Which are the best and safest slimming pills?

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

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection
amitriptyline
prescribed steroids and HRT
See Sodium in foods
and FAT RETENTION

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

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

Mother is denied her daughter's kidneys

Extract from the Telegraph:

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

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

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

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

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

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

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions

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

Blueberries 'improve memory'
article in the Telegraph

Nicolas Sarkozy inspires plastic surgery boom among 'alpha males'

Nicolas Sarkozy inspires plastic surgery boom

Extract from the Telegraph:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

Many conventional wines are "systematically contaminated with pesticides"

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

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

Cancer drug trials 'being stopped too soon'

Extract from the Telegraph:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kylie Minogue's cancer was 'misdiagnosed' initially

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

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

Fraudulent claims were made about cholesterol-lowering drug.

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

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

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

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

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

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

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

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

One in four adults in hospital 'malnourished'

Extracts from the Telegraph:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cancer danger among young using sunbeds

Extract from the Telegraph:

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

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

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

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

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

German man suffering from incurable hunger

Extracts from the Telegraph:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

Rising number of serious complaints about the NHS

Number of complaints against the NHS soars

Extract from the Telegraph:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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