Innholdsfortegnelse for December/January 2026 i What Doctors Don't Tell You Australia/NZ

A very basic molecule, made up of just two simple atoms in the body— oxygen and nitrogen—could well be the key to healing most degenerative diseases, and it’s been largely overlooked by modern medicine. Nitric oxide is a colorless gas that forms when nitrogen is oxidized, and it plays a central role in distributing blood around the body, dilating blood vessels, raising the blood supply and lowering blood pressure. But it’s also essential in protecting the body’s tissues from damage when blood supply is low. Besides affecting the blood, this neurotransmitter sends messages from the brain to smooth muscle, including in the gastrointestinal tract. It can quickly heal altitude sickness. It’s even responsible for male erections. Having adequate levels of nitric oxide affects heart rate variability (the time between beats,…

More and more people are turning to psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical in magic mushrooms, to treat their depression, anxiety and chronic pain. Around 12 percent of Americans—31 million people—are using magic mushrooms, and the rate rose by 188 percent from 2022 to 2023 in adults over age 30, researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have discovered. They're now more popular than cocaine, LSD, methamphetamines and opioids. Although it’s not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, America’s drug regulator, Americans are using psilocybin for conditions such as PTSD, depression and anxiety, especially in states that have decriminalized it. It’s not without its dangers. Psilocybin-related poison center calls rose dramatically between 2019 and 2023, doubling among adults and increasing sevenfold in children. Ann Intern Med, 2025; doi:…

Exercise is good for you—but doing more of it won’t increase your longevity. In fact, the reverse is true: in one study, people who lived a sedentary life or who exercised a little saw a 7 percent drop in their mortality risk, but strenuous exercisers didn’t live longer. Researchers at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland assessed the longevity and activity levels of 22,750 twins born before 1958. The twins were divided into four groups depending on their activity levels: sedentary, moderately active, active and highly active. After studying the groups for 30 years, the researchers found those in the sedentary and moderately active groups saw a modest drop of 7 percent in their mortality risk, but that disappeared in the active and highly active groups. The benefit was also…

At least when it comes to preventing cancer, a new study claims, red wine is no better than white. The one exception seems to be skin cancers and cancers in women; white wine increases the risk of skin cancer by 22 percent, say researchers from Brown University School of Public Health. They looked at 42 previously published studies and concluded there was “no clear evidence” that red wine reduced cancer risk. The findings go against earlier studies that found red wine’s resveratrol protected against cancer. But all studies agree that drinking excessive amounts of alcohol contributes to cancer and is responsible for around 4 percent of all cases. In excess, alcohol damages DNA and proteins, which raises the risk of cancer. The protective effects are seen in people who drink…

Search for the best supplements for healthy aging, and the usual suspects pop up. High on the list are omega-3 fatty acids, which slow biological aging according to a major study this year. Then there are magnesium, B12, calcium, curcumin, CoQ10 and vitamin C. However, no list includes creatine, which improves muscle strength and mental capacity, according to a growing group of advocates. But then creatine is something of a Cinderella supplement. For years, it’s been the preserve of athletes and bodybuilders who use it as a performance enhancer, and critics say it can cause dehydration, bloating and cramping. Researchers, however, think the downsides haven’t been proven and creatine is something we all should be taking, especially as we get older. Our bodies naturally create creatine, a compound made up…

A condition I’m commonly consulted about as a homeopath is benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), also known as an enlarged prostate. Hyperplasia is an increased number of cells, and benign means the growth is not cancerous. Older age is a key risk factor—some 70 percent of men aged 70 or older have an enlarged prostate.1 But dietary factors (like heavy alcohol or caffeine intake), certain medications, and obesity or diabetes can also increase the chances of BPH.2 Because an enlarged prostate can press on the bladder and urethra (the tube that transports urine from the bladder to the outside of the body), BPH can cause a long list of urinary symptoms. These include difficulty starting urination, dribbling at the end of urination, needing to urinate more frequently or urgently (especially at…

Back in 2022, Rita, a 52-year-old resident of Salt Lake City, Utah, was a patient of Dr Amandha Vollmer. She wasn’t very knowledgeable about DMSO, but she had read Vollmer’s book and had some on hand in the medicine cabinet. The afternoon of August 31, she was watching her granddaughter and started feeling “weird.” Her vision was a little off, but she ignored it throughout the day. However, when the girl’s father came to pick her up that evening and asked Rita a question, she couldn’t answer him. She couldn’t even tell if she’d answered him. “Everything started leaving from there,” she says. Although unable to talk, she managed to mumble “MMS” to her husband. (MMS, Miracle Mineral Solution, is a controversial supplement containing sodium chlorite.) He immediately made some…

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. Bruce Lipton, PhD, is an internationally recognized leader in bridging science and spirit. Stem cell biologist, bestselling author of The Biology of Belief and recipient of the 2009 Goi Peace Award, he has been a guest speaker on hundreds of TV and radio shows as well as a keynote presenter for national and international conferences. 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…

How much alcohol can we drink before we do any serious harm to our health? Right now, the recommendation is 14 units a week—but make that eight, new research suggests. Fourteen units equates to around six medium-sized glasses of wine, six pints of beer or seven double measures of the hard stuff. It should be far less, say researchers at the University of São Paulo Medical School. They have been investigating the impact of alcohol on brain health and have found that heavy drinkers, those who have eight or more alcoholic drinks a week, have a higher risk of brain lesions. Called hyaline arteriolosclerosis (HA), these signs of brain injury are associated with memory and thinking problems. Drinking heavily causes the small blood vessels to narrow and become thick and…

The common painkiller acetaminophen, or paracetamol, could be an unsuspected factor in the ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) epidemic in our children. Sold under brand names such as Tylenol and Panadol, it triples the risk of ADHD if a mother takes it when she’s pregnant. Around 70 percent of women take the painkiller during pregnancy, and they do so because it’s one of the few drugs that US and UK drug regulators deem safe for pregnant women. But researchers from the University of Washington School of Medicine say the painkiller affects neurodevelopment in the fetus. It triples the risk of ADHD and autism, but the risk increases six-fold in girls. The researchers tracked 307 pregnant women and the health of their children until they reached age 10. Nine percent of children whose…

Don’t look to the longevity of your parents and grandparents to figure out how long you’ll live: your genetic inheritance has a measly 2 percent influence on your lifespan. Instead, a healthy lifestyle is the key determinant of longevity, says a research team from Oxford University. Smoking, sedentary living, socioeconomic status and living conditions are the key factors that determine our longevity, and these increase our risk of developing a chronic health problem, such as cancer or heart disease, that can kill us prematurely. While each on its own has a small influence on longevity, they have a major impact when they’re combined. In other words, someone who smokes and doesn’t exercise is more likely to die prematurely than someone who is an inactive non-smoker. The researchers studied data from…

Among the medical papers on wine and osteoporosis, almost all show a favorable connection between the two.1 The startling fact is that wine drinkers tend to have better BMD, and hence less osteoporosis, than non-drinkers. The question is why. The obvious place to look is at wine’s constituents, particularly the ingredients other than its alcohol content. Polyphenols are the hundreds of trace chemicals produced by the vine to protect its fruit from disease and the sun’s ultraviolent rays. They give wine its color, and the good news is that they promote not only grape health but human health, too. They behave as antioxidants, repairing the damage caused by free radicals, which the cells generate by simply being alive and using oxygen. A dramatic laboratory assay 25 years ago found a…

Ayurveda In one study, Ayurvedic treatment with panchagabya griata, siddha makardwaja, punnavadi kasaya and dasamamula haritaki normalized PSA levels in three months due to these formulations’ strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. For another three months after the treatment stopped, PSA levels remained low.1 But use caution: This study looked at only three men, so its results may be inconclusive. Some of these substances also include heavy metals, so they should be taken only under practitioner supervision. Cannabidiol (CBD) Recent studies show that cannabinoids, chemical components of the cannabis plant, can weaken cancer cells and stop them from multiplying and spreading. One study found 48 hours of CBD treatment reduced the number of new cell colonies formed by 25 percent in only a week.2 Traditional Chinese Medicine Many extracts used in…

Few health products have had as checkered a career as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). In fact, the acronym for this highly versatile byproduct of the wood pulp industry might as well stand for Demonized, Misunderstood, Scorned and Overlooked. An organosulfur compound with the formula (CH3)2S=O, as a polar aprotic solvent, DMSO displays some serious rockstar qualities in the chemistry world. Polar means it has strong magnetizing qualities, and DMSO molecules have strong positive and negative poles. But they also have an “uneven charge distribution,” which is what gives DMSO its dissolving superpowers. Aprotic means it can’t donate protons (hydrogen ions), which is why it can speed up certain reactions while preventing unwanted side effects. DMSO can act as either an acid or a base depending on what other chemicals are present.…

Because of its ability to transport other substances through the skin, be certain the area of application is dry and free from dirt, lotions, cosmetics, sunscreens, detergents, etc. before applying DMSO. Be sure your hands are clean, and use only pharmaceuticalgrade DMSO at 99.9 percent purity or greater, mixing it with distilled water or pure aloe vera to adjust the concentration. When DMSO is diluted with water, heat is released in a temporary, normal reaction. DMSO producers and healthcare providers such as Vollmer and Ruckel advise using a solution of 50 percent DMSO or less on face and neck areas. As well, topical concentrations of DMSO should be kept below 70 percent in areas of the body where there is reduced circulation. It’s advisable to start with a lower concentration…

Despite the great advances of modern scientific medicine, many people still prefer plant-based natural cures over synthetic pharmaceuticals. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UK researchers, about 40 percent of people in the US and the UK use traditional medicines, mainly plant extracts or their active ingredients.1 Here are four multipurpose medicinal plants often dismissed as weeds that can help support health and healing. All are commonly found growing wild in the UK and US, so you can wild-harvest these herbs—that is, collect them yourself from gardens, commons, woodlands, marshlands, riverbanks and roadsides. Or you can simply buy them in fresh or dried form from a trusted herbal supplier. Just remember that if you do want to forage for herbs, you must make absolutely sure you’ve correctly identified…

What’s been causing the sudden upsurge in cases of colon (colorectal) cancer in young people? Scientists think an episode of food poisoning in childhood could be a culprit— but they’ve left something unanswered. They have pinpointed the bacterial toxin, colibactin, which is produced by strains of E. coli, the common cause of food poisoning, as the likely cause. Long after the food poisoning has passed, colibactin sits in the colon and rectum, and it starts to alter DNA. Children under age 10 could be primed for the cancer that happens years later. It’s vital for science to understand this sudden surge. Colorectal cancer is rising among young people in at least 27 countries, and rates in the under-50s have roughly doubled twice in the past two decades. If nothing changes,…

Veozah (fezolinetant) was the new hope for menopausal women who didn’t want to take HRT. It was approved in 2023 in the UK and the US as a way to reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes. But less than two years since its release, the drug has been slapped with a “black box” warning, the most severe the US drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), can impose before it decides to withdraw a drug from the market. Last September, the FDA issued a warning that the drug could cause severe liver damage but has now amplified its concerns, warning that women shouldn’t take the drug if they have a risk of developing liver disease. Even women who have no history of liver problems should undergo testing…

Women can suffer a range of problems when they’re going through menopause, such as weight gain, high blood pressure, sleeplessness and anxiety—and yoga can help with all of these. Regular yoga sessions can improve common menopausal symptoms by as much as 73 percent, says a research team from the Xiangya School of Nursing in China. They analyzed 24 studies that involved 2,028 menopausal women to discover the impact of yoga on a range of symptoms. Although the overall improvement was impressive—in some cases halving the effect of general symptoms—the exercise also helped with specific issues: sleep problems eased by around 60 percent, depressive episodes reduced by around 70 percent, blood pressure dropped dramatically and the women stopped gaining weight. The one symptom yoga couldn’t help with was hot flashes, one…

Continuing to be curious can keep you mentally sharp as you get older and could even ward off Alzheimer’s disease. Learning new information and skills and being engaged and interested in the world are a great antidote to dementia, according to researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). They say there are two types of curiosity: state and trait. State curiosity is the momentary curiosity people experience when someone asks them about a certain subject, while trait curiosity is how we tend to be in life, a personality trait. To understand the two types, the researchers recruited people aged 20–84 to complete an online questionnaire assessing their general level of curiosity (trait curiosity). To measure state curiosity, they asked the participants to guess the answers to obscure…

Suffering from heart flutter or irregular heart rate? Then start flossing. Poor gum health—known as gingivitis or periodontitis, caused by Porphyromonas gingivalis bacteria—is a seemingly unlikely cause of irregular heartbeat, or atrial fibrillation (AFib). When the gums become infected and bleed, the body’s inflammatory responses don’t always stay in the mouth. Instead they can get into the bloodstream and infiltrate the heart, where they distort the heart’s architecture and interfere with electrical signals. Researchers have long noticed a connection between gum disease and heart health. Around 30 percent of AFib sufferers also have periodontitis, a form of gum disease. Researchers have also discovered DNA from oral bacteria, especially P. gingivalis, one of the most commonly linked to poor gum health, in heart muscle, heart valves and even fatty arterial plaques.…

Our immune system has a special way to kill bacterial infections—and scientists have only recently discovered what it does. Our infection-fighting abilities center around the proteasome, a molecular system in every cell whose main job is to recycle proteins by breaking them down into small pieces called peptides. When there’s an infection, it kicks this mechanism into a higher gear and makes more peptides, specifically ones it can activate to kill bacteria. It’s a phenomenon that happens throughout the body, and essentially proteasomes are releasing new types of antibiotics when faced with an infection. Scientists think they may be able to harvest these peptides to produce new generations of antibiotics. Researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel made the discovery when they tested bacteria in the lab. Once…

You don’t need to filter water for metals when you drink tea— the tea bag can do it for you. It adsorbs heavy metals such as lead and cadmium that are in the water, providing a natural filter. Heavy metal ions stick to the tea leaves in the bag, and they stay there when it’s taken out once you’ve finished brewing. Researchers from Northwestern University tested the way different types of tea, loose tea, tea bags and brewing methods adsorbed heavy metals in the water. Besides the adsorption by the leaves themselves, the tea bags picked up metals, too, and cellulose bags worked best of all. Cotton and nylon bags absorbed only small amounts of metals. Cellulose (paper, not cellulose-based “bioplastic”) tea bags are also healthier as long as they…

Women suffering from debilitating endometriosis have been poorly served by medicine. Doctors and researchers don’t know what causes the condition—beyond a possible genetic link—or how to treat it. A new study provides some hope for sufferers, but the remedy won’t be found with a doctor but with a psychotherapist. The disease may be linked to childhood trauma, says an international team led by researchers from the Yale School of Medicine. They analyzed data from 8,276 women with endometriosis and compared their health profiles, including incidents of childhood trauma, to those of more than 240,000 controls. Overall, women who had endometriosis were 28 percent more likely to have suffered trauma in childhood or adulthood—and especially contact trauma, such as hitting or sexual assault—the researchers found. The trauma survivors were more likely…

A natural molecule that’s also available as a supplement can reverse some of the worst symptoms of lupus, the autoimmune disease. The molecule, gluconolactone, rebalances the immune system and stops it attacking the body’s tissues and organs, a team led by researchers from the University of Zurich has found. It helps balance the immune response by boosting regulatory T cells, or Tregs, that stop the immune system from fighting against the body and downregulating T helper cells that promote autoimmune reactions. Up to now, people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were prescribed powerful immunosuppressant drugs that came with debilitating side effects. But the research team found gluconolactone was just as effective when people suffering from cutaneous lupus, a skin condition, were treated with a cream for two weeks. Rashes visibly…

Drug giant GSK has known for more than 20 years that one of its drugs causes sexual deviancy, but it hasn’t come forward to defend people who have gone to prison or faced restraining orders after taking the drug. Requip (ropinirole), a dopamine agonist used to treat restless leg syndrome and Parkinson’s symptoms, can cause deviant sexual and impulsive behavior like high-stakes gambling or binge eating. It can overstimulate receptors for dopamine, the “happy hormone” that also regulates movement, gives a feeling of reward, and downgrades feelings of guilt or fear of consequences. Up to 17 percent of people on the drug experience these sensations. “None of it seemed wrong, that’s the craziness of it; it all seemed so right at the time,” one patient said. Another, a Parkinson’s patient,…

Men with cancer of the prostate, the walnut-sized gland just below the bladder and in front of the rectum, used to be faced with a Hobson’s choice: do nothing, hoping their cancer is the slower-growing variety, or face the possibility of impotence or incontinency if they opt for surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Then there was “watchful waiting,” until recently the approach many oncologists recommended for patients newly diagnosed with prostate cancer who were basically symptom-free and had cancer confined to the prostate gland. It was also the recommended approach for men who were over age 70 and/or had other health conditions rendering them risky candidates for surgery or radiation therapy. The vast majority of diagnosed prostate cancers are adenocarcinomas (gland-forming cancers). Oncologists consider these low-grade, slow-growing and thus low-risk cancers,…

Anyone searching for ways to lose weight has surely stumbled across intermittent fasting—and for good reason. There are myriad benefits to eating this way, and people are seeing such great results that they want to share the news. I’ve been suggesting that women try intermittent fasting for several years. It can help your body—as well as your brain—function better by reducing inflammation levels. Research has demonstrated that fasting decreases inflammatory activity and the number of cytokines the body produces.1 Inflammation has an impact on so many conditions, and on your ability to lose weight. So reducing systemic inflammation is vital. And that’s not the only benefit of intermittent fasting. Others include improved mood, better energy, increased cardiovascular function, longer life expectancy, a healthier relationship with food, and of course fat…

Internal use of DMSO has many benefits, like reducing autoimmunity and general inflammation, increasing blood circulation, and healing injured tissues. “You can reach any part of the body by taking it orally, which opens things up for all kinds of applications,” says Vollmer. “Half the battle is getting treatment to an area, and DMSO enhances circulation to hard-to-treat areas. Once there, it can act as a tissue regenerator and oxygenator. It helps the repair of actual tissues, improves cellular communication throughout the body and removes waste products.” According to Vollmer, it can also be used to transport supplements, such as an herb or a homeopathic remedy, to a site that needs healing. DMSO is best used internally under the guidance of a health professional. Only use pharmaceutical-grade DMSO that has…

Every year, heart disease, cancer and prescription drugs claim the lives of millions of people across the globe. We’re getting sicker and sicker and being diagnosed with often-preventable diseases earlier and earlier. Cancer and heart disease used to afflict only “ old people. ” But times are changing. Early in my career, I used to say that our bodies were under warranty until age 40–45, but unfortunately that’s no longer true. Many people find themselves in repair and maintenance mode as early as their 30s and 40s. I see patients every day in their 70s and 80s who are not sputtering along in states of disrepair and disease but instead thriving. So, what are their secrets? It starts with prevention, early detection, and a commitment to supporting and nurturing the…

Several innovative therapies offer alternatives to traditional medications, surgeries and other conventional medical interventions. Here are some of our most popular and regularly prescribed modalities, many of which are routinely used by my patients in their golden years. IV treatments Receiving vitamins, nutrients and other substances intravenously allows potent, higher doses to be infused into the body, ensuring optimal absorption and efficacy. This delivery system also bypasses the digestive tract, avoiding stomach upset. High-dose IV vitamin C is a well-studied cancer treatment that creates an environment in the body that is selectively toxic to cancer cells. IV curcumin also has powerful anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects. Additionally, we regularly use IV mistletoe as it stimulates the immune system, promotes cancer cell death and helps protect healthy cells during chemotherapy treatments. Hyperbaric…

Are you “vaccine-hesitant” or even an “anti-vaxxer” (gasp)? If you are, you probably believe you’ve done the research and come up with a perfectly rational reason for your position. But you haven’t—not according to the very latest science, at least. No, you have the heebie-jeebies, formerly known as the collie-wobbles or, as doctors put it, “butterflies in the stomach” (Papilio stomachus). After analyzing the psychology of the “anti-vaxxer,” two researchers from the University of British Columbia have declared that’s really what’s going on. Alan Richardson is a philosopher, so he really, really understands what makes us tick. And the other researcher, Judy Segal, is an English professor, so doubtlessly her skills came to the fore for that mot juste. Writing in Canada’s most prestigious medical journal, the Canadian Medical Association…