Health news blog

When you have a sore throat it can affect your everyday life. Every time you want to speak it seems to get worse. It is hard to swallow, especially in the mornings, where you are dehydrated.

One of the old remedies used was two drops of eucalyptus in a teaspoon of honey. This is very effective, but first you need to remove the phlegm and mucus. Phlegm and mucus gather in the throat and can cause irritation. It is also an ideal medium for bacteria to breed in. A good way to get rid of it is to gargle with warm water and salt. Dissolve a couple of teaspoons of salt in warm water, gargle and then spit it out. This will soothe the throat and remove the mucus. Salt is also a very good antiseptic that can kill bacteria on the mucus membrane of the mouth and throat.

The herb slippery elm is very soothing. If you suck on slippery elm tablets, the mucilage in the herb coats the throat, helping reduce inflammation and pain.

Iron phosphate, potassium chloride and zinc are minerals that also have anti-inflammatory properties. These can be found in cold tablet formulas. Usually a sore throat is the sign of more to come. If this is not treated promptly, further upper respiratory infections or the common cold or flu may follow so help build up your resistance by taking the supplements.

SUPPLEMENTS

cold tablets containing 1 tablet 3 times daily

iron phosphate and

potassium chloride

slippery elm suck 1 tablet 3 times daily

vitamin C 2000 mg daily

Echinacea as directed on bottle (extract or dried

herb)

garlic 2000 mg dried herb-enteric coated

daily

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Many people in this modern world are suffering from functional hypoglycaemia. The symptoms of their complaint include headaches, loss of short term memory, dizziness and lassitude. The cause is usually the consumption of refined carbohydrates (sugar) in excess over a long period. This excess amount of sugar in the diet gives a short term lift (high energy) associated with the increase in blood sugar (glucose). However, their body reacts quickly to this increase and in the hypoglycaemic person, overreacts. This overreaction reduces the blood sugar below what is needed for normal bodily function and can result in one or more of the above symptoms. These symptoms can be relieved by taking sugar, however, the process repeats itself and the symptoms soon return.

Changing the diet is the first step towards balancing blood sugar levels. Experimental studies have shown that a diet low in refined carbohydrates and fat and slightly higher in protein will, in time, return blood sugar levels to normal permanently.

Supplements may also be of benefit. Experimental double-blind crossover studies have shown that chromium supplement can alleviate the symptoms of hypoglycaemia within three months. Magnesium may also reduce glucose-induced insulin secretion. Supplementing could be of benefit and I have found in my clinic that the combination of diet and a supplement of chromium and magnesium has totally relieved all the symptoms of hypoglycaemia in patients.

A low refined carbohydrate diet, no added sugar in drinks or in foods (this will only make the problem worse), less fat and an increase in protein intake, is a recommended diet.

SUPPLEMENTS

magnesium compound 1 tablet 3 times daily

Bio Chromium from

your practitioner

or a chromium

supplement

containing

GTF chromium yeast 1 tablet morning and night

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Cramps are often associated with activities such as swimming. Cold water, poor circulation and cold weather conditions can also be the cause. However, there are many other causes of cramps, some of them related directly to our diet.

In the past we thought that salt was the answer. Troops during the Second World War were given salt tablets to help prevent cramps and it is quite possible that their poor diets were lacking in sodium chloride.

There is plenty of salt in all of our foods. A slice of bread, a daub of butter and any processed food will usually give us our daily requirement of sodium which is 200mg but quite often magnesium and calcium are lacking. A recent dietary survey of adults carried out by the Commonwealth Government showed us that these nutrients are lacking in most of Australian’s diets.

Vitamin E can also help as it thins the blood and, along with helping improve circulation, increases the supply of oxygen to the muscles. A lack of magnesium will quite often bring about night cramps so taking a magnesium complex tablet could solve the problem and prevent those terrible knot-like cramps that can occur in your legs during the night.

SUPPLEMENTS

magnesium phosphate 200 mg twice daily

calcium phosphate 200 mg twice daily

vitamin E 250 IU daily

Ginkgo 400 mg twice daily

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Bowel polyps (polyposis) are benign growths which develop on the colon wall. They are mainly familial, and if not attended to may form an adenoma and become cancerous. The medical treatment for polyps is surgery either by removal of the polyps or by removal of the bowel.

There is a lot which can be done to both prevent and eliminate bowel polyps. Diet is very important. The diet must be high in fibre and low in animal fat. Vegetables containing beta-carotene can prevent polyps becoming cancerous.

Dr Jerome DeCosse of Wisconsin’s Department of Surgery and Pathology, discovered that vitamin C reduced the number of, or eliminated, bowel polyps in 8 out of 10 patients.

Many people are confused by the information they receive about brans — wheat bran, rice bran, oat bran. The bran is part of the whole kernel of wheat, rice or oats. It is the part underneath the outer layer of husk. Bran products are made by removing the husk of the kernel and the abrasive milling of the thin bran layers.

Some bran products such as rice bran also include the germ, making them highly nutritious as the germ is rich in many vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids.

SUPPLEMENTS

vitamin C 5000-10000 mg daily

beta-carotene (natural) 6 mg daily with main meal

Bio ACE 1 tablet twice daily

antioxidant formula

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Crop nutrient losses

Some agricultural soils are deficient in trace elements. Decades of intensive agriculture can overwork and deplete soils, unless all the soil nutrients, including trace elements, are regularly replaced. In one USA Government survey, levels of essential minerals in crops were found to have declined by up to 68% over a four-year-period in the 1970s.

Accidents and illness

Burns lead to a loss of protein and essential trace nutrients such as vitamins and minerals. Surgery increases the need for zinc, vitamin E and other nutrients involved in the cellular repair mechanism. The repair of broken bones will be retarded by an inadequate supply of calcium and vitamin C and conversely enhanced by a full dietary supply. The challenge of infection places high demand on the nutritional resources of zinc, magnesium and vitamins B5, B6 and zinc.

Stress

Chemical, physical and emotional stress can increase the body’s requirements for vitamins B2, B5, B6, and C. Air pollution increases the requirements for vitamin E.

PMT

Research has demonstrated that up to 60% of women suffering from symptoms of premenstrual tension, such as headaches, irritability, bloatedness, breast tenderness, lethargy and depression can benefit from supplements of vitamin B6.

Teenagers

Rapid-growth spurts such as in the teenage years, particularly in girls, place high demands on nutritional resources to underwrite the accelerated physical, biochemical and emotional development in this age group.

Pregnant women

Pregnancy creates higher than average demands for nutrients, to ensure healthy growth of the baby and comfortable confinement for the mother. Nutrients which require increasing during pregnancy are the B group, especially Bl, B2, B3, B6, folic acid and B12, A, D, E and the minerals calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc and phosphorus.

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