Health related information and news from around the world.

The “Polypill” was an idea proposed by British researchers Wald and Law in 2003. It was to be an all in one drag that combines six drags that act to lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, aspirin to act as an anti inflammatory, and folic acid to lower homocysteine levels. The researchers claimed that if everyone over the age of 55 took this pill daily, rates of cardiovascular disease could be reduced by more than 80 percent. The Polypill generated a lot of publicity, but it has not been proven to be safe or effective. The biggest problems with it are cost, side effects (especially if the individual already takes other medication), and the fact that one dose cannot possibly suit everyone.

More recently, researcher Oscar Franco and colleagues have come up with the concept of the “Polymeal”. This is a combination of foods that they claim can reduce cardiovascular disease by more than 75 percent if consumed daily. The Polymeal is a much safer alternative with no side effects. The foods it comprises are almonds, dark chocolate, fish, wine, fruits, vegetables and garlic.

The benefits of the components of the Polymeal are as follows:

Ingredient         % Risk reduction for cardiovascular disease

Wine 150mL/day     32%

Garlic 2.7g/day     25%

Fruit & vegetables 400g/day     21 %

Dark chocolate 100 g/day     21 %

Fish 114g four times a week     14%

Almonds 68g/day     12.5%

These results were obtained from data from the Framingham heart study and the Framingham offspring study.

A modified version of the Polypill, containing four drags (two blood pressure drags, a statin and aspirin) is to be trialed on patients with cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease in Australia this year. The study will be funded by the National Health and Medicine Research Council (NHMRC). It may prove effective for some, but it is a lot less expensive, safer and tastier to include the above heart protective foods in your diet regularly.

*49/53/5*

Couples who smoke have high levels of cadmium, a heavy toxic metal that can stop the utilization of zinc needed for both male and female fertility. Cadmium will not leave the body just because you or your partner stops smoking. It needs to be actively tackled by supplementing your diet with antioxidant supplements. Even if you give up smoking the cadmium already in your body can concentrate in the placenta once you get pregnant. So it’s important to be tested for heavy toxic metals and make sure that your levels are back to normal before you try to conceive.

What if your partner smokes? Research has shown that chemicals in tobacco smoke can damage the DNA in sperm and deplete the amount of vitamin E, which works as an antioxidant, protecting the sperm. But there is a bigger potential problem resulting from your partner smoking. Dramatic findings from an Oxford Survey on Childhood Cancers, published in 1997 in the British Journal of Cancer? found that men who smoke when their partner doesn’t run a higher risk of fathering children who develop cancer. One in seven childhood cancers, including leukemia and brain tumours, could be due to the father’s smoking habits. Just 1-9 cigarettes per day increased the risk by 3 per cent, 10-20 by 31 per cent and 20 or more cigarettes by 42 per cent. The study concluded that the man risks damaging his sperm more, the more he smokes.

So alcohol and smoking clearly affect fertility for both men and women. If you are really serious about getting pregnant they therefore have to be eliminated for at least four months to give you the best possible chance. I cannot say ‘a little bit won’t harm’ because it certainly can if it is at a vital stage of egg or sperm development.

How to Stop Smoking

Acupuncture can be extremely helpful to get over the withdrawal symptoms when you give up smoking, and I have seen many couples who have used hypnotherapy successfully.

You should not use nicotine patches, nicotine gum or any other anti-smoking aids of this kind once you have started the Four-Month Preconception Plan.

Case History

Ann was 30 when she came to see me in summer 1997 after suffering three miscarriages in quick succession. Her mother had had difficulties as well -she had lost one baby at four months old, and had had three miscarriages. She had told Ann that as a result she had been ‘pumped full of hormones’ while she was expecting her, to stop her miscarrying. Ann worked long and stressful hours as a stockbroker and felt exhausted. Her partner also worked long and stressful hours and smoked 20 cigarettes a day with 5 units of alcohol each weekday and 10 each day at the weekend. Ann drank every day but less than her partner. We discussed the effects of all these factors on the risk of miscarriage. They were tested for genito-urinary infections but these were negative.

Their mineral results were very interesting. Her partner had extremely low levels of zinc and unacceptable levels of cadmium, the toxic poison present in tobacco smoke. Cadmium, like alcohol, can be teratogenic which means that it can cause abnormalities in the foetus. The autopsy on the last miscarriage had shown chromosomal abnormalities but both Ann and her partner were tested for genetic problems and both were fine. So the abnormality was not inherited from the parents but was caused by something happening to the developing cells around conception. Ann’s tests also showed that she was low in zinc and manganese.

I explained to them that their best chance of preventing another miscarriage was to stop drinking, which they did, and Ann’s partner also stopped smoking. They also made other changes, by looking at their diet and lifestyle, and waited four months until they were both back to optimum health before trying again. Ann then became pregnant and had a healthy baby boy. She wrote to me later, saying that they were convinced that the preconception plan I suggested they followed, as outlined in this book, not only helped them have the baby and avoid another miscarriage but that people had commented on how healthy and contented he is.

*43/73/5*

What are they?

A heart attack occurs when the muscle of the heart cannot get sufficient oxygen-containing blood for it to function. Angina pectoris (a tight chest pain that comes on exertion am goes) is often the earliest sign that something is wrong. In this condition there is insufficient blood getting to the heart muscles, especially on exertion, and the person complains of tightness in the chest as the heart muscle goes into cramp.

A heart attack is like a very severe bout of angina. Sometimes the loss of blood supply is sufficiently severe to kill off a part of the heart’s muscle, and less commonly the damage from a shortage of blood is so severe that it causes almost instant death.

The heart finds itself in this lethal condition as a result of a lifetime’s abuse which causes a progressive narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis) that supply the heart with oxygen. Blood clots may obstruct the arteries further.

Heart disease is now the prime killer in the western world; although in the US death rates have fallen by a quarter over the last fifteen years. Given that much of this improvement is caused by lifestyle changes it makes sense to look at heart attacks as substantially preventable. Historic evidence and evidence from populations who migrate from one country to another also strongly suggest that mankind doesn’t have to suffer from coronary artery disease and heart attacks.

There are compelling reasons for rejecting a fatalistic view that heart attacks cannot be prevented. We still have a lot to learn about heart disease, but it does seem clear that it is affected by lifestyle. We have seen that the coronary-artery death rates in the US and Australia have fallen dramatically over the last fifteen years. This improvement pre-dates the widespread use of coronary care units and coronary bypass surgery and even the widespread use of drugs for combating high blood pressure. The fall in heart disease has, however, coincided with a considerable reduction in both cigarette consumption and consumption of saturated fats. However, things are not quite as simple as this suggests, because heart-attack rates are still high in Sweden despite their wealth of medical technology and falling cigarette and fat consumption, and rates in American women are falling despite their rise in cigarette consumption.

What causes them?

No one knows exactly what ultimately causes heart attacks but several fairly clear-cut ‘risk factors’ have been established after vast and complicated studies worldwide.

• Smoking. Several studies have shown the link between smoking and heart disease. A study of particular interest looked at British doctors who stopped smoking between 34 and 55 years of age. It found that their coronary death rate fell by half over five years compared with doctors who continued to smoke. Stopping after 55 appeared to make much less difference. The degree of risk with smoking is related to the number of cigarettes smoked. Filter cigarettes are probably not protective. Cigarettes act along with the contraceptive pill to increase the risk of heart disease in young women twenty fold.

• High blood pressure. Many studies have found that reducing raised blood pressure, provided the treatment is begun in middle age, reduces mortality from strokes, heart failure and kidney failure. There is some evidence that anti-hypertensive drugs reduce mortality from heart attacks.

• High blood fats. The fats in the blood are many and take different forms. They all come originally from the digestion of dietary fat. The fractions of fats that seem to be of greatest significance in heart disease are the lipoproteins. High density lipoproteins (HDLs) appear to protect against heart disease, whereas low density lipoproteins (LDLs) seem to be harmful in this respect. The balance of these two types of lipoproteins can be altered by what we eat.

• Exercise. Studies show that those who take regular, vigorous exercise tend to have fewer heart attacks, though the evidence is not so clear-cut as is that on smoking, high blood pressure and dietary fats.

*164/72/5*

Group therapy is tailor-made to address some of the problems eating disorders cause—loneliness, isolation, hopelessness. As someone found, just seeing other patients in the room shows a patient she is not alone and bolsters her confidence that therapy will be worthwhile. Patients gain hope by meeting others who have gotten better. Hearing other patient express feelings gives her the strength to speak out for herself. If two heads are better than one, imagine having half a dozen heads all working on the same problem!

After group sessions, patients lose the attitude that “nobody understands me,” because they’ve just encountered a lot of people who do understand. Another benefit is a rise in self-esteem. Patients begin to feel useful to other people. Their experience is respected, their advice is welcome. They sense they are helping one another, and thus begin to feel more effective and worthwhile as human beings.

In group therapy, a patient sees that others who are ñ about her health and who challenge her self-destructive behavior aren’t enemies. What a discovery! Ideally, she comes to realize that friends, loved ones, and other patients can be her allies in the struggle to get better.

*87/35/5*

Jane Brennan’s family lost an entire person. Not literally, of course. But between the three of them—56- year-old Jane, her 57-year-old husband, Bob, and their 29-year-old daughter, Jennifer—they’ve taken off more than 150 pounds. They’ve done it by turning weight loss into a family affair, according to Jane.

It all started when Jane finally gave in to her daughter’s constant nagging to do something, anything, to slim down. Jane had put on about 60 pounds over the course of 17 years, going from a size 10 to a 16. And Jennifer seemed to be following in her mother’s footsteps, going from a size 8 to a size 16.

Together, mother and daughter went to Weight Watchers. As they started losing weight, Jane’s husband decided to get in on the act. Over the years, Bob’s own waistline had expanded from 38 inches to 42.

The threesome, from Broomall, Pennsylvania, were determined to take off and keep off the extra pounds. Every day, they compared notes about what they had eaten and how much. They exchanged ideas for keeping their eating habits on track—for example, munching on carrot sticks to fill up. As often as possible, they ate meals together. “No one was moaning and groaning, especially about what we had for dinner,” Jane says. “All of us had the same goal. We talked the same language.”

For Jane, who had tried to lose weight in the past, having the support of her family made all the difference. “I think there’s a definite advantage to losing weight with other people, especially those who share your eating times and rituals,” she says. “That way, you can encourage each other. You might have a bit of friendly competition, too.”

WINNING ACTION

Get your family involved. Ask everyone in your household to join you in your weight-loss efforts. When the entire family participates, meal planning becomes much easier. Plus, family members can support, encourage, and inspire one another.

*141\89\8*