What caused Swine flu?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been saying for years that ‘a new pandemic is inevitable’and experts from the European Commission and the FAO have cautioned that one reason for this could be that the rapid move from small holdings to industrial pig production is in fact increasing the risk of development and transmission of disease epidemics. The current outbreak started on a large pig factory farm run by the US Smithfield Corporation, the largest pig producer in the world. Conditions for factory farmed animals, whether pigs, chickens or anything else are rarely ideal and usually involve large amounts of drugs such as antibiotics and growth promoters.

Although the company denies any connection between their pigs and the flu the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that scientists still do not know the extent that infectious compounds produced in factory farms affect human health. Smithfield has already been fined $12.6m and is currently under another federal investigation in the US for toxic environmental damage from pig excrement lakes. Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that is asking concerned consumers to sign a petition asking the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organisation to investigate and develop regulations for these farms to protect global health. If you would like to add your voice to that, then visit www.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic

Losing your job makes you stressed? – Oh really?!

Good old Harvard, just goes to show that even the brightest and best seem to lack common sense. Would you have guessed that losing your job could affect your health? Think I will send them a copy of my ‘How To Cope Successfully With Stress’ book so they can see in black and white the relationship between stress and health.

This particularly researcher has ‘discovered’ that if you lose a job through no fault of your own then you are twice as likely to report developing a new ailment like high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease over the next year and a half, compared to people who were continuously employed. More interesting to me, is the fact that these US statistics indicated that the risk was just as high for those who found new jobs quickly as it was for those who remained unemployed, leading me to believe their stress levels are just as high perhaps through uncertainty as to whether this job will last or not.

Being unemployed is stressful, and can cause serious physical and emotional responses which all affect health. Good habits like a healthy diet and regular exercise are often abandoned and comfort eating and increased alcohol and tobacco consumption are often evident. Though the research points up the obvious, if it can be leveraged so there is some more focus on the effect of the economic downturn on people’s health as well as the financial aspects then maybe it will be worthwhile.

Salmonella in space

Salmonella is something we are continually battling here on earth, and there is no currently available vaccine to control it. Now, a series of experiments conducted aboard the International Space Station may soon lead to a vaccine against food poisoning from that particular bacteria.

It is bacteria brought back by the shuttle Discovery crew last month that researchers have been examining, because it seems that previous studies showed salmonella can become more virulent in weightlessness; and that its virulence can be controlled so that it can be switched on and off. NASA has been concerned that because being in space weakens the immune system, that astronauts might be more susceptible to food poisoning.

Bizarrely, or at least to me, the environment inside the intestines is similar to weightlessness and this latest research shows that microgravity actually changes salmonella itself and this gives researchers hope that this could help us tackle the problem back here on Earth.

Natural remedy support for surgery

As I seem to have been having a number of friends in hospital recently, I thought it might be timely to remind you of my pre-hospital routine if you are undergoing surgery and to add in some news about the interaction between herbs, drugs and hospitals. My own pre-surgery routine is very simple: three days beforehand I start taking Arnica 30 twice a day, plus Rescue Remedy in water. The arnica deals with trauma and emotional shock before the operation, and helps recovery of internal bruising faster and I usually ask the nurse in charge to make sure it’s under my tongue the minute I wake up and Rescue Remedy helps again with any fears arising from the operation. I keep up this regime up to a week after the operation and add in at least a gram of vitamin C as it is essential both to help support your immune system and recover from any anaesthetic by helping remove it faster from your system.

Herbs and Surgery: As more people are regularly taking supplements and vitamins as part of their healthcare routine, this timely report comes from a US team from the Department of Plastic Surgery at Cleveland’s University Hospital. They are giving this list to any patient who is undergoing surgery, for whatever reason, and I thought you would like to know about it.

* For bleeding effects: gingko biloba, garlic, ginseng, dong quai, feverfew, fish oils

* For drug interactions: echinacea, goldenseal, liquorice, St. John’s wort, kava, valerian root

* For cardiovascular effects: ephedra, garlic

* For anaesthetic effects: valerian root, St. John’s wort, kava

* For photosensitivity effects: St. John’s wort, dong quai

* For hypoglycaemia effects: ginseng

Delicious greens recipe

Dr. Ben Kim has some wonderful recipes and I wanted to share this one with you as it is the best way I have found to make dark green vegetables delicious. I appreciate I may be in the minority who struggle with eating enough of these vegetables – something to do with the iron in them I suspect – but if anyone has my own aversion – or wants to get their kids eating more dark green vegetables then this recipe is a winner. Although many people eat them raw, cooking can help make vegetables like broccoli, kale, chard, spinach, and Asian bok choy easier to digest as it softens the fibre they contain and helps your body get the most of the vitamins and minerals It is actually his wife Margaret’s recipe and let me know if you enjoy it:

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 heads of broccoli, cut up into pieces
1 large or 2 small sliced courgettes
1 clove of garlic finely chopped or minced
2 cups organic vegetable or chicken stock Sea salt and pepper to taste

It is simple to make, you just heat the olive oil in a large lidded saucepan on medium and when hot add the broccoli and stir fry for a minute. Add the stock and garlic, put the lid on and once at the boil turn heat down low and simmer. Give it an occasional stir and once the broccoli has turned a bright green colour, wait a couple of minutes so that it develops a little bit of tenderness and then add the courgette plus salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until vegetables are tender and make sure there is a little bit of the stock left and serve that with it for maximum juiciness. Personally, I also add a dash of tamari or soy sauce for a bit of extra flavour, but if you do that then miss out the salt!

Massage after exercise – Not a good idea?

It is a given that if you exercise regularly that having a massage afterwards will be beneficial as it disperses the build up of lactic acid in the muscles and helps blood flow.

Apparently it’s not a given at all, but a widely-accepted myth that has not been really investigated until now. A team from Queen’s University at Kingston in Canada have found that massage actually impairs blood flow to the muscle after exercise, rather than the other way around.

As a great fan of the positive benefits of massage – though rather less so of exercise – I find this distressing as it gives you no excuse for a nice relaxing rub down. The theory that massage improves muscle blood flow and helps get rid of lactic acid is a firmly held belief by both the public and physical therapists – and certainly masseurs. However it is just a theory, no one has actually ever examined and proved it, until now when Kinesiology and Health Studies professor Michael Tschakovsky and MSc candidate Vicky Wiltshire undertook this study.

They are set to put the cat among the pigeons at the annual American College of Sports Medicine conference in Seattle at the end of May when their firm conclusion that massage actually impairs blood flow to the muscle after exercise, and that it therefore also impairs the removal of lactic acid will I am sure be hotly debated.

Meditation shows dramatic results for incontinence

It is no laughing matter, but ironically a laugh can be a real embarrassment if you suffer from incontinence. Sneezing and coughing can also cause leakage of urine and it’s something that affects around 5 million people in the UK. It’s not just your bladder that is affected either; regular incontinence can have other effects such as skin infections, sores and rashes. If you are getting up frequently in the night, then your sleep is affected and that can depress your immune system. In more severe cases sufferers feel ‘unclean’ and it affects their self esteem, sometimes leading to depression, and cause them to withdraw from social life and sexual activity.

Causes include infections and tumours, but the most common cause for women is the weakening of the pelvic floor muscles after childbirth, or as they get older.

There are many solutions available from the radical ones of surgery or drugs, but these do carry potential side effects. For example, the generic drug oxybutynin can affect the memory, make swallowing difficult, and been linked to blurred vision, constipation, drowsiness and confusion. The new generation of drugs are anticholinergics, generic name often prescribed is darifenacin and this has been linked to dry mouth, constipation, indigestion, blurred vision, decreased sweating leading to severe heat prostration, and abdominal pain. Natural methods have included commercially sold pelvic floor exercisers and simple home exercise plans to tighten the muscles. A new solution has just come from a Loyola University Health System (LUHS) study in the States which has found that meditation can be just as effective as drugs or surgery.

Meditation is usually associated with spiritual practice, or as a stress reduction technique, but whatever its purpose the effect is to use the brain to control the body. Meditation is known to be able to reduce blood pressure, but now it seems it can also control our bladders. One distressing feature of incontinence is the almost irresistible urge to urinate far more frequently than normal, and meditating helps control this impulse. This seems to be more effective for women than men, but certainly worth experimenting with for both sexes before taking drugs or resorting to surgery.

The study incorporated some cognitive therapy with meditation and visualisation focused on using deep breathing to relax the body. The average age of the study subjects was 62 and all had been diagnosed with ‘urge incontinence’ resulting from an overactive bladder. They practiced meditation by listening to a recording twice a day that took them through visualisation and relaxation exercises. Having done this twice a day for a fortnight, they also logged how many times they accidentally passed urine daily before and after participating in the study.

The researcher’s conclusion was that for the majority a dramatic improvement was seen. A sharp drop in the number of ‘accident’s was seen down from 40 to 12 which is very impressive, particularly when some subjects reported being able to leave home more often as they achieved a 98 percent leak-free day.

I don’t know what meditation they used, but if you want to try my meditation CD I would recommend you use the Blue Sky track and focus on visualising yourself going through a day being dry, comfortable and active. If you want to know more please visit www.catalystonline.co.uk/marketplace

Another simple technique is the ‘elevator exercise’ where you tighten and hold the pelvic muscles as you imagine them pulling upwards as if in an elevator. You ‘pause’ the elevator at each floor and hold and relax the muscles, then continue on up to the next floor. Doing this exercise of contracting, holding and releasing frequently during the day is also a good way of keeping the muscles toned and avoiding future episodes of incontinence.

MSG by any other name?

If you love the flavour – but not the accompanying headaches – of MSG (mono sodium glutamate), then here is a natural recipe to duplicate the flavour enhancing effect. Just mix together equal parts of Celery salt, Dill, Turmeric, Cayenne pepper and Paprika and use it to coat meat before cooking.

Help with inflammation

I am indebted to Julie for contacting me about a natural product she has found very helpful to reduce inflammation, pain and swelling in both adults, children and animals. It’s name is serrapeptase and as most diseases have inflammation as a major factor then it could have a number of applications and clinical use. This natural anti-inflammatory is derived from silkworms has been in use for over twenty-five years throughout Europe and Asia as a viable alternative to salicylates, ibuprofen and the more potent NSAIDs. Unlike these drugs, Serrapeptase is a naturally occurring, physiological agent with no inhibitory effects on prostaglandins and is devoid of gastrointestinal side effects.

For more information, and a free report on what serrapeptase can do, then visit the website at www.Serrapeptase.info

Mother-daughter breast cancer link

It was reported by the MLA University Health Network on 3 May that a unique mother-daughter study shows that the percentage of water in the breast could be linked to the risk of breast cancer in older women.

Breast density is an inheritable characteristic that is known to be a cancer risk factor and by using magnetic resonance to measure breast density in younger women the Canadian researchers at The Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research at Princess Margaret Hospital in Ontario. Higher blood growth hormone concentrations were also linked to higher percent breast water and results showed that each 5cm difference in height in daughters was associated with 3% increase in percent breast water, which suggests a mechanism by which growth might affect the risk of cancer. They believe this could help in developing prevention methods as breast density is a strong risk factor for breast cancer in middle aged and older women as the breast is most susceptible to the effects of carcinogens at early ages. Their findings suggest that by identifying the environmental and genetic factors that influence breast tissue composition in early life they may be able to develop safe and effective methods of prevention.

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