Friday 9 March 2012

Is the Time Right for a Tax On Sugar ?

In the UK, where I live, all the debate relating to health issues is now on the Health and Social Care Bill 2011, which is currently before Parliament. The Bill, as I understand it, only relates to how the NHS (National Health Service) is administered. While trying to improve accountability and achieve savings in the NHS’s budget are laudable objectives, the main reasons why people are getting sick in the first instance are not being debated at all. 

One of those reasons clearly is the amount of sugar in the diet. Various studies carried out now provide sufficient evidence to establish a link between sugar intake and health problems such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, arthritis, asthma and heart disease. There is also strong evidence that sugar supresses the immune system and disturbs the mineral balance in the body. The author, Nancy Appleton, in her book titled “Lick The Sugar Habit“ and on her website, lists no less than 146 reasons why sugar is detrimental to health. She has relied upon publications by various eminent people and institutions in the field of health in reaching her conclusions.

It is added sugars, as opposed to naturally occurring ones that need to be targeted as a health hazard. In recent years sugar, or sugar substitutes, have been added to most processed foods and to all soft drinks making it almost impossible to avoid when shopping. Dr Lustig of the University of California in the daily battle to avoid sugar in all its different forms advises:”learn to be a food label expert”. Look for ingredient descriptions on packaging that contain the words like: “sugar, corn syrup, honey, dextrose, fructose, sucrose or aspartame”.  

Governments across the world over the past 40 years have been very successful in discouraging people from smoking by doing the following: taxing the price of a packet of cigarettes to the hilt; banning the advertising of tobacco products; putting a health warning on packaging; and making it illegal to smoke in certain places to which the general public have access. Most health authorities have now acknowledged that these combined measures have significantly reduced the number of smoking related health problems and deaths.

Would anything similar to those tactics used for tobacco products work for sugar?  Although sugar in all its forms is more difficult to define, there is no reason why a tax on it could not be passed on to the consumer at the point of purchase, thereby contributing positively to the health of the nation whist increasing tax revenues at the same time. In addition to being listed in the ingredients list, a clear warning could be put on packaging as to the danger of man-made added sugars to conform to the most recent findings by medical experts on the subject.

If a tax on sugar is proposed, you can expect strong resistance to it from sugar, food and soft drinks companies .The pharmaceuticals are unlikely to remain in the neutral corner either as a healthier nation is hardly in their best interests.  It could be unwise to underestimate the combined lobbying influence that lot have in the corridors of power !  

Friday 2 March 2012

All Prescribed Drugs Have Side Effects

Whenever a synthetic substance is introduced into the body there is a reaction. Prescribed drugs are synthetic substances –that is they are man- made and not naturally occurring. Sometimes the body’s reaction to such a substance is severe at the outset; at other times the initial reaction may be mild but the cumulative effect over time is significant. Most prescribed drugs fall into the latter category.

 A side effect is an unintended occurrence that results from taking a drug. The pharmaceutical companies who manufacture these drugs either deliberately downplay the side effects, or carefully manage the information pertaining to their concoctions so as not to alarm the public. They only usually get found out in their manipulation of the information when a significant number of patients make a complaint about a specific drug.

In 2004, Merck were forced to take their arthritis drug, Vioxx, from the market when it became obvious that a significant number of patients were likely to develop cardiovascular problems if they continued taking the drug. In 2011, GlaxoSmithKline took their Avandia drug for diabetes from the market when it was found to significantly increase the risk of heart attack. Both of these drugs at the time of their removal were on general release having passed all clinical trials.

Some drugs do not get enough complaints to merit their removal from the market but nonetheless have serious side effects. Here is a list of the most serious of these as they have an impact on the body: affecting the blood causing dizziness, high blood pressure or heart attack; affecting the brain causing amnesia, speech disorder or stroke; affecting the bowels causing abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhea; affecting vital organs involving hepatitis, kidney or liver failure; affecting the lungs causing  colds, flu or sore throat; affecting the mental state causing aggression, depression or confusion;  affecting the senses causing tingling sensations, ringing in the ears or vision problems; affecting the skin causing itching, skin rash or sweating.

The possible consequences of taking prescrption drugs are such that every opportunity should be taken to avoid them if at all possible. Doctors should only use them in treating a patient for a complaint as a last resort instead of as a first option.

Friday 24 February 2012

Beware of White Processed Foods

Not many natural foods are white except for potatoes, onions and coconuts. No processed foods would be white except for the processes they deliberately go through in order to make them so. Derivative products such as white bread, cakes, crackers, pastries and donuts derive their colour from the white flour they are made from. White rice gets its colour from a process applied in the making of the end product.

White flour is made from wheat that has several pesticides applied to it whist growing in the field. A wheat grain kernel is composed of three layers: the bran, the germ and the endosperm layer. During the milling process, the bran is first removed which contains all the fibre; the germ is then removed which contains most of the nutrients and fats; only the core endosperm layer is kept which is mostly starch.

The starchy flour is then given a chlorine gas bath in order to bleach it and make it white. Chlorine gas is a flour bleaching and oxidising agent that is a powerful irritant that is dangerous to inhale. The chlorine gas reacts with the flour to oxidise it and make it white. But it also converts a dough additive called xanthine into a toxic substance called alloxan. The latter is a toxin which destroys pancreatic islet cells resulting in diabetes. Alloxan has been used in lab tests to deliberately induce diabetes in rats. Trace elements of alloxan are left in the end product.

After all that, the manufacturer then introduces synthetic vitamins and minerals to enrich the product which are inferior to the natural ones removed in the first instance; and the end product it left without any fibre at all.

White rice goes through a similar process to white flour: in which the rice that comes off the paddy fields goes through a process known as husking to remove the outer and inner husks; the grain is then bleached and polished to make it white; lots of essential nutrients are lost in the process; and then inferior synthetic ones are added back. The end product is left severely deficient in nutrients and containing no fibre at all.

People purchasing white rice, or products made from white flour, need to be educated on how these products are made. Most purchasers associate the colour white with cleanliness and wholeness, but as we have seen above nothing could be further from the truth. 

Consumers could do the following in order to combat the health hazards outlined above: boycott all derivative products made from white flour; in the case of bread, only purchase wholemeal bread; avoid  purchasing white rice; and on visits to restaurants where rice is a constituent part of the meal, insist on brown rice being served.   

Sunday 19 February 2012

Why Whole Food Concentrates & Supplements Are Necessary

The British government are the only government that I am aware of to have done a study over time on the depletion of the nutrient value of food caused by modern farming methods. The study that I am referring to was started in the 1930's and concluded in the 1990's. The years 1940 and 1992 are of particular importance in the study. A selection of vegetables, fruits and meats from those two particular years were compared in the raw and, where appropriate, cooked states to determine the loss of critical minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc etc.

A very brief summary of the findings of the losses over this 52 year period is as follows: vegetables lost on average 31% of their mineral content; fruits lost on average 23%; and meats lost on average 30%. There is no reason to suppose this loss of essential nutrients hasn't continued from 1992 to the present time. The reasons for the losses are modern methods involving intensive farming, the mechanisation of farms, fertilizer policy and the use of chemicals and sprays on crops.

That particular study just related to the state of the land that the selection of vegetables, fruits and meats came from. Whilst the condition of the land from which products are sourced is important, the other variables to consider with food in order to get the best nutritional value from it is: how fresh is it; how is stored; and how is it cooked ? Vital nutrients can be lost with cabbage, for instance, simply by overcooking it. These variables are such that there is no guarantee that you are getting all the nutrients that you need on a daily basis from what you consume.

If we cannot derive all the vitamins, minerals and fibre we need daily from the food we eat, what can we do to compensate? The answer to that question is take whole food concentrates and supplements to make up for the deficiency in the diet. 

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Acidic Foods Cause Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes & Arthritis

Modern processed foods cause a build-up of acids in the body (a condition called acidosis). If the body becomes too acidic, then these acids attack and destroy essential minerals and nutrients the body needs to stay healthy. There is lots of evidence to support the fact that an acidic body can lead to all sorts of health problems such as obesity, type 2 diabetes arthritis and gout. It is easy to have an acidic body, although there are degrees of acidity, in today's world due to the influence of modern processed, junk and convenience foods.

It is therefore crucial that a person in order to stay healthy pays attention, especially as they age, to everything consumed on a daily basis. It is better that the body has an alkaline bias than an acidic one. Maintaining the proper acid/ alkaline balance is therefore crucial.to remaining healthy.

Foods and drinks that cause and acidic state are red meat, poultry, coffee, carbonated soft drinks, alcohol, some grains, any processed food with sugar added, white flour, white rice, cheese and seafood. There is also evidence to support the contention that mental stress can further aggravate the effects of an acidic body. Foods and drinks that encourage an alkaline state are fruits, green vegetables, nuts, seeds, sugar-free yogurt, water, coconut milk, green & herbal tea.

It is amazing what a person can do over time to influence the acid/alkaline balance in the body by switching from a food or drink that causes an acid build -up to one that has an alkalising effect. If a person were to switch from drinking coffee to water, for instance, that single change alone would have a significant impact on the acid/alkaline balance in the body. 

Monday 13 February 2012

The Reason for This Blog

I started this blog to discuss and promote alternatives to pharmaceutical drugs, which get too readily prescribed for health problems by many doctors in developed countries across the globe. In some cases, from once a person is diagnosed as having a health problem, the alternatives to prescribed drugs are not even considered in the first instance. When you consider that most drugs only treat the symptoms, and not the underlying cause of the problem for which they are prescribed, aren't doctors doing their patients a disservice by not considering the alternatives at the outset? Nearly all prescribed drugs have side effects, and in some cases these are so nasty that they completely negate any benefits the patient might have received.

The current system of treating health problems with drugs in counties like the UK and USA has evolved over a long period of time. Most people in the developed world now expect their doctor to supply a pill that provides instant relief rather than consider what lies at the root cause of the problem, such as poor nutrition. Lots of health problems arise from a nutritional deficiency in the first instance. In a world full of junk or convenience food, it is easy not to be getting the nutrients that you require daily in order to live a healthy life.

However, some countries' health authorities, such as the UK for instance, have tried to turn the tide away from junk food by saying that they recommend that everybody eats at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables per day as a preventative measure against health problems. At least that is a start in the right direction !

This blog welcomes any serious contribution anybody has to make on the related subjects of diet, exercise, nutrition and health.