So, what do I do? Go out in the sun or stay indoors? Put on sunscreen or keep my clothes on? Work on my tan or stay pale and interesting? More importantly, who is telling the truth? Conventional doctors or the alternative therapists? Is there an answer or do I simply ‘plump’ for what suits my circumstances?

I think I’ve tried all of the above at one time or another and I still wonder if there is a better way. As summer approaches (I hope) some more definitive answer seems to be a more positive route forward. As I see it the problem revolves around three main points – sun exposure time, sunscreens and vitamin D.

Lets start with vitamin D. There are lots of articles around now that explain how vitamin D or rather lack of vitamin D is a factor in many diseases of the 21st century. From all of these, both conventional and alternative views, the consensus seems to be that we all need more vitamin D to be healthy and most of us don’t have enough in our bodies. Whether this is because of our diets or where we live doesn’t seem to matter if we can increase our vitamin D somehow.

The most natural and efficient way of achieving this is to get some sunshine on our bodies every day. Easier said than done, especially in the part of the world where I live that seems to have more sunless days that sunny. When the sun shines we rush out and spend too long sunbathing so all we get is red and sore. Not ideal!

The sensible solution is to restrict our unprotected time in the sun to about twenty minutes or so then cover up or apply sunscreen. You don’t want to burn. That’s where the cancer can begin. And that brings me neatly to the problem with sunscreens. There isn’t such a majority view here. Many conventional doctors say sunscreens are absolutely essential to prevent some cancers, while others and alternative advocates tell us that sunscreens or their components cause cancer.

It isn’t always realistic to put clothes and a hat on when you’re in the sun, although this is the simplest answer to over-exposure. Search out a suitable product that is effective and apply it as directed by the manufacturer. Sunscreens of all types, even the swim-resistant type, wash off to reduce or negate any protection.

The first thing to look for in sunscreens is protection from UVA rays – these are the cancer-causing ones. The UVB rays need to be screened out too, but are less problematic. Then avoid the chemicals used as filtering agents that can be toxic and those that can penetrate your skin and get into the blood. One combination that is classed as a safe, natural sunscreen contains a mix of titanium dioxide and zinc.

The conclusion? Get into the sun for 15 to 20 minutes a day if possible. Then cover up or use a safe sunscreen. Maximise your vitamin D level this way and you will have the best chance of staying healthy and avoiding disease. If you can’t do this, try a vitamin D supplement.

Neighbourhood shops and businesses, which find themselves under extreme financial pressure following the latest onslaught from the supermarkets, tend to put up posters proclaiming, “Use it or lose it”. It an unfortunate truth in today’s economic climate that it only takes a relatively small number of people to take their custom away for a formerly thriving concern to fall into the red and be forced to close their doors forever. I’ve been very close to that situation myself, so I can attest to the personal devastation that follows.

I mention this not to start an argument on supermarket power, but to illustrate a parallel in health. It has become fashionable to point out the same principle of ‘use it or lose it’ when referring to your brain. Hand-held computers are sold to the older generation (me) with special programs that, when used properly, are claimed to keep your brain active and hence stave off approaching dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

They are by no means the only way to keep an active brain, but they certainly have something to offer. I choose to write articles on health instead, and I’ll let you know when bewilderment approaches.

The same is true with all of your body. Nourish it, exercise it, and use it as it was intended or has evolved to do, in short, look after it while you can.

I’ve come to this line of thought because I’ve just listened to a radio program that involved a lady who had lost an arm due to cancer. Now, that has nothing to do with the above since events were not under her control. But, it made me think of how we take it for granted that everything works, until something goes wrong. It’s only when there is a problem that we suddenly find it difficult or impossible to do the simplest things.

I only have to remind myself of some of the health problems I’ve experienced. For instance, a bad back. I’ve had a few of these over the years and, according to the statistics, I’m not alone. Apart from the pain, it’s the lack of mobility that struck me. Once, on my way to recovery, I thought I would cross a busy road and started off to find a car bearing down on me. Try as I might, I simply couldn’t make me legs work fast enough to avoid a confrontation. My back hurt and so did my ego as the driver slowed, tooted his horn and mouthed some expletives at me.

Then, there was the bad leg incident, when I could hardly crawl around the house. It made me realise how much we take simple things for granted. If I had been single, I would probably have starved to death. (Don’t tell my wife, will you?) I felt old.

It reminded me, also, of a patient of mine who had had a lung removed due to cancer. He staged a remarkable recovery and was soon back to his chirpy best. One winter’s day he hove into view for his prescription and a chat, as was his wont. He wasn’t the complaining type, but on this occasion he took issue with the keen and bitter wind. He said the wind felt as if it was blowing straight through his chest. The space left where his lung had been felt empty and cold despite the layers of clothing.

Getting back to the lady whose missing arm began this train of thought, she recounted an incident on a transatlantic flight where she was forced to ask a stewardess to cut up her in-flight meal. You don’t appreciate two arms until you’ve only got one and suddenly even feeding yourself becomes a problem.

My patient came to realise what his missing lung really did. I found how a simple back strain and painful leg had such a significant impact on normality.

Your body works well when everything is in place, fuelled and used properly. Clearly, it isn’t always possible to keep all the parts in pristine condition until you die at a very old age. However, with judicious consumption of nutrients, regular exercise, effective relaxation and sleep you can keep it functioning at its best.

Look after that body and mind of yours. It’s the only one you’ll get.

Contact James at http://www.healthexplored.co.uk , subscribe to the no-cost newsletter,OR read the blog and leave your comments and questions.

Wishing you the best of health.

Now that spring is well and truly here, it’s a time when advertisers try to cash in on the latest diet plan. Regular readers will know that I have a jaundiced view of fad diets mainly because they don’t work in the long run. Yes, you’ll lose some pounds. But when the initial enthusiasm wears thin long before your body does, the weight will come creeping back.

Losing weight only really becomes sustainable if you work on changing your lifestyle. More exercise, smaller portions, more fresh fruit and vegetables, less processed and fast food … it’s a bit like a broken record. You’ve heard it all before, but it’s true.

However, as some of us have found out, following this plan doesn’t always produce the weight loss you hoped for. You’ve followed the advice to the letter, and still your weight remains anchored well above your target level. What’s going on?

Before you give up in disgust and go back to your old ways, here’s one possibility as to why your excess pounds are reluctant to leave you. It’s your attitude and state of mind!

How you think and feel has a lot to do with how your food is digested. What you put in your mouth is only part of the problem. The next part is to do with the efficiency of your digestion.

Ideally, you’ll chew slowly to break up the mouthful and mix it with the first digestive enzyme in saliva. Then there will be enough acid in your stomach to carry on the process of digestion; correct amounts of bile and digestive enzymes throughout the small intestine and so on. The end result is all the nutrient content of the food being absorbed into your body to nourish you, repair and maintain all the organs and cells, keep you fit and healthy and at your ‘fighting weight’ without any excess fat.

What’s your mind got to do with that process? Well, research suggests that your digestion will improve if you have a positive attitude about what you are eating.

Today’s lifestyles tend to work around the 24/7 way of existing. You’re on the go all the time, rushing to cope with the pressures of work and family, living with the worries of finance and health, rushed snacks, and catching a meal without stopping to consider what you are eating.

Life is all pressures and stress, and that is a major factor in the efficiency of your digestion. Stress is all about the fight or flight response. The stress hormones change the emphasis of your bodily functions so you can fight or run away. Your heart, brain and muscles get more blood to make you ready for this and, at the same time, the blood supply to your stomach and intestine is reduced. So, digestion becomes less efficient.

Your body is not built to digest food and run away at the same time. It does one or the other, not both. This is where modern life doesn’t help. A great many people live with almost constant stress. At the last estimate it was well over half of the population.

Give two people the same diet, one is stressed and anxious, the other calm and relaxed and the impact on their health and weight is very different. Stressed means poorer health and more weight.

If you want to get rid of some pounds and feel better, it isn’t simply a matter of cutting the fats, sugars and carbohydrates and getting some exercise. You have got to address your stressors and worries too. Find a way to relax at meal times. Discover how to calm down and enjoy your food. Improve your attitude and state of mind. Then your chances of losing that weight will greatly improve.

Find out what stress does to your body and how alternative therapies can help control that stress by visiting http://www.healthexplored.com , sign up for the newsletter, get hold of my STRESS e-books and much more.

Wishing you the best of health.

I’ve been visiting my children and attending a wedding hence the reasons for my not adding an article last week. However, I’ve now sorted out my e-mails and am almost back to normal – whatever that is!

There’s a particular TV program here in the UK with a regular health spot. I like watching this program – it’s casual and friendly presenters make it a 30 minute easy view. Usually, the medical people who do the health spot appear open to viewing alternative therapies in a good light. They are not exactly 100% in the altenative camp, but having an open mind is a first step.

But, the other day the health spot took a turn for the worse. On a previous occasion they covered the benefits of vitamin D and sunlight. The point was gently made that we need some sunlight before slapping on the sunscreen to have the best chance of improving vitamin D levels. This time they spent a great deal of time in the old total-block groove so beloved of mainstream doctors.

The five minute slot could have been written a few years ago by the archetype blinkered GP. It pointed out the dangers of sunbeds (absolutely correct) but then told us to stay out of the sun or use high-factor sunscreens. If I’d had any hair, I would be pulling it out.

Having calmed down a little, I’ve come to the view that TV simply cannot bear to approach a complex problem in depth. I understand that people are busy and don’t necesarily want to think too deeply about anything that can’t be covered in a five-minute slot. But, is that a valid reason for over-simplifying health topics to a one line message presented by charming ladies?

If you really must simplify everything to a one-point message, stick to that and do it one step at a time. I don’t think any health item is simple. Everything that goes on in your body and mind is a vastly complicated interaction of many things, most of which we don’t really understand fully. The only way to rationalise it is to highlight current knowledge and point out that the story is not complete.

Take the vitamin-D and sunlight problem. So far as I can tell, the ideal situation to maximise vitamin D is to get some direct sunlight on your face and body every day for about 15 minutes or so, then shield your body thereafter using clothes, shade or sunscreens. Just to complicate matters, there is some concern that certain ingredients in sunscreens could be harmful. And some scientists say that regular sun is better protection from skin cancers that occasional exposure.

I say, ‘break it down even further, then join it all up again at the end’. To me, it would be better to point out the dangers of sunbeds to fair skin and stop at that. Then to recommend ways of improving your vitamin D level giving the apparent benefits of this particular vitamin on health and stop there. And tell us the dangers of prolonged sun exposure giving us the results of trials, to complete that part of the picture.

In other words, have three relatively simple views of sunshine, vitamin D and health that form a more realsitic view rather than one very simple but flawed message that glosses over the whole truth by majoring on only one aspect.

The glossy magazine, simplistic presentaion may have a useful message to help others get a point but in the long run it must be better to tell the whole truth. It may take longer to get your point across but people won’t be confused by different advice on the same subject.

There! I’ve got that off my chest for now. Let me know what you think about the way TV deals with health matters or your thoughts on vitamin D and sunshine.

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Wishing you the best of health.

You can’t have failed to notice the press reports on how vitamins are the new killers. As usual, the journalists don’t bother to check up on the truth behind a story and certainly don’t let the facts get in the way of a blockbuster headline.

Since publication of the ‘antioxidants may shorten your life’ fiasco, many reasonable commentators in the health field have taken the time to point up the many shortcomings of the so-called science behind the original report.

Briefly, the ’scientists’ carefully chose a small proportion of available research papers to ‘prove’ their point, thus confirming the lies,damned lies and statistics saying. By ignoring any vaguely positive findings they created figures that justify the headline.

I suppose they feel happy, but few can support them.

However, my point is not simply to pour scorn on these researchers, but also to encourage you to continue to take your multivitamin supplements in the way they should. The bottom line is that our current lifestyle and diet means we are almost bound to be a little short in the basic vitamin and mineral levels. A multi-supplement should go some way in topping-up and moving towards the optimum for the very best of health.

As part of this system, you really must take these supplements daily, even before you feel ill or develop any condition. For this is something positive you can take from the published review that caused all the fuss.

Most of the reports reviewed showed that people only started taking their vitamins after they had been diagnosed with a disease. Frequently this was some form of cancer. Unfortunately, with the best will in the world, it may well be too late to start a supplement, especially a standard mix of vitamins and minerals.

Once an illness has developed to the point of giving you symptoms, a supplement such as this may help your health a little, but in that situation, very high doses may be necessary. And in this circumstance, very little research has been done, except for high dose vitamin-C injections as part of cancer treatment.

So, what can you take from this tirade? First of all, get yourself a reasonable supplement of vitamins and minerals – reputable manufacturer, optimum mix for your age and so on in a form that you can swallow. Then take it daily as part of your healthy diet and lifestyle. With any luck you should live as well as you can, for as long as you can. It’s not a guaranteed system, but at least you will have done your very best.

Take the pluses from such negative reporting as the media choose to give. Be realistic and ask for clarity before changing your lifestyle and ignoring these essential substances. They’re not called vitamins for nothing!

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I am returning to the cholesterol topic today. Not that I am obsessed you understand. It’s just that I’ve come across two recent articles that more or less support my views that a lifetime of taking statin drugs is not necesarily the only or best way to proceed. Certainly, I agree that having high cholesterol is not a situation to be ignored, and as such, something has to be done.

The first problem is that there are no symptoms for cholsterol. This means that once you are diagnosed as having high cholesterol, usually following a routine check-up or heart-related incident, you are hooked. The mainstream medical opinion is to start you off on statins with the eventual aim to get your cholesterol down to some mythical low figure, as if that is the end of the matter. Low cholesterol could well be the end of you instead.

However, thousands of people who begin statin treatment stop taking their drugs over the first year of treatment. Sometimes it is just because they don’t feel any different. But most of the time it is because of one or more of the damaging side effects of the stains. Commonly, these include muscle pain and weakness, but there are many more that affect patients and tempt them to look for some other ways to lower cholesterol that don’t include a lifetime’s medication.

From a purely dietary point of view, grapefruit has been found to lower cholesterol. All kinds of fresh grapefriut seem to lower cholesterol, but red grapefriut appears to have the most beneficial actions. ‘Fresh red grapefruit contains higher quantities of bioacive compounds and has significantly higheer antioxidant potential than blond grapefruit,’ the researchers concluded.

That seems to be a painless way of putting a lid on your cholesterol level, but the only fly in this particular ointment is that grapefruit may interfere with the way some medications work. So, if you already take drugs for other conditions, you must find out if you could be affected. It has to do with affecting your liver enzymes and how they break down drugs. Be warned!

If you are not taking other drugs, there should be little problem with adding red grapefruit to your diet.

The second article is more to do with adding two things to your life to counteract the worst side effects of statin therapy. I’ve mentioned muscle pain and weakness as a major drawback of statin therapy. This effect follows the way statins work – they have a toxic action of the mitochondria in cells. These powerhouses are responsible for your energy supply, and statins interfere with their normal working thus creating the nasty side effect.

If you assume that you want to continue taking your statin, you can apparently minimise the side effect by taking green tea. This contains a substance called ‘deoxysappanone’. This seems to cut down the free radicals, has a beneficial effect on motochondria and helps boost energy production.

And, while you’re at it, since statins cut the supply of co-enzyme Q10 – a necessary chemical for optimum heart and circulation – supplementing with this substance will also help reduce the effects of statin therapy. Co-enzyme Q10 occurs naturally in foods such as fish and meat. And you can get supplement versions at most health shops.

There you have it. Ditch the statins and get a range of alternative ways of controlling your cholesterol and bringing levels back to normal. Or stick with the statins and try to control the side effects by a few simple changes to your diet and supplementation routine.

Find of all about cholesterol and controlling it by visiting my site at http://www.healthexplored.co.uk and clicking onto the sales page to find the big green heart. order this tell-all book and find all the ways to lower cholesterol and why you shouldn’t getcholesterol too low for comfort. You get access to the instant download digital version, or drop me aline at info@healthexplored.co.uk to order the print version.

Wishing you the very best of health.

It has become routine to suffer from one of the big four – high blood pressure, diabetes type-2, stomach acid, or cholesterol. People wear them like a badge of distinction, bragging at the dinner table of their diagnosis and showing their drug collection with pride. Only last week I was sharing a dinner party with four friends (and my wife) when the conversation took what has become an habitual road down health. As it turned out, each of the friends is on medication. My wife and I appear to be alone in taking only fish oil and multivitamins regularly.

Of the four drug takers, one has stomach acid problems, one has high cholesterol and two have blood pressure concerns. What they have in common is they now take drugs daily in an effort to control their symptoms. And presumeably they will continue taking them for the rest of their lives.

Knowing what I do, my friends ask my thoughts on their condition and treatment. And being an obliging chap I run through my thoughts on this kind of long-term medication – should be avoided if at all possible by changing lifestyle, diet and exercise regime, reviewing stress and sleep options.

At our age, over 50, thoughts turn to retirement and worries about pensions, and finance tends to overcome health concerns. But should they? What’s the point of working endless hours under pressure trying to ensure financial comfort if you drop dead the week after your officially retire? It isn’t always possible to do everything for yourself and family so far as finance is concerned. Children may have to look after themselves by working just as their parents did.

My point is that you shouldn’t ignore your health in the quest for what you consider is sufficient cash to have regular costly holidays and new cars once you retire. When you’ve been diagnosed with one of the popular four conditions I mentioned at the start, it may seem a simple matter to begin taking your tablets as the doctor ordered. You’ll feel you are doing something positive to address the problem, and in the case of acid-lowering drugs, you’ll probably feel much better, too.

But, for bood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol, it’s more likely you will feel little different. Your doctor will tell you how well your condition is responding to the medication.

Before you get that smug ‘I told you so’ look, just consider one thing – side effects! I read recently of a person given one of the statin drugs for cholesterol. It took only a few days before he felt as though he had the flu – weak legs, aching muscles, sore back and tending to want to sleep a lot.

Did he have the flu? Perhaps. However, the symptoms lasted for several weeks and didn’t change. Probably not the flu then. What else could it be? Is it coincidence that the symptoms and his cholesterol medication were included in the same timeframe?

Returning to his doctor resulted in calming words from the medical profession about the safety of statin drugs and advice to keep taking the tablets.

The problem is that statin drugs are known to cause such symptoms, and worse. Some people don’t develop side effects to them but a surprising number do. Symptoms range from the relatively minor ones such as the person above did – the flu-like symptoms, to potentially serious ones involving muscle breakdown, heart failure, nerve damage, and memory loss.

Did the statin cause the flu symptoms? Probably. The only way to prove it would be to stop the medication and follow the consequences. The symptoms would go away if it was the drug, and return if treatment started again.

The problem with continuing the medication as the doctor suggested is that the side effects are not always reversible if they have gone on too long. So this person is in a difficult position and he alone has to decide. Stop the drug or not? I know what I would do – stop the drug and see what happens. It’s not easy when your health is at stake and your trusted doctor is at odds with what you want to do.

Why not try to discover the truth about cholesterol and controlling it. Does it really cause heart attacks or is there another explanation? Can you control cholesterol without resorting to a lifetime’s medication? Maybe the alternative therapy scene can help, too?

It won’t necessarily take major changes to your lifestyle to achieve much more than any drug. Find out in my publication “Cholesterol – Villain or Savoiur?”. Find out more at http://www.healthexplored.co.uk , join the newsletter subscribers or buy the book (digital or hard copy).

Wishing you the very best of health.

Being told you have high cholesterol may not rank alongside getting bad news of cancer, but it is the start of justifiable worry about your heart. Publicity suggests cholesterol is the one and only risk factor, and a heart attack will surely follow – unless you get your cholesterol down! So, you embark on a lifetime of drug taking, with your doctor’s blessing. And all will be well … or so you think.

As with all health-related topics, the above scenario simply doesn’t hold for everyone. For instance, will you take your tablets for the rest of your life? The research tells us that quite a lot of people stop taking the drugs after a year or two. Then what? I haven’t seen any results on follow-ups of these people.

Is high cholesterol the villain it is portrayed? That’s the real question. It seems that half the people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol. And the majority of people with high cholesterol never suffer a heart attack. So, clearly something else is involved along with cholesterol.

Well, yes there is. C-reactive protein is recognised as a better measure of risk for heart attack. Other factors include family history, blood pressure, excessive weight, exercise, diet, and smoking. And these factors have an effect on inflammation in the heart and blood vessels, and inflammation follows damage. The result is that cholesterol is now seen as part of the way your body tries to deal with inflammation – the more inflammation the higher the cholesterol.

Even if you think taking drugs to lower cholesterol is the answer, have you considered there are side effects related to every drug and the cholesterol-lowering statins are no exception? The conventional medical professions tell us that the statins are a safe group of drugs. Yet stories abound of how the statins are the cause of some worrying side effects. Muscle pain is the usual and most common side effect.

However, over the past few years reports have emerged about memory loss caused by the statins. A US doctor was taking atorvastatin (Lipitor) and realised he had lost his memory for a few hours. His own investigation revealed the statin drug was the cause. He stopped his medication and recovered completely.

After reporting his story on the Internet, hundreds of other people confirmed the same thing had happened to them. And just last week another case was chronicled on a reputable health site. Once again, a successful, intelligent businessman found he had trouble remembering things. He got lost driving in areas he knew well and had to carry a note pad with him to jot down reminders. Dementia or Alzheimer’s disease was his first thought, but he was wrong.

Again, investigation discovered the link with atorvastatin, and he began the process of weaning himself off the drug. This involved changing his diet to include more soluble fibre in beans, peas, fruit etc; increasing his intake of omega-3 fatty acids from fish; snacking on a dail handful of nuts and introducing some flaxseeds. Added to this he increased his weekly exercise regime.

With carful management of these and other diet and lifestyle changes this person managed to get his cholesterol down without the statins. His memory is back to normal.

These stories and many others point out the potential problems with cholesterol-lowering drugs such as the statins. Why take the chance. High cholesterol is a warning that things are not as they should be. The important thing to remember is that you can get your cholesterol down by taking some judicious steps to improve your diet and exercise. Once you have incorporated them into your life, review the situation and only then consider the necessity of taking a statin.

Remember the fact that high cholesterol doesn’t necessarily mean a heart attack is coming. Normal cholesterol doesn’t mean you won’t have a heart attack, either.

Yes, try to get cholesterol back to normal by changing your habits. But if you feel better after that, why take the chance with a statin?

You can read the whole story of cholesterol, heart healt, statins and natural and alternative ways of lowering cholesterol by getting a copy of my book All About Cholesterol – villain or saviour?. Just log onto http://www.healthexplored.co.uk and follow the links to the secure order page and look for the big green heart. You’ll get your digital copy by return and discover how you can look after your cholesterol without drugs.

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It’s good to know both sides of an argument, or so I understand. Only one side can be biased and misleading. What everyone needs is balance. Unfortunately, the doctrine of balance doesn’t reach into every aspect of reporting. Twice in the past few days I’ve come across examples of bias in health reports, and it makes me angry. Reporters and program makers clearly don’t share an open mind or look for reasonable conclusions.

The first instance concerned a hospital professor who wished to test claims of super foods, probiotics and so on. Sponsored by a TV company, she trotted out the usual mainstream, conventional medical thoughts on diet that I’ve come to recognise. You know the kind of thing – balanced diet is all you need, why bother with probiotics because it doesn’t really affect health, and so on. It’s just one big yawn.

Then, while she was discussing foods that lower cholesterol, she informed us that she had high cholesterol but was taking a statin drug for it. Why, therefore, would she even consider controlling her cholesterol with diet? A tablet a day and she was fine, thank you very much.

Cue a heated one-way discussion between the TV and me. How can a highly qualified, intelligent medical person be allowed to get away with that? No mention of side effects. No concern about long-term medication. No thought of changing diet to a healthier version. No trace of wonder that avoiding the drug might be preferable. No nothing! Just a large measure of complacency.

Apart from my instant anger, I was disgusted to see that the medical profession has apparently not moved forward in the past decades. They still see treatment as a pill for each symptom. And treat each side effect with another pill. Until the patient (you) ends up taking handfuls of tablets at every meal or even in place of every meal.

I hadn’t long calmed down from that when I read an article in which a doctor had claimed one of his patients had died from taking glucosamine to help his arthritis. The piece went into some detail of this poor man’s symptoms as justification for demanding all alternative remedies be subject to the same legal requirements as drugs. It ended with two sentences from a representative of the herbal profession on the forthcoming European laws regarding supplements and remedies. So much for balance.

What got me going in this case was the lack of details on the case. For instance, was glucosamine the only thing involved? Was he also taking medicines for other conditions or perhaps painkillers for his arthritis as well? How did the doctor come to the conclusion that glucosamine was the thing that caused his death? He was sure it was the glucosamine that caused the death, but why? Had he eliminated all other possibilities?

I have no reason to protect glucosamine. Everything I’ve read about it suggests it is safe and effective. But, I’m prepared to accept that it might be involved in some unfortunate train of events that lead to the ultimate side effect. But I would like some more proof, not just some doctor’s opinion.

While we’re on it, I would like a little context, too. Tell me how many deaths are caused by this doctor’s regulated and approved drugs for arthritis. None, presumably, or we would have heard of them. Wouldn’t we?

Anti-arthritis drugs have caused many thousands of deaths worldwide and I don’t remember the media giving each death the prominence afforded this one. And there have been no claims for the removal of theses drugs from the market. Well, that’s not true. One was removed a couple of years ago because of its exceptional record of causing death. The rest remain for you if you want them.

Don’t ignore this casualty of glucosamine, if that is what it is. Lets get to the bottom of it and find out why a seemingly safe remedy proved not to be safe at all. While you’re at, lets be told the safety record for the prescribable arthritis drugs.

These instances of mainstream medicine ignoring the very basis of health and medicine are all too common in the media. People, even doctors, are entitled to their opinions. But so are the rest of us. The constant one-sided view of health as portrayed without any critical analysis leads the non-medical among us to think that there is no other view worthy of consideration. It’s down to drugs and surgery or nothing.

Its time the media reviewed their rules on balance to include health along with politics. Not that I want them to be mixed, you understand. Don’t start me on our politicians!

Health isn’t solely a conventional medical thing. Convention must be in the mix, but it certainly does not hold all the answers. It has a pretty poor record on safety of medicines. It is responsible for many deaths that might have been avoided if it had taken a wider and less singular view.

Perhaps I should retire to a cave with no TV and no newspapers!

Contact me through http://www.healthexplored.co.uk . Sign up to my fr ee newsletter and check out the reports on stomach acid, cholesterol, pain, stress, and acupuncture. I pride myself that I try to see and understand all views on health. Only then can you decide which one or combination suits your situation and beliefs.

Stay well!

I spend most of my working hours reading or writing about general health matters. Not just one specific illness or disease. For me the basics are to regain and maintain the very best of health that you can. And this means looking after all of you and addressing the whole range of problems that might befall. Prevention and treatment are at the heart of my work.

I’ve mentioned this because there are a lot of health sites that major on just one condition. And I wish them well in their quest for the best treatment for the sufferers of that particular condition.

I would rather take a more general overview of health by trying to help the section of the population that are sometimes called “the worried well” in addition to those people that are suffering from certain problems. That is to say that intelligent people with full and possibly stressed lives who may be concerned that ageing can produce a raft of health issues that might be avoidable with some judicious changes to their current lifestyle.

Or those sufferers of common conditions who wonder if their therapy could be made more effective if they employed an alternative therapy or even combined bits of several therapies to suit their particular circumstances.

The universal truth is that each of us is an individual and no single treatment option is going to suit everyone. Whatever your first choice of therapy, wherever you begin your search, the chances are it won’t suit you.

Conventional treatment with drugs and surgery tends to be the first choice in the Western world. I can attest to the benefits of antibiotics and surgery. They have kept me alive and relatively healthy, especially through my younger years. However, as time has passed, I have come to understand the flaws and holes in the conventional system. More recent years have seen the glaring problems of hospitalisation – superbugs, queues, staff fatigue, drug side effects and so on. Hence the rise of the alternatives.

So what? Many of the alternative therapies have been widely used in other parts of the world for centuries. They, too, have faults and create problems. What’s the answer?

My thoughts, for what they are worth, is that you should have an idea of just what these alternatives have to offer. Then you can make some kind of judgement of what is the best option for you – that unique individual, with your specific set of circumstances and concerns.

I believe that the best person to decide on your prevention regime or therapy is you, just as long as you have a reasonable idea of the choices available to you.

Where does that leave you?

First, you need to have an idea of what being healthy really means. Then how does that compare with you. The basics include diet, exercise, sleep, and stress. How might these be made to adjust and fit into your lifestyle? How could you add them to an already busy schedule? Is the busy schedule really necessary? What could I do to help you?

No one, least of all me, can tell you how to lead your life, and I have no intention of doing so. What I think will help is to provide you with some general information in a way that you can understand and in a form that you can access as and when you need it. Hence my posting articles here and sending you my newsletter.

And providing a series of useful booklets on subject such as STRESS, STOMACH ACID, ACUPUNCTURE, CHOLESTEROL, PAIN CONTROL and so on. They are designed to provide a clear and concise view of the condition, its cause and its possible treatment and cure using conventional and alternative therapies.

You may be surprised at just what the alternative therapies can do, given the chance. I know I was when I first started researching them.

The options are yours. Prevention, treatment and cure are out there if you know where to look and what to do. Why not take a look at my site at http://www.healthexplored.com and sign up for my newsletter? There is no obligation to buy anything. The newsletter give you a chance to check out my style and objectives at no cost to you.

It’s then up to you to take it further if you wish. Ask me health questions, make suggestions for future articles, criticise my views, … go on. Give it a try. Here’s that link again http://www.healthexplored.com .

Thanks for reading this and all the very best of health to you.