Chronic Sinus Problems – Try Humming!

Remarkably studies have shown that humming for an hour a day can eliminate sinus troubles in just 4 days! The theory is that some non-allergic sinusitis is actually caused by a fungus – the Mayo Clinic found 96% of patients had fungi in the nasal mucus and an immune reaction to it in nasal tissues. It’s thought that the humming works by stimulating the natural production of nitric oxide, which is a natural anti-fungal and it kills it! Well, that’s a new one on me. That said, really useful – if I can’t find an allergic answer to this common problem, I will now be treating it anti-fungally – and musically! (WDDTY April 08)

Flouride Gets a Bashing in the States

Despite the fact that in the UK there is a huge government push for fluoridation of our water, in the US 1300 professionals have signed a statement against it. US Flouride Action Network (FAN) have summarised their top 10 research studies that question the use of fluoride. Read it at tinyurl.com/4o9rgg or go to FAN’s website at flouridealert.com.

 

…and fluoride linked to mouth ulcers

 

Just as I was typing the note above, I read a letter from a lady in New Zealand who says that mouth ulcers increased in some people after fluoride was added to their water, and that the same happened in Holland. So, if you have recurrent mouth ulcers, try swopping to Weleda or Aloe Dent toothpaste and filter your water.

 

Dairy-Free Ice-Cream Tasting

Just ready for Summer, Foods Matter have done one of their tastings. This time dairy free ice cream, which must have been a tough job! On top by far was Swedish Glace – all flavours got 9/10 – and these are easily available in the supermarkets and health shops. My favourites Booja Booja got a disappointing between 6 and 8.5 depending on the flavour. Chocolate got the highest, and Vanilla the lowest (I would have had that the other way round actually) and my fave Maple and Pecan got 7.5. This is not bad considering the fact that these BB ones are very good for you, high protein, low GL and made only using cashew nuts, water, agave syrup and the appropriate stuff for the flavours. No additives, no chemicals, no high GL sugar. The Swedish Glace ones are really tasty, but I think the Booja Booja ones win hands down both for flavour and health. That said, I have been known to partake of a Swedish Glace Choc Ice or two (these are the dairy-free magnums and are yummy!) And what if you fancy a cone with your ice-cream – well, Barkat waffle cones are described as deliciously crisp, quite caramelly, if a little sweet for some – and are gluten and dairy free. You can get them from glutenfree-foods.co.uk. Enjoy!

Hate Needles at the Dentist?

Well you’re in luck then. You could give hypnotherapy a go, of course which is your simplest solution to get rid of the phobia for good. Failing that, a new frozen gum shield is now available that numbs the area and produces a surprisingly powerful pain relief after any work too. In tests the average person had 100% pain relief in 2-3 minutes, lasting up to 20 minutes. The GumEase G100 is a cryotherapy and is not yet widely available, but you can ask your dentist in advance of an appointment to get it for you by contacting cryodevices.com.

Did You Realise…?

That conservatively estimated figures suggest that at least 26,000 people in Britain die from an adverse reaction to a medicine every year. This compares to only 3,200 in road accidents. I was stunned at that!

 

Studies show that a total of 1,489 drugs were found to be associated with adverse reaction although 51 of those seem to cause the most problems. There seemed to be a disproportionate amount from immune modulators such as steroids, and pain relieving meds. If you want to see what the drugs are, try tinyurl.com/44bk9g. Source Arch Intern Med 2007, Foods Matter May 08.

 

Another study suggests, though, that doctors don’t believe you when you tell them you think you are reacting to a medicine. Statins used to lower cholesterol, for example, are known to cause muscle problems, nerve pain in the hands and feet, yet in a survey 32% of patients were told there was no link to their symptoms, 39% said their doctor said a link was ‘possible’ and 29% said their GP wouldn’t say either way. The journal Drug Safety, published the study and the research leader concluded that ’physicians seem to commonly dismiss the possibility of a connection. This seems to occur even for the best-supported adverse effects of the most widely-prescribed class of drugs.’

 

With the advent of the internet, it gives us all a lot more ability to check things out to see if new symptoms have happened since you started a new medicine and there is a causal link. It’s not always the case, obviously, but I have to say one of the first things I consider with patients is did a chronic symptom start after they changed meds and is there a link in the research to that drug. I find it more often than you would think – and often GPs are more than happy to help find a way round it if you talk to them.

Artificial Additives and Hyperactivity – the Ban

The Food Standards Agency recently called for a ban of 6 artificial additives which have been linked to hyperactivity in children. Hoo-flippin—ray. At long last! I remember when I first started in the health food trade 20 years ago this supposed ‘myth’ about additives and children’s behaviour was around then. A study by Southampton in 2007 finally put the tin lid on it and convinced the FSA.

 

The additives in question are E102 Tartrazine, E104 Quinoline Yellow), E110 Sunset Yellow, E122 Carmoisine, E124 Ponceau 4R, E129 Allura Red and E211 Sodium Benzoate.

 

Actiononadditives.com lists over 1000 products that contain one or more of these and other questionable additives if you would like a look. In the meantime, here are some of the foods you should watch out for. Cadburys Crème Egg, Swizzels Matlow Bumper Bag, Hartleys Jellies, Fanta Fruit Twist, Irn Bru, M&Ms, Galaxy Minstrels, Woolworths Mini Cookies, Haribo Micro Mix.

Food Prices On A High – Rant of the Month!

We are reading everywhere how much food prices are going up. The basic staples, as far as I understand it, are rising because of increasing oil prices – isn’t it always the oil! It may not be PC to say it, and I really feel for the poorer countries of the world who are struggling with the rice crisis, but we have relied on mass produced cheap food for far too long and now it’s biting us in the bum! We have used oil to produce too much poor quality food boosted with oil-based fertilizers. I for one will be pleased if the current problems force us back to better growing and buying practices. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have to pay more for our food – it might make us waste less and I would rather have less but better quality any day. Didn’t I say in one of my previous newsletters that we spend significantly less on food now than we did, say, in the 50s? Then, we had to be more careful, and it looks like we will have to be again.

 

The simple fact is we are a rising population with dwindling resources and in a commercial world where money and oil is King. As far as I understand it, the cost of these staples have indeed gone up, but the supermarkets have taken the opportunity to pass more than the extra cost they have incurred onto us, without giving any of that extra cut to the producers. It’s not on. For example, farmers producing grain now get £200 for a tonne of wheat rather than the £100 they used to a year ago. That translates to approx. an extra 8p per loaf of wheat bread. Yet the supermarkets have increased it by much more than that. (Thanks to Olive Magazine for these figures and the ideas below.)

 

So, what can we do? Buy local to avoid supermarkets who need to keep their margins high. Buy straight from producers either online, at farmers’ markets, farm shops. Buy organic – they don’t use the same oil-dependent fertilizers. Eat more fruit and veg which is so far not affected that much, eat seasonally and British to cut down on food miles, avoid processed food and grow some of your own. Personally, I think the day we start buying again at our small local shops and using some of the agricultural land going to waste that are our gardens to produce food can’t come too soon!

 

Why not start off with planting two small pots of cut and come again rocket and spinach leaves? Start one off, thin the seedlings out and watch them grow. Once they are almost ready for harvesting, start your second pot off and keep doing that all summer. Easy, organic and ever-ready for a healthy salad meal.

Berry Granita

In anticipation of lovely warm weather, how about this for a refreshing dessert?

Ok, so it’s got some calories in it from sugar, but it’s got to be better than ice-cream in the health stakes!

 

Dissolve 150g caster sugar or Zylosweet in 650ml hot Earl Grey tea. Whilst it cools, use a blender to mush a big punnet of organic berries with the juice of an orange. Then stir this mix into the tea and pour into a plastic container. Cover it and put in the freezer overnight. In the morning, get it out of the freezer, uncover it and allow it to soften for half an hour. Then use a fork to break it up until you get little crystals. You may need to refreeze it for another hour and then do this again. You should eventually get a box full of lovely-flavoured crushed ice which will sit happily in the freezer, if it lasts that long! When you want to eat it, pop some into a tall glass with a few fresh berries and enjoy! 

Fosamax Bone Drug Warning

I saw this in the Nutri E-news supplement and thought I’d pass it on to you. Fosamax is a very common medicine given for osteoporosis (brittle bones). I’ve had my worries about it for a while – and truly prevention is better than cure with this condition so it shouldn’t be necessary.

So, here’s the story from Nutri:

“A new study has shown that women who have used the drug Fosamax are nearly twice as likely to develop atrial fibrillation, which is the most common kind of chronically irregular heartbeat.The study showed that Fosamax was associated with an 86 percent higher risk of atrial fibrillation compared with never having used the drug. Atrial fibrillation can cause palpitations, fainting, fatigue, or congestive heart failure. They can also lead to embolic strokes.Fosamax is the most widely used drug treatment for the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis. It is also available under the generic name of alendronate. 

 

 

 

How Does Fosamax Work?

Fosamax works by killing osteoclasts – the cells that break down bone so that osteoblasts can then rebuild them.  The theory behind this drug is that if you kill off osteoclasts, bone will get denser but although this is true, bone also becomes weaker as a result.  This is because bone is a dynamic structure that requires the removal of unhealthy bone and replacement with new bone to stay strong. Fosamax does not build any new bone. It only kills the cells that break bone down, so your bone is not undergoing its natural regenerative process.

Fosamax has been linked to many different side effects including increased risk of ulcers, liver damage, gastric and esophageal inflammation, renal failure, skin reactions, hypocalcemia (calcium in your blood is too low), osteonecrosis (jaw bone death), serious eye inflammations and possible blindness.  Now this new study has also shown it to be linked with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation.”

Source:
Archives of Internal Medicine April 28, 2008; 168(8):826-31