The Food Programme suggests that snacking may lead to high levels of diabetes

The Food Programme (BBC Radio 4) today suggests that snacking/grazing and convenient, bite-sized 'food on the go' may be causing increased weight and obesity, and may lead eventually to unsustainable levels of diabetes.

Don't deride it till you've tried it! - Losing weight by eating less salt, that is.

Don't deride it till you've tried it! - Losing weight by eating less salt, that is. - Very occasionally, foolish people write to me to deride my assertion that the easiest, fastest, safest way to lose excess weight is seriously to cut down on added salt/sodium. For one thing, they are usually naturally slim people who have never had the problem of being overweight/obese and never experienced the difficulties of losing that excess weight while living in a society that relies heavily on processed food products that are high in salt and other sodium compounds. For another, they tend to think of losing weight only as losing excess fat. - There is a strange idea around that to lose excess fluid as a means of losing weight is somehow 'cheating' and doesn't count! - What nonsense! When overweight people lose excess fluid by cutting down on added salt/sodium they not only lose excess weight, reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, depression, heart disease, arthritis, fragile bones, premature aging, cognitive decline, dementia and many other degenerative conditions, but also lower their likelihood of experiencing a stroke, heart attack, frailty and mobility problems. - What's not to like? - Go on! - Try it! - Lose weight by eating less salt and salty food! - You will feel sooo much better!

Obesity is on the increase in Scotland. Scottish people desperately need to be told the truth about how to reduce obesity.

BBC News reported in November 2009 that two-thirds of men and more than half of women in Scotland are now overweight. Well that's a great shame and much of that increase could have been avoided. It is about eight years since I contacted Bill Gray, who was at the time National Project Officer of the Scottish Community Diet Project, Scottish Consumer Council, and also others working in the same field. We wrote and we spoke on the phone. I sent him lots of material and evidence making clear that to reduce obesity/overweight it is necessary to reduce salt intake and that it is not necessary to diet or to try to lose weight by exercising. Unfortunately I accidentally deleted the blogpost from Sunday 29 November 2009, but since it was important and is still just as relevant, I am reposting it today, 8 October 2012.

This is an extract from what I wrote to him (in late 2001, if I remember correctly):

"As I explained to your female colleague, I am not asking you to endorse my
advice.

I am asking you to tell people that it could be salt and water retention
that has caused their weight gain and that if they reduce their salt intake
they could lose weight. They have only to try it. They will then find for
themselves that they lose weight. Without the information that salt can be
the cause of weight gain they are highly unlikely to discover it for
themselves.

I have quoted to you EXACTLY what Sir Richard Doll wrote to me, but you seem
to have discounted what HE says, as well as what I say.

Why I say you have treated me shabbily is mainly because you are not a man
of your word. You promised, TWICE, to reply to my letters. You did not
reply. Your colleague, stammering and almost incoherent when I spoke to her,
also promised me a response. Again nothing. Good God! You would think I was
asking you to tell people something that might endanger their health rather
that enhance it! Cutting down on salt is entirely safe and completely free.
Just give the additional information that it could also cause weight loss in
the obese.

Why don't you have the courage to believe Sir Richard?

My MP has sent me a photocopy of a letter he has received from Pauline
Jackson, a friend of mine and another of his constituents. In a separate
email, I shall send you a copy of it.

THEN PLEASE COME BACK TO ME ON THIS.

Copying my stuff and passing it on to others in the hope that they will have
the courage to do what you yourself lack the courage for, is just a waste of
time and paper. They will be as cowardly as you have shown them that you
are. They too will be unwilling to put their heads above the parapet and you
will all continue to leave many THOUSANDS of people needlessly suffering all
sorts of health problems and all sorts of emotional and social and
psychological distress. Do you really want that on your conscience?"

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, depression, liver and kidney problems, boost your lung function and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it!
See my website 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
Sodium in foods
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

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

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers
Children and Obesity
Associated health conditions
and FAT RETENTION

Eat less salt to reduce your risk of cancer

Big 'news' this week is that eating less salt lowers your risk of developing cancer, especially cancer of the stomach. See this BBC News report, where you will read: "Cutting back on salty foods such as bacon, bread and breakfast cereals may reduce people's risk of developing stomach cancer, according to the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF)." I put inverted commas round the word 'news' because my website has been informing people of this fact for many years and so it is hardly news. The usual establishment health message about salt reduction is that reducing salt intake reduces your risk of stroke, heart disease and heart attacks, and that it lowers high blood pressure, and while this health message is undoubtedly correct, it omits a multitude of other health benefits that result from eating less salt, most amazingly omitting the information that cutting salt intake is the fastest, safest way to lose excess weight. - In view of all the publicity about the prevalence and dangers of obesity, it's a real shame (I use the word advisedly) that this weight reduction information is not being promulgated by the public health brigade. Indeed, they almost seem to go out of their way to keep us in the dark about it. (The explanation for the weight loss is that salt reduction reduces the fluid retention which contributes to all overweight. Read about the groups of people that are particularly vulnerable to salt.)

Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and Dangerous Medications

 

When you are first diagnosed with type 2 diabetes doctors will recommend you begin exercising and eating healthier foods. That’s the first prescription the medical community turns to before medication.

 

Why does being overweight contribute to type 2 diabetes? More than 85 percent of people who have type 2 are obese. There is definitely a connection, but scientists are still uncertain as to what it is. One theory is that having excess weight makes your cells more resistant to insulin. If cells don't absorb insulin, blood sugar levels will rise, causing diabetes.

 

Another study puts forward the theory that fat buildup might essentially be blocking the pancreas from putting out insulin. Fat could also be keeping the liver from absorbing insulin. That study found that as people lose weight, the liver's ability to filter sugar improves and the pancreas produces more insulin.

 

People with type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin. They are mostly limited to insulin in the treatment of their condition. People with type 2 diabetes are in a unique position. They developed the disease later in life, possibly because of obesity. They still produce some insulin, and medication can help to manage their disease.

 

People with type 2 diabetes also make up the majority of diabetes cases — an estimated 95 percent. This makes people with type 2 diabetes a very attractive target for pharmaceutical companies that want to sell diabetes drugs.

 

One of the best-selling medications for type 2 diabetes is Actos, which works by making cells more sensitive to insulin. When cells are more insulin-sensitive, they filter more sugar from the blood. That lowers blood sugar levels.

 

Actos is manufactured by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. The drug has made the company more than $16 billion in the United States alone since 2007. All of this money may have helped to hide dangerous Actos side effects.

Actos has carried a black-box warning since 2007. The Food and Drug Administration only uses this warning on drugs that can cause serious injury or death. Actos got its warning for increasing the risk of congestive heart failure by 30 percent.

 

The drug also drastically increases the risk of Actos bladder cancer. A U.S. study says Actos increases the risk by 40 percent when the pill is taken for more than 12 months. Another study, published in the British Medical Journal, says Actos can actually increase bladder cancer risk by 83 percent.

 

Other type 2 diabetes drugs like metformin and sulfonylureas can have side effects on the kidneys, liver and heart.

 

Patients and doctors should discuss each medication option and then decide together which one is best.

  

 

William Richards researches and writes about prescription drugs and medical devices for Drugwatch.com.

Average man in the year 2000 over a stone heavier than he was in 1986

Scientists from Oxford University’s British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group have analysed data on body weight along with changes in the amount of food people consumed over the 15-year time period. See physorg.com news item. They found that the average man in the year 2000 is over a stone heavier than he was in 1986. But "Dr Peter Scarborough of the Department of Public Health at Oxford University, who led the research, said: ‘We looked at how much food was available over time, accounting for food that’s wasted or thrown away. It’s clear people are eating more, and today we’re seeing a continued increase in the amount of food available.’"

I don't myself find that Dr Scarborough's conclusion follows from the data. For one thing "the actual observed increase in average male weight of 7.7kg was much more than expected from the extra food available to men in 2000." The researchers then use the usual get-out of ascribing this discrepancy to a reduction in physical activity. - But remember, folks, exercise - even a lot of exercise over a long period - produces little or no weight loss, even though researchers constantly claim that it does. - Exercise is not the answer - not even part of the answer - to the increasing problem of obesity and its attendant ill-health.

For another thing, there is no mention of salt in the article, and yet the fastest, safest and most reliable way to lose excess weight is to reduce salt/sodium intake.

Thirdly, there is no mention of the constantly increasing number of pharmaceutical drugs being prescribed by GPs and other healthcare workers, when weight gain is a very common side-effect of many, or even most, prescribed drugs. These drugs include steroids, HRT, tricyclic antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-epileptics and many more that are frequently over-prescribed and frequently unmonitored. (The weight gain is because of fluid retention resulting from weakened blood vessel walls/ salt sensitivity.)

Fourthly, the research is funded by the BHF, who have as their constant refrain the need for calorie reduction and taking more exercise to lose weight, and yet that is not at all a good, or even a likely, way to lose excess weight. The BHF would be unlikely to publish or give prominence to research findings at variance with their reiterated advice. As likely as politicians on the make being heard telling the truth, I reckon. I am not an admirer of the BHF and its iffy advice and constant plugging of statins, a drug that does more harm than good to most of the people who take it.

So I would favour other factors as more likely reasons for the heavier weight of men. These would include as major causes:
1) taking more prescription drugs and not being told of the need to avoid salt and salty food when taking the ones that cause sodium retention/ fluid retention
2) the irresponsibly high concentrations of salt that food companies add to their processed foods and to their bread
3) dieting - by which I mean eating fewer calories than the individual's body requires and/or expending more energy by way of taking more exercise.
A lesser cause would be the increasing amounts of oestrogen in the drinking water supply because it and other sodium retention-causing compounds are excreted in the urine of women on 'the pill' or on HRT and so enter the water table.

And of course the heavier you are the more calories you need, both to carry your heavier body around and service its organs, and to keep the heavier body warm, since heat lost from a body is proportional to the surface area of the body, and the heavier person tends to have a bigger surface area than the lighter person.

Obesity: New Vulnerable Group

I see that there's a new Vulnerable Group reared its head - or swished its little tails! - There are some genetically modified mice that are very vulnerable to becoming obese because of a mutation in a particular gene, reported here. Well I don't think we need to trouble ourselves about that particular vulnerability, though one feels sympathy for the mice having their genes damaged, apparently in the cause of providing some information for the drug industry to avail itself of in its never-ending trawl for profitable products to unload on innocent citizens. Unless we allow drug researchers or their mates who work in genetic engineering to interfere with our genes we are unlikely to suffer this genetic problem ourselves, or - perish the thought! - any of us is tricked into eating any of these GM mice and something untoward happens... (Memo: best to avoid eating GM foods, whether animal or vegetable, and best to avoid eating animals that have been fed GM crops. Since no one knows what could happen, the precautionary principle should be applied.)

The Vulnerable Groups in whom I am most interested are those who are vulnerable to becoming obese because of salt sensitivity or sodium retention. The groups of people vulnerable to salt are babies and children, people who take or who have taken certain prescribed steroids, including prednisone and prednisolone, or certain other prescribed drugs, women who take or have taken HRT or other oestrogen-containing drugs such as some contraceptive medications, people who take or have taken amitriptyline or other tricyclic antidepressants or some other psychotropic/psychoactive drugs, pregnant mothers, PMT sufferers and people who ate salt as children. These groups need to minimise their salt intake. They will lose weight easily if they eat less salt and salty food.

Should sugar be taxed to reduce health problems like obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes?

Should sugar be taxed to reduce health problems like obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes? BBC News reports today that "Sugar is as damaging and addictive as alcohol or tobacco and should be regulated, claim US health experts. According to a University of California team, new policies such as taxes are needed to control soaring consumption of sugar and sweeteners. Prof Robert Lustig argues in the journal Nature for major shifts in public policy." And this is countered by the Industry body the Food and Drink Federation saying that "demonising" any particular foods is unhelpful. - Well that's true inasmuch as it's unhelpful to the Food and Drink Federation and its profits!

The Food and Drink Federation like to sell addictive food and drink to their customers. Addicts return to buy again the products to which they are addicted - to buy them over and over and over again. - I heard the subject of whether sugar should be taxed - because its heavy consumption is causing widespread damage to people's health - being discussed in the last minutes of Radio 4's PM programme today. I think the interviewer was Eddie Mair.

There was Prof Robert Lustig on the phone from America, supplying the voice of reason, and suggesting a heavy tax on sugar stuffs in order to produce a really significant reduction in consumption. And there was a guy from the Food and Drink Federation spouting his ritual rhetoric about sugar not being the baddie - many factors are associated with non-infectious diseases, not just sugar. Think of insufficient exercise, sedentary life-styles, etc. - We need a balanced diet, more exercise, etc etc. - There's no evidence that sugar causes disease... Burble Burble. Burble Burble.

Actually I wondered whether this robotic guy was deaf? - Prof Lustig (Eddie Mair kept calling him Dr Lustig) was explaining that there is actually a great deal of evidence that sugar is definitely being consumed in too high quantities, that it is addictive, that it is actually toxic in that it causes serious metabolic changes to the body - fatty liver, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, diabetes, obesity, etc. - Prof Lustig knows his sugary science (listen to his lecture The Bitter Truth) and he knows his sugary statistics, but his unheeding interlocutor continued burbling about no evidence to support the taxation of sugar, and repeating that it's a matter of a balanced diet, no new evidence, burble, burble, burble. - I think I can hazard his idea of a balanced diet - the sort of balanced diet the Food Industry might find profitable to supply the products for: a Sugar-crammed, intensely sweet cereal breakfast with additive-laden fruit drink, balanced by a salt-laden sandwich for lunch and an over-salted processed ready meal for tea, with snacks throughout the day of biscuits (high in sugar and salt), crisps and maybe a token apple (high in pesticides) added to impress the 'healthy food' brigade.

The Ecologist draws attention to the industrial and everyday chemicals that contribute to the growing incidence of obesity

An article in The Ecologist draws attention to the industrial and everyday chemicals that contribute to the growing incidence of obesity. Well worth reading.

'Posh' salt is as harmful to health as ordinary table salt

'Posh' salt is as harmful to health as ordinary table salt. - Apologies: I should have written about this in November when it was in the news. Still, better late than never. - The Guardian reported on a Consensus Action on Salt and Health study, which found that there is widespread misunderstanding in the matter of different sorts of salt sold, and that many people buying the gourmet-type salts like rock salt, sea salt, Maldon Salt, Himalayan Salt and Fleur de Sel, mistakenly thought that the expensive salts were better for health than ordinary Saxa Table Salt. "In the study the sodium chloride and moisture content of seven different salt products available from supermarkets and online were analysed – including "posh" salts such as Maldon and Himalayan (Best Care Products) and Saxa table salt. Sodium and chloride combine to form salt (NaCl), the combination of minerals which puts up our blood pressure leading to strokes, heart failure and heart disease and also linked to osteoporosis, stomach cancer and kidney disease. Cash said the results show they all contain just as much sodium chloride as each other."

I don't know why they stress the sodium chloride (NaCl) content as such; it is the sodium ion content specifically that puts up blood pressure and causes fluid retention/water weight/obesity and heart damage and all the other degenerative disorders that develop in people vulnerable to salt/sodium. The chloride ions are only the associates of the baddie sodium ions; they are not themselves the baddies.

The nonsense spouted by the manufacturers of the expensive salts - nonsensical claims that their products are not harmful - should be filed with the claims made long ago by tobacco manufacturers that their products did not cause cancer, etc. and were not addictive. Lies for profits. Dishonesty for gain. Drivel for the gullible.

More about Conflicts of Interest within the Medical Profession

"In 1996, shortly after we began tracking the pharmaceutical industry, we spent time looking at obesity research and the latest diet pills. In doing so, we noticed that a panel that was assembled by the government to develop a guideline for the overweight known as the Body Mass Index. And it was populated by experts, nearly all of whom had a financial tie to a drugmaker selling or developing such pills. The finding, of course, was not all that new, but the practice continues, according to a new study in BMJ, which examined panels responsible for generating clinical practice guidelines on screening and/or treatment for high cholesterol or diabetes in the US and Canada between 2000 and 2010. A good many of the panelists - and panel chairs - had conflicts of interest. But not all were disclosed."
Read article at pharmalot.com
See also Dr Briffa's recent article on conflicts of interest.

If your medication causes sodium retention you will gain weight and may become obese

There are many medications that cause sodium retention/fluid retention/water retention/weight gain/obesity/edema/swelling. Here are some of them: steroids and HRT, most antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-epileptics, anticonvulsants, and more.

If you have become overweight/obese because of drug-induced sodium retention, you need to reduce your salt intake in order to lose weight. If you do not reduce your salt intake you will continue to gain weight, regardless of how many or how few calories you eat.

Female and got Big Feet?

I heard the item about women's big feet on Woman's Hour a few weeks ago and resolved to write about it, but being so tired, I've only just got round to it. (At the bottom of the webpage you can click on "CHAPTER 4" and listen to the item on big feet.) "New research has found that most women with size 8 or 9 feet are ashamed by their shoe size, and nearly half lie about how big their feet are. So, why all the fuss? Jane chats to Keren Miller a long time sufferer of big feet blues who has taken matters into her own hands, and asks podiatrist Lorraine Jones whether big footed women are fast becoming the norm."

Keren spoke about difficulties in buying shoes for bigger female feet and mentioned particularly the distress caused to her teenage daughter (who has size 11 feet) by the reaction of tactless staff in a shoe shop that did not have shoes big enough for her feet. Ms Miller enterprisingly and laudably decided to do something about the situation and now has this helpful website: http://www.prettybigfeet.co.uk/

My own feet/footwear problems lie not in large size as such, but in the fact that my once size 5½ width AA (i.e. narrow) feet have become much bigger. They are now size 7 and are wide - probably extra wide. Podiatrist Lorraine Jones explained how obesity causes bigger feet because with increased weight to carry, the arch of the foot gets more flattened and splays out, making the foot longer and wider. She also spoke of how insoles are helpful to her patients. I fully agree with her there; properly fitted cushioned insoles can makes shoes much less painful for the overweight wearer.

The women (and men too) whose feet have become longer and wider because of increased weight often have the additional extremely painful problem of their feet being swollen. Specifically, the swelling is swollen veins resulting from sodium and water retention, aka fluid retention. In my case the fluid retention was caused by inappropriately-prescribed prescription drugs. Prescribed medication is a very common cause of fluid retention/swollen feet/obesity. The swelling can be reduced by seriously reducing salt intake: see here. And see Obesity and the Salt Connection. See also prescribed HRT and steroids and prescribed antidepressants.

People whose feet are swollen, rather than just naturally large, do not need shoes with just extra length and width, they need extra depth too, especially in the toes region. Otherwise the already painful swollen veins will be squashed and become even more painful and damaged. There are special shoes, etc for painful, swollen feet. Cosyfeet is one such supplier. And Ecco and Hotter make shoes with very well-cushioned insoles. I'm sure there are many other good makes too. It is very important to get shoes that are big enough. It is better to shop for shoes later on in the day because swollen feet become more swollen as the day wears on and gravity sends more fluid to the feet.

High salt/sodium intake is a major cause of heart disease, hypertension and stroke

High salt/sodium intake is a major cause of heart disease, hypertension and stroke. It is also a major contributor to obesity, especially in children and other vulnerable groups. You could improve your health and lower your risk of many degenerative health conditions as well as reducing excess weight by cutting down on salt and salty food. - Lose weight by eating less salt and salty food! - Go on! try it! - You will feel so much better!

Thinking of taking amitriptyline or other antidepressants? You may like to think again.

For a start, antidepressants don't work. - See Anti-depressants no better than dummy pills. For another thing, most antidepressants cause weight gain leading to overweight/obesity. And they have many other adverse common side-effects too. Have a read of my webpage about amitriptyline and other antidepressants. So, they don't work and they're harmful. It's a no brainer, isn't it? - A safe, drug-free way to feel less depressed is to cut down on salt and salty food. - Honestly. I'm not kidding. - Just try it! Go on!

Latest Salt Warning: Salty Sausages

Latest Salt Warning: Salty Sausages. - CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health) researches the levels of salt in processed foods, and this report today in the Daily Mail focuses on the levels of salt in different brands of sausages. While no one, I suspect, would look to sausages to provide a healthy low salt meal, there is a surprisingly large variation in the salt levels of different brands, and the Daily Mail report carries a helpful chart which is far easier to read than the on-pack labels. Musk's Newmarket Sausages look very well worth avoiding if you want to keep your salt intake down!

Many people are sensitive to salt, and most of them do not know that they are. People who are sensitive to salt get troubled by fluid retention and usually have high blood pressure. These health problems and many more, including obesity, can be easily and safely reduced by cutting down on salt and salty food. You can check out which foods are high in salt and which are not, by visiting my Sodium in Foods webpage. - Lose weight and improve your health by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You'll feel so much better!

Symptoms of salt sensitivity include:

Symptoms of salt sensitivity include high blood pressure, being overweight/obese, red face, especially after a salty meal, excessive thirst after a salty meal, distended veins, distended abdomen, swollen, aching feet, breathing problems, tiredness, feeling bloated, and many more.

The simple, safe, natural, drug-free way to reduce all of these symptoms is to cut down on salt/sodium and salty food. The lower you can get your intake of added salt the better for your health and comfort. In the main this means avoiding processed, readymade meals as these are usually highly salted. You need to buy fresh food and cook it yourself without adding salt or at any rate adding very little salt. You can find lots of information about foods with high and low salt/sodium content on this webpage, along with further suggestions as to how to lower your salt intake. Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection.

New Year Resolution Suggestion: Give Up Dieting!

You've tried many diets. They didn't work. You know that dieting doesn't work. You know that you end up weighing more than before. To do again what you have done so many times before and expect a different outcome does not make sense. - Give up dieting! - Let the deadly dieting industry make money out of other people, not you, in 2011.

Eating fewer calories than your body needs is likely to cause you health problems like eating disorders and osteoporosis, and will NOT make you slim. - Here is how to lose excess weight without counting calories or going hungry: cut down on salt and salty food. This reduces the fluid retention which is the basic cause of overweight or obesity. You will definitely lose weight - and you will lose it rapidly and safely.

Salt/Sodium in foods

Andrew Lansley, UK's Health Secretary, does not favour regulation to improve public health

It is shaming to read in this excellent Independent article, that Britain's Secretary of State for Health intends to reduce the regulation of junk food, smoking and cheap alcohol. And it is astonishing that a guy who was formerly a director of a marketing company with junk food clients, should have been placed in a position to exert such malign power over food policy. Britain has massive health problems, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, cancer, etc. that could so easily be reduced by banning food producers from adding transfats to foods and by putting legal curbs on the amount of salt/sodium that processed food manufacturers, restaurants and fast food takeaways are allowed to add to the food they sell. Lansley is seeking to promote the interests of the food and drinks industry, rather than the health of UK citizens. This is deplorable.

Are you vulnerable to salt? Here is the safe, sure way to lose excess weight fast by cutting down on salt and salty food.

Improve your health by eating more like the hunter-gatherers and by avoiding added salt, and by avoiding pharmaceutical drugs

For millions of years our species ate what we might call for the sake of brevity a Stone Age diet. These 'hunter-gatherers' lived in the Paleolithic Age. We are separated in time from them by a 'mere' 10-12 thousand years. Our genes are our inheritance from those ancestors of ours, modified by natural selection over that geneological 'blink of a eye' since Neolithic, the New Stone Age, succeeded the old. This brought farming to the service of our kind. It was a mixed blessing: more food to feed more people, but a radical change of diet that caused some harm to the people who ate it.

The Paleolithic diet had mainly comprised meat, fish, nuts, non-starchy vegetables and fruit. The new foods of the Neolithic diet included cereals, i.e. grains. Grains make up such a large part of the modern day diet that it bears little resemblance to the hunter-gatherers' food of long ago and cannot logically be considered best suited to our species, the genes of which have not altered to suit it.

What 'food substance' have I not specifically mentioned? - SALT! - Salt is an even more recent newcomer to the modern diet. Humans started to eat added salt, it has been estimated, between 5,000 and 2,500 years ago, and in recent decades the food industry has, by adding copious amounts of salt to its processed foods, ensured that there wasn't a snowball's chance in Hell that our bodies could possibly adapt to so massive a change from the low sodium intake of our ancestors to the very high sodium intake of our societies today.

The outcome is that modern food is unsuitable for the health and nutrition of most people today and this partly explains the growing incidence of what we have come to think of as the new diseases of civilisation - diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, stroke, dementia, etc. And of obesity.

The even more recent scourge that is afflicting our species is the rapidly increasing ingestion of pharmaceutical drugs recklessly prescribed by an over-powerful medical profession, under-informed about the harm their prescriptions do to their unfortunate patients.

You could improve your health, rapidly and immediately, by seriously cutting down on your intake of salt and salty food, by cutting down on sugar and cereals/grains, and by avoiding prescription drugs unless they really are necessary. - Why not start in this way to improve your health this very day? - You have nothing to lose but excess weight, some avoidable pain, and the unnecessary risk of degenerative illnesses. - I wish you Good Health!