Nutrition

It’s not vitamins, growth hormone, emotional cleansing, tender loving care (TLC) or even exercise. They all help, of course they do! But it’s pretty clear to doctors who know their stuff what the number one factor is: you need to keep inflammation to an absolute minimum. Inflammation is an insidious disease process that goes on […] The post Is Inflammation the Silent Killer? appeared first on Dr. Keith Scott-Mumby.

In November, 1921, a great English physician, Sir Robert McCarrison (after whom the McCarrison Society for Nutrition and Health is named), visited the USA at the invitation of the University of Pittsburgh, to deliver the annual sixth Mellon Lecture before the Society for Biological Research. The subject of his paper was “Faulty Food in Relation to Gastro-Intestinal Disorders,” and its salient points centered on the marvelous health and robustness of the Hunzas, who dwell on the northwestern border of what was then British India (now Pakistan). The sturdy, mountaineer Hunzas are a light-complexioned race of people, much fairer of skin than the natives of the northern plains of India. They claim descent from three soldiers of Alexander the Great who lost their way in one of the precipitous gorges of the Himalayas. They always refer to themselves as Hunzukuts and to their land as Hunza, but ignorant modern writers insist on calling the people Hunzas. Most of the people of Hunza are Ismaili Muslims, followers of His Highness the Aga Khan. The local language is Brushuski. Urdu and English are also understood by most of people. The Hunza valley is one of huge glaciers and towering mountains, below which are ice-fields, boulder-strewn torrents and frozen streams. The lower levels are transformed into verdant gardens in summertime. Narrow roads cling to the crumbling sides of forbidding precipices, which present sheer drops of thousands of feet, with many spots subject to dangerously recurrent bombardments of rock fragments from overhanging masses. The Hunzas live on a seven-mile line at an elevation of five or six hundred feet from the bottom of a deep cleft between two towering mountain ranges. Some of the glaciers in this section of the world are among the largest known outside the Arctic region. The average height of the mountains is 20,000 feet, with some peaks, such as Rakaposhi, which dominates the whole region, soaring as high as 25,000—a spectacle of breath-taking beauty, too steep to hold snow and usually scarfed by clouds. Because of the scarcity of food, supplies and transport, the region has been closed to the general public and special permission is required to enter it. Travellers to the region have thus been few but those who have seen the wonder of Hunza have returned with glowing tales of the charm and buoyant health of this people.

In November, 1921, a great English physician, Sir Robert McCarrison (after whom the McCarrison Society for Nutrition and Health is named), visited the USA at the invitation of the University of Pittsburgh, to deliver the annual sixth Mellon Lecture before the Society for Biological Research. The subject of his paper was “Faulty Food in Relation to Gastro-Intestinal Disorders,” and its salient points centered on the marvelous health and robustness of the Hunzas, who dwell on the northwestern border of what was then British India (now Pakistan). The sturdy, mountaineer Hunzas are a light-complexioned race of people, much fairer of skin than the natives of the northern plains of India. They claim descent from three soldiers of Alexander the Great who lost their way in one of the precipitous gorges of the Himalayas. They always refer to themselves as Hunzukuts and to their land as Hunza, but ignorant modern writers insist on calling the people Hunzas. Most of the people of Hunza are Ismaili Muslims, followers of His Highness the Aga Khan. The local language is Brushuski. Urdu and English are also understood by most of people. The Hunza valley is one of huge glaciers and towering mountains, below which are ice-fields, boulder-strewn torrents and frozen streams. The lower levels are transformed into verdant gardens in summertime. Narrow roads cling to the crumbling sides of forbidding precipices, which present sheer drops of thousands of feet, with many spots subject to dangerously recurrent bombardments of rock fragments from overhanging masses. The Hunzas live on a seven-mile line at an elevation of five or six hundred feet from the bottom of a deep cleft between two towering mountain ranges. Some of the glaciers in this section of the world are among the largest known outside the Arctic region. The average height of the mountains is 20,000 feet, with some peaks, such as Rakaposhi, which dominates the whole region, soaring as high as 25,000—a spectacle of breath-taking beauty, too steep to hold snow and usually scarfed by clouds. Because of the scarcity of food, supplies and transport, the region has been closed to the general public and special permission is required to enter it. Travellers to the region have thus been few but those who have seen the wonder of Hunza have returned with glowing tales of the charm and buoyant health of this people.

I wonder why they keep testing to see if omega-3 fatty acids are healthy for us. Can anyone enlighten me? It’s been a done deal since ever I was a budding physician. If you couldn’t wait for the “modern” science, there is always the simple demographic, that eskimos never died of heart disease or stroke. Their diet was hugely fat based, including plenty of fish sources (DHA and eicosapentanoic acid). Case closed. Well, they did another study, just to be sure! (we’ll come to the real reason in a moment). Basically, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, found those subjects with the highest levels of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) had the lowest levels of mortality [April 2, 2013 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine]. All-cause mortality fell by 27%, with most of the benefit due to a reduction in cardiovascular death. The rate of arrhythmic death, in particular, fell by nearly one-half. This translated into an average of about 2.2 extra years of life, just from this one nutritional intervention. Such cardiovascular-outcome effects are consistent with abundant evidence from laboratory and clinical studies that omega-3 intake may benefit heart rate, blood pressure, myocardial contractile function and electrical stability, and endothelial, autonomic, and hemostatic function, write the study’s authors, led by Dr Dariush Mozaffarian. Bit of a mouthful, but you get the point. Here’s what the average quack… sorry, doctor, will miss out on: docosahexaenoicacid (DHA) gave more benefit than eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA); but both together had the greatest effect of all (I could have told them that, from 40 years of clinical practice).

I wonder why they keep testing to see if omega-3 fatty acids are healthy for us. Can anyone enlighten me? It’s been a done deal since ever I was a budding physician. If you couldn’t wait for the “modern” science, there is always the simple demographic, that eskimos never died of heart disease or stroke. Their diet was hugely fat based, including plenty of fish sources (DHA and eicosapentanoic acid). Case closed. Well, they did another study, just to be sure! (we’ll come to the real reason in a moment). Basically, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, found those subjects with the highest levels of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) had the lowest levels of mortality [April 2, 2013 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine]. All-cause mortality fell by 27%, with most of the benefit due to a reduction in cardiovascular death. The rate of arrhythmic death, in particular, fell by nearly one-half. This translated into an average of about 2.2 extra years of life, just from this one nutritional intervention. Such cardiovascular-outcome effects are consistent with abundant evidence from laboratory and clinical studies that omega-3 intake may benefit heart rate, blood pressure, myocardial contractile function and electrical stability, and endothelial, autonomic, and hemostatic function, write the study’s authors, led by Dr Dariush Mozaffarian. Bit of a mouthful, but you get the point. Here’s what the average quack… sorry, doctor, will miss out on: docosahexaenoicacid (DHA) gave more benefit than eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA); but both together had the greatest effect of all (I could have told them that, from 40 years of clinical practice).

Is there no end to this versatile medication? (I’m sipping my usual double espresso in an artisan coffee shop as I write this). It seems drinking coffee instead of water may restore normal bowel function more quickly among people who have had surgery to remove part of their colon, That’s according to a study at […]

Is there no end to this versatile medication? (I’m sipping my usual double espresso in an artisan coffee shop as I write this). It seems drinking coffee instead of water may restore normal bowel function more quickly among people who have had surgery to remove part of their colon, That’s according to a study at […] The post Coffee Scores Again! appeared first on Dr. Keith Scott-Mumby.

But That’s Not All… (part 1 of this article is here if you missed it…) Coffee and hot tea consumption were found to be protective against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).[35] While it remains unclear whether the beverages have systemic antimicrobial activity, study participants who reported any consumption of either were approximately half as likely to have MRSA in their nasal passages. The Downside I already mentioned the negative effect on blood pressure and Huntington’s chorea. There are more negatives, notably the tendency of caffeine to cause or worsen anxiety, insomnia, and tremor and potentially elevate glaucoma risk.[38] Also, given the potential severity of symptoms, caffeine withdrawal syndrome is under consideration for inclusion in the forthcoming DSM-5.[39] Am I Saying Start Drinking Coffee?

But That’s Not All… (part 1 of this article is here if you missed it…) Coffee and hot tea consumption were found to be protective against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).[35] While it remains unclear whether the beverages have systemic antimicrobial activity, study participants who reported any consumption of either were approximately half as likely to have MRSA in their nasal passages. The Downside I already mentioned the negative effect on blood pressure and Huntington’s chorea. There are more negatives, notably the tendency of caffeine to cause or worsen anxiety, insomnia, and tremor and potentially elevate glaucoma risk.[38] Also, given the potential severity of symptoms, caffeine withdrawal syndrome is under consideration for inclusion in the forthcoming DSM-5.[39] Am I Saying Start Drinking Coffee?

Caffeine gets a hard rap sometimes; and coffee isn’t supposed to be a health food! However, facts is facts (don’t write to me about my grammar, thank you). There is a large bunch of studies, which keeps growing, showing coffee to have benefits or protect from a wide variety of illnesses, from Alzheimer’s to cancer. Or more exactly, coffee-drinkers benefit and seem to suffer less than tea or juice only drinkers. So it isn’t necessarily cause and effect—it might mean coffee drinkers have some other health benefit, that leads them to drink more coffee than average. So coffee drinkers do well, but not because they drink coffee. That’s an important caveat. That said, here we go:

Caffeine gets a hard rap sometimes; and coffee isn’t supposed to be a health food! However, facts is facts (don’t write to me about my grammar, thank you). There is a large bunch of studies, which keeps growing, showing coffee to have benefits or protect from a wide variety of illnesses, from Alzheimer’s to cancer. Or more exactly, coffee-drinkers benefit and seem to suffer less than tea or juice only drinkers. So it isn’t necessarily cause and effect—it might mean coffee drinkers have some other health benefit, that leads them to drink more coffee than average. So coffee drinkers do well, but not because they drink coffee. That’s an important caveat. That said, here we go:

Couldn’t resist this little snippet! Apparently, if you zap sweet potatoes with an electric current can boost levels of antioxidants by as much as 60%, according a new study. The days of electrical nutrition have arrived! Actually, it makes sense: if you stress the vegetables, they release more antioxidants to protect themselves. It reminds me of the old (wicked) Chinese belief that if you torture the pig before eating it, the flesh tastes better. Add that to Cleve Backster’s discovery that plants know what’s going on and you’ll see what I mean. I don’t think I can bring myself to deliberately “hurt” sweet potatoes, just to enrich them nutritionally*. Nevertheless, the science is there…