: "Some people think that if a large number of racist incidents are reported, this will reflect badly on the institution. In fact, the opposite is the case.""

If this is the sort of lunacy the National Children's Bureau churns out, then a good way of saving £12 million a year would be to disband it...