Cave Salem!

If my blog and I were transported back in time, and you, Dear Reader, were an Ancient Roman, then I might well say to you, "Cave salem!" thus giving you a bit of advice to improve your health. Though of course, as an Ancient Roman, you would not be particularly in need of that bit of advice...(o: 

 

But in our present-day culture, and speaking in English, I say, "Beware of salt!" and that is a very necessary warning for most people, because there is way too much added salt in our modern diets. The Food Industry ladles a great deal of salt into the ready meals and other processed food products it manufactures. - Excessive salt intake may well be contributing to your weight problem, or to your high blood pressure and breathlessness. It may well have been the main factor in the stroke or heart attack you had or any/all of the chronic ill-health you suffer. - Be that as it may, if you cut down on the amount of salt and salty food you eat, you will feel ever so much better, have more energy and think more clearly. Give it a try! - Read about salt in food.

Vitamin D is crucial in human immune response to tuberculosis

Medical Xpress reports that Vitamin D is crucial in human immune response to tuberculosis. The researchers "found that T-cells, which are white blood cells that play a central role in immunity, release a protein called interferon-gamma that triggers communication between cells and directs the infected immune cells to attack the invading tuberculosis bacteria. However, this activation requires sufficient levels of vitamin D to be effective."

This important finding stirs very mixed emotions in me. In childhood and adolescence I suffered repeated bouts of pulmonary tuberculosis, after which time I was advised by health professionals to avoid exposing my skin to sunshine in case it reawakened the dormant TB germs. Vitamin D is known as the 'sunshine vitamin'. Clearly, in the light of this research finding (published online today,Oct. 12, in the peer-reviewed journal, Science Translational Medicine) the advice that I was given was completely wrong, and since I followed that advice for a long time, it cannot but have compromised my health. More and more, researchers are reporting the many health benefits that vitamin D bestows on us, and the many disbenefits that are caused by inadequate levels of vitamin D.

Fat-free crisps/Olestra: just because fake-fat contains no calories doesn't mean it will help you to lose weight

Read this abcnews report. Fat-free crisps/Olestra: just because fake-fat contains no calories doesn't mean it will help you to lose weight. It doesn't look as though it's even safe! - Why would it be? - Do you think a car would run OK on pretend fuel? - Why should we imagine that a human being could run OK on pretend food? ""It goes against what you might think -- you remove calories from food and you'll lose weight, but at the end of the day the chemical manipulation of food leads to increased weight. We don't understand exactly why yet, but research continues to show this is true," ABC News Medical contributor Dr. Marie Savard said. "

Forget about counting calories! Lose weight safely and simply by eating less salt and salty food! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Average Drug Label lists 70 potential side-effects!

MSNBC.com reports that the average Drug Label lists 70 potential side-effects/drug reactions! - “The greatest number of side effects was found in antidepressants, antiviral medications and newer treatments for restless leg syndrome and Parkinson's disease. In general, medications typically used by psychiatrists and neurologists had the most complex labels, while drugs used by dermatologists and ophthalmologists had the least.” Read what Dr Mercola has to say about this report.

And Dr Mercola tells us that "according to the latest statistics from the Kaiser Health Foundation, the average American aged 19 to 64 now takes more than 11 prescription drugs!" - And all of them have their side-effects! And side-effects are potentiated when more than one drug is being taken! - No wonder that prescription drugs occasion many thousands of visits to emergency services and are the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States!

Clearly this is a deplorable state of affairs. On my own website, more people visit with concerns about amitriptyline and other antidepressants, than about any other drug or family of drugs. And since antidepressants work no better than dummy pills and have lots of undesirable side-effects, most commonly weight gain/fluid retention/sodium retention, the massive prescribing of these particular harmful prescription drugs could and should be stopped ASAP, with great benefit to health and massive saving of money.

I am very tired and in very great pain.

It is a bit of an embarrassment for me to write that I am very tired and in very great pain because I so often write that cutting down on salt/sodium reduces tiredness and reduces pain. Maybe you think, reading this, that I should practise what I preach, and you are right. I should practise what I preach - and I do.

Late in 1997, when I first began to discover the benefits of eating less salty food, I was, literally, so tired I could scarcely even summon the energy to blink! I am not exaggerating. And I was in so much pain that to walk even one step was like torture, and lying down in bed was so fraught with pain it was like lying on a bed of nails. I would certainly have died before the end of 1997 if I had not started to cut down on my salt intake, even though I already ate very little salt.

If you are reading this while you are very tired and/or in constant or intractable pain, I urge you to consider reducing your intake of salt and salty food. Try it! - Go on! - It is a truism that what can't be cured must be endured, but by cutting down on salt you really will feel better than you do now. There are many, many health benefits that result from eating less salt. I invite you to visit my website and find out more about how to reduce your salt intake, and about other natural, drug-free ways of improving your health and well-being.

Conflicts of interest and the drug companies

Major philanthropic foundations, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, regularly make the news with their donations and initiatives aimed at improving global health. But there is an aspect to their efforts that may be overlooked - such organizations can have links with drugmakers that could constitute a conflict of interest, according to an analysis published in PLoS Medicine.
Read article at pharmalot.com
The Dr Rath Health Foundation comments: The PLoS analysis adds significantly to the information about the Gates Foundation that was published by the Los Angeles Times in January 2007. In particular, the researchers found that several members of the Gates Foundation’s management committee, leadership teams, affiliates, and major funders are currently or were previously members of the boards or executive branches of major drugmakers, including Merck and Novartis. To examine the commercial network of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, click here and here. For further information about Bill Gates, click here.

Counterfeit medicine fraud: man jailed

I must confess this BBC News report caused me a double-take. "A man has been jailed for eight years for his part in what has been described as the most serious fake medicine fraud in the European Union. Peter Gillespie, 64, from Hertfordshire, was part of a £4.7m plot to bring two million doses of counterfeit drugs from China to the UK. He was convicted of conspiring to defraud pharmaceutical wholesalers, pharmacists and members of the public." The fake drugs "contained only a fraction of the correct dosage. They included Zyprexa, a medicine to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder."

The prosecution claimed that patients had been put at risk by this fraud. - I seriously wonder about this. - Zyprexa is such a dangerous drug. See Drug information about Zyprexa. And, perhaps more pertinently, read this damning Bloomberg report about the criminally fraudulent claims made about Zyprexa by the drug's manufacturers and the great harm (including death) the drug caused to unfortunate patients who took it. Maybe patients would have been a great deal less at risk from counterfeit Zyprexa than from the real thing...

I believe that the only health in which drug companies are interested is the health of their own financial profits.

Vitamin D deficiency now a worldwide problem

A study conducted by the Department of Health Sciences at Qatar University (QU) has shown that 53.5% of Qatari females of college age are severely vitamin D deficient and 43.6% have insufficient levels of the vitamin. Previous studies have shown that 68.8% of Qatari children aged 11-16 have insufficient levels of vitamin D, which can have an effect on skeletal and muscle development.
Read article in The Gulf Times (Qatar).

This is comment from the Dr Rath Foundation: Vitamin D deficiency is now a worldwide problem. In the United States, Canada, the UK and throughout the EU, for example, deficiencies of the vitamin are now widespread. Significantly, therefore, Anthony Norman, a distinguished professor emeritus of biochemistry and biomedical sciences and an international expert on vitamin D, notes that half the people in North America and Western Europe get insufficient amounts of vitamin D and that merely eating vitamin D-rich foods is not adequate to solve the problem. Elsewhere in the world, the problem is no less serious. Pregnant Arab women, for example, have an "extraordinarily high prevalence" of vitamin D deficiency, whilst India is also now home to a growing epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. Even Australia, a land with plentiful sunshine and an outdoor lifestyle, now has a “mind-boggling” rate of deficiencies in this nutrient.

Today is the start of Salt Awareness Week

World Salt Awareness Week. You can improve your health in countless ways by eating less salt and salty food.

So have you given up something for Lent?

Did you give up smoking? - That is excellent.

Did you give up sugar in your tea and coffee? - That's great. - Give up cakes and biscuits as well...(o:

Did you give up eating salt and salty food? - No? - It would improve your health in many ways and you would have more energy to do your work, pursue your interests, help other people... I hope you will consider cutting out, or at any rate, cutting down on, salt and salty food. That mainly means giving up processed food, ready meals and takeaways.

Did you give up dieting? - Unlikely, I guess. - And yet, dieting really isn't good for you. - If you've actually started to diet as a Lenten task, I hope you will consider swapping that resolve, and consider giving up sugar and salt instead. - Doing that swap would achieve the weight loss you wish for, without damaging your health as dieting does.

BBC News reports that England is 'healthier than the US'

BBC News reports that England is 'healthier than the US' and my subjectively selective quote...(o: from the article is: "The researchers say: "Why health status differs so dramatically in these two countries, which share much in terms of history and culture, is an unresolved puzzle."

Well, Stone me! as Tony Hancock might have said if he were still alive. - It's not a puzzle! - It's a no-brainer! - The US takes more junk medication than as yet the Brits do, and the US Food Industry and the US Agribusiness and GM/BioTech bullyboys ensure that Americans largely eat toxic, adulterated, additive-drenched, over-salted, HFCS-loaded, nutrition-lite crap instead of real food. How can the US possibly be healthy when most people's bodies and brains are having to contend with that poisonous combo continually assaulting them?

Artificial sweeteners have harmful side-effects and they do not help overweight people to lose weight.

Artificial sweeteners are very cheap to produce and so are very profitable to the manufacturers who add them to their food and drink products. They are 'dieting' products, marketed with the claim that by reducing the calorie content in a product they will assist overweight consumers to lose excess weight, but this claim is false. Not only is it false, but some of the sweeteners - most notably Aspartame and the new sweetener kid on the block, Neotame, a relative of Aspartame - interfere very profoundly with the intricate biochemistry of the body, risking serious and permanent health side-effects. These include neurological damage, increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and more. If you value your health and the health of your family, as I am sure you do, I advise you to check the nutritional information on packs carefully, and to avoid artificial sweeteners. There are many internet sources of warning information about these unsafe substances. The very informative article I have been reading today is Dr Mercola's article.
And here is a safe, sure way to lose excess weight.

Monsanto’s Roundup Endangers Human and Animal Health

The following article reveals the devastating and unprecedented impact that Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide is having on the health of our soil, plants, animals, and human population.
Read article by Jeffrey Smith on the Institute for Responsible Technology website (USA)

Vitamin D: good for your health in so many ways

Read Voice of America news item.

Good News: 7 influential UK health groups are revising their position on Vitamin D

I recommend you to read the whole of this excellent article about the merits of Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, and about the harm done by not getting enough of this vital nutrient, often because of being wrongly advised by misinformed health experts. My personal experience is that by taking vitamin D3 supplements (my skin is too sensitive to sunshine for me to expose it to the sun much) my health has benefited immeasurably. I have not had a cold or cough or any other infection since I started taking the supplements, my muscle strength is much improved, my hair is in much better condition, etc.)

Study suggests garlic capsules help to lower high blood pressure/hypertension

Read this BBC News webpage where there is a great deal more detail about this. Speaking for myself, I try to eat a few cloves of garlic a day and I believe it is doing me good. - A safe, rapid way to reduce high blood pressure naturally without using drugs (which always have undesirable side-effects), is to cut down on salt and salty food. This provides many other health benefits too. - Do yourself a favour and cut down on your salt intake. - You will feel so much better!

Australians draw attention to the health benefits of lower salt intake and the need for mandatory reductions in salt content of manufactured foods

Australia's experts are pointing out that voluntary reductions are not having much effect because of the self-serving irresponsibility of the food companies. Read Telegraph article. It is certainly high time that salt content of processed food be limited by law.

Read about the politics of salt reduction.

Rhubarb Crumble is good for your health

See Telegraph article here. Nice to have a reminder about this delicious pudding that you can make with the rhubarb growing in your back garden. My grandad used to grow rhubarb in the garden and it usually found its way into crumbles, and was served with custard. I used to like to play with the very large leaves, wearing them as hats. Happy days!

There are many thousands of recipes for rhubarb crumble on the internet. Best to choose one with no added salt or baking powder so as to avoid unhealthy, unnecessary sodium, and of course use unsalted butter, not margarine. If you've not made it before, be assured it is very easy to make and heavenly to eat.- Bon Appétit!

Safe Detox

The safest detox you can carry out is to give up dieting/fasting/starving/counting calories and generally making yourself tired, cold, miserable and hungry, and instead simply concentrate on avoiding eating salt and salty food. That means in practice giving up ready meals, processed food, takeaways and salty snacks like crisps and salted peanuts. It means giving up relying on a convenient shop-bought sandwich for your lunch (bread is high in salt), giving up bacon and sausages and cheese and deli cold meats. It means avoiding sauces and mayos and pickles and Marmite (ugh!) and most breakfast cereals and most biscuits. (More detailed information on Sodium in Foods)

“What is there left for me to eat?” you wail! – What is left to eat is food!

REAL FOOD.

This means buying fresh meat or fresh fish and cooking it, buying real vegetables and cooking them, buying delicious real fruit and eating it. And drinking lovely full cream milk. And making your own bread without salt if you want bread, and using unsalted butter to spread on it.

In just a few days you will feel so much better – fitter, brighter, more alert. You will be losing excess weight and you skin and hair will be in better condition. Cutting out salt is like waving a magic wand!

Why is this? – It’s because salt is the most toxic ingredient in the food we usually buy. For the vulnerable groups it is literally an insidious slow poison that is destroying the health and happiness of millions upon millions of people the world over.

Get a life! – Give up salt! – This is the Safe Detox.

Try to stick to it for the rest of your life.

Omega-3 may improve blood pressure in kidney disease patients

A combination of omega-3 fatty acids and coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) may decrease blood pressure and heart rate in kidney disease patients, says a new study. People with chronic kidney disease (CKD), which increases the risk of heart disease two- to 50-fold, experienced improvements in both blood pressure and heart rate following supplementation with four grams of omega-3 fatty acids, according to findings published in the Journal of Hypertension. Furthermore, when taken in combination with coenzyme Q10 the blood pressure reducing benefits were enhanced, despite CoQ10 alone not being associated with any improvements on its own, report researchers from University of Western Australia and Royal Perth Hospital.
Read article at nutraingredients.com
Comment: The effect upon blood pressure obtained by combining coenzyme Q10 with omega-3 fatty acids is an example of nutrient synergy. The concept of nutrient synergy maximizes the health benefits of micronutrients because of the discovery that they work best in "teams". Minimising salt/sodium intake also reduces blood pressure and reduces the risk of heart disease.