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Round-Up of Global News In Health and Complementary MedicineNews Beginning Wk 02 Oct 2000
Pesticides Now Implicated In Onset Of Food PoisoningNew research suggests that pesticides could be poisoning our fruit and vegetables. A team of researchers based in Canada has discovered that when food is unwashed pesticides may be responsible for allowing bacteria such as salmonella, listeria and E. coli 0157 to flourish and therefore cause food poisoning. The work was carried out at the University of Manitoba, under the leadership of Dr Greg Blank. It was found that in the presence of the pesticides and fungicides sprayed on fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables bacteria survived extremely well and could multiply in number by as much as 1000%. The result is heightened fears concerning the passage of food-borne diseases and increasing advice emphasising the need to carefully wash and indeed scrub foods which have not be grown organically. The Independent 5 October 2000
Sweet Talk Away The Superbug With HoneyHoney has been enjoyed for centuries as a sweetener and food in its own right. However, the latest research has shown that there is more to honey than meets the taste buds. Indeed, it has now been found to be highly effective in killing the superbug which has been plaguing many of our hospitals, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. In the UK, MRSA is fully or partly responsible for the deaths of over 20,000 patients each year, and furthermore it is resistant to most antibiotics. It is a bacterial infection which has costs in terms of life and finance – millions are spent by the NHS trying to combat it. Who then would have thought that honey would be so effective against many of the hospital infections? Well a team at the University of Wales, under the leadership of Dr Rose Cooper, has shown this to be the case. However, Dr Cooper offers some careful advice. She emphasises that mere supermarket honey is not suitable – it has not been irradiated plus the pasteurisation process has meant it has been exposed to very high temperatures. Daily Express 5 October 2000
Garlic Doesn’t Just Protect Against VampiresThe latest research has indicated that eating raw or cooked garlic may offer protection against stomach and colon cancer. A team at the University of North Carolina gathered sets of results from in excess of 300 scientific papers and compiled a listing of risk factors for cancer. This study revealed an extremely close link between garlic consumption and a significant reduction in the risk of contracting certain cancers. Those who consume fresh garlic reduce their risk of stomach cancer by 50% and their risk of colon cancer by over 60%. However, not all forms of garlic are equally effective. Use of garlic supplements showed poorer responses – many of the normal beneficial factors in fresh garlic are destroyed by processing. This includes anti-bacterial substances which may counter the bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, which is implicated in the development of stomach ulcers and cancers. The Times 4 October 2000
Further Pat On The Back For Cod Liver OilRemember when you were younger and your mother insisted you had a teaspoon of cod liver oil each day. Well maybe you didn’t have to partake or would prefer not to remember. If you did manage to swallow the oily stuff you’re in for good news. It is now official cod liver oil is even more beneficial than we previously thought. At least three recent studies emphasise this fact. In the first, it was found that heart attack victims were up to 20% less likely to have a further attack if they consumed a dose of cod liver oil each day. A second piece of research sufferers of schizophrenia experienced a significant reduction in their symptoms after being given the oil. Finally, a team at the University of Cardiff proved that cod liver oil is highly effective in treating the joint symptoms of arthritis. It seems to achieve this by inhibiting those factors which destroy cartilage. But don’t worry if you have nightmares about being spoon-fed the fish oil there is a way around this. Eat more oily fish – mackerel, salmon, kippers, pilchards. All are rich in essential oils and really should be eaten three times per week at least for good effect. Daily Mail 2 October 2000
Difficulty In Conceiving linked To Passive SmokingIf ever there was evidence of the effects of smoking, and in this case passive smoking, on our health, then new research from the University of Bristol is more than sufficient proof. A team of researchers has studied the effect of passive smoking on the likelihood of conceiving a baby. Their research involved over 8,000 couples and they found that following exposure to someone else’s cigarette smoke a women was significantly less likely to conceive in the following year. In fact, for a non-smoking woman the chances of conception failure within this time period were increased by a factor of 14%. This effect was not related to age, education or weight. The best advice? Stay away from smoke-filled bars and pubs if you want to become pregnant. And make sure your man doesn’t smoke as well. It has long been known that smoking is harmful to male fertility. The Daily Telegraph 29 September 2000
Beat The Blues With A JogIf you want to beat the blues of depression best put on your exercise shoes. That is according to the latest news. In fact, researchers have found that regular exercise might be more effective than medication in the treatment of serious depression. They suggest that three brisk half hour sessions per week is effective in both treating and preventing the symptoms of depression. The report from the Duke University in North Carolina also found that extra activity was effective in preventing any future relapses. These groundbreaking findings suggest patients will actually cope far better with depression when actually they feel much in more control of the therapy they receive. Somewhat astonishingly a group of patients who combined drugs with exercise showed results that were not as good as for those who took exercise alone. Head of the Duke research team, the psychologist Dr James Blumenthal commented on the results, "We had assumed that exercise and medication together would have an additive effect, but this turned out not to be the case. We found there was an inverse relationship between exercise and the risk of relapsing - the more one exercised, the less likely one would see their depressive symptoms return." The Times Friday 22 September 2000
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