The coldest remedy for Asthma?

Asthma sufferers usually have a variety of remedies available to them to help cope with their condition, but this week I read of one that is so simple, and a trifle bizarre, that I had to share it with you. A sufferer wrote in a forum that when they were having a really bad day and their eyes were really sore, they would open their freezer, put their head in, and take in a few big deep breath. That cold air really seemed to help them – let me know if it works for you too.

MSG by any other name?

Chinese restaurants many years ago got a bad reputation for over use of MSG (mono sodium glutamate), with people reporting symptoms such as headache, numbness in the arms, palpitations and increased risk of asthma attacks. None of these have ever been scientifically verified, though I certainly had a headache or two from some Chinese restaurants, which made me avoid the flavour-enhancing additive wherever possible.

If you are similarly sensitive, it may help you to know that MSG, or E621 to give it the chemical label, may have vanished from restaurants or food products but in many cases has been replaced with other substances have the same effects, but you may not be familiar with their names.

You may not be as sensitive to some, or all of these, but it is worth checking labels for these added ingredients if you want a headache-free dining experience: yeast extract, torula yeast, autolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, calcium caseinate, sodium casinate, and textured protein.

Eggs are eggselent!

I was talking to a friend recently who seemed unaware that the great debate on the cholesterol contained in eggs had been overturned. As she loves her egg and toast soldiers she was limiting herself to one a week but it is now over two years since the British Heart Foundation (BHF) accepted that the evidence on eggs contributing to high blood cholesterol was unfounded.

Research at the University of Surrey has also recently confirmed that the evidence that eggs raise cholesterol levels is based on out-of-date evidence from research done on powdered eggs.

Eggs are little powerhouses of nutrition, containing protein, essential amino acids, vitamins B, D, A, and riboflavin, and minerals, including calcium, potassium, and iron. They are also one of the few good sources of sulphur, which is essential for oxygen transport in the cells – see the story on swine flu. A lack of oxygen can lead to increased cancer risk as well as encouraging fungus, bacteria and mould in the body as they cannot survive when good supplies of oxygen are present.

Yet another reason to have a healthy, real, diet and why were they testing powdered eggs anyway and not actual eggs? Those previous finding for high cholesterol were based on the fact that the problem has always been oxidised cholesterol – cholesterol heated and exposed to air for an extended period. So a boiled egg presents no problem because the yolk sac insulates the cholesterol from oxidation – line up those toast soldiers and plan a long campaign!

Get nut cracking to improve your motor skills

My memories of Christmas always include struggling with the nutcracker and sending shards of shells flying across the room. Brazil nuts were the most intractable, but I liked their taste, whereas walnuts were hard work and I wasn’t very keen on their slight oiliness – though that may have been because they had been sitting in the bowl too long.

Now however I might have to change my mind as some new research shows that adding a moderate, but not high, amount of walnuts to an otherwise healthy diet may help the over 50′s to perform better at tasks that require motor and behavioural skills. Walnuts contain polyphenols, of which I have spoken in praise before, as well as other antioxidants and essential fatty acids.

The study appeared recently in the British Journal of Nutrition and they were looking at the fact that as we age our brain undergoes a number of changes that can result in altered or impaired functioning. Partly this is due to the fact that the ability of the connections between neurons to change in strength and function is lessened, and that there is also increased oxidative damage to our neural tissue.

The trial was done on rats as they apparently have similar brain makeup to ours – which gives me food for thought about some of my acquaintances, but never mind – and they were put on a diet which had either 2, 6 or 9 percent walnuts in it and a trial group that got no walnuts at all. The study found that in the older rats, the diets containing 2 or 6 percent walnuts were able to improve age-related motor and cognitive shortfalls, while the 9 percent walnut diet impaired reference memory.

In human terms, this means that if you eat 7 to 9 walnuts, a day then you could be positively affecting your cognitive and your motor skills, but no more than that or your memory might be affected. Another benefit is that you will also be providing yourself with exercise as you attempt to crack the nuts, in the shell is fresher, but watch out for those flying shells!

Acupuncture can help radiotherapy patients

An uncomfortable and unpleasant side effect of radiotherapy for patients being treated for head and neck cancer can be xerostomia; a severely dry mouth. A new study in Texas at the M.D.Anderson Cancer Center has proved that twice weekly acupuncture treatments can help relieve this debilitating side effect.

People who have cancers of the head and neck typically receive large cumulative doses of radiation which affect the salivary glands, so that they are then not able to produce adequate amounts of saliva to lubricate the mouth and this is when xerostomia develops. This is not a trivial matter, as symptoms can include an altered ability to taste, dental decay, infections of the tissues of the mouth, and difficulty with speaking, eating and swallowing.

Suggested aids are things like chewing gum or lozenges to encourage saliva production, but these can only bring very temporary short-term relief. The most commonly prescribed medication, pilocarpine, has short-lived benefits and side effects including sweating, stomach upset, runny nose, flushing, chills, dizziness, weakness, and frequent urination. This drug may also affect vision, especially at night.

This pilot study was set up to see if acupuncture could reverse this, and although it is frequently used to manage pain and restore health it had never been tried for this particular condition. The patients in the study had xerostomia and had completed radiotherapy at least four weeks earlier. They were given two acupuncture treatments each week for four weeks and the acupuncture points used in the treatment were located on the ears, chin, index finger, forearm and lateral surface of the leg. All patients were tested for saliva flow and asked to complete self-assessments and questionnaires related to their symptoms and quality of life before the first treatment, after completion of four weeks of acupuncture, and again four weeks later.

The twice weekly acupuncture treatments produced highly statistically significant improvements in symptoms and a quality-of-life assessment conducted at weeks five and eight showed significant improvements over quality-of-life scores recorded at the outset of the study. Further studies are underway at Fudan University Cancer Hospital in Shanghai, China, to see if having acupuncture treatments on the same day as the radiotherapy will produce the same results.

If you know anyone who is suffering from this condition, do share this article with them and suggest they seek a qualified acupuncturist if they wish to try it for themselves.

Achilles heel? Try ultrasound not surgery

Damage to the Achilles Tendon (tendonitis) is no joke, and it doesn’t just happen to athletes as it is quite common in the general population and strikes men and women equally – though not everyone has the same susceptibility. Your tendon is subject to daily impact as you stride (or run) your way through life, and they are definitely designed very much for strength. Unfortunately, they have relatively little in the way of blood vessels associated with them which means they are slow to repair themselves. The usual treatment suggested is plenty of rest and ice packs, heel lifts, orthotic insoles for the shoes, and NSAID’s like ibuprofen and physical therapy. If these are not effective then surgery is the next option.

Now, however, a new study at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University in Chicago, USA, has come up with an alternative solution. The patients involved underwent ultrasound-guided debridement, of the tendon. This is a procedure that helps to break up any scar tissue within the tendon that might cause it to become stiffer than normal. The debridement stimulates an in-growth of blood vessels and results in a healing response which encourages the body’s own repair process to heal the tendon damage.

The procedure had a 60% success rate in the study with patients reporting either marked improvement in their symptoms, or that they had stopped entirely. For the patients in the trial it meant they could avoid surgery, and it looks promising to help others who have reached the end of the treatment road but don’t want to go under the knife.

Swine Flu prevention – 6 ways to help yourself

Although Gordon Brown assures us Britain is well prepared to deal with an outbreak of Swine Flu, I am always happier to take proactive action myself and there are some simple measures we can all take. They are not guaranteed to prevent you getting it, but they will certainly help.

The symptoms are of course very similar to any other flu you might experience: fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and fatigue so report to your doctor if you have these. However, what you also need to do is focus on strengthening your own immune response to prevent infection getting a hold and developing.

1 This time of year I usually have stopped taking Echinacea, but it is my first port of call to build up my defences and if you can get Echinacea tincture that is the most effective in my opinion. Boots produce their own and there is an excellent one made by Bioforce from helath stores. Take it daily for three weeks then a week off.

2 Next increase the amount of vitamin C you are taking, at least 1 gram a day in two 500mg doses is the most effective. Have as natural and unprocessed diet as you can, and juicing your fruit and vegetables gets you the maximum vitamins from them.

3 Your body requires oxygen for every cell to function properly because viruses can neither survive nor thrive in it. Therefore, the best defence against microbes, germs, harmful bacteria and viruses, such as the swine influenza virus, is to keep the body oxygenated. Add in eggs to your diet as they are excellent for improving your oxygen absorption. See the healthy bites item on eggs below.

4 Are you breathing deeply enough? Shallow breathing will not bring enough oxygen into so your system, and being out in the fresh air every day is a must. Walking at a moderate pace while breathing in for a count of six, and out for a count of six, is one of the simplest ways to do this. If you find a count of six difficult, reduce it to four, or if it becomes easy increase to six or eight.

5 Limit foods and substances that stress the body such as sugar, caffeine, alcohol, smoking, too much red meat and processed foods high in saturated and hydrogenated fats. 6 Finally, go back to basic hygiene and wash your hands in hot soapy water frequently and carry hand gel when you are out and use it after contact with others such as a handshake – and contact in public places with stair rails, lift buttons and so on.

It may all seem like a nonsense, but people have died from not taking this seriously. The good habits outlined here will help protect you, and if you maintain them you will have a solid barrier to prevent future infection.

Health problems your dog can smell out

Dogs are wonderful friends, supports, playmates but they could also be an early diagnostic tool for your health as they can apparently smell cancer and low blood sugar. The Pine Street Foundation, a cancer-education and research centre in San Anselmo, California has just published a study showing it was possible to train dogs to identify, based on breath samples, which patients had lung and breast cancer. They are now recruiting for a second trial using dogs to diagnose ovarian cancer.

I have heard of dolphins diagnosing tumours and cancers through sonar, and certainly Chinese herbal practitioners often smell your skin to diagnose certain conditions but using dogs is a new one to me. In diabetics, the presence of ketones – substances made by the body during the metabolic process – can be smelled in urine and on the breath when blood sugars are high. Dogs can pick up on other smells that humans can’t when glucose levels drop.

Maybe you want to buy your dog a healthy treat and keep his nose in tip top shape as a form of health insurance?

p.s – If you are looking for a place to compare dog insurance visit a great little site we foun recently: www.whatdoginsurance.co.uk

How to have a holistic dog diet

Another winner at the Natural and Organic Shows was the ALLDOG Bakery and their holistic biscuits. These healthy dog biscuits are Certified Holistic by BAHNM (British Association Holistic Nutrition and Medicine) and they consult with leading veterinary surgeons for suggestions and guidance while developing their products. Naturally they contain no genetically modified elements, artificial flavours, salts, sugars or flavour enhancers. They only contain sodium and sweeteners that occur naturally in the ingredients.

You can give your dog a variety of treats from Salmon Snacks to Holistic Herbs for vegetarian dogs – if you know whether your dog’s preferences this could make you his best friend. As dogs can’t eat chocolate without danger to their health, they have also come up something called Carob Crunch which gives them all the taste, but none of the risk – and it is has 60% fewer calories than chocolate. More information on their whole range at www.alldog.co.uk

Anti inflammatory drugs without serious side effects

Those suffering from inflammatory conditions such as asthma and other chronic diseases are usually prescribed corticosteroids, and although these are highly effective they do carry the risk of some serious side effects. Of particular concern is when they are used to treat a child’s asthma, but these drugs can stunt their growth over time. In adults, they are used to treat Addison’s disease, but again their use can lead to the development of diabetes and hypertension.

Dr. Henry J. Lee has led research in anti-inflammatory, anti-AIDS and anti-cancer drugs for nearly 30 years and he and his team have been working to develop a safer approach that would eliminate inflammation without causing damage to the body. Reported to the MLA American Physiological Society on April 19, these so-called “antedrugs”, have now been developed at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, at Tallahassee in Florida.

Antedrug design is a new approach to create safer drugs that attack a problem such as inflammation then quickly become inactive before they can cause damage. The researchers were able to synthesize a new group of corticosteroids that have anti-asthmatic and anti-inflammatory properties that are isoxazoline derivatives, from prednisolone, and without adverse side effects or any systemic damage.

In fact, they found that antedrugs effectively reduced inflammation and were five times more potent than prednisolone in doing so.

« Previous Page — Next Page »