Did you know that the spice Turmeric can seriously improve your health?

You may like to have a look at this interesting webpage about the health benefits of Turmeric. -- If you  browse the internet using your favourite search engine you will find a multitude of further articles about this ancient spice that retains a worthy place in our modern world and especially in meals like curries. You will find that it has a role to play in cancer prevention, in reducing inflammation and chronic pain, in treating bowel problems and many more. It doesn't have bad side-effects like painkillers and other pharmaceutical drugs do, and that's a huge advantage. But it does have one disadvantage, and that is that it can stain. Indeed, it was first used as a dye. - Now me, I'm really good at spilling stuff, especially now that my hands have been so damaged by the effects of steroid meds, etc. So although I used to add turmeric powder to my meals I got fed up of sometimes getting turmeric stains on my clothes and I stopped using it in cooking. I now buy it in capsule form and I simply swallow a couple of the capsules a day with a meal and a good drink of water. - But there can't be too many people as clumsy as I am, so I'm sure most of you would want to use it in the time-honoured way of simply adding it to your curry/soup/stew or whatever.

New Study suggests Sunshine may help prevent Multiple Sclerosis

A new study in Australia suggests that obtaining Vitamin D through sun exposure may help prevent the onset of multiple sclerosis as well as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and some types of cancer.
Read article on the Daily Nexus website (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)

BBC News reports that Prostate Cancer screening does not save lives

BBC News reports that prostate cancer screening does not save lives and indeed does more harm than good. This is the conclusion of a 20 year study published in the British Medical Journal.

I regard this as excellent news since hopefully it will save many men from going for screening and suffering the needless harm and worry that this screening entails.

I am similarly against mammography being used to screen women for evidence of breast cancer. I have always considered routine mammography screening as an expensive political pretence of concern for women's health that actually does far more harm than good to the women screened.

Screening is not prevention, though it seems to be promoted as prevention. Prevention should be the primary aim where cancer is concerned, though the Cancer Research Industry accords little value to, and puts little effort into, cancer prevention.

Would you like to know the truth about sunscreens and skin cancer?

Dr Briffa's blog article here refers to the fact that "interests that are not scientifically based seem to be driving the heavy reliance on sunscreens as the first line of prevention against skin cancer." - Unfortunately, those interests that are not scientifically based may well have led to the use of sunscreens blocking the manufacture of vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, which is linked to helping to prevent cancer...

100,000 cancer cases a year caused by obesity

CNN reports American researchers' claim that 100,000 cancer cases a year are caused by obesity. I can well believe that. - But what causes the obesity in the first place? - No, it's not caused by greed and inactivity; it's caused by fluid retention, and fluid retention in its turn often leads to fat retention. - Want to know more?

See FAT RETENTION

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - 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.Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods

Vitamin D and Calcium Supplements Taken Together Help to Prevent Cancer

An article published in the Sept 2009 issue of Anticancer Research suggests that vitamin D supplements may better be used together with calcium supplements to prevent cancer. Low, insufficient or deficient vitamin D is now considered as a risk factor by many researchers for various types of cancer. For example, scientists suggest that maintaining high levels of vitamin D can reduce risk of breast cancer by up to 70 percent.
Read article at foodconsumer.org

A daily glass of wine could prevent cancer of the gullet, new research reveals.

Glass of wine 'could prevent gullet cancer'
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"A study found people who enjoy a regular tipple more than halved their risk of developing Barrett's Esophagus - an untreatable condition that can lead to oesophageal cancer.

It is caused by prolonged heartburn and triggers pre cancerous cells in the tube that extends from the throat to the stomach.

The study of almost a thousand men and women found moderate consumption of red or white wine reduced the risk by 56 per cent - but beer or spirits had no beneficial effects.

Gastroenterologist Dr Douglas Corley, of the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Centre, said: "We already knew red wine was good for the heart, so perhaps here is another added benefit of a healthy lifestyle and a single glass of wine a day."

People with Barrett's Esophagus have up to a forty-fold higher risk of developing oesophageal adenocarcinoma, a particular type of gullet cancer.

Dr Corley, whose findings are published in Gastroenterology, said oesophageal cancer is the fastest growing cancer in the US with an incidence rate that has jumped 500 percent in the last 30 years."

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

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

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

Associated health conditions

Drinking three cups of tea a day can cut the risk of breast cancer in women under 50 by more than a third, according to research.

Three cups of tea can cut breast cancer risk by a third
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The chances of developing a tumour dropped by around 37 per cent in women under 50 who drank tea at least three times daily.

But older women who drank a similar amount did not see any benefits, according to the study.

Researchers believe the anti-cancer properties of tea may have a more potent effect on the types of tumours that tend to grow in younger women.

A team of US researchers led by Dr Nagi Kumar at the Moffitt Cancer Centre in Tampa, Florida, studied 5,000 women aged between 20 and 74 who had been treated for breast cancer."

You can also reduce your risk of breast cancer and many other illnesses by cutting down on salt and salty food and eating plenty of fruit and vegetables.

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

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods

Raw broccoli is better than cooked broccoli for anti-cancer potential a new study suggests

Consuming cooked or processed broccoli may result in less of the potential anti-cancer compounds being available for absorption, suggests a new study from TNO Quality of Life. Consumption of the cooked vegetable led to lower levels of a compound called sulforaphane being measured in the blood and urine, compared to consuming raw broccoli, according to findings published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The bioavailability of sulforaphane was calculated to be 37 per cent from the raw vegetable, and only 3.4 per cent from cooked broccoli, reported Martijn Vermeulen and co-workers from TNO Quality of Life.
Read article at nutraingredients.com

Breast feeding significantly 'cuts cancer risk in mothers'

Breast feeding 'cuts cancer risk in mothers'
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Whether they breastfeed two babies for six months each or one baby for a year, women can cut their risk of developing the disease significantly, said Dr Rachel Thompson, science programme manager for the World Cancer Research Fund.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women, with 45,000 cases diagnosed in Britain each year.

The protective effects of breastfeeding over a long period of time have been well documented.

Studies have shown mothers who breastfeed past a child's second birthday are half as likely to develop the disease as those who stop at 12 months.

However, a recent survey for the WCRF found that three out of four women were unaware that breastfeeding could cut their risk of developing the disease.

Speaking at the start of breast cancer awareness month, Dr Thompson urged mothers to breastfeed for as long as they could. She said brestfeeding for a year could reduce the risk of developing breast cancer by 4.8 per cent

"We want to get across the message that breast-feeding is something positive that women can do to reduce their risk of breast cancer," she said.

"Because the evidence that breast-feeding reduces breast cancer risk is convincing, we recommend women should breast-feed exclusively for six months and then continue with complementary feeding after that.""

Reducing salt intake, especially during pregnancy, also reduces the risk of developing breast cancer and many other diseases, as well as reducing obesity. - It's good for the baby too.

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

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods and

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

Overweight people are significantly more likely to develop a range of common cancers, a major study has found.

Cancer links to obesity revealed in new study
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The findings show the extent to which an individual's risk of contracting seven types of cancer increases with every pound of weight put on. People who lose weight can reduce their chance of developing the disease.

In the study, which is published in the British Journal of Cancer this week, researchers analysed data from around the world on obesity, weight gain and weight loss in relation to cancers of the breast, pancreas, kidney, colon, prostate, oesophagus and endometrium, which is the lining of the womb.

Ed Yong, health information manager at Cancer Research UK said: "Most people associate high body weight with conditions like diabetes and heart disease, and a lot of people are not aware of the links between body weight and cancer.

"This is a very important and growing issue. Maintaining a healthy body weight is one of the most important things you can do to prevent cancer after not smoking.

"If you look at these cancers, they include two of the most common, breast and colon, and some which have very low survival rates, pancreatic and oesophagus. So body weight has a substantial impact on cancers that are common and those that are difficult to treat."

In the study, carried out at the Washington University School of Medicine in the US, the cancer which emerged as having the clearest link to weight gain was breast cancer in postmenopausal women. The risk of catching the disease increased by five per cent with every five kilograms of weight gained.

Weight gain in adulthood accounts for almost a quarter of cases of the disease in older women, the study found. Around 45,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year in the UK, eighty per cent of which are in women over the age of 50. Conversely, women who lost weight were at a significantly lower risk of the disease. Researchers believe this may be because weight loss lowers oestrogen levels."

Obesity and its connection with cancer risk has been written about in this blog for a couple of years and for much longer than that on my website. - The way to reduce the problem is to tell the truth about obesity and the salt connection. - When is the medical profession going to own up to the harm it has done by attributing obesity to overeating and not to the true cause, which is fluid retention, itself frequently caused by prescribed medications?

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

And see Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions

A bit more about Inegy, the cholesterol lowering drug that 'increases risk of cancer by 50 per cent'

Cholesterol lowering drug 'increases risk of cancer by 50 per cent'
Article in the Telegraph

Extract 1:

"Researchers found there were 105 cases of cancer in people taking Inegy compared to 70 in those on a dummy drug over a four year period.

The study also suggested that Inegy, which combines a statin called simvastatin and another drug called ezetimibe, has little effect in reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Prof Heinz Drexel, of the University of Innsbruck in Austria and spokesman for the European Society of Cardiology, said: "I am not sure that the efficacy is proven and I am not sure that the safety is proven. I wouldn't take the drug myself.

"In patients with an urgent need to reduce cholesterol I would give them the drug but that is they are the exception and that is not consistent with how it is being used currently. "It is being more widely used than I think it should be. We can use something else in patients whose cholesterol is not sky high."

In the last two years 300,000 prescriptions for Inegy were dispensed in England and Wales and between four and five million people are thought to be taking standard statins."

Note well that Prof Heinz Drexel would not take Inegy himself! It's rare for a doctor to speak as forthrightly as that.

Extract 2:

"There was also a higher proportion of deaths from cancer with 39 deaths in the Inegy group and 23 deaths in those on the placebo.

The cancers in both groups were across all major areas of the body including the skin and lungs, according to the findings, which were also published in the New England Journal of Medicine."

The best and the completely safe way to reduce the risk of most cancers is to avoid prescription drugs unless they are absolutely necessary and rigorously avoid salt and salty food and make sure you eat plenty of fruit and unsalted vegetables.

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

And see Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions

Dr Matthew Rath compares/contrasts the pharmaceutical approach to cancer with the more natural micronutrient/vitamin therapies he advocates...

Read here the
Response by Dr. Rath to the Invitation
to Become a Reviewer of
the International Journal of Cancer

Dr Rath is an outspoken critic of the pharmaceutical approach to cancer and a scientific pioneer for new and natural approaches to cancer like vitamin supplementation. (My apologies for spelling Dr Rath's name incorrectly in the title of this post. His first name is Matthias, not Matthew.)

I largely go along with Dr Rath's philosophy on health, but my personal hobby horse is the damage that SALT intake causes in so many people - people who are sensitive/vulnerable to salt - especially children and especially people who have taken certain prescription drugs, including steroids like prednisone and prednisolone and HRT, and tricyclic anti-depressants like amitriptyline, which many doctors prescribe inappropriately, often in recklessly high doses and for ill-advisedly long periods. - It is best for most people's health to avoid prescription drugs unless they are strictly necessary, and if they take them at all, to take in the lowest effective dose and for the shortest time necessary. - Remember also that many prescription drugs deplete the body of essential nutrients, so you may like to consider taking nutritional supplements if you are taking prescribed medication/s, e.g. steroids deplete the body of calcium, potassium, magnesium and possibly zinc, and certain diuretics - like bendrofluazide - deplete the body of potassium and magnesium, and some antibiotics deplete the body of other nutrients.

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

See my website. (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Children and Obesity

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods andAssociated health conditions andSee FAT RETENTION

advice for pregnant mothers

Cancer patients are to be denied drugs which could keep them alive after the NHS rationing watchdog ruled that they are too expensive.

Kidney patients denied 'too expensive' life-extending drugs
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Patient groups said the decision, announced today by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), would condemn many sufferers of kidney cancer to an "early death".

The four prohibited medicines include Sutent, which can prolong life in kidney cancer patients by up to two years. The draft guidance also rejects Avastin, Nexavar and Torisel.

Nice said the drugs were too expensive, at about £24,000 a year per patient, for the benefits they offered and would mean the health service was less able to afford more cost-effective drugs for other illnesses. However, the decision reignites the debate around how the NHS prioritises which drugs are approved for use."

Prevention is obviously better and cheaper than cure. - Two of the contributory factors that increase the likelihood of developing kidney cancer are obesity and high blood pressure. (They are contributory factors in the development of many other illnesses too.) Both of these factors are significantly reduced by eating less salt and salty food, so eating less salt and salty food will lower your chance of getting kidney cancer and all the suffering and difficulties entailed in having that disease.

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!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods

Don't damage your health and your looks by dieting! - To lose weight JUST EAT LESS SALT!

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

Children and Obesity

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

advice for pregnant mothers

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

Scans put people at risk of cancer by exposing them to high doses of radiation

Scans put people at risk of cancer, experts say

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Some private healthcare clinics offer scans, ranging in price from £500 to £2,000, claiming to pick up early signs of cancer and heart disease.

Yet the patients are exposed to around 100 times the radiation dose associated with a normal chest x-ray, which can increase the risk of developing cancer."

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, 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.)

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

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

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

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

New thoughts about cancer prevention and cancer diagnosis and treatments. Lifestyle changes...

From the Telegraph: - Cancer warning on suntans and obesity

Extract:

"On Monday, ministers will unveil the vision that will shape cancer services for the next five years - marking a fundamental shift in focus toward prevention, earlier diagnosis and treatment closer to home. They are also consulting on whether to ban cigarette vending machines, where most young smokers obtain their cigarettes. The number of lifestyle cancers in Britain has spiralled in the past ten years, with experts warning that half of all the 300,000 cases of cancers in Britain each year could be prevented through healthier living."

They should be really be emphasising the need to avoid all unnecessary prescription and OTC drugs and to cut down on sodium intake by avoiding salt and salty food.

Lose weight and improve your health in many 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.)

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

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

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

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

BBC Radio 4's File on 4 report about cancer research wasting vast amounts of donated money and taxpayers' money on worthless studies.

Cancer studies 'wasted millions'

Extracts from the BBC webpage:

"Millions of pounds of charity donations and taxpayers' money have been wasted on worthless cancer studies, the BBC has learned.

File On 4 has discovered thousands of studies have been invalidated.

It found some scientists have failed to carry out simple and inexpensive checks to ensure they are working with the right forms of human tumour cells."

"Cancer Research UK, which spends £315m a year on research, would not be interviewed for the programme."

Well I've had a low opinion of Cancer Research UK for years because they were extremely late in the day advising people to reduce salt intake and they still do not give salt reduction sufficient emphasis. - It is the simplest, easiest, cheapest and most effective way of reducing the risk of developing cancer...

Lose weight and improve your health in many ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Go on! - 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.)

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

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

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

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

Superfoods

Food for life - Telegraph - Professor Karol Sikora, cancer expert

Extract:

"BROCCOLI
TOMATOES
CHILLIES
CABBAGE
ONIONS
CARROTS
BLUEBERRIES
APPLES
WATERCRESS
GREEN TEA"

Detail about quantities, researchers, etc are in the article.

An easy, cost-free way to reduce your risk of developing cancer is to give up sprinkling salt on your meals and cut down on convenience foods which are high in salt.

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

Organic fruit and vegetables contain more vitamin C, study finds

Organic fruit has more vitamin C, study finds - Telegraph

Extract:

"Further evidence in support of the health benefits of organic fruit and vegetables has been published by an international team of researchers.

They found that organic carrots, apples and peaches contained higher levels of vitamin C and flavonoids, compounds with antioxidant properties said by some scientists to protect against heart attacks and cancer.

Last week US researchers revealed that organic kiwi fruit have significantly more vitamin C and polyphenols - linked to reduced cholesterol, improved circulation and lower cancer risks - than non-organic produce."

You can also lower your risk of most cancers and many other illnesses by eating less salt/sodium. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

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.)