Innholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2022 i What Doctors Don't Tell You Australia/NZ

What is the best diet to follow and foods to eat to regain or maintain optimum health? The equivalent of the Brazilian rain forest has probably been leveled to print the books attempting to answer just that question. But confusion still abounds. Should you go Paleo or vegan when you are ill? And what are the best foods to prevent or heal cancer? To find out, we need to take a tip from bears—and monkeys and rats and most of the animal kingdom. After witnessing sick bears eating the roots of Ligusticum plants and getting better afterward, North American Native Americans gave the plants a name that means‘bear medicine.’ Most conventional scientists have disparaged anecdotes such as these, putting them down to myth—until recently. Animal behaviorists have discovered that animals…

The world was shocked by images of Danish footballer Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch during the recent European Championships. How could a fit 29-year-old suddenly suffer a heart malfunction? Sudden cardiac episodes aren’t so rare: they account for 15 percent of all deaths in the West, and they can happen out of the blue to seemingly healthy people who have no history of heart problems. Two things need to happen to spark a cardiac episode, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have discovered. Cardiac sodium channels, proteins in the membrane of heart cells that help keep the heart beating, suddenly stop functioning correctly, and this only happens in people with certain mutations in the gene for these channels. But the mutation on its own may not cause the heart…

Warnings about staying out of the sun may have been overdone. ‘Safe sun’ advice has overstated the cancer risk and underplayed the vital importance of vitamin D, which sunlight stimulates. The policy is based on data that was produced 30 years ago—which even then was considered controversial—and so it’s time to recalculate the risks and benefits of sunbathing, say researchers from King’s College London. They have been testing the optimum level of exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet radiation that is needed before we start producing vitamin D. After taking into account the risk of sunburn and skin cancer, the researchers say we need to be exposing our skin for longer than the few minutes the current health advisory suggests. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2021; 118: e2015867118…

Taking vitamin B12 could help reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease, new research shows. The vitamin appears to block the buildup of amyloid-beta, a toxic protein that is seen in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. The discovery has been inspired by wiggling worms. Apparently, even worms can get Alzheimer’s, and when they do, they stop wiggling. Amyloid-beta can paralyze a worm in just 36 hours, but others that are fed a similar diet carry on wriggling—and it’s all to do with their levels of vitamin B12, researchers from the University of Delaware have discovered. Although it’s difficult to isolate the impact of the vitamin on complex animals like humans, it’s easy to see in the worms. And the vitamin could help reduce the chances of developing other neurodegenerative diseases such…

If you’ve had a stroke, start walking (or gardening or biking). Getting active for just four hours a week will dramatically reduce your risk of premature death. If you’re 75 or older, a little activity every week will more than halve your risk of an early death, and the reduction in risk is even more impressive if you’re under 75, dropping by 80 percent. Not surprisingly, the mortality risk drops even further in those who exercise for more than four hours a week. Most older people can maintain that level of gentle exercise even if they have had a stroke, say researchers from the University of Calgary. To discover the positive impact of exercise, they tracked the health and activity levels of 895 people with an average age of 72…

Eating plenty of fruit and veg can halve your risk of heart disease, including heart attack and stroke. People eating the healthiest diets—which included fruits, vegetables, fish and nuts and excluded processed foods—were 52 percent less likely to develop heart disease. Young people who start eating a healthy diet by the time they’re 30 and postmenopausal women seem to get the greatest protection, but it’s a strategy that works for everyone, at all ages, researchers say. The importance of a healthy diet has been highlighted by two major studies that tracked the link between “plant-centered” eating and heart health. In one, nearly 5,000 young adults were tracked for 32 years, during which time 289 developed heart disease. Those who ate the healthiest diet at the start of the study had…

You don’t have to sweat it out at the gym to control your blood pressure—a special type of exercise you can do while sitting at your desk could work just as well. Isometric resistance training (IRT) is as effective as aerobic and dynamic resistance exercises in controlling blood pressure levels if you’re hypertensive, a new study has found. IRT is a form of strength training where you push against a wall, squeeze your fist or hold out a heavy object with both arms while sitting down—and for that reason it was always thought to be dangerous for people with high blood pressure. But researchers from the University of South Wales have discovered it is safe and effective, and it’s something that everyone can do. Just 12 minutes a day for…

Have you been feeling disappointment of late? Perhaps because you’ve convinced yourself that the world won’t ever be like it was before 2020, or that lockdowns, masks and even mass ‘vaccination’ won’t return hard-won freedoms. Or because society is more polarized than it’s been in a lifetime. If we allow ourselves to wallow in this disappointment for any extended period of time, we’re at grave risk of going backward. So I want to let you know some of the tricks I play to help me maintain a positive outlook, regardless of what’s happening in the world. The first is reminding myself that, in an historical sense, things are not that bad—so far. Both my parents grew up in Nazi-occupied territories duringtheSecondWorldWar, my mother in Greece, my father in the Netherlands.…

Smoothies are a surprisingly easy way to bring more fruit and vegetables into your day. Our gut bugs love fiber. Use a blender rather than a juicer so you get the whole benefit of the plant fiber. Seeds are generally fine too. So—bonus—limited chopping and prep. Makes two smoothies Ingredients 1 green banana 5–6 dates/figs for natural sweetness (or swap for 6 frozen strawberries) 12 almonds 7 fl oz/200 mL warmed almond milk, infused with either a small nub of ginger or a crushed cardamom pod 0.07 fl oz/2 mL ginseng 1 tsp chia seeds Directions Place all the ingredients in the blender and blitz to your preferred consistency.…

Oats are a great source of gut-friendly prebiotics. These delicious oatcakes—gluten-free, dairy-free and yeast-free—are perfect as an accompaniment to a bowl of soup or spread with hummus. Serves: 12 oatcakes /Prep time: 45 minutes Ingredients 7¾ oz oats/220 g (gluten-free), blitzed into a fine powder 2¼ oz/65 g melted vegan butter 3½ fl oz/95 mL filtered water ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda ½ tsp salt ¼ oz/10 g chia seeds (soak for 3 mins before adding) Directions 1 Preheat the oven to 300°F/150°C 2 Combine all the ingredients in a bowl to form a stiff dough. 3 Divide the mixture in half and then half again and create 12 small balls. 4 Press each ball flat with the back of a spoon onto your baking sheet and place in a…

Although much can be accomplished in an impromptu five- to ten-minute session, a proper in-depth Quantum Touch session averages from 45 minutes up to 75 minutes after there’s been a thorough intake conversation covering both physical and emotional components of a client’s presenting condition. Sessions are conducted with the client fully clothed and usually lying on a massage table. Both Gordon and Grant say that at the beginning, the healer might feel nothing in their hands. “Usually, it takes about five minutes before your hands start to really vibrate,” says Gordon. “After maybe 20 minutes, they’re vibrating like crazy because the client’s body is entraining to your vibrations and the energy is moving. At the end of the session, you might notice that the sensation in your hands has gone…

Diet Food is very important for regulating the endocannabinoid system. A balanced diet of organic vegetables, fruits, fish and meats is best. You also need to consume enough healthy saturated and unsaturated fats while eliminating artificial trans fats and highly processed hydrogenated oils from your diet—namely corn oil, soybean oil, safflower, sunflower and canola oil found in processed and fast foods and many microwavable foods such as microwave popcorn. According to Dr Ranna, hemp seed oil and walnut oil are particularly well-balanced and nourishing to the endocannabinoid system. Studies show that omega-3 fatty acids appear to be regulators of the endocannabinoid system,1 and a balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids is very important. A ratio of about 1:1 is considered ideal. However, high levels of omega-6 found in fast…

Garlic oil helps get rid of ear mites and wards off re-infestation and ear infections. It’s really easy to make. Ingredients 1 large clove garlic, minced Olive oil Directions 1 Place the garlic in a saucepan and cover with oil to a depth of about ½ inch (1 cm). 2 Warm gently over a low heat for one hour. Strain the oil and cool. 3 Bottle and store in the fridge. To use, dip a cotton wool bud into the oil and apply to ears. NOTE: Make sure your vet has confirmed that your pet does not have a ruptured ear drum before you use this remedy.…

Dr Damien Downing, a specialist in allergy, environment and nutrition, is current president of the British Society for Ecological Medicine, on the editorial board of Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, Chief Medical Advisor of cancer charity Yes to Life (www.yestolife.org.uk), and author of numerous books including The Vitamin Cure for Allergies. Dr Michel Odent, a French-trained surgeon and obstetrician, is a pioneer of the natural birth movement, emphasizing home and water birth. Founder of the Primal Health Research Centre in the UK, he has written some 50 scientific papers and 11 books. Dr Sarah Myhill has worked in the UK National Health Service and private practice since 1981. Honorary Secretary of the British Society for Ecological Medicine for 17 years, she is a frequent lecturer and author of Sustainable Medicine and…

Unborn babies who are exposed to light in the womb could have better brain development. A lack of light exposure before birth has been linked to an increased risk of autism and, later in life, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and bipolar disorder—and so pregnant women who use light therapy could be helping their unborn child have a healthier life. Light can pass through skin, soft tissue and even the fetus’s skull to activate photoreceptors known as opsin-3 proteins, which are found in the central and peripheral nervous systems. The receptors play an important role in the formation of neurons, neural pathways and parts of the brain and spinal cord. They detect light in the blue range at a wavelength of around 480 nanometers, say researchers at Umea University in Sweden.…

Making a cup of tea with chlorinated water can create disinfectant byproducts that scientists haven’t ever identified and don’t know what effects on our health they may cause. But it’s not too much of a worry for the average tea drinker: the scientists estimate that someone would have to drink between 18 and 55 cups a day before they’d be in any danger. Boiling water that’s been chlorinated helps reduce toxic disinfection byproducts (DBPs), but a chemical reaction happens when tea—rich in more than 500 compounds, including polyphenols and amino acids—is added. Around 60 new DBPs get created, and it’s a similar reaction with all three of the different types of tea the scientists tested. Environ Sci Technol, 2021; 55(19): 12994–13004…

Alzheimer’s disease starts when the blood-brain barrier gets breached and toxic proteins enter, breakthrough research has discovered—and the process begins with a poor diet. The protein that deposits in the brain is called amyloid-beta—and while amyloid-beta accumulation is characteristic of Alzheimer’s, nobody could figure out how it got there. Researchers at Curtin University in Australia have discovered it is transported by fat-carrying particles called lipoproteins. In mouse models, the researchers discovered that amyloid-beta originating from the liver can kick off this chain reaction, suggesting the process that eventually leads to Alzheimer’s starts with a poor diet. PLOS Biol, 2021; 19: e3001358…

A healthy diet can almost halve your chances of suffering a severe Covid infection—and can even help reduce your chances of getting the infection in the first place. A diet that is rich in vegetables and fruits can on its own reduce the risk of a severe infection by 41 percent, and of any infection by 9 percent. If people ate a healthy, plant-based diet, the number of Covid cases would be cut by around a third. A healthy diet is a third key factor in protecting against Covid, and is as important as mask-wearing and vaccination, say researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital. It’s the first time the protective effect of healthy eating has been assessed on its own, the researchers say, although risk factors such as obesity and type…

Covid vaccines are less than 8 percent effective against the Delta strain among people over 50, which explains why cases are rising even though most people have been double-vaxxed. The vaccines are only slightly more effective in those under 50, with a protection rate of 24 percent. The vaccines are reducing the risk of dying from the virus, however, and have a 72 percent protective effect, although effectiveness is dropping by the week. This worrying picture is based on an analysis of figures released by Public Health England (PHE) and mainly measures the effectiveness of the Astra Zeneca jab, which has been widely used in the UK. The figures reveal that 68,445 Delta variant cases were recorded among people over 50 who were double-vaxxed in the three months to September,…

Children aren’t eating real food. An alarming two-thirds of the calories they consume are coming from ‘ultraprocessed’ foods such as fast-food burgers, sugary breakfast cereals and French fries. It’s a health time bomb that could trigger an explosion in cases of diabetes, obesity, cancer and heart disease, say researchers. Children as young as two are getting 67 percent of their calories from highly processed foods, and it’s a problem that’s getting worse. When the survey was last conducted in 1999, ultraprocessed food contributed to 61 percent of total calorie intake. The only bright spot was a drop in the consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks, which contributed 5.3 percent of total calories compared to 10.8 percent in the 1999 survey. The biggest rise was in frozen pizza and burger consumption, which now…

Can’t get the weight off? It could be because of the pesticides that are sprayed on the fruits and vegetables you’re eating. The pesticide chlorpyrifos slows our ability to burn calories and interferes with the healthy functioning of our brown fat, which is being recognized as a major controller of our weight. Chlorpyrifos is widely used around the world, and it had the biggest impact on brown fat of the 34 common pesticides and herbicides that researchers from McMaster University in Canada tested. “Brown fat is the metabolic furnace in our body, burning calories, unlike normal fat that is used to store them . . . and we know brown fat is activated during cold weather and when we eat,” explained Gregory Steinberg, one of the researchers. Pesticides need only…

Staying hydrated is good for your heart. Drinking up to 3 liters (5 pints) of liquids every day reduces your chances of heart failure—and probably an awful lot more besides. Few people drink nearly enough liquid every day—but it’s an essential fuel for the heart’s pumping mechanism. Our ideal liquid intake varies between the sexes; women should be drinking between 1.6 to 2.1 liters a day, and the range for men is 2 to 3 liters. You know if you’re drinking enough liquids from the amount of sodium in your blood. A high serum sodium reading suggests you should be drinking more; if you’re not, your body will try to conserve the water it has, and this can eventually lead to heart failure. Researchers from the US National Institutes of…

Ask Dr Google if you need to take vitamins, and you’ll get the emphatic answer that, no, you don’t, as you get all the nutrients you need from eating a healthy, balanced diet. Ask the more pointed question, “Are vitamins a waste of money?”and you get an even more muscular response that not only would you do better flushing your dollars down a toilet, but supplements may even damage your health. And that is the standard medical view about vitamins today, even though more than 70 percent of Americans take at least one multivitamin daily, spending around $12 billion a year in the process. After pushing the balanced diet approach for years, the American Medical Association begrudgingly accepted that, at least, vitamins probably didn’t do any harm. But this position…

Covid-19 is being characterized as a pandemic of the unvaccinated. The vaccinated are safe and can lead a normal social life, while the unvaccinated are treated almost as social pariahs, and in some countries are not being allowed in restaurants or bars. In Moscow, for a few short weeks, the unvaccinated weren’t even allowed to get a haircut. But the vaccine appears to offer protection for just six months or so, and the real story is that Covid is ultimately a pandemic of a bad diet, although this is not being promoted by health agencies or the media. People who suffer from one of the four conditions of obesity, diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure) or heart failure—collectively known as cardiometabolic conditions—make up two-thirds of hospital admissions for serious Covid infection.…

Sleep heals. It’s that simple. When we sleep, the body gets the chance to rest and reset. When we don’t get sufficient sleep, we can fall prey to a whole host of physical and mental health issues. The sad reality is that we are living in increasingly sleepless cities.1 Poor sleep almost certainly plays a key role in anxiety and stress. Studies show that as little as two days of too little sleep can increase cortisol levels and inflammation, subtly impacting our gut bugs’ balance.2 In fact, fatigue and obesity often go hand in hand. Lack of sleep causes us to seek out sources of energy—sugar and fat. We are pulled to inflammatory foods, which feed the less healthy bacteria in our microbiome. This can create a negative cycle, unsettling…

When Joanna Gregory, a resident of London, was 25, she visited her father in Spain. Although there had never been any physical or sexual abuse, she’d grown up feeling unsafe around him. “His life experience is rooted in the Holocaust era, so I know that there are genetic and emotional things he’s dealing with,” she says. “But when I visited him, he was in a very angry space and feeling suicidal. He had bought a couple of kittens, and they happened to be infested with fleas. I stayed in the room where those kittens had been and was bitten from head to toe every night. It was terrible, but I was too afraid to tell my dad. When I got back to London, I had a huge panic attack. And…

Obviously, it’s vital to get a test to rule out Covid-19 first, but if you do come down with a cold, here are some top natural treatments proven to work. Zinc lozenges. Taken within 24 hours of symptoms starting, these can shorten the duration of a cold by around two days.1 Suggested dosage: 75 mg/day zinc acetate lozenges Vitamin C. A single 8-gram dose of vitamin C given on the first day of illness reduced cold duration in one trial.2 Suggested dosage: 8 g/day in divided doses; reduce the dose if you get gastrointestinal symptoms Andrographis paniculata. This herb is effective at reducing cold symptoms.3 Suggested dosage: 200 mg/day of a standardized extract Pelargonium sidoides. Also known as Umckaloabo, this herbal remedy can shorten a cold and ease symptoms.4 Suggested…

“It’s about doing what your mother always told you to do,” says Dr Ranna. “Eat well, get plenty of rest, and make sure you get outside in nature and exercise. Go for a walk or swim. Water is really healing. It helps us to connect with our soul and body. Just being next to the sea or a lake or river really helps. “Most of all, be kind to yourself. Name what stresses you and try to work with it in kindness. For example, if your job is stressful, don’t just quit immediately and then stress about money. Find ways to work with your situation that make your life easier.” Dr Carrie Newbold, Research Director for eCS Clinic in Australia, says that along with proper diet, restful sleep and exercise,…

If you’re planning on refreshing your home in the new year, whether that means a new lick of paint or a top-to-bottom deep clean, it’s important to consider the many toxic chemicals you may be exposed to in the process. Here are five ways to refresh your space while reducing your risks. 1 Choose VOC-free paints If you’re planning on getting your home decorated or doing some DIY, go for nontoxic paint, varnishes, fillers and other products with the lowest VOC levels you can find. VOCs—volatile organic compounds—are chemicals that readily release vapors at room temperature. They’re a major contributor to indoor air pollution and have been linked to a range of short-and long-term health effects, from headaches, dizziness and memory problems1 to asthma, eczema and poor sperm quality.2 Several…

We saw a meme the other day that tickled the collective WDDTY funny bone. A doctor is saying to his patient: “After years of an unhealthy lifestyle, I’m afraid you’ve developed this chronic condition.” “Oh dear,”responds the patient, “should I change my lifestyle?” “Don’t be silly,”the doctor replies, “we have a pill for you.” And that, in short, is how most of us live. Big Food dishes up processed glob that makes us malnourished and, eventually, sick, at which point Big Pharma steps in to maintain our sickness. And the largesse of both industries ensures that politicians are supportive, barely raising a finger to protect the citizenry. We’ve come to a pretty pass, or if you’re in a Wordsworthian mood today (and why not?) it’s a sordid boon. One of…

Lack of jab safety protocols I’m grateful you are giving people information about Covid-19 that is not being raised in the mainstream media. “Proper safety protocols have been willingly abandoned in order to get as many jabs in as many arms as possible” One issue I want to raise is the lack of any basic safety protocols applied when administering the Covid-19 injections in the UK. (I do not refer to them as vaccines because they clearly do not meet the requirements of a traditional vaccine.) Although I have not had the injection myself, I am aware that the giving of this medical intervention is not being subject to the usual rigorous checking done in the NHS. My husband received his jab at a large “vaccine center.” He was not…

“THERE WERE SUBSTANTIAL HEALTH BENEFITS BETWEEN 7,000 AND 10,000STEPS, BUT WE DIDN’T SEE AN ADDITIONAL BENEFIT FROM GOING BEYOND 10,000 STEPS” RESEARCHER AMANDA PALUCH Walking every day will help you live longer—and you don’t have to walk the expected 10,000 steps to get those health benefits. It’s enough to walk just 7,000 steps a day, and that appears to be the optimum amount everyone should be aiming for. If you do, your risk of a premature death drops by between 50 and 70 percent—but walking much more than 10,000 steps a day doesn’t reduce that risk any further, nor does walking at a faster pace. People who don’t walk 7,000 steps are at the greatest risk of dying prematurely, say researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who looked at…

Babies and toddlers need their vitamin D tablets every day to help their neurodevelopment, especially if they’re living in sun-starved countries in the northern hemisphere, a new research study has found. But they don’t need high doses—standard amounts work just as well. Researchers from the University of Tampere in Finland gave a group of 404 infants vitamin D supplements with doses of either 400 IU or 1,200 IU from the time they were just two weeks old. After two years, there was hardly any difference in the developmental scores of the groups, suggesting the higher dose didn’t help the toddlers advance any quicker. JAMA Network Open, 2021; 4: e2124493…

Restricting the time that you eat to within an eight- to 10-hour window every day can help you manage chronic health problems such as diabetes and heart disease. Time-restricted eating is a form of intermittent fasting that works with our own body clock and can help regulate chronic diseases. Our genes, hormones and metabolism rise and fall during the 24-hour day, and restricting the times we eat keeps us in tune with these rhythms, say researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Snacking and ‘grazing’ throughout the day breaks the body’s synchrony and makes us more prone to disease, said Satchidananda Panda, one of the paper’s authors. Intermittent fasting can also help improve the quality of our sleep and our overall health, as well as reduce the risk of…

People who have had Covid-19 are far better protected against the Delta variant than the double-vaxxed. The fully vaccinated are 13 times more likely to catch the variant than those who have natural immunity, researchers at Maccabi Healthcare Services in Israel have discovered. The difference could be explained by the vaccine’s declining protective powers, which other Israeli researchers have calculated wanes to just 16 percent after six months. For the new study, researchers analyzed a group of 32,000 people, half of whom had caught the SARS-CoV-2 virus during the first two months of 2021 while the rest had received their second Pfizer jab. During the six-month follow-up period, 257 in the vaccinated group and just 19 in the previously infected group caught the Delta variant. The vaccinated were nearly six…

If you’ve survived a heart attack or stroke, add a small glass of wine to your daily routine—it could reduce your chances of a second attack and may even save your life. People who drink one glass of wine, spirits or beer every day reduce their chances of a second attack by around 27 percent compared to teetotallers. Those who drink 8 grams of alcohol a day—equivalent to one unit, or a small glass of wine—enjoyed the greatest protection. But you can have too much of a good thing, and those who drank more didn’t lower their risk further, but instead raised their chances of other alcohol-related health problems. Researchers from University College London studied a database of 14,386 people who had experienced a heart attack, angina or stroke. During…

What’s the best exercise to get fit and stay that way? The good news is that moderate activity, and even walking, takes the prize over intense workouts. The key is in finding an activity you can do frequently. Moderate exercise a few days a week is more effective than just walking—but if you are a walker, the more steps you walk will help offset the negative effects of hours spent just sitting around. To uncover the gold standard of exercise, researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine studied the impact of exercise, or a lack of it, on the hearts of 2,000 participants. Habitual, dedicated exercise regimes that were moderate to vigorous in intensity were the key for having a healthy heart, the researchers concluded. And as fitness has…

What is it about processed foods and drinks that make them so bad for us? The key ingredient seems to be fructose, because it changes our digestive tract in a way that makes us put on weight. Although fructose is a natural sugar in fruit, it’s also found in high concentrations in sugar additives like high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) found in processed foods. And it’s the amount that really makes the difference, as researchers from the Weill Cornell Medical Center have discovered. “Fructose itself isn’t harmful; it’s a problem of overconsumption. Our bodies are not designed to eat as much of it as we do,” said Marcus DaSilva Goncalves, one of the researchers. It also makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. People would harvest and eat fruits in the autumn…

People who were among the first to get a Covid vaccine are now vulnerable to infection. The vaccine’s effectiveness wanes, and as of June, it provided just 16 percent protection to those vaccinated in January. The decline in the vaccine’s effectiveness is rapid. People vaccinated three months later in April still had 75 percent protection, says Israel’s Health Ministry. The country has almost exclusively adopted Pfizer’s experimental mRNA vaccine for its Covid response, which has been one of the most comprehensive and efficient in the West. But cases have been rising suddenly, and scientists fear serious cases requiring hospital treatment could triple in the coming months. Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem were commissioned to explore the sudden rise in serious cases. “We looked at tens of thousands of…

If our lifestyles are killing us, why don’t we make lifestyle medicine mainstream? It’s logical, yet this very logic appears to defy public health authorities and the medical establishment. Lifestyle medicine is not taught at medical school, and those responsible for the design of modern healthcare seem happy to allow physicians to dispense their pharmaceutical repertoire to a public that continues to believe it’s the best modern medicine can offer, without recognizing that it’s largely just symptom management—and even that often doesn’t work particularly well. It’s a business model that keeps delivering for its architects: Big Pharma. Roughly 70 percent of all ailments that bring people to a doctor are the result of preventable disease caused by our lifestyles. We’re also seeing two worrying trends in most industrialized countries: one,…

Health research in 2021 was dominated by the Covid-19 epidemic, which gave new focus to researchers to explore dietary and nutritional answers to the outbreak. It soon became clear that the epidemic had a lot to do with a poor diet of processed food; the virus singled out the obese and those who suffer from chronic health problems such as heart disease and diabetes, which are also associated with a poor diet. Here are our highlights of research discoveries during the year that gave new insights into the foods we eat. Although only a small handful looked specifically at the impact of a good diet on Covid, it’s clear that nutrition is one of the key shapers of a strong immune system and so, by default, our best defense against…

“Because it’s a subtle energy, it’s not measurable with today’s equipment. That doesn’t keep the human body from utilizing it and making very dramatic changes that can be seen easily” When Richard Gordon was 24, he was not in good health. He had irritating skin rashes, lung problems and intestinal issues that resisted treatment by regular doctors. “They basically said,‘Nothing’s bad enough yet to treat. Why don’t you come back when you get worse, and we’ll see what we can do for you?” Feeling lost and rather insulted, he decided to attend a holistic health school in New Mexico, where he learned a technique called Polarity Therapy. Then he met the man who would change his life, an energy healer named Bob Rasmusson, who had created a healing modality called…

Lauren, now age 39, from Philadelphia, PA, had severe scoliosis and had been going to doctors and chiropractors since she was 19. It was hard for her to sit for very long because of the pain. Clothes didn’t fit right because of the spinal curvature and the fact that the right side of her body and ribcage were torqued upward at an angle. “The doctors and chiropractors told me I was going to have to get treatments for the rest of my life and that I would always be like this,” she says. “I couldn’t expect any change, and there was never an option of getting better.” Stumbling across a TV broadcast that featured an energy healer, she was intrigued. Her mother was sick with fibromyalgia, had back issues and…

“Natural remedies can help with hearing loss caused by aging or infections and other fixable factors” Q Our eight-year-old old Cocker Spaniel, Hershey, appears to be going deaf and does not seem to hear the doorbell or our commands anymore. Our vet says it’s age-related and irreversible. Can you suggest any alternative solutions to help him? G.L., via email A Dogs and cats usually have extremely sharp hearing, so it can be quite a shock to owners when their pet stops responding to noise. Hearing loss with advancing age is not uncommon in dogs and cats. Temporary loss of hearing is often a result of minor issues like earwax buildup, infections or even excess hair. Sudden hearing loss can be painful and needs to be investigated. Signs of hearing loss…

Ingredients A large handful of aloe vera leaves ½ tsp xanthan gum ½ tsp vitamin C powder Directions 1 Break open the aloe vera leaves and scrape out the inner sap—this can be quite fiddly as the sap is slippery. 2 Place the sap in a blender, add 2 Tbsp water, the xanthan gum and the vitamin C powder. Blend together until a thicker, gel-like consistency is achieved. 3 Store in a labeled, airtight glass jar in the fridge for up to one month. 4 Apply topically to the affected area between the toes twice daily after cleaning and drying the area.…

Another word of caution if you’re decorating your home or upcycling vintage furniture: watch out for lead. This highly toxic heavy metal could be hiding in old paintwork and varnish. Before sanding suspect surfaces, get a lead testing kit, such as those offered by 3M and Abotex. If lead is present, here are some tips for dealing with it safely: • If paintwork is in good condition, you can simply seal it in with an overcoating of modern, lead-free paint. • If paintwork or varnish is in bad condition and needs to be removed make sure you don’t use methods that create dust or fumes, such as dry sanding or a heat gun. Try a solvent-free water-based paint stripper instead, such as Eco Solutions Home Strip (www.ecosolutions.co.uk), known as MAX…

Mommy, why is medical advice so contradictory? Perhaps not a question your typical five-year-old would ask, but if she did, go to the top of the class! She’d be right. We hardly know which way to turn when it comes to the amount of exercise we should be getting, the food we should eat or whether we should be taking vitamins. But the contradictory crown—the very apotheosis of double-think—is reserved for the advice we get on drinking. Should we or shouldn’t we, and if we do, how much dare we sip? In the space of a couple of recent weeks, we’ve been told: 1. Previous research that had suggested even one glass of wine was lethal was wrong, and moderate drinking probably won’t do you too much harm. 2. Actually,…