Innholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2024 i What Doctors Don't Tell You Australia/NZ

Friends of ours have a daughter in her late 20s I'll call Rose who's been through a rough patch lately. That's not her real name, nor are many of the following details true to life—only true in essence. After dutifully taking and passing a course in bookkeeping, even though math wasn't her natural skill set, Rose embarked on a long series of jobs but never quite settled in, her boss or coworkers often belittling and bullying her for being a bit slow in her tallies. As a result, she didn't stay long at these jobs but desperately wanted to find work and contribute to the apartment that she and her long-term boyfriend had purchased. And then there was the boyfriend himself, who was intent on helping her “fix” her problems…

Your BMI (body mass index) score is one measure of obesity—and its critics say it's a pretty unreliable one. It can't tell the difference between fat and muscle, which is heavier. As a result, for instance, an athlete could be classified as obese despite having low body fat. To calculate your BMI, square your height in meters and then divide your weight in kilograms by that number. Here's how that calculation would go if you are 1.73 m (around 5 ft, 8 in.) tall and weigh 70 kg (around 11 stone or 155 lb). 1.73 × 1.73 = 2.99 70 / 2.99 = 23.4 If math isn't your strong suit, many online calculators are available, and you can just plug your numbers in. Your score will fall into one of…

The impact of ADHD stimulants on the heart has been known for some time, and some doctors are even prescribing beta-blockers like propranolol with ADHD stimulants to counter heart arrhythmias.1 A 2024 study looked at national Swedish registry data of 252,382 individuals with ADHD aged 12–60 years. All the participants had prescriptions of methylphenidate between January 2007 and June 2012. Those who used methylphenidate drugs like Ritalin and Adderall had a significantly higher rate of cardiovascular events within six months of treatment compared to matched controls. The study found no difference in risk between those with and without a history of cardiovascular disease.2 Most studies like this one have looked only at short-term effects, but recent research looked at long-term data and found that young people taking ADHD medication are…

Some of the rules ingrained into children in the Victorian era seem like a foggy memory of something we ought to know. They are like a prick of conscience or something a strong grandmother would say for our own good, although not so many say them to children today. Sit up straight. Chew your food thoroughly. Close your mouth when you're eating. Don't speak with food in your mouth. Don't slouch when you're walking. It turns out that some old-fashioned manners, when they're done consistently, are the basics of the good “oral posture” that is foundational to excellent teeth and jaw development. A cadre of orthodontists has begun trying to get people to teach these basic principles to children to counter an epidemic of weak jaws and mouth-breathing that has…

While there are far too many EDCs to mention them all, some have been studied extensively and are well known to lead to serious health consequences. But despite the best efforts of activists and healthcare professionals, they still show up in common household products. The best thing you can do is know what they are and where to look for them; then you can avoid them. The following are some of the most widely used: Bisphenol A (BPA). Unless you never look at mainstream media, you've likely heard about BPA, used in some plastics and resins. Food packaging, some plastic bottles and cash register receipts commonly contain BPA. While more companies are advertising “BPA-free” products, be careful. The substitutes are sometimes just as bad. Phthalates. These are plasticizer chemicals commonly…

It comes out of nowhere. Suddenly, the room—the whole world—spins sickeningly round and round. You feel like you're at the center of a tornado, falling, with no sense of balance or support. That's vertigo, a dramatic and debilitating symptom that accompanies many different kinds of illnesses and injuries and affects approximately 20 percent of the adult population every year. As you age, your chances of experiencing it rise. If you're a woman, you have two to three times greater chances of experiencing it than a man. Distinctly different from dizziness, vertigo is characterized by sudden onset and, just as often, sudden cessation after a relatively short duration of a few minutes. Dr Josh Lurie, owner of Balance & Vestibular Center Physical Therapy in Northridge, California (bvcphysicaltherapy.com), describes the difference between…

Jeremy, a 29-year-old entrepreneur, came to me with a constant headache, specifically “a sensation of unbearable pressure inside the head,” dizziness, fatigue and a worrying cognitive decline. “It's like my brain is full of cotton wool and my thoughts don't make it through,” he said. Jeremy was fit, and his diet was excellent. Still, I measured all his nutrient levels and checked for chemical toxins in his system. All clear. Physical examination was normal. So, what was going on? I asked if anything had changed in his lifestyle in the preceding year. He couldn't think of anything. Then I began asking questions like, Do you have a Wi-Fi router? Do you hold your phone next to your head? How many hours a day do you spend on it? Do you…

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 in 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…

Obesity has just been recognized as the main cause of cancer, responsible for nearly half of all cases. It has overtaken smoking as the primary culprit and is being linked to up to 32 types of the disease, a major study has discovered. It accounts for 40 percent of all cancer cases, which suggests it could be responsible for 760,000 new cases in the US and 150,000 in the UK every year. An obese person is twice as likely as a smoker to develop cancer—smoking accounts for 20 percent of all cancers and about 80 percent of lung cancers. According to Cancer Research UK, excess body fat can raise levels of growth hormones, which instruct cells to divide more often. Excess fat also starts an inflammatory cycle, which causes cells…

Psychiatrists and health agencies will concede that data on the long-term effects of ADHD stimulant drugs is “limited,” but some long-term research has linked the condition—and especially the use of drugs to treat it—with Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders. In one study, researchers from the University of Utah looked at state medical records and compared the number of patients with ADHD who went on to develop Parkinson's with the number in the general non-diagnosed population. People with ADHD were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with a movement disorder, while those on stimulant drugs had an “especially pronounced” risk—8.6 times higher than the base rate in the population. REFERENCE Neuropsychopharmacology, 2018; 43(13): 2548–2555…

Exercise has multiple benefits for cognitive performance. In one study in Germany, 150 healthy kids aged 13–16 years were randomly assigned to groups. One group performed “bilateral coordinated exercises,” like bouncing a basketball with one hand and a volleyball with the other at the same time. The other performed general exercise without the coordination component. Then both groups were tested. After just 10 minutes of exercise, the coordinated exercise group showed far greater concentration and attention. REFERENCE Neurosci Lett, 2008; 441(2): 219–23…

REFERENCES 1 Br Dent J, 2014; 216(10): 555–58 2 John Mew, The Cause and Cure of Malocclusion (orthotropics.com, 2013)…

Dr Frank Seaman, a prosthodontist in Colorado Springs, Colorado, introduced the current mouth taping trend. As a dentist dealing with damaged and missing teeth and jaw disorders, he sees a lot of patients who grind their teeth. Bruxism, or teeth grinding, can wear down teeth and cause TMDs and terrible headaches. It's also related to sleep apnea.1 When he was talking to a pulmonologist about sleep apnea at a conference, the doctor said he wished he could glue his sleep apnea patients’ lips together at night. Seaman wondered, why not just tape them? He tried medical-grade tape on himself in 2014 and then suggested it to his wife, who suffered from severe sleep apnea. Without the tape on, her baseline measurement on the Respiratory Disturbance Index, which measures sleep breathing…

US Environmental Working Group Clean Fifteen and Dirty Dozen: ewg.org/foodnews View the lists for free on the site or enter your email to download a copy. According to the EWG, testing detected no pesticide residues in almost 65 percent of samples from the foods on the Clean Fifteen list. These foods are safer to eat even if they aren't organic. UK Pesticide Action Network UK Dirty Dozen: pan-uk.org/dirty-dozen Enter your email on the website to view the list. PAN UK doesn't release a list of clean produce items because the government testing program is too limited to conclude that any specific produce is nearly free of pesticides. Note that pesticides (including herbicides) are just one type of EDC. Farmland is often contaminated with other chemicals due to poor environmental practices,…

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) occurs when calcium crystals end up inside the semicircular canals of the inner ear and improperly signal your brain about your body's position in space, which causes the false impression that the world is whirling around you. Epley and Lempert maneuvers The Epley maneuver, the Lempert maneuver (aka the barbecue roll) and the reverse Epley are movements that can be employed to reposition inner ear debris (such as otoliths) in the posterior, horizontal and anterior semicircular ear canals respectively. The Epley maneuver begins with turning your head toward the side that's causing the problem, then completing a series of further head and body movements to steer the otoliths out of the semicircular canals. Many websites and YouTube videos detail the Epley maneuver and the reverse…

Diet Since insulin issues lie at the heart of hormone balance, which lies at the heart of PCOS, controlling blood sugar levels through diet is a big deal. An anti-inflammatory diet, such as Paleo or Mediterranean, is foundational. Dr Brighten says that most of her patients are able to control their blood sugar by adopting a diet focused on whole foods and that going Paleo works well, too. These are the most important things to do diet-wise: • Regularly eat foods rich in probiotics and foods with high fiber content. • Increase protein intake (fish and/or nuts on a regular basis are great). • Eliminate processed foods. • Reduce or eliminate sugar (low- and zero-glycemic-index sweeteners such as monkfruit and allulose are okay). • Reduce or eliminate grains from your…

When we think of viruses, the usual suspects come to mind: the common cold, influenza, coronavirus, herpes, chicken pox, human papillomavirus (HPV), measles, etc. These infection-causing microscopic particles are everywhere. As researchers have noted, “Viruses are the most abundant biological entity on earth … identified in every environment where microorganisms are present.”1 Comprised of RNA or DNA cased in a protective protein sheath called a capsid, viruses must have a host—animal, plant or human—to survive. They are introduced to their human hosts in several ways. Sneezing and coughing can disperse infected droplets or particles to another person's mouth, eyes or nose or deposit them on surfaces, where touch transfers germs to a new host. Unprotected sexual contact can pass viral infections on quickly. And sharing needles can spread bloodborne viruses,…

Dear avaricious, egotistical, money-mad humans (yup, that pretty much covers the room), so, you want to rule the world? Pull up a hunch-backed gremlin, get comfy and I'll tell you how it's done in my simple six-steps-to-world-domination blueprint. Step 1: Discover an amino acid that you'll call semaglutide and market it as Ozempic, which is a mildly effective way to control type 2 diabetes. Step 2: Forget warnings that it can cause thyroid cancer, pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), kidney failure, serious allergic reactions and gallbladder problems. Everyone else will forget it, too. Step 3: Use the same molecule to create a new drug that controls obesity. Y ou'll call the drug Wegovy, and like Ozempic, it has only a very modest effect (last time I…

An inspired life I began reading your magazines back in 1996, when I was pregnant with my first child. She's now 26. I took your infant vaccination book to my general practitioner with all my children. My doctor had read Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin (The Book Publishing Company, 1978), and as I was breastfeeding, I won the infant vaccination controversy and any scheduling disputes. I was studying molecular biology around the same time. I then went on to study and gain many qualifications in naturopathic medicine. Today I extract and prepare remedies for many clients with chronic diseases, improving the quality of life of patients in Northern Ireland, Ireland, the UK and South Africa. All of this work is inspired by your publications. N Robinson, via email Buy…

EAT A HIGHLY VARIED, FRESH, ORGANIC DIET composed mostly of highly nutritious, colorful fruits, vegetables and herbs. Strive to eat nine or 10 fruits and vegetables every day. EAT VEGETABLES THAT HELP FAT REGULATORS such as cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage, carrots, leeks, onions, spring onions, garlic, asparagus, bell peppers, arugula/ rocket, romaine lettuce, spinach and tomatoes. EAT FRUITS THAT STOKE FAT-BURNING HORMONES such as bananas, apples, blueberries, cherries, oranges, grapefruit and pomegranates. ADD HERBS THAT AID FAT-BURNING such as ginger, ginseng, cinnamon, bilberry, chamomile, chasteberry, green tea, peppermint oil, turmeric, dandelion, aloe vera and echinacea. USE SPICES LIBERALLY in your food. EAT FRESH, UNCOOKED AND UNSALTED NUTS such as walnuts, flaxseeds, sesame seeds and almonds. ENSURE AN ADEQUATE INTAKE OF OMEGA-3 FATS from high-quality animal sources such as cold-water…

Jim Best was diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder (ADD) nearly 20 years ago at eight years old. A smart, good-looking kid, he was navigated through the diagnosis without medication, and he made it through his school years alright. In 2018, at age 20, Jim noticed he had trouble sitting down to work at things he wasn't interested in. Online he found his symptoms of poor organizational skills and lack of motivation were described as attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It was a new acronym for the old disorder that used to be confined primarily to children but now was netting a growing number of adults. He figured this was his problem that had never gone away. One trip to his doctor, and Jim walked out with a prescription for 20 mg twice a…

The hundreds of human skulls in the Morton Cranial Collection at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia were part of one of the world's largest collections of its kind, representing specimens from the Stone Age to the 19th century. American physician Samuel Morton had gathered most of them from across America, South America, the Middle East and beyond in the 1800s. In 2020, a New York Times writer was looking at the specimens with one of the museum's modern curators and asked whether she'd ever seen an ancient specimen with crooked teeth. “No, not one. Ever,” the curator replied without hesitation. They all had an “edge-to-edge bite,” “robust” jaws, and “perfect” dentition. In specimens from people who lived in the last two centuries, however, there is a striking difference: the perfect…

Mike Mew's technique to train correct oral posture—called “mewing”—has become a viral TikTok trend. Here's how you do it: 1Close your mouth with your upper and lower teeth placed lightly together. 2With your lips sealed and teeth remaining in light contact (not clenched), place your tongue on the roof of your mouth, the tip resting just behind the upper front teeth as if pronouncing the letter N or the word sing. 3Swallow while holding this position, drawing the tongue into the upper palate more, letting the swallow create suction that sticks the tongue to the palate. 4Hold this vacuum, gluing the tongue to the roof of the mouth, for as long as you can, swallowing as needed. Keep all your facial muscles relaxed throughout the exercise. There should be no…

Last year, my friend Helen introduced a new policy for her household: plastic-free birthday and holiday gifts only. A great idea… and surprisingly difficult. Plastic seems to be absolutely everywhere. I asked Helen what had inspired this new tradition, assuming the driver was a concern for the environment. “That was how it started,” she said, but after researching the impact of certain kinds of plastic, she'd stumbled upon some frightening facts about their effects on hormonal health. Helen has struggled on and off with estrogen dominance for years. It's a hormonal imbalance in which estrogen levels are much higher than progesterone levels, leading to PMStype symptoms, hot flashes, irregular periods and low libido. The idea that so many items in her household could be contributing to the problem was unsettling,…

It's that time of year again, when, after all the restrictions of the last few years, we can enjoy a vacation away. One thing guaranteed to ruin such a break, though, is illness, brought about either by overdoing things like food and alcohol or by being the victim of sunburn, bites and stings, and more. We can't do much about flight delays or the weather, but there's a homeopathic remedy to treat just about every possible health condition. Here's a list of the best first-aid remedies to pack before you head off on your trip. Unless otherwise specified, if your condition is acute, take three doses of the remedy hourly and then one dose before bed. If needed, take three doses the following day, spread throughout the day and evening.…

ALTERNATIVES Excess body hair on the chest, stomach and back (hirsutism); pattern baldness or thinning hair; infertility; weight gain, especially around the belly—you would think these are the kinds of symptoms only men would have to deal with. But women struggling with a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) face them, too. According to the World Health Organization, worldwide, PCOS affects an estimated 8–13 percent of all women of reproductive age. Typical additional symptoms include missed periods, irregular periods and very light flows. Some women find they stop ovulating altogether. All of these contribute to one of the most crushing PCOS symptoms of all: infertility. And atypical hair patterns, acne or oily skin, skin tags on the neck or armpits, and enlarged ovaries that sometimes grow cysts (fluidfilled sacs) are…

Use your phone less It's hard—this tech has been designed to be addictive—but we have to find other, safer ways to connect. Use airplane mode when your phone is idle Otherwise, it's continually in touch with the nearest masts and irradiating you just as if you were making a call. Disable all unnecessary apps too. Keeping your phone in a Faraday bag (see page 64) can add a further degree of protection. Use the speakerphone Never hold the phone to your ear, and text people instead of calling them whenever possible. Get non-metal air-tube earphones Headphones help to keep the phone at a safe distance from your body, which makes a big difference in the amount of EMR you absorb. See page 64 for some good options. Use ethernet cables,…

Curcumin Curcumin is one of the most potent anti-inflammatory supplements on the planet. Research shows it's antiviral as well.1 Use supplements with black pepper extract, which increases absorption, or ask your doctor if IV infusion is an option for you. Suggested dosage: 500 mg three times daily Vitamin D3 Not only is vitamin D3 one of the most potent cancer-fighting supplements, it's an immune-system and virus-squashing powerhouse. Per the US National Institutes of Health, “Vitamin D appears to lower viral replication rates, suppress inflammation and increase levels of T-regulatory cells and their activity.”2 Suggested dosage: 5,000–15,000 IU, or, even better, get your blood tested and aim for a level of 50–70 ng/mL Quercetin The flavonoid quercetin is antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory besides being a potent antiviral. Foods with quercetin include…