Archives

• Men’s Shed Morpeth – 28 February 2014

  The transcript of a talk given at Morpeth Men's Shed on 28 February 2014.

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  27 February 2014

• Diet Does Not Affect Breast Cancer?

  The objective of The Women’s Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Randomized Trial was to:

  To assess whether a major increase in vegetable, fruit, and fiber intake and a decrease in dietary fat intake reduces the risk of recurrent and new primary breast cancer and all-cause mortality among women with previously treated early stage breast cancer.

  The conclusion of this “controlled trial of dietary change in 3088 women previously treated for early stage breast cancer” was:

  Among survivors of early stage breast cancer, adoption of a diet that was very high in vegetables, fruit, and fiber and low in fat did not reduce additional breast cancer events or mortality during a 7.3-year follow-up period.

  This made headlines all over the world. This is the proof people were waiting for – that changes to your diet has no impact on breast cancer. Medical practitioners, dieticians and the public now have the evidence that there is no need to change your diet.

  It appears that the authors are deliberately being deceptive.

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  23 January 2014

• What are the Health Benefits of Coconut Oil?

  Coconut Oil is passionately advocated as a wonderful product that has a multitude of health benefits.  An example of the potential benefits is shown below.

  The health benefits of coconut oil include hair care, skin care, stress relief, cholesterol level maintenance, weight loss, boosted immune system, proper digestion and regulated metabolism. It also provides relief from kidney problems, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV, and cancer, while helping to improve dental quality and bone strength. These benefits of oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, and their respective properties, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-fungal, antibacterial and soothing qualities.

  It sounds too good to be true.

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  10 January 2014

• What is a Heart Attack?

  Below is an overview of the mechanism that leads to cardiac myocardial infarctions (or heart attack). It took many decades for a basic understanding of this process.

  The consensus at the beginning of the 20th century was that heart disease is a normal part of aging. In 1913, a 28 year old pathologist, Nikolay Anitschkow (or Anichkov), working at the Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, showed that by feeding rabbits cholesterol dissolved in sunflower oil induced vascular lesions closely resembling those of human atherosclerosis, both grossly and microscopically. Controls fed only the sunflower oil showed no lesions.

  Another difficulty in understanding heart disease is that there are a number of factors involved. Researchers, practitioners and the public become attached to one aspect. Some argue passionately regarding one aspect of heart disease and become blind to other factors.

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  6 January 2014

• An Apple a Day

  A study published in the British Medical Journal stated:

  If everyone over the age of 50 ate an apple a day, 8,500 deaths from heart attacks and strokes could be avoided every year in the UK.

  Apples give a similar decrease in the risk of heart disease as statins but do not carry any of the potential side effects.

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  29 December 2013

• Rainbow Salad – easy, colourful and tasty

  The salad is delicious and easy to prepare.  Add or change the recipe to suit your ingredients and taste.

  You can buy a Vegetable Spiraliser to slice vegetables into long thin lengths or use a fine grater.

  The dressing is tasty and can be used on many different dishes.

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  25 November 2013

• Heart of the Matter – ABC Catalyst

  The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Catalyst program series produced a 2 part program collectively titled Heart of the Matter. The programs are titled Dietary Villains and Cholesterol Drug War. These programs were aired in October 2013.

  The presenter and co-producer is Dr Marianne Demasi. The medical experts interviewed include Dr Michael Eades, Dr Jonny Bowden and Dr Stephen Sinatra. Science and medical writer Gary Taubes was also interviewed.

  The views presented are based on popular books stating that we has been following the expert medical advice for the past 20 years (or 30, 40 or 50 years) and we are unhealthy than ever. They claim that there is a conspiracy to hide the truth concerning health, fat and cholesterol. These popular views are based on myths, fabrications and a distortion of the facts.

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  3 November 2013

• Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes

  For a person with Type II diabetes, the problem is that sugar (glucose) is not able to pass from the bloodstream into the cells. Since the glucose cannot get into the cells, it ends up in the blood stream and removed from the body in urine.

  It seems obvious that if you have too much sugar in your blood then you need to limit the amount of sugar and starch in your diet. Starches are complex carbohydrates that consists of many glucose molecules.

  The diet of people that live in countries that have low incidence of diabetes do not have a diet remotely like the standard diabetic diet. They eat a diet that is high in complex carbohydrates.

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  30 October 2013

• But we are all individuals

  This is a frequent response to the suggestion that dietary and lifestyle changes will be beneficial to a person’s well being.

  “But we our all individuals.  Just because it may be good for some people, it does not mean it will be good for me.  I will continue to do whatever I feel is right.”

  Yes, we are all individuals with different beliefs, habits, preferences and experiences. However, when it comes to nutrition, we are pretty much the same - allergies being one significant difference. The real question is - "Why is there a need to be special and different?"

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  6 October 2013

• To alkalise your body – what does it mean?

  A number of books and websites tells us we need to alkalise our bodies for optimal health. What does this mean? Is alkaline water a scam or does it really have health benefits?

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  2 October 2013