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WDDTY e-News Service - 19 June 2003

Thu, 19 Jun 2003 15:28:35 +0100

 

 

WHAT DOCTORS DON’T TELL YOU - E-NEWS BROADCAST No.40 - 19 June 03

 

Please feel free to email this broadcast to any friends you feel would

appreciate receiving it.

 

 

 

VITAMINS: So they are good for you after all, doctors admit. . .

 

We've had our march (and more of that later), so now it's down to lobbying and

clever Parliamentary tactics to stop, or at least slow, the ratification of the

Food Supplements Directive by both Houses of Parliament.

 

We've heard that many more directives that will kill off any last remaining

outposts of nutritional and alternative therapy are now in the EU pipeline. The

legislation may have been inspired by the pharmaceutical industry, but it's also

had the tacit approval of the doctors.

 

As the British Medical Journal put it recently: " Doctors have little faith in

the use of multi-vitamin or mineral supplements by healthy adults " (although the

reason why adults are healthy could be because they are taking the vitamins,

perhaps).

 

But now the BMJ admits it may have to eat its words, even if it won't touch the

vitamins. A year-long study in two primary care clinics in the United States

has found that those who took supplements had fewer infections and took fewer

sick leaves than those on a placebo. The effect was most marked in diabetics,

although everyone who took the vitamins reported having better health.

 

(Source: Annals of Internal Medicine, 2003; 138: 365-7).

 

.. . .in fact, let's make them compulsory

 

And as the legislation reaches its final stages to kill off nutritional

medicine, almost as an executioner would eye up the prisoner in the condemned

cell, other doctors are suddenly coming forward and suggesting that some

supplementation should be made COMPULSORY.

 

Doctors in Italy are concerned about a Europe-wide deficiency in people's iodine

stores. Deficiencies have been found in many countries in Europe, including

Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland and Spain. People in

the UK, and in Eastern European countries, have adequate stores overall.

 

Iodine deficiency can result in mental defects, goiter, reproductive problems,

childhood mortality, and hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.

 

Doctors at the ICCIDD (International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency

Disorders) would like to see the World Health Organization and UNICEF press an

iodine supplementation programme through the European Union and, if necessary,

make it compulsory.

 

The EU hasn't been lobbied like that in ages.

 

(Source: The Lancet, 2003; 361: 1226).

 

 

 

LASER EYE SURGERY: A clearer view emerges

 

Early estimates that suggested laser eye surgery resulted in complications in

just a few percent of cases look like being wildly conservative.

 

A specialist eye centre in London has found that 56 per cent of those who

underwent LASIK surgery had suffered loss of contrast sensitivity (the inability

to distinguish objects in poor light). Their findings tally with findings in

other countries; in Germany, for instance, tests found that 75 per cent of LASIK

patients had such poor contrast sensitivity that they failed basic night vision

standards. This means they were not allowed to drive at night.

 

A symposium at Moorfield's Eye Hospital in London heard that 30 per cent of

patients who underwent photorefractive keratectomy and half who were treated

with the LASIK method lost contrast sensitivity within two years and one year

respectively.

 

The loss of night vision appears to be permanent, and cannot be corrected either

with glasses or contact lenses.

 

LASIK also weakens the cornea in 40 per cent of cases and, in some cases, the

cornea resumes its original curvature, and myopia returns.

 

It's about time laser eye surgery came with a full, and honest, health warning.

 

(The Lancet, 2003; 361: 1225-6).

 

 

EAT YOUR FISH: It's especially good for you if you are a woman, and diabetic

 

Diabetics are particularly prone to heart problems. But a new study has found

that regularly eating fish can reduce that risk by up to 64 per cent,

particularly if you're a woman. (To be fair, the study involved only women, so

there a good chance that the benefits would be seen in men, too, had they been

part of the study).

 

The Nurses' Health Study analysed data on 5103 women who had type 2 diabetes.

The risk of developing heart disease was reduced by 30 per cent in those who had

fish one to three times a month (compared with those who had fish less than once

a week), by 40 per cent among those who had fish once a week, and by 64 per cent

for women who had fish five or more times a week.

 

(Source: The Lancet, 2003; 361: 1193).

 

 

 

CANCER: One nasty side effect of treatment is. . .cancer

 

Despite its prevalence, cancer is a mysterious disease. The cause of some

cancers is still not established, and treatments that involve a more holistic

approach sometimes have as much chance of success as the conventional model.

 

In fact, the current cancer therapies that deal only with the immediate

condition have been found wanting in a new study.

 

Hodgkin's disease is one of the successes of conventional cancer treatment.

Intensive radiotherapy and chemotherapy have resulted in a cure rate of up to 85

per cent.

 

But researchers have found women successfully treated for Hodgkin's are 136

times more likely to go on to develop breast cancer. Secondary cancers is a

serious long-term side effect of treatment, say the researchers rather

bizarrely.

 

(Source: Lancet Oncology, 2003; 4: 207-14).

 

 

 

CANCER & THE PILL: At least something's getting clearer

 

Doctors have zoned in on human papillomavirus (HPV) infection as the most likely

cause of cervical cancer.

 

But researchers have found that the chance of cancer from infection is

dramatically magnified if the woman is also taking the oral contraceptive pill.

The risks increase the longer the infected woman takes the pill; the critical

time seems to be anything over five years.

 

The lifestyles of 12,531 women with cervical cancer were analysed and,

interestingly, the other usual suspects - such as smoking, numbers of sexual

partners, and barrier contraceptives - made no difference to the figures. Just

as interesting, cervical screening failed to reduce the numbers.

 

(Source: The Lancet, 2003; 361: 1159-67).

 

 

 

DON'T GROW OLD: Or don't take the drugs

 

The major market for the drugs industry is the population aged over 65 years. A

recent survey found that 90 per cent of people over 65 took at least one

prescription drug, while more than 40 per cent were taking at least five

different medications. Alarmingly, 12 per cent were taken 10 dugs a week.

 

Not surprisingly, serious adverse reactions are commonplace; sadly, as a recent

study discovered, nearly a quarter are preventable.

 

Researchers looked at the records of 27,617 Medicare scheme members in the

United States and tracked their history. They discovered that 1,523 were

treated as an outpatient with an adverse reaction; of these, 11 were fatal, 136

life threatening, 431 serious and 945 'significant'. But of those, 5 of the

fatalities, 72 life-threatening reactions, 167 serious and 177 of the

significant reactions were all considered preventable.

 

Extrapolated across the United States, this suggests there are 1.9m adverse

reactions to a drug every year, and there are 180,000 life-threatening or fatal

reactions. Of the fatalities, over half are considered preventable.

 

Reactions can be reduced by more careful prescribing of drugs, and a closer

monitoring of the patient once the course has started, say researchers.

 

(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2003; 289; 1107-1116).

 

 

 

THE SUN SHONE, THE BAND PLAYED: And 3,000 of you marched

 

Yes, we were being optimistic. We wanted 12,000 of you on the streets of London

to join our march against the EU directives, but the 3,000 of you who did turn

up made their feelings known.

 

And it's surprising how long a procession of 3,000 or so can be. It stretched

the best part of Piccadilly, and was well in excess of half-a-mile in length.

 

Led by a seven-piece jazz band, the marchers - who also included pop star Billie

Piper - made their way from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square where they heard

rallying speeches from Conservative MP John Redwood, Euro MP Daniel Hannan, and

Lynne McTaggart, editor of What Doctors.

 

So what next? We distributed 5,000 cards on the day, asking protestors to write

to their local MP, and our special proclamation, which calls for the rejection

of the directives and a warning that we will not abide by the laws if they are

introduced, was signed by thousands.

 

Thousands more need to sign it - and do write to your MP if you haven't already

done so.

 

We are planning a number of guerilla-like moves that will ensure that everyone

who wants to continue taking high-dose vitamins and other supplements will still

be able to.

 

For more information, please go to the Health Freedom Movement website at

http://www.healthfreedommovement.com

 

 

READERS' CORNER

 

The march: We've had a lot of nice comments back from people who attended the

march, and to thank us for the efforts we've put in. " Thank you. Whatever we

achieve, whatever we don't achieve, you are brilliant to have organized today "

was one typical response. Thank you everyone, and thank you for attending, and

for standing up and being counted. As that wonderful saying has it: " If you

don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything " .

 

Seroxat: Our story last week about the antidepressant drew a response from one

woman at a health centre. She recalls a case where a woman who had just given

birth was prescribed the drug to treat her post-natal depression. She soon

became suicidal, and her liver became toxic, and her skin turned a yellow

colour. Oddly, we don't hear any moves from the EU to ban the drug. Must be an

oversight.

 

 

Listen to Lynne

 

On the radio: Hear Lynne McTaggart on Passion the new DAB Digital Radio Station

focusing on your health and your environment -

http://www.wddty.co.uk/passion_main.asp

 

On demand: Select and listen to any of Lynne's archived broadcasts on Passion,

there's a new one each week - http://www.wddty.co.uk/passion_archive.asp

 

 

View missed/lost e-News broadcasts: View our e-News broadcast archives, follow

this link - http://www.wddty.co.uk/archive.asp

 

 

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