Talk about health

You can't have failed to notice the press reports on how vitamins are the new killers. As usual, the journalists don't bother to check up on the truth behind a story and certainly don't let the facts get in the way of a blockbuster headline.

Since publication of the 'antioxidants may shorten your life' fiasco, many reasonable commentators in the health field have taken the time to point up the many shortcomings of the so-called science behind the original report.

Briefly, the 'scientists' carefully chose a small proportion of available research papers to 'prove' their point, thus confirming the lies,damned lies and statistics saying. By ignoring any vaguely positive findings they created figures that justify the headline.

I suppose they feel happy, but few can support them.

However, my point is not simply to pour scorn on these researchers, but also to encourage you to continue to take your multivitamin supplements in the way they should. The bottom line is that our current lifestyle and diet means we are almost bound to be a little short in the basic vitamin and mineral levels. A multi-supplement should go some way in topping-up and moving towards the optimum for the very best of health.

As part of this system, you really must take these supplements daily, even before you feel ill or develop any condition. For this is something positive you can take from the published review that caused all the fuss.

Most of the reports reviewed showed that people only started taking their vitamins after they had been diagnosed with a disease. Frequently this was some form of cancer. Unfortunately, with the best will in the world, it may well be too late to start a supplement, especially a standard mix of vitamins and minerals.

Once an illness has developed to the point of giving you symptoms, a supplement such as this may help your health a little, but in that situation, very high doses may be necessary. And in this circumstance, very little research has been done, except for high dose vitamin-C injections as part of cancer treatment.

So, what can you take from this tirade? First of all, get yourself a reasonable supplement of vitamins and minerals - reputable manufacturer, optimum mix for your age and so on in a form that you can swallow. Then take it daily as part of your healthy diet and lifestyle. With any luck you should live as well as you can, for as long as you can. It's not a guaranteed system, but at least you will have done your very best.

Take the pluses from such negative reporting as the media choose to give. Be realistic and ask for clarity before changing your lifestyle and ignoring these essential substances. They're not called vitamins for nothing!

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I am returning to the cholesterol topic today. Not that I am obsessed you understand. It's just that I've come across two recent articles that more or less support my views that a lifetime of taking statin drugs is not necesarily the only or best way to proceed. Certainly, I agree that having high cholesterol is not a situation to be ignored, and as such, something has to be done.

The first problem is that there are no symptoms for cholsterol. This means that once you are diagnosed as having high cholesterol, usually following a routine check-up or heart-related incident, you are hooked. The mainstream medical opinion is to start you off on statins with the eventual aim to get your cholesterol down to some mythical low figure, as if that is the end of the matter. Low cholesterol could well be the end of you instead.

However, thousands of people who begin statin treatment stop taking their drugs over the first year of treatment. Sometimes it is just because they don't feel any different. But most of the time it is because of one or more of the damaging side effects of the stains. Commonly, these include muscle pain and weakness, but there are many more that affect patients and tempt them to look for some other ways to lower cholesterol that don't include a lifetime's medication.

From a purely dietary point of view, grapefruit has been found to lower cholesterol. All kinds of fresh grapefriut seem to lower cholesterol, but red grapefriut appears to have the most beneficial actions. 'Fresh red grapefruit contains higher quantities of bioacive compounds and has significantly higheer antioxidant potential than blond grapefruit,' the researchers concluded.

That seems to be a painless way of putting a lid on your cholesterol level, but the only fly in this particular ointment is that grapefruit may interfere with the way some medications work. So, if you already take drugs for other conditions, you must find out if you could be affected. It has to do with affecting your liver enzymes and how they break down drugs. Be warned!

If you are not taking other drugs, there should be little problem with adding red grapefruit to your diet.

The second article is more to do with adding two things to your life to counteract the worst side effects of statin therapy. I've mentioned muscle pain and weakness as a major drawback of statin therapy. This effect follows the way statins work - they have a toxic action of the mitochondria in cells. These powerhouses are responsible for your energy supply, and statins interfere with their normal working thus creating the nasty side effect.

If you assume that you want to continue taking your statin, you can apparently minimise the side effect by taking green tea. This contains a substance called 'deoxysappanone'. This seems to cut down the free radicals, has a beneficial effect on motochondria and helps boost energy production.

And, while you're at it, since statins cut the supply of co-enzyme Q10 - a necessary chemical for optimum heart and circulation - supplementing with this substance will also help reduce the effects of statin therapy. Co-enzyme Q10 occurs naturally in foods such as fish and meat. And you can get supplement versions at most health shops.

There you have it. Ditch the statins and get a range of alternative ways of controlling your cholesterol and bringing levels back to normal. Or stick with the statins and try to control the side effects by a few simple changes to your diet and supplementation routine.

Find of all about cholesterol and controlling it by visiting my site at http://www.healthexplored.co.uk and clicking onto the sales page to find the big green heart. order this tell-all book and find all the ways to lower cholesterol and why you shouldn't getcholesterol too low for comfort. You get access to the instant download digital version, or drop me aline at info@healthexplored.co.uk to order the print version.

Wishing you the very best of health.

It has become routine to suffer from one of the big four - high blood pressure, diabetes type-2, stomach acid, or cholesterol. People wear them like a badge of distinction, bragging at the dinner table of their diagnosis and showing their drug collection with pride. Only last week I was sharing a dinner party with four friends (and my wife) when the conversation took what has become an habitual road down health. As it turned out, each of the friends is on medication. My wife and I appear to be alone in taking only fish oil and multivitamins regularly.

Of the four drug takers, one has stomach acid problems, one has high cholesterol and two have blood pressure concerns. What they have in common is they now take drugs daily in an effort to control their symptoms. And presumeably they will continue taking them for the rest of their lives.

Knowing what I do, my friends ask my thoughts on their condition and treatment. And being an obliging chap I run through my thoughts on this kind of long-term medication - should be avoided if at all possible by changing lifestyle, diet and exercise regime, reviewing stress and sleep options.

At our age, over 50, thoughts turn to retirement and worries about pensions, and finance tends to overcome health concerns. But should they? What's the point of working endless hours under pressure trying to ensure financial comfort if you drop dead the week after your officially retire? It isn't always possible to do everything for yourself and family so far as finance is concerned. Children may have to look after themselves by working just as their parents did.

My point is that you shouldn't ignore your health in the quest for what you consider is sufficient cash to have regular costly holidays and new cars once you retire. When you've been diagnosed with one of the popular four conditions I mentioned at the start, it may seem a simple matter to begin taking your tablets as the doctor ordered. You'll feel you are doing something positive to address the problem, and in the case of acid-lowering drugs, you'll probably feel much better, too.

But, for bood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol, it's more likely you will feel little different. Your doctor will tell you how well your condition is responding to the medication.

Before you get that smug 'I told you so' look, just consider one thing - side effects! I read recently of a person given one of the statin drugs for cholesterol. It took only a few days before he felt as though he had the flu - weak legs, aching muscles, sore back and tending to want to sleep a lot.

Did he have the flu? Perhaps. However, the symptoms lasted for several weeks and didn't change. Probably not the flu then. What else could it be? Is it coincidence that the symptoms and his cholesterol medication were included in the same timeframe?

Returning to his doctor resulted in calming words from the medical profession about the safety of statin drugs and advice to keep taking the tablets.

The problem is that statin drugs are known to cause such symptoms, and worse. Some people don't develop side effects to them but a surprising number do. Symptoms range from the relatively minor ones such as the person above did - the flu-like symptoms, to potentially serious ones involving muscle breakdown, heart failure, nerve damage, and memory loss.

Did the statin cause the flu symptoms? Probably. The only way to prove it would be to stop the medication and follow the consequences. The symptoms would go away if it was the drug, and return if treatment started again.

The problem with continuing the medication as the doctor suggested is that the side effects are not always reversible if they have gone on too long. So this person is in a difficult position and he alone has to decide. Stop the drug or not? I know what I would do - stop the drug and see what happens. It's not easy when your health is at stake and your trusted doctor is at odds with what you want to do.

Why not try to discover the truth about cholesterol and controlling it. Does it really cause heart attacks or is there another explanation? Can you control cholesterol without resorting to a lifetime's medication? Maybe the alternative therapy scene can help, too?

It won't necessarily take major changes to your lifestyle to achieve much more than any drug. Find out in my publication "Cholesterol - Villain or Savoiur?". Find out more at http://www.healthexplored.co.uk , join the newsletter subscribers or buy the book (digital or hard copy).

Wishing you the very best of health.