Rose hips & arthritis

I have mentioned the benefits of rosehips before, and now a new study shows that it could be a more effective pain-reliever than standard drugs for people with arthritis, a new study suggests.

A powder form of the wild variety of rosehip, Rosa canina, is better at relieving pain among osteoarthritis patients than paracetamol and the nutritional supplement, glucosamine according to researchers from Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen.

All three therapies were tested on a group of 300 patients, who tested each in turn for three months. Overall, the patients reported that the rosehip preparation was almost three times more effective than paracetamol, and 40 per cent better than glucosamine. Rosehip also didn’t come with the side effects associated with paracetamol, including constipation and drowsiness. The researchers concluded that rosehip is so effective because it also reduces the inflammation in the joints, which is characteristic of osteoarthritis.

If you want to try it, I did a quick Google search and came up with two websites for you to look at – though there are undoubtedly plenty more – and you might also find it in your local health store. These are what I came across: www.dennisthechemist.com and www.JustVitamins.co.uk.

Ginseng safe for children?

Previously ginseng has been highly recommended as an immune system tonic, but mainly suitable for men and post menopausal women. The Red Army famously uses ginseng to help with stamina and endurance, but some new research seems to indicate that it can also be used safely for short term use when treating children with cold and flu symptoms.

Sunita Vohra, M.D., M.Sc., of the University of Alberta tested an over-the-counter ginseng supplement and found it was well tolerated in children without any serious adverse effects if used just for treating common cold symptoms. As this is a self-limiting illness the supplementwas only given for a short period and presumably helped by stimulating the child’s own natural immune defences to be more effective in combating the cold.

The effects of supplements on children has not much been studied – nor indeed as I have previously reported have the effects of drugs such as statins which are currently being prescribed to them. As it is estimated that 41% to 45% of children in Canada and the United States use natural health products, then it seems about time a comprehensive study was done. George Rylance, a paediatrician at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, who helps to produce the British National Formulary for Children, said that dosages must be tailored for each child, calculated by weight and age.

The standard adult dose of a ginseng supplement for treating a cold is three times daily at 600 mg on day one, 400 mg on day two, and 200 mg on day three. The dosage was adjusted for children according to weight and their standard dose 26 mg/kg per day on day one, 17 mg/kg/day on day two, and 9 mg/kg/day on day three. Children weighing more than 45 kg were given the standard adult dose. They received a liquid form of ginseng which they were given in orange juice – not sure if they added in any benefit from the vitamin C or not.

The result on safety over a short term was conclusive, it was fine, and there was some indication that the ginseng was effective in reducing the duration of the symptoms of the cold. The maker of the ginseng product used in the study, CV Technologies, plans to start a larger randomized efficacy trial in children within the next year, as it seems to be an effective treatment for upper respiratory tract infection.

Osteoporosis drugs questionmark

Some years ago I set up the Natural Progesterone Information Service to provide women with the latest news on natural hormones rather than synthetic ones such as HRT. One of the things that John Lee talked a lot about all those years ago was how in his opinion the biphosphonate drugs given for osteoporosis were actually weakening the bone rather than helping to build it. He had seen great results with women using natural progesterone to build bone density, though the medical profession did not accept that progesterone could work more effectively than the drugs. Now after all these years, more questions have emerged about whether long-term use of bone-building drugs for osteoporosis may actually lead to weaker bones in a small number of people who use them. Case reports show an unusual fracture pattern in people who have used bone-building drugs, the biphosphonates, for five years or more.

If you are taking such drugs please ensure you are also having regular bone scans to check your progess and it would be worth looking at your diet and natural supplements that can help build bone such as horsetail and silica. If you would like information on natural progesterone for osteoporosis and HRT replacement (I no longer have any connection with the service since I gave up running it) you can obtain a booklet from the Natural Progesterone Information Service, tel: 07000 784849 or visit their website at www.npis.info.
Wellspring Trading in Guernsey also have an excellent free booklet on natural progesterone cream which is written by my good friend and colleague, Dr Shirley Bond – a private GP who specialises in hormone therapy for women. Wellspring’s telephone number is – 01481 233 370.

Vital Veg – The dynamic duo

Cabbage is not everyone’s favourite food – shades of school dinners and that terrible lingering smell as it boiled away all morning – and celery, too, can be an acquired taste you either love or loathe, but these two vegetables can immeasurably improve your health. Here are some of the really good reasons to include cabbage in your diet on a regular basis:

On a diet? An average portion is around 15 calories, so it can help you lose weight, while feeling full. It is also full of vitamin C which many believe helps your cells to burn fat.

It contains phytonutrients that help protect you from the free radicals (cancer causing agents) that can damage your cell walls.

Helps to clean and detox your liver of impurities by stimulating the production of the antioxidant glutathione.

The lactic acid in it can help disinfect your colon to inhibit growth of bacteria.

Promotes healthy, glowing skin because of the amounts of vitamin E it contains.

Keeps your eyes healthy with a good dose of vitamin A. All that applies to the white and green cabbage varieties, however if you add in some red cabbage you will be getting a bonus in the form of anthocyanin, an antioxidant which is responsible for its red colour. However it’s not there just to make it look good alongside your Lancashire hotpot, the traditional accompaniment to this winter dish. It has several vital roles to play in supporting your mental health as it helps protect your brain cells, and this is the reason many scientists now believe it could have a role in the fight against Alzheimer’s. Again, like it’s green cousins, it can also help if you are dieting as anthocyanins also have potential as ‘fat-fighters’, according to a Japanese study carried out in February 2008. They reported that the antioxidants in red cabbage could help tackle metabolic syndrome (MetS), which can cause obesity, hypertension, and insulin problems.

Enough about cabbage – what about celery? In my childhood it appeared in water in a cut glass jug to accompany Sunday tea and I avoided it like the plague. Now, I enjoy it on a daily basis – more later. So what is celery good for? Well more good news for dieters, as it can help suppress your appetite and that can help you slim. If you are an anxious type then celery can be useful as it has a calming effect on the central nervous system. Celery contains ‘pthalides’, compounds which can help relax your artery muscles, and have an effect on lowering your blood pressure – always a good idea if you are anxious, and those same compounds also reduce your levels of stress hormone, which help keep your blood vessels relaxed and open. It’s the leaves, rather than the stalks that contain the biggest concentration of the pthalides, so chop finely and add to salads, don’t just eat the crisp stem.

BUT I DON’T LIKE THEM!

I promised an easy way to eat these two vital veg, and I will let you into a secret. I really don’t like eating vegetables at all. There are a favoured few, but mainly I count potatoes as my only ‘much-loved’ vegetable. But, I know how important it is to get those nutrients, so I juice my vegetables instead. The quickest way to get the benefits of cabbage is to drink 25-50 ml of fresh, raw cabbage juice each day. This is based on research done in the early 1950s by Dr Garnett Cheney who found that peptic ulcer patients who drank 4 glasses of raw cabbage juice daily quickened the healing process and relieved the pain. A quarter of an average cabbage will give you that amount, throw in some celery with the leaves and you have an amazing cocktail. If you want it a little sweeter pop in a carrot. You can juice pretty much anything and everything, and there are some great juice recipe books on the market – please try to use organic veg where possible and drink the juice the second you have made it – don’t let it stand or it will start to oxidise on contact with the air and it doesn’t look very pretty either. I start the day usually by juicing an apple, a carrot, couple sticks of celery, half a grapefruit and a piece of ginger. If you haven’t time for breakfast, then that will really set you up.

The most effective antioxidant juice – Honest

It used to be that you just went into the supermarket, and bought juice. Probably orange or apple and that was that. Now the packs all scream about being one of your 5 a day, or that they are rich in antioxidants and can reduce your levels of free radicals – in their opinion, which is rarely backed up by any facts and figures. You know that to be healthy you need a decent level of antioxidants in your diet, but with up to a dozen or so manufacturers all claiming the same thing for their product – so just who do you believe?

Happily for us, the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry has just reported on some research done at the University of California which definitively proves which juice has more antioxidants than any other drink, including other juices, green or black tea, and red wine.

Ready for it? The winner is pomegranate juice, which has around 20% more antioxidants than other drinks tested. They carried out a series of tests to determine their antioxidant levels and abilities to scavenge for free radicals. The pomegranate juice was a clear winner on all counts as was their conclusion and it has been linked to many other health benefits including a 50% reduction in Alzheimer’s risk, and suggested as part of a cancer prevention diet, particularly prostate cancer.

Natural relief for joint pain

Old wives’ tales are usually dismissed as being nonsense, but if you really care about your health they are well worth paying attention to as they are based on experience and ‘case studies’ that may be anecdotal but have at least been tried on actual human bodies – usually several thousand of them over a long period of time. I have mentioned the health benefits of Manuka honey before, and an old folk remedy for joint pain combines honey with cider vinegar to good effect. I teased you with that mention of the Bible, well cider vinegar gets a mention for being a healing agent and having antiseptic properties and has been used for many things including dealing with high blood pressure, lowering cholesterol and reducing stress. However, one of it’s most impressive qualities lies in it being able to tackle joint disease.

How does it do it? Because vinegar is full of natural enzymes that can help dissolve uric acid, and it is that acid which breaks down the calcium deposits in your joints. It is also believed that cider vinegar builds up the minerals needed for healthy bone structure. In other words, it acts as a natural anti-inflammatory.

Commercial vinegars are produced to give you a fine, clear liquid which is produced by boiling, and unfortunately that also kills all the enzymes and removes vital nutrients. However, like honey, it is better when from a powerful natural source such as Manuka – which itself has anti-inflammatory properties – so cider vinegar is most effective when it is unpasteurised and for that you need to find a specialist supplier. One enterprising company has combined the two ingredients for maximum effectiveness – and to make the vinegar palatable it must be said! A tablespoon of the combination in water on a daily basis will have your joints thanking you, and personally I combine it with a splash of ginger cordial concentrate and make it with hot water. It really does taste good, and if you want to know more then visit this website if you want to order up some ease in your joints: www.greenbayharvest.co.uk

The 5 Cs’ that stop you sleeping

Everyone experiences occasional bouts of sleep disturbance, though if it is prolonged it can really impact your health. I have come across an excellent natural way to help you sleep, but I thought it might help you know the five main reasons why we can’t sleep. Knowing by itself doesn’t help, but identifying the problem is the first place to start. They are:

1. Change
2. Conflict
3. Criticisms
4. Concerns
5. Crises

Mostly during the day we manage to deal with them, or put them out of our minds, but at night they come back with a vengeance. Unfortunately they are almost automatic, your mind returns to them in order to solve the ‘problem’ so just telling yourself not to think about them doesn’t do the trick.

There are a couple of suggestions that I have tried, that might help you. First do not beat yourself up about not sleeping – it only makes it worse. Next, from that list of 5, what is the main thing that you focus on as being the root cause for you? If you can identify it then spend ten minutes or so before bed in just writing out everything in your head about that particular topic. Don’t make it neat, don’t make it orderly – just dump it all out on the page, thoughts, feelings, anger, pain, sadness. Whatever is in there, get it out. When you have finished, take the paper and put it in the bin. Say to yourself, that’s done with, anything on there can wait until tomorrow. Repeat this every night and you will find the list getting shorter, and you have made a commitment to yourself that it doesn’t matter until tomorrow.

Stage two, is to prepare yourself for bed by pausing for a few minutes and visualizing your day and all the good things in it that you are grateful for. Allow at least two hours after eating before going to bed, and don’t have any coffee or tea during that time either.

Finally, I have just come across a new item from the Bach Flower company called Night Rescue (they make Rescue Remedy) and it is a different combination of flower essences that I have found very effective in stopping the brain racing away. Five drops on your tongue before going to bed is recommended, and it is available from health shops, and Boots the Chemist. Worth a try.

Statins – Saint or sinner?

Many of you will have heard of Patrick Holford, the UK’s leading nutrition expert, and I have known him for many years. Indeed I edited his Optimum Nutrition magazine for a while and always find what he has to say of interest.

The topic of statins has come up a lot recently, particularly when I have been giving talks on natural health, and there seems to be a lot of confusion. This is not surprising because every year there is always a ‘new’ wonder thing that will help us stay health without much willpower on our part, but will bring fairly large profits to the people manufacturing it.

Cynical? Maybe, but when you have written about health for as long as I have you see the cycle of celebration, doubt, debunking and then quietly disappearing for many so called ‘miracle’ cures.

New health guidelines issued recently say all adults aged 40 to 75 should be assessed for risks, including smoking, weight and blood pressure and those with at least a 20 per cent increased chance of a heart attack over the next 10 years should be offered treatment, usually statins. Patrick Holford takes a different view and completely disagrees with the routine prescribing of these drugs. I think what he has to say is important so I am quoting him directly here, and leaving you to make up your own mind.

“Statins work by blocking the production of cholesterol, which is a perfectly normal substance, and in the process, stops the body producing Co-Q10, a vital heart nutrient, causing harmful side effects. This was confirmed in research published last month in the journal Nature. As a consequence, statins are far from harmless.

The notion that cholesterol is linked with heart disease goes back over fifty years, along with the idea of bringing cholesterol levels down with a low fat diet to protect the heart. But both of these ideas have been strongly challenged. For example, plenty of studies show that only 50% of people who develop heart problems have high cholesterol, while a study in the BMJ in 2001 found no link between changing fat in the diet and heart disease.

The best known side-effect of statins involves muscles problems. The probable reason for this is that they stop the production of Co-Q10 which is found in all cells (especially those of the heart muscle) and is vital to energy production. In one study of 14 healthy people, 10 developed heart rhythm abnormalities when given statins. This, say some researchers, could explain the muscle weakness and also the memory loss some people experience.

Some practitioners recommend that anyone taking statins should also supplement with Co-Q10 and a warning on statin packets is now mandatory in Canada, saying that CoQ10 reduction ‘could lead to impaired cardiac function’.

In fact the closer you look, the more questionable the benefits become. You might assume that taking prophylactic statins would mean that you would live longer overall. But that isn’t what the studies show. The total number of heart attacks drops slightly but then the risk of dying from other things goes up slightly, so overall life expectancy stays the same.

How can you avoid statins? By doing everything you can to keep your heart healthy. You do that by the well- known – but little enough practiced – regime of eating well with plenty of fruit, vegetables and wholegrains in your everyday diet. Make sure you also include foods that are high in heart-protective Vitamin E, such as beans, olive oil and eggs and reduce the amount of sugary foods, refined carbohydrates and keep your stress levels as low as you can.

Instead of an expensive drug, try lowering your cholesterol levels and heart disease risk by raising your ‘good’ HDL cholesterol and lowering ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol. A simple, inexpensive way to do that is take a supplement of niacin (vitamin B3), and to further help prevent cardiovascular disease it is suggested that you include a CoQ10 supplement of around 90mg a day. The COQ10 will also help those who are already on statin drugs and wish to stay on them.

If you would like to know more about Patrick Holford’s work, his new book ‘Food is Better Medicine Than Drugs’ would be a good place to start. You can read about it here: Food Is Better Medicine Than Drugs: Your Prescription for Drug-free Health

St John’s Wort – Does it work?

Get ready – this is the rant! As someone who has been writing about health for 20 years, I thought I had become anaesthetised to the ‘false information’ syndrome that seems to accompany most natural medicines. Linus Pauling is a fine example. He was one of the first scientists to work in the fields of quantum chemistry, molecular biology and orthomolecular medicine, was awarded two Nobel Prizes in different fields which you would have thought was enough qualification for anyone. However, his research into the benefits of vitamin C on health were systematically rubbished for years, and now a natural supplement that has been proven to help thousands cope with depression is getting similarly clobbered.

In the best Parliamentary tradition, I have to declare an ‘interest’ in the subject as I have been subject to depression since childhood and have tried virtually every form of treatment, both chemical and natural, over the years. St John’s Wort works for many people – but not for everyone, so I am never surprised to read research that shows it hasn’t been effective within certain parameters.

What I am surprised, and horrified, to discover is that the latest round of ‘St John’ bashing has come from a group of medical men who concluded “that the St.John’s Wort herb is useless in treating ADHD in children”.

That it is true I don’t doubt, because what they didn’t disclose at the time was that all the children used in the study were given inactive forms of the herb, where the active ingredients had been oxidized and rendered useless. Even the Journal of American Medicine admitted that:

“The product used in this trial was tested for hypericin and hyperforin content at the end of the trial and contained only 0.13% hypericin and 0.14% hyperforin.”

That constitutes a sub-clinical dose, barely containing any usable St. John’s Wort at all. It is in fact barely one-tenth of one percent of the active chemical constituents in the herb, and any decent supplement typically contain up to five percent hyperforin, or thirty-five times the amount of active ingredient used in this trial. JAMA felt obliged to point out:

“Hyperforin is a very unstable constituent that quickly oxidizes and then becomes inactive, which is likely what happened to the product used in this clinical trial.”

In other words, they admitted that it was an inactive, ineffective, form that had been used.

Even more worrying is the fact that there were only 54 children used in the results of the trial, with 27 receiving a placebo and 27 receiving St. John’s Wort. This is a very small sample size to justify any declaration that it doesn’t work, especially given the fact that it has been safely and effectively used by tens of millions of people around the world in just the last decade or so.

Incredibly, more than 40 percent of the children used in the study had previously also used psychiatric medications, and we already know that such drugs actually cause behavioural disorders, shown by the fact that so many children commit violent acts against themselves and others after taking psychiatric medications.

This trial was set up to fail on so many levels; for example, six children who displayed a large response to the placebo were supposed to have been dropped from the study to isolate the herb’s effects from placebo effects. However, they were ‘accidentally’ randomized and their results put into the final conclusion, which had the effect of distorting the final results in favour of placebo responders, and reducing the numbers who responded positively to the St John’sWort.

Another example of the study’s bias is that young boys are far more susceptible to the kinds of behaviours that are labelled as “ADHD,” compared to young girls, and yet in this study, the placebo group consisted of only about 50% boys while the herb treatment group consisted of nearly 75% boys. In other words, the placebo group was predisposed to a positive outcome simply due to its composition of girls vs. boys, while the herb treatment group was predisposed to a less-than-favourable response.

To say nothing of the sheer cynicism of this research, and trying not to boil over at them using young children to test something for a serious condition that they absolutely had guaranteed in advance would not work, they then sent numerous press releases out that warned parents not to use the herb. Some of the headlines included:

St. John’s Wort Doesn’t Work for ADHD Washington Post

St. John’s wort no better than placebo for ADHD, Bastyr study finds Seattle Times St. John’s wort doesn’t help ADHD, study finds Reuters That would certainly put most parents off, but it is not really so surprising when you know that one of the study’s authors, Dr. Joseph Biederman, secretly took $1.6 million from drug companies while conducting psychotropic drug experiments on children, and is currently on the payroll of several drug pharmacies selling ADHD medications – a fact he did not disclose when publishing the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. So he was not likely to want to find that St John’s Wort, or any other natural alternatives, had any effect on treating a condition cheaply and without recourse to drugs. The whole point of the study of course was to make natural medicines look bad. I had thought after Linus Pauling’s hard battle to get his views accredited that it might have got a bit easier – but clearly the agenda is still a commercial, rather than a medical one.

In case you were wondering, St. John’s Wort has been clinically proven to be even more effective than antidepressant drugs for treating mild to moderate depression. That is a much better track record than all the SSRI drugs ever invented, whether it works for ADHD I don’t know, but I would want to see much better research before it is so cavalierly dismissed.

8 ways to prevent heartburn

Heartburn can be mildly unpleasant to really distressing, and although most people experience it occasionally it is when it is more frequent that you need to take action. If you are always carrying a packet of Rennies in your pocket, or some other over- the-counter medicine, then it is time start tackling the probable cause. Symptoms of heartburn include:

- Chest pain, especially while lying down at night
- Sour taste in the mouth
- Coughing, wheezing, hoarseness
- Aggravation of asthma
- Sore throat
- Regurgitation of food or liquid

If you suffer from it frequently – twice a week or more – then first visit your doctor to rule out any other issues, such as angina, which has similar symptoms. What you may be suffering from is gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. This condition occurs in people whose lower oesophageal sphincter doesn’t close properly, and that means that the acid from your stomach is able to flow back into the oesophagus, which can irritate its delicate lining, and that is what causes the pain.

The condition can also be triggered, or made worse, by a number of factors, perhaps something in your diet, stress, smoking, some medications and pregnancy can all trigger or worsen symptoms.

An alternative approach is to take some responsibility for the condition yourself and try the following approaches:

1 Keep a food and beverage journal. It can help you track and avoid triggers.

2 Eat small, frequent meals, not one huge one

3 Wear loose clothing and maintain a healthy weight to prevent stomach constriction and help reduce GERD

4 Avoiding lying down after eating, a gentle stroll or doing the washing up is a much better idea

5 Practice relaxation techniques such as breathing exercises or meditation

6 Sip chamomile tea as it can help soothe inflamed tissue in the oesophagus – adding some honey could improve the taste and give you extra immune support

7 If you usually sleep on your back, or on your right, try switching to sleeping on your left side. This may help move acid away from the entrance of the oesophagus and be enough to prevent it backing up

8 Experiment with DGL (deglycyrrhizinated liquorice), this is a supplement proven to be effective against GERD – but not if you have high blood pressure as liquorice can raise it

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