WDDTY e-News Broadcast - 8th July 2004

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> WDDTY e-News Broadcast - 8th July 2004

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WHAT DOCTORS DON’T TELL YOU - E-NEWS BROADCAST No. 90

- 08 July 2004

Please feel free to email this broadcast to any

friends you feel would appreciate receiving it.

 

OBESE KIDS: The finger keeps pointing back to

processed foods

 

Obese kids have become the stuff of national panic

recently. Every thing from parents, governments, MTV,

video game manufacturers and fast-food outlets has

been blamed for this epidemic.

 

Whatever is to blame, there's no doubt that all

countries that to fast-food outlets, MTV and

other lounge-lizard activities are storing up a

massive health problem.

 

Those who believe the problem lies squarely at the

door of the fast-food outlets are definitely on the

right track, but the problem may be more complex than

that, as a thoughtful new study suggests.

 

Researchers from Yale University have established a

definite link between obesity in children and 'the

metabolic syndrome', a name given to a cluster of

disorders of the body's metabolism - including high

blood pressure, high insulin levels, excess body

weight and abnormal cholesterol levels - that make you

more likely to develop diabetes, heart disease or

stroke. It's also been called 'Syndrome X'.

 

One research trial discovered that nearly 7 per cent

of overweight children, and 29 per cent of obese

children, had the syndrome.

 

The Yale study has confirmed its prevalence among the

young. But here's the thing - scientists reckon that

children are born with the syndrome. But the Yale

researchers have found that it worsens with obesity,

an observation that has been made by earlier studies.

 

So are the scientists right - or could it be that a

diet of processed foods creates, and then worsens, the

syndrome?

 

If the latter, what you eat matters more than the

amount you eat. If the former, the syndrome could

still be a reaction to the mother's diet when the

child is still in the womb as it seems to be an

escalating problem. Either way, it's the

industrialization of foods that is the main cause of

the problem - and not exercise or its lack, MTV, or

video games. Even the government gets off the hook

for a change, although what they allow to be

categorized as 'food' is far closer to a weapon of

mass destruction than anything they were looking for

in Iraq.

 

(Source: New England Journal of Medicine, 2004; 350:

2362-74).

 

* To get all the information you need about diet and

nutrition, read the WDDTY Good Digestion Guide. To

order your copy, :

http://www.wddty.co.uk/shop/details.asp?product=345

 

 

 

DRY EYE: It could be the drugs

 

Dry eye is a problem that has been raised as a

reader's health query in past E-news bulletins. Since

then a new research study has thrown more light on the

problem, which we thought we'd share with you.

 

In the first place, there's a lot of it about. The

study, which was carried out at Beaver Dam in

Wisconsin, found that 13 per cent of the adult

population over the age of 45 had the condition.

 

Those more likely to develop it had a history of

allergies or diabetes, they used antihistamines or

diuretics, and generally suffered from poorer health.

Taking a ACE inhibitor seemed to reduce the risk, but

then so did alcohol, which has to be a safer option.

 

(Source: Archives of Ophthalmology, 2004; 122:

369-73).

 

 

 

BRIBERY: Glaxo faces serious charges in Italy

 

If you happen to be British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline

(GSK), there's some good news for you, and some bad.

The bad news is that Italian authorities are pressing

on with their allegations that place you right in the

middle of a bribery ring involving nearly 5000 doctors

and employees in Italy.

 

Tax police are preparing charges following a two-year

investigation in Verona. Charges will range from

giving and receiving illicit compensation for

prescribing or recommending a specific drug through to

corruption and criminal association.

 

Although investigations started in Verona, they

eventually spread to all 94 provinces of Italy, and

involved the careful monitoring of doctors throughout

the country.

 

According to the allegations, doctors were being

bribed to prescribe expensive drugs to patients when

they were not always the best treatment.

 

So, the good news? Well, in the Italian case, you're

not alone. Investigations have now turned to other

drug companies including Pfizer, Sanofi and Sigma Tau.

 

And wait! There's even more good news! You know

you've been sweating on the findings from a similar

investigation by German officials? Well, they're not

pressing charges. Again, you were right in the middle

of investigations into bribes to hospital doctors. Up

to nine pharmaceutical companies are being

investigated, and GSK was one of them. But German

officials have confirmed that no charges will now be

made against you.

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2004; 328: 1333).

 

 

 

CHRONIC FATIGUE: Tired old response from doctors

 

Medical studies might have proven it exists, and it's

been acknowledged by most medical authorities as a

real condition, but go to your family doctor with

symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome and he'll

probably still treat you as a slacker or malingerer.

 

A new study has highlighted the prejudice among

doctors about chronic fatigue. One of the kinder

comments the study gleaned from one of the

participating doctors was that patients had 'a certain

personality trait that is chronic fatigue syndrome

waiting to happen'. In other words, it's all in their

heads.

 

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), the other 'yuppie

condition' as defined by doctors, fared better.

Because it has some identifiable physical cause or

location, most doctors in the survey accepted that IBS

could well be a condition that actually existed

outside of the imagination of the patient.

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2004; 328: 1354-6).

 

 

 

Syllogism Corner

 

Premise one: Warfarin is a dangerous drug that can

kill people. (More than 10,000 Britons die every year

from a reaction to a common drug. Researchers at the

University of Liverpool assessed the records of 18,820

people admitted to local hospitals between November

2001 and April 2002. One in 16 of those had been

admitted because of an adverse reaction to drugs such

as aspirin. Of those, 28 died. Apart from aspirin,

other drugs mentioned included diuretics and warfarin,

the blood-thinning agent).

 

Premise two: Ginseng can stop warfarin from working.

(The herbal remedy ginseng has been blamed as being an

antidote to warfarin, and stops it working

effectively, researchers at the University of Chicago

have said. They are concerned that many herbal

remedies interfere with drug efficacy, and should be

more carefully monitored. The UK's Medicines and

Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority has already

announced that it will look into the researchers'

findings and concerns).

 

Conclusion: Doesn't that make ginseng a good thing,

and shouldn't it be warfarin that is more carefully

monitored?

 

 

 

READERS' CORNER

 

Athlete's foot: One reader last time wanted to know if

any of you had some suggestions for clearing up

athlete's foot. Silly goose - of course you do! Try

tea tree oil on the foot, suggests one, or apply a

paste made from Bicarbonate of Soda. Alternatively,

crush bulbs of garlic in a plastic bag and then put

your foot into the bag 'for a spell'. Fortunately for

our reader, the Bicarb remedy worked first! Another

option is aloe vera, says one reader, while Centella

makes an ointment it 'guarantees' will cure the

problem. A home-made remedy involves piercing a

vitamin E capsule, and squeezing the contents onto the

affected area. Regular supplementation of zinc helped

one reader who constantly suffered from athlete's

foot. Simpler still, just rinse the affected foot in

cold water after you've showered or bathed, and dry

the foot with a hair dryer, using cool air.

 

 

Decaffeinated drinks: Does the decaffeinating process

make drinks unsafe to drink? Yes, they aren't great

because the process involves the use of solvents, the

residues of which are more toxic than the caffeine it

is removing, explains a spokesman from Clipper, which

supplies organic teas. The only way round the problem

is to buy organic decaffeinated tea or coffee, as

these have gone through a process that involves just

water and carbon dioxide.

 

 

Removing root canal fillings: Any good dentist in the

UK who can remove root canal fillings using the

protocol suggested by American dentist Hal Huggins?

Yes, there is one man, recommended by two readers.

Step forward Dr John Roberts, who practices in

Huddersfield. John's website is:

http://www.holistic-dentistry.com, and more contact

information can be found there.

 

 

Blepharitis: Loads of suggestions last time for

treating this eye condition, and more have arrived

this week. Never use shampoo or any detergent close

to the eye, despite what an eye specialist said last

week. Instead try a few drops of preservative-free

castor oil to the eye at bedtime and rinse out in the

morning with lukewarm water. Alternatively apply a

light coating of Kajal to the lower lid edge. Another

option is a cream that contains neem seed oil. One

reader discovered that blepharitis is caused by

conditions such as candidosis, so cut out all yeast

products and foods and avoid sugar.

 

 

Lyme disease and tick bites: Some advice from one

reader about getting ticks off the skin. She says

that ticks should be removed only with tweezers or

some similar device, and by grasping their heads.

Never squeeze or rub an attached tick, as it will

regurgitate its stomach contents into the bite it may

have already made. So that should be incentive enough

to reach for those tweezers.

 

 

Wearing glasses: A few weeks back a gentleman

wondered why people over the age of 50 tend to start

wearing glasses for reading and the like. A few

responses last time, and a few more have arrived this

week. One reader says that sight deterioration is

caused by a 'hardening' of eye muscles. To get them

supple, take regular MSM supplements. Eye exercises

can also help, such as those proposed by Bates, who we

mentioned last time. One reader suggests several

books (provided you can read them) including The Power

Behind Your Eyes (Healing Arts, 1995) by

Robert-Michael Kaplan, and Take Off Your Glasses and

See (Thorsons, 1995) by Jacob Liberman.

 

 

 

Readers' queries

 

Did you know that What Doctors Don't Tell You operates

a service that will give you all the information you

need about any health condition or worry? We scan the

entire back catalogue of WDDTY, going back to 1990,

and give you every last word we've ever published on

your health worry. It's called Searcher, and it can

be accessed from this link:

http://www.wddty.co.uk/shop/searcher.asp

 

 

Spasmatic torticollis: Does anyone have any

suggestions for this condition? Spasmatic

torticollis involves the neck muscles going into spasm

and pulling the head to one side.

 

 

Sulphur and asthma: One reader wonders if anyone has

any evidence to suggest a link between the two.

Sulphur is often found in our foods, sometimes as a

preservative, and so people consume it unwittingly,

possibly affecting - or even causing - their asthma,

she ponders.

 

 

Alzheimer's: A big question from one reader who wants

to better understand this condition. She thinks it

may have something to do with tension in the neck that

restricts blood supply to the brain.

 

 

Polycystic ovaries: Any readers have some

suggestions? Our reader has been putting on weight,

and is also getting acne spots around the mouth. Her

doctor has put her on 500 mg metformin, but she's not

doing well on the drug.

 

 

Nerve pains: One reader has constant burning pain on

the skin of her feet. It feels like a surface problem

rather than a condition such as restless leg syndrome.

 

 

* To search the WDDTY database - where every word from

the last 14 years of research can be found – click on

http://www.wddty.co.uk/search/infodatabase.asp

 

 

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