Tag: inflammation

• Videos

  Rip Esselstyn’s Plant Strong podcast discusses the making of “Plant Strong Legacy”.

  Dr. Liz George, who helped a small dairy town in Pennsylvania, transition to a plant-strong lifestyle, shares her story. 12 years later, the impact on this community has endured.

  In the video, How Foods Affect Hormones, Neal Barnard tells the story of Katherine Lawrence who was an Air Force officer working as an aerospace engineer in Iraq. In 2003, she was one of the first group of people in Iraq, building air bases.

  Cheese was one of her favourite foods, so when she returned from Iraq she devoured large quantities of cheese and cheese dishes.

  As a result she gained a substantial amount of weight and started getting pain in her abdomen that become much worse over time. A doctor performed a laparoscopy – the body is examined through a scope inserted into an incision below the belly button. This resulted in a diagnosis of endometriosis.

  According to the WHO, "there is no known way to prevent endometriosis. There is no cure, but its symptoms can be treated with medicines".

  Her doctor arranged for a hysterectomy, a life-changing operation preventing her from having children. While she was waiting for her operation she started a strict whole-food, plant-based diet with no added oils (important) to manage her pain which was becoming unbearable. When she had the operation 6 weeks later, her endometriosis had disappeared. Her doctor refused to believe that the diet caused the change, preferring to believe in a miracle despite evidence in peer-reviewed medical journals that an excess of estrogens can result in endometriosis.

  Neal also tells the story of remarkable story of Dr. Anthony (Tony) Sattilaro who in 1978 at the age of 48, was diagnosed with cancerous growths in his skull, right shoulder, prostate, backbone, sternum and genitals. At the time, he was the president of Methodist Hospital and was told that he had about one year to live. Through a chance meeting he cured himself of this incurable cancer within a year by eating a macrobiotic diet and adopting their lifestyle.

  After 10 years Tony decided he was cured and decided he could revert back to his old habits. Read about the conseqeuences - sometimes you only have one chance.

  See Dr Caldwell Esselstyn's video and angiogram to see how a severely constricted artery can be repaired - on a whole-food, plant-based diet with no added oils.

  A Fireside Chat is a discussion with Dr. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. Dr. Esselstyn has also produced the video Heart to Healthy Heart.

  Read more ⇒

  7 October 2023

• Our Immune System

  There is much advice on the internet on how to boost the immune system.

  What does this mean?

  Read more⇨

  3 June 2020

• Impact of Gluten-free Diets

  There is a substantial difference between a standard western diet and a gluten-free diet. If a gluten-free diet is no warranted, a gluten-free diet may have unintended health consequences that are not beneficial as well as creating an additional inconvenience.

  Consumption of complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides) and dietary fibre can be significantly less.

  Read more ⇨

  1 January 2020

• Wheat and Inflammation

  William Davis is largely responsible for the low-wheat, low-gluten diets with the publication of his book Wheat Belly. In this book he states that we live in a ‘whole grain world’ and that wheat is responsible for the majority of our modern illnesses including wheat.

  Find out what the role of wheat is in inflammation.

  Read more ⇨

  26 December 2019

• Rheumatoid Arthritis and Fibrin

  Chronic inflammation is associated with many diseases and conditions. There are many inflammatory markers that can be measured. Researchers are continually looking to add to the list of makers to use to identifying diseases. C-Reactive Protein is one common but non-specific maker. Fibrinogen is another that some researchers have added to their inflammatory marker list.

  Read more ➱

  20 September 2018

• Michael Mosley and Coconut Oil

  Dr Michael Mosely (Trust Me, I’m a Doctor) instigated a trial to determine the impact of coconut oil on cardio-vascular health.

  In a University of Cambridge study, 94 participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups. They were asked to consume an additional 50g of fat – either coconut oil, butter or olive oil, daily for a period of four weeks.

  The main measure was the change in total cholesterol.

  Based on this study, Michael Mosley now thinks that coconut oil may be good for you. The study showed nothing to suggest that this could be true.

  Read more ➱

  1 April 2018

• Misconceptions of Denis Stewart

  Denis Stewart is a herbalist from the Hunter Valley (NSW, Australia). He is an associate professor at University of Newcastle since 2002. He founded the Southern Cross Herbal School in the late 1970s.

  He presents a weekly radio show on 2NUR FM, a Newcastle-based radio station, on health topics.

  I am concerned about some of his material. I posted Denis a (real) letter and sent an email without receiving a response. I also sent an email to 2NUR FM listing some concerns.

  Below is a list of some of the concerns that have not been addressed.

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  14 November 2017

• Eating Red Meat is Not Natural

  Galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose is popularly known as alpha-gal. It is a carbohydrate found in the meat of mammals – exceptions being primates (which includes humans) and other African and Asian apes.

  Since the early 2000s, severe allergic reaction has been observed several hours after the consumption of red meat. Several deaths have occurred. This is associated with IgE antibodies to alpha-gal as a result of the patients been bitten by ticks. This has occurred in eastern Australia, south-east USA and Sweden.

  Read more ➱

  11 September 2017

• Worried about whether you should be eating eggs?

  The Australian Heart Foundation has the following comment regarding eggs.

  Worried about whether you should be eating eggs? They're really nutritious and it's fine to have them regularly as part of a healthy diet. Eggs contain good quality protein, 11 vitamins and minerals, and are a source of healthy fats including omega-3 fats. One egg has about 5 g of fat – but most of this is unsaturated, a fat that you need to be healthy. An egg contains only about 1.5 g of saturated fat and no trans fat. As part of a healthy balanced diet you can eat up to 6 eggs each week without increasing your risk of heart disease.

  However, according to the Physicians' Health Study, doctors consuming 7 or more eggs per week had a 31% increase in all-cause mortality compared with those consuming less than 1 egg per week. With diabetic physicians, the association was much higher with the increase in mortality doubled.

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  21 February 2016

• 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