Innholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2020 i What Doctors Don't Tell You Australia/NZ

Judy Dench, who played “M,” head of the British Secret Service in seven James Bond movies, broke hearts recently when she spoke openly about her failing eyesight. Dame Judy, age 84, is a victim of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which causes slow and steady deterioration of cells in the macula, the pigmented part of the eye in the center of the retina where vision is most focused. The condition creates a little cloud right in the field of vision and causes straight lines to appear wavy, making it difficult to read, write, drive or even walk. Dame Judy has accepted her condition stoically as simply a poor genetic roll of the dice, since her mother suffered from it, too. She says that she now requires scripts in 22-point type and…

New therapies for cancers not being researched The most common—and deadliest—cancers are not being researched by independent scientists, which is blocking the introduction of innovative and non-chemo therapies into mainstream treatment. Nonprofit research funding is not being allocated to the research of these cancers—and it could be because some consider the cancers “embarrassing” or they have been stigmatized. Only breast cancer, leukemia, lymphoma and children’s cancers are getting the lion's share of independent funding, say researchers at Northwestern University. The ‘forgotten’ cancers include colon, endometrial, liver and bile duct, cervical, ovarian, pancreatic and lung cancers, and they lack support because they are embarrassing or have been stigmatized. “Shame and discomfort with talking about our bowels and ‘private parts’ may be reducing funding for diseases like colon or endometrial cancers,” said…

•Small children often swallow 50 percent of the toothpaste on their brush, ingesting up to 1.5 mg of fluoride •All toothpastes with fluoride are supposed to carry a poison warning in the US •Almost all the fluoride in our body is in our teeth and bones •Despite the myth, fluoride doesn’t help protect bones affected by osteoporosis; in fact, it increases the chances of fracture •Fluoride was introduced into public water supplies in 1945 with the promise that dental decay in children would halve. It did—although the rate had already started to drop in 1930 •By 2004, fluorosis—a discoloring of the teeth from excessive fluoride ingestion—was affecting 41 percent of American adolescents •Almost all research into the effectiveness of fluoride in water was done before 1980 •Just 10 percent of…

Freedom is one of our most treasured rights—one that’s tightly allied to privacy. And while many of us rejoice at living in societies that supposedly respect both these rights, we would do well to ponder just how free and private our lives really are. Focus especially on what relates to our freedom and privacy when using the internet and the rapidly expanding “internet of things”—all the interconnected devices being incorporated into our daily lives that share digital information and guide us in our actions, portending a future of driverless cars and“smart cities.” All well and good if you like that kind of thing, but not if the information is filtered, biased or distorted, so when we link ourselves to the ‘net, we see a view of the world that is…

“With my craniosacral background, I knew the brain can feel its way back. So, I went to work” Karen Thomas didn’t expect to become an autism recovery expert. She was a holistic health professional, a massage and craniosacral therapist, happily married and mother to a happy-go-lucky, vibrant two-year-old son. Then came the change. “This was in 1998, and the hepatitis B shot was a relatively new thing,”says Karen. “There wasn’t a lot of research out there, and I didn’t know anything about it. I was still uncertain but said,‘Go ahead.’ It was pretty quickly afterwards that Jacob changed.” He regressed and became very introverted, quiet and hyperfocused to the point where people would be talking to him and even say his name and he wouldn’t hear or respond. Simultaneously he…

Both Karen Thomas, founder of Naturally Recovering Autism, and Dr Jodie Dashore cautioned against listing any specific nutritional supplements to help mitigate symptoms of autism. Since every child (and adult) is different, a supplement that might work for one person won’t be as effective for another. This is why in her recovery program, Karen teaches parents how to muscle test. Also known as applied kinesiology or manual muscle testing, this purports to be an alternative health method of diagnosing structural, muscular, chemical and mental ailments as well as determining the proper foods, supplements, medicines and dosages that are appropriate for an individual with a particular condition. The same thing is true of dosages. “I cannot advise any dosages,” says Dashore, who runs an organic herb farm, raising and producing her…

One of the downsides of gym culture is that, having worked out a few times a week, many people think being sedentary the rest of the time is okay. The reality is that this sudden shift from 0–100 miles an hour can shock the body and cause the very stress you’re trying to avoid. Rather than allocating exercise to specific, corralled time slots, it’s vital to move regularly throughout the day—ideally a little every hour. This type of movement is often referred to as “spontaneous physical activity” or “incidental” exercise, as it’s simply about moving more in the context of your day—wherever you are, whenever you can. Although you can feel a number of bodily functions as you sit, for instance your pulse, many processes rely on motor activity to…

Finally, women utilising resistance training is building momentum. More and more of my female members are regularly picking up resistance bands, dumbbells and core bags, increasing their strength and power, and LOVING the results. But even with its increasing popularity, there’s still a camp of firm believers spreading the message that, “lifting weights will make me bulky and masculine.” I’m here to crush that argument with science, once and for all. Being a woman who lifts heavy weights won’t make you bulky, or give you a manly physique. In fact, it’ll do just the opposite: It’ll tighten and tone all over your body, burn fat, and speed jump your metabolism. 1 Lose body fat quickly Muscles are fat-burning machines; the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn every…

Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration or AMD, is the slow deterioration of cells in the macula, a tiny yellowish area near the center of the retina where vision is most focused. In later stages, this decline in macula health often shows up as a shadow or cloud affecting the central visual field needed for everything from driving, reading and writing, to watching movies and identifying faces. Another problem that occurs with macular degeneration is that straight lines in the centre of one’s vision become crooked or wavy. Peripheral vision—vision to the sides—is usually left undisturbed. There are three stages of macular degeneration and two names for it. Early and intermediate AMD are known as “dry” macular degeneration. Early AMD typically presents with changes to the retinal pigment…

The most common cause of macular degeneration is aging and a deterioration of the cells of the retina. Research also shows a strong association between advanced macular degeneration and the presence of a specific genetic variant of the immune-regulating protein complement factor H (CFH).1 Almost half of patients studied with advanced AMD—most of European descent—had this gene variation. But here are some other risk factors you can control yourself: Don’t smoke: Other than age, smoking is the risk factor most consistently associated with AMD.2 Eat your greens: Poor nutrition and a lack of antioxidant-rich foods such as leafy greens in the diet have been linked to macular degeneration.3 Lower your blood pressure: Hypertension and atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, are also contributing factors.4 “When the drusen accumulates, it clogs…

There is substantial research proving that a high-quality diet is effective at preventing macular degeneration and slowing its advancement.1 The Vision Diet has been developed by holistic optometrist and licensed acupuncturist Dr Marc Grossman, coauthor of Natural Eye Care: Your Guide to Healthy Vision and Healing, as the healthiest diet to follow for people dealing with macular degeneration and to optimize general eye health. The Vision Diet is based on an alkalizing diet (which reduces inflammation) and the Mediterranean diet. It avoids processed food, refined carbohydrates, poor-quality oils (including margarine and oils high in trans fats), and high levels of salt. It focuses on the nutrients that support vision health—primarily carotenoids, essential fatty acids, vitamins and enzymes. On the Vision Diet, the majority of foods should consist of vegetables and…

While various breathing modalities have been around for centuries, medical research into conscious breathing and other such transformational breathwork therapies is still in its infancy. No clinical studies have been carried out on Breath4Life, but there have been studies on other breathwork modalities, particularly in the area of mental health and wellbeing. Researchers have suggested that Holotropic Breathwork can support psychotherapy, particularly in reducing avoidance behaviors,1 and that it “can induce very beneficial temperament changes, which can have positive effects on development of character, measured as an increase in self-awareness.”2 Transformational Breath has been shown to improve anxiety, depression and wellbeing and reduce physiological measures of anxiety among performers.3 Trials have also demonstrated that breath work can improve physical health. In a study by researchers at Radboud University in the…

WHAT IS IT? Aluminum—silvery white in appearance—is the third most common element found in nature (after oxygen and silicon) and makes up nearly 8 percent of the earth’s crust, although it plays no essential role in living systems.1 Industry began mining and processing it in the late nineteenth century, and today some 58 million tons are produced annually.2 It’s one of the most widely used metals in building construction and is also commonly used in medicine, food technology and cosmetics. WHERE CAN YOU FIND IT? In the home, aluminum can be found in cooking equipment; foil; food; food and drink packaging such as cans, cartons, water bottles and juice pouches; baking powders; water; antiperspirants and other cosmetics; and drugs such as antacids and aspirin. Food is the main source of…

Dr. Jean Monro, medical director of the Breakspear Hospital, is an internationally recognized specialist in environmental medicine, including such conditions as chronic fatigue syndrome, Lyme disease and multiple chemical sensitivity. She is Fellow of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine and a Board Certified US examiner. Dr. Damien Downing, whose practice specializes in allergy, environment and nutrition, is current president of the British Society for Ecological Medicine and on the editorial board of Orthomolecular Medicine News Service. Chief Medical Advisor of cancer charity Yes to Life (www.yestolife.org.uk), he is also the author of numerous books, including The Vitamin Cure for Allergies. Dr. Harald Gaier, arguably the UK’s most knowledgeable practitioner of the major alternative medical disciplines, is registered in the UK as an osteopath, homeopath, acupuncturist, naturopath and medical herbalist.…

Doctors prescribe opioids even to small children Doctors are prescribing opioids—the powerful and highly addictive painkillers—to young children. Around 60 percent of children who have their tonsils removed are being given the drugs, a new study has discovered. The children are being given an average of 48 doses of opioids after a tonsillectomy, say researchers at the University of Michigan, who reviewed case records of 15,793 children who had the operation in a private clinic. Some 60 percent of these children, who were between one and 18 years old, were given opioids. The painkillers are thought to reduce complications after surgery, but the researchers say there is no evidence the drugs are any more protective than standard NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as ibuprofen. Constipation was more likely to occur…

Hippocrates might have pronounced that food should be our medicine, but it’s advice that doctors have been ignoring for the past 100 years. And they really should have been listening, as underscored by a new research study that has discovered one in five deaths around the world every year is the direct result of a poor diet. Add to that the 40 percent of cancers and the many cases of diabetes and heart disease caused by bad eating habits, and it’s clear that a healthy diet is the single most important factor for maintaining health and preventing disease. But don’t just blame the doctor. Medical schools aren’t teaching nutrition, and health agencies that lay down the guidelines for best practice are not pushing nutritional approaches as a valid way to…

The health of the gut is directly linked to the health of the brain and therefore to the symptoms of autism. According to Karen Thomas, as much as 80 percent of the immune system resides in the gut, so if the gut is not healthy, then the immune system is compromised. It’s a vicious cycle that, thankfully, can be broken by eliminating harmful foods from the diet. Gluten & dairy. Says Karen, “Roughly 60 percent of children who cut out these two food groups improve within a short period of time. Their parents report more positive behavior, improved concentration and better sleep, among other major improvements.” Processed carbohydrates & sugar. When it comes to gut health, these sugars feed the overgrowth of Candida (yeast) in our system, which damages the…

Karen Thomas developed her four-step program through years of research and trial and error in her quest to find solutions to her own son’s symptoms. Every step is supported by scientific evidence and intended to provide a simple framework for individualized treatment strategies. Heal the gut: An elimination diet supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids, probiotics, vitamins and minerals has been shown to relieve autism symptoms (as well as gastrointestinal disorders).1 A gluten-free and casein (dairy)-free diet has also been lnked to reduced symptoms of autism.2 Studies also show an association of gut dysfunction and gut dysbiosis with ASD symptoms.3 Heavy metal detox: Exposure to heavy metals such as lead and mercury have been linked to the development of autism by triggering neuroinflammation and excitotoxicity.4 Immune-related excitotoxicity—where inflammation in the brain…

Many women don’t want hormone replacementbioidentical or otherwise—during menopause, but still want relief from some of its many associated symptoms from hot flashes to vaginal dryness. Among the many herbal preparations and supplements on offer for that, Pueraria mirifica has unique estrogen-like properties. P. mirifica is a woody, climbing plant found in Thailand, where it has been used for its anti-aging properties for centuries. Local folk medicine suggests that both women and men can take a small piece of the plant’s root, equivalent to about 5 mg/ kg bodyweight, once a day at night to counter wrinkled skin, darken white hair and increase hair growth, alleviate cataracts in the eyes, help with memory loss, increase energy and vigor, provide more reflexive body movements, stimulate blood circulation and appetite and alleviate…

• Carrying shopping bags home—evenly distribute the weight over both arms • Gardening • Cycling to and from work • Getting off the bus a stop early to walk • Parking the car farther away from where you need to be or where you can walk through a park to get there • Walking the dog • Vigorous housework • Putting washing out on a line • Carrying and chasing after a baby • DIY projects • Cleaning out a shed or cupboards you’ve been meaning to get to • Buying your lunch from somewhere you have to walk farther to • Dancing—with others or alone to your favorite tunes…

Q I recently had a health screening and found out I have high blood pressure. I am a healthy weight, don’t smoke and rarely drink. Can you suggest any proven diet and lifestyle changes to bring it down? A.S., via email A High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is defined as having a sustained reading of 140/90 mmHg or above in the UK and 130/80 mmHg in the US. It rarely causes any overt symptoms, but can seriously damage organs such as the heart, kidneys and brain, while contributing to the risk of heart attack and stroke. But you shouldn’t worry yet. A single high blood pressure reading does not necessarily mean you have a problem. A huge variety of factors can influence your reading, such as the time of…

If you suffer from gallstones or a grumbling gallbladder as I did before I had my gallbladder out, whether you have opted for natural treatment or you are waiting for surgery, you will need to watch your diet. Although experts believe that a no-fat diet can be harmful, it does seem to be universally accepted that cutting down on fat intake reduces the likelihood of a gallstone attack, as, without fat, the gallbladder will not be stimulated to release bile into the small intestine. The gallbladder collects and stores bile, made by the liver as a result of its many detoxification processes. It then releases the bile into the small intestine when food enters from the stomach. This helps with the digestion of food because the gallbladder contains bile salts…

She heard about microstimulation treatment, and in February 2016 she decided to purchase a microcurrent stimulation device from Dr Grossman for home use, faithfully following the instructions to treat her eyes four times a day. After about three or four months of self-treatment, she started noticing the clapboard siding on houses. “It seemed to happen all of a sudden,” she says. “Every house now stood out and practically shouted with their long horizontal lines.” Then she says she started noticing colors that had long since faded from her vision. “Red cars were redder; same with the color blue. The string that holds my glasses around my neck, which I thought was black, suddenly turned green—small little colored things showed up.” Most exciting was the change in her reading ability. “After…

As a young man, Matthew Donnachie thought he was heading for prison or an early grave. Years of bottled-up trauma from an emotionally abusive childhood had left him with no self-esteem, problematic relationships, depression and huge anger. Diagnosed with behavioral problems as a child—Matthew realized later he was just trying to get attention—his life spun out of control as the internalized negative script of his abuser played out. The put-downs and phrases he had heard daily as he grew up, like, “You’re not good enough, you will never succeed,” and “No one will ever love you,” echoed through his mind, driving him into a frustrating cycle of toxic relationships and dead-end jobs. “I thought nobody cared, and then because of that I didn’t care about myself,” says Matthew, 39. “Some…

Breath4Life sessions are carried out with the client lying fully clothed, face up on the floor, on a mat or other comfortable support. After an initial conversation about current concerns and the possible focus of the session, visualization and relaxation exercises help the client to relax and drop into a theta brain wave state (4–7 Hz), which allows easier access to the subconscious. Breath4Life subconscious connected breathing is done entirely through the mouth. This brings more air and oxygen into the body—and thus more energy—than nasal inspiration. An energetic in-breath is followed by a sighing out-breath, a forceful in-breath and so on, without pausing between. Evocative music helps people connect to their feelings, and within a few minutes, emotions start to surface. These may be familiar or totally unexpected: the…

Unsure about antioxidants Over the last 30 years, I have collected and read many books and articles on nutritional medicine and concluded that most authors agree on reasonably safe upper limits for maintenance and therapeutic dosages of vitamins, minerals and other supplements. However, when it comes to taking dietary antioxidants, I can’t find any references for safe intake levels and have even read that too many antioxidants can have the opposite effect, causing oxidation instead. Antioxidants including grapeseed extract, pycogenol, rutin, hesperdin, quercetin, green tea extract, ginkgo, bilberry, milk thistle, turmeric and various carotenoids (lutein, zeaxathin, lycopene, alpha and beta carotene) add to the antioxidant action of vitamins C and E, coenzyme Q10, alpha lipoic acid, selenium, zinc, copper, manganese and N-acetyl cysteine. Advice varies from taking as many of…

Adding fluoride to the water supply has been hailed as one of the top ten most important public health measures of the twentieth century—but has the practice, introduced in the 1940s to prevent tooth decay in children, now passed its sell-by date? Two new studies suggest it has, with one concluding there’s no such thing as a safe dose of fluoride to the growing body, and another underlining what fluoride’s opponents have claimed for years: the chemical is a neurotoxin that affects a child’s IQ and ability to learn—even when it’s the mother who drank fluoridated water while pregnant. Advocates of fluoridation have argued that the poison is in the dose. At the recommended concentration of 1 part per million (equivalent to 1 milligram per liter of water), it’s safe,…

NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) sets the UK guidelines for the best, most effective practices for doctors to follow. But the group won’t even consider a nutritional approach, despite the overwhelming evidence, as one of its submission team, Rufus Greenbaum, has revealed. Here are some of his suggestions about cancer treatment and care, and NICE’s responses. 1 Will you review the use of complementary therapies that could be used alongside conventional treatments, especially to temper their adverse effects? NICE response: We will not review alternative medicines 2 Is cancer a nuclear genetic disease or a mitochondrial metabolic disease? NICE response: We will not review the causes of cancer 3 There is very good evidence that adjusting vitamin D levels of 25 (OH)D to 100–150 nmol/L helps…

When Turing Pharmaceuticals ramped up the price of its drug, Daraprim, by 5,000 percent overnight in 2015, the US media and Congress were shocked—but the drug industry regarded it as business as usual. And defending the extraordinary price hike, CEO Martin Shkreli did what the drug industry always does: he hired a team of lobbyists to help with “Congressional outreach.” That way, his decision could be justified and defended. When it comes to Congress and pricing policy, the drug industry likes to hunt as a pack. Its trade association, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), increased dues by 50 percent in 2016 to raise an extra $100 million for lobbying. PhRMA’s average annual spend is US$19.9 million, used to convince Congress that current pharmaceutical price levels are justified,…

Chamberline Owen Karen says that most of the time she works with moms. But the very first member to join her program was Chamberline Owen from Nigeria, a father desperate to help his son. Two-year-old Pierce had just gotten home after a two-week hospital stay treating autoimmune reaction, Candida overgrowth, rheumatoid arthritis and a very severe strep infection. He was nonverbal, with no eye contact, antisocial, “stimming” (self-stimulating through repetitive behaviors, movements or sounds), and hyperactive, with poor sleep patterns and severe gastrointestinal issues. “In the hospital he went through all kinds of antibiotics, some of which he had a bad reaction to,” says Owen. “I swore to myself he wouldn’t spend another night again in a hospital.” His next step was contacting Karen. Two years later, he has dropped…

While some argue that progesterone creams are too weak to be effective, others contend that they harbor serious long-term risks. But there’s one thing all the critics agree on: the dearth of medical evidence to support menopausal women using them. Bioidentical progesterone cream was first developed by Dr John Lee, a general practitioner, in the 1970s, and marketed to menopausal women based mainly on anecdotal claims of “improved wellbeing” and recording of improved bone density among his patients. There was no scientific evidence whatsoever to support this, but because they contained only “natural” progesterone, the creams never needed FDA approval.1 “It may take as long as two years for built-up excess hormones to wash out of the body” A number of studies have failed to find any beneficial effect of…

“Playful movement is known to promote adaptability, injury prevention, strength, balance, agility, coordination, speed, skill and mental focus—and a little can go a long way” The word primal is bandied around a lot these days—used to describe movement, diet and lifestyle—but what does it actually mean? The word itself stems from primary, that which came first. So“primal” can mean“original” in terms of our evolution either as an individual or as a species. This can relate to how humans evolved from primitive sea creatures to four-legged mammals and up to primates, and still possess the types of motions such animals exhibit within our range of movement. Humans also progress through these same patterns of movement within our own lifetime, from our fetal shape within the womb to becoming an upright adult.…

Beets. A daily dose of beet juice can lower blood pressure.4 Researchers think it’s because beets are rich in nitrate, which increases levels of blood vessel-dilating nitric oxide in the blood. But beets appear to have blood pressure-lowering effects independent of nitrate, too.5 Berries. Eating 3.5 oz (100 g) of berries plus a berry drink daily can cut systolic blood pressure by up to 7 mmHg.6 Blueberries, bilberries, lingonberries, blackcurrants, strawberries, chokeberries and raspberries are all good choices. Tomatoes. Drinking unsalted tomato juice has been found to reduce both systolic and diastolic blood presssure in people with hypertension and “prehypertension” (slightly above-normal blood pressure).7 Raisins. Snacking on a handful of raisins three times a day can significantly lower blood presssure in as little as a month.8 Bananas. A fruit famed…

“Most practices acknowledge that both the breather and the breath have an innate healing capacity” Breathwork has been an element of Eastern spiritual traditions for centuries, integral to the practice of meditation, yoga and tantra. In the West, the power of breathwork was discovered in the mid-twentieth century by pioneers of psychotherapy such as Wilhelm Reich, but it wasn’t until the counterculture movement in the 1960s that interest really took off. Psychiatrist Stanislav Grof and his wife Cristina developed Holotropic Breathwork based on Grof’s work in psychiatric institutions. Then Leonard Orr discovered conscious connected breathing practice of Rebirthing in the course of his search for spiritual growth and the expansion of consciousness. A variety of conscious connected breathwork schools have evolved from Rebirthing, including Integrative Breathwork, Shamanic Breathwork and Transformational…