Health News

Organ donations low in Canada
Powerful testimony

Link established between diet and violence
March 21, 2005: National Post - Do murderers just eat the wrong things?  I have long believed that the wrong foods and nutrients can significantly affect behaviour, self-image, anger/temper, apprehension, handwriting, learning ability, stress handling, memory. And that is just from analysis of myself during 13 years of using and studying nutrition with the help of Nu Skin / Pharmanex, which have allowed me to get most of these effects under control most of the time. But symptoms creep back if I run out of Pharmanex "Overdrive" for example. I believe that we might find such cause behind some of the spate of senseless violence in homes, schools and churches in North America recently.

Neurology publishes link between Vitamin D, MS and arthritis
2004;62:60-65: Neurology reveals the results of recent studies. On 13 January 2004, Nature reports "A diet rich in vitamin D may reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Two studies involving more than 200,000 American women have highlighted the vitamin's benefits. Women who consumed the recommended daily amount of vitamin D or more were 30% less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis1, and 40% less likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS)2, than those on lower doses.
Note that the recommended daily intake of Vitamin D to protect agaist MS is estimated at 800 IU - an amount that cannot be obtained from food alone. Supplementation is the only way, particularly for people in northern lattitudes short on sunlight.

The battle if the diets continues unabated. The Atkins diet seems to be conning more and more people, promoted by Gary Taubes' article in the New York Times Magazine on July 7, 2002. Nutrition Action spoke to this in their November 2002 issue under the title Big Fat Lies.
Posted January 24, 2004

A major Canadian insurer, Manulife, has taken the lead in recognizing that those with healthy lifestyles should not pay as much for their insurance as those who ignore all aspects of controlling their own health. Visit Manulife's Healthstyles page for details. This goes far further in its vision than merely penalizing smokers, as all insurers do.
Posted April 2002.

Canada is lowest in industrialized world for organ transplants. In Ontario, the Trillium Gift of Life Network is doing something about this sorry state.

Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of blindness in children worldwide. Every year, the lack of vitamin A blinds about 350,000 children, and kills about 2 million. There are about 250 million children in the world who have some degree of vitamin A deficiency. If these figures concern you, you can help by sending a donation to CBMI - Christian Blind Mission International, e-mail cbmi@cbmi-can.org, PO Box 800, Stouffville, ON., L4A 7Z9. $30 will buy enough vitamin A to save 50 children from being plunged into darkness.
Posted Feb 3, 2002

Top lung cancer specialist Dr. Bill Evans prays for his patients.

Cancer industry scorns prevention - Dr Samuel Epstein says money "drives" cancer societies.
Government to scrap restrictions on herbal supplements.

New drug for Parkinsons disease
Clinical trials are complete on "Requip," the potential successor to L-Dopa. A trial member, interviewed on CBC Radio "As it happens" on Aug 26, 97, reported a complete absence of the side effect associated with L-Dopa which puts sufferers into constant motion: the shakes. September 1997 was mentioned as the expected date for Requip to be available.

Diet causes lung cancer more than smoke, study says
See report in the Ottawa Citizen, Aug7,97, pA1

Old drug, Probucol, may provide new cure
From the Ottawa Citizen, Aug 7,97, pA3. Doctors at the Montreal Heart Institute have discovered a treatment for heart patients that could save $millions in health care costs. Probucol, which was pulled from the market in 1995, and used to be sold for lowering cholesterol, eliminates the need for repeat angioplasties.
[snip]
...Probucol works because in addition to lowering cholesterol, it is an extremely powerful antioxidant, which helps prevent scarring of the artery walls from the angioplasty. These scars made repeat angioplasties necessary.

Dangers of Hydro Line emmissions A letter to the Ottawa Citizen on July 21, 1997 p18 from James Butler of HomeSafe inc, Santa Clara, California praised the pioneering work of the Bridlewood Residents Hydro Line Committee, BRHLC, and tiggered an article on P3 of the July 25 1997 Kanata Kourier-Standard. The significance of melatonin is being discussed more and more.

Linda McCartney The "Ottawa Citizen" reported on July 22, page A10, that Linda has recovered sufficiently from cancer to plan a major expansion of her vegetarian food business MacVege Ltd. They have already created bacon that does not come form a pig and plan to launch meat-free versions of roast ham, chicken and beef, and expand sales into continental Europe.

July 97 - Ottawa Citizen, followed by great letter pA10 July 21 issue Power lines block cancer fighter
High voltage power lines may be linked to breast cancer, an American endecrinologist told delegates at the World Conference on Breast Cancer in Kingston, On. Barry Wilson, a scientist at Pacific Northwest Laboratory in Richland, Washington, explained that electro-magnetic fields can block the protective effect of melatonin, a super antioxidant homone that helps fight breast cancer, and is produced naturally in the brain.

Grey Hair cure?
A British scientist may be on the trail of a cure for grey hair.

Circumcising baby boys 'criminal assault' says leading ethicist>

Earthworms
In an article Saturday June 28, 97, the Ottawa Citizen profiled the lowly earthworm (Section B). Entitled "How Earthworms saved civilization," it details the work of scientists from Charles Darwin to the current world expert, Dr. John Reynolds of Lindsay, Ontario, who have shown that worms have played a major role in building up mineral content in the soil, without which populations cannot thrive.

Once again, proof of the importance of minerals in our diet.

Home health care company. New trend?
I just discovered Nepean Home and Health Care, a local company which provides in-home health-related assistance, with the object of reducing the need for hospitalization. Call Sharon Lancaster or Louis Texaro, both qualified health professionals, on (613) 761-1801. The charge is on a per-hour rate.

Buy "The Doctors' Guide to Bible Healing Foods",
by Brian Edmonds, $1.19, published by Globe Mini Mags, at Loblaws check-out counters. It's packed with modern nutritional information which came ... ... ... from the Bible! We've finally got back to basics, and realizing how nations survived before drugs.

Read the latest Health and Science News.

Bood donors have reduced risk of heart attack
Finnish researchers have shown a marked reduction in heart attack for blood donors.

Burned by the Sunbed Tanning salons riskier than the real thing.
The Imperial Cancer Research Fund recently issued a factsheet saying that there is now growing evidence that over-exposure to artificial sun may cause melanoma. Sunbeds give out 2 to 3 times more UVA than natural sunlight. And UVA doesn't produce the thickening of the outer layer of skin that helps protect us from sunburn. Nu Skin has long warned against tanning salons. If you want a tan, why not fake it? the factsheet says. [Nu Skin's Sunright Tan works a treat].

New magazine: Challenge...Life with Cancer
The fall issue was distributed with the Ottawa Citizen in October 1997. It is published by The Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre Foundation. Tel no is 613-247-6884; e-mail is foundation_ott@octrf.on.ca If the first two issues are anything to go by, this is going to be an important source of information to cancer sufferers, and (I hope) people who don't want to become cancer sufferers, though so far there has only been one article touching on diet.

Fuel emmission regulations to be tightened
The Canadian government intends to tighten the laws on car exhaust emmission to reduce illnesses caused by air pollution (Ottawa Citizen front page March 3,97).

[This is one of the key features of Champion Petrochemicals fuel additive. Anyone can do their part to reduce emmissions, even with elderly cars. It may become a necessity if the laws really get tough.]

Scientists find genetic link to obesity
The London Daily Telegraph reports (March 97) that scientists have found a gene that mey help explain why some people can eat a rich diet and stay slim while others become fat. Their discovery marks the latest of a series of advances in understanding the basis of obesity, the most common nutritional disorder in the western world. The new gene appears to be responsible for burning excess calories in the diet as surplus body heat, before the calories can be stored as fat.


It's your health - take control of it!