What Doctors Don't Tell You Australia/NZ August / September 2019

Bad theories die hard, and one of those that seems to have the gift of eternal life is the cholesterol theory of heart disease. It was launched on faulty science, the famed Seven Countries Study conducted by American physiologist Ancel Keys, who claimed to show that countries whose population consumed a high-fat diet had a higher incidence of heart disease. Over the years, his ‘high dietary fat equals high cholesterol, which equals blocked arteries and heart attacks’ theory spawned a giant low-fat food industry and also a giant cash cow for the drug companies. Statins, which claim to lower cholesterol and so prevent heart disease, have been among the drug industry’s bestselling money spinners of all time, even now, with patents expiring and cheaper generic drugs available. The problem is that nobody…

Dr. Jean Monro, medical director of the Breakspear Hospital, is an internationally recognised specialist in environmental medicine, including such conditions as chronic fatigue syndrome, Lyme disease and multiple chemical sensitivity. She is Fellow of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine and a Board Certified US examiner. Dr. Damien Downing, whose practice specialises in allergy, environment and nutrition, is current president of the British Society for Ecological Medicine and on the editorial board of Orthomolecular Medicine News Service. Chief Medical Advisor of cancer charity Yes to Life (www.yestolife.org.uk), he is also the author of numerous books, including The Vitamin Cure for Allergies. Dr. Harald Gaier, arguably the UK’s most knowledgeable practitioner of the major alternative medical disciplines, is registered in the UK as an osteopath, homeopath, acupuncturist, naturopath and medical herbalist. Former director…

Free-from and formaldehyde Dear WDDTY Thanks for your article on the hidden dangers of ‘free-from’ foods (March 2019 UK edition). I wish the supermarkets would put‘glutenfree’ over the meat, fish, fruit and vegetables! Plenty of whole foods are gluten-free. But the term has become medicalised and leaves people confused. I know from the problems of a friend of mine—if it isn’t in a package with ‘gluten-free’ on the front, she is scared to eat it. Also, I am glad you have raised the issue of formaldehyde and cancer (Healthy Home, WDDTY May 2019 UK edition). I was exposed to it in the 1990s during renovations at work with MDF board. My throat has been affected, and I often lose my voice. No one would listen to my comments about clearing up all the dust and…

Why we’re told alcohol is more dangerous than it really is A glass or two of alcohol can help us live longer when we reach the age of 65—but it can take years off the lives of younger drinkers, say researchers, who think this explains the contradictory health advice we’ve been getting about drinking. More than a third of all deaths from alcoholism happen to people between 20 and 49 years old—and so when medical researchers recruit older people for their studies, the ‘problem drinkers’ may already have died. As a result, modest drinking becomes a health benefit in people over 65, and accounts for half the lives that are ‘saved’ through drinking, such as from improved heart health. Less than 15 percent of lives lost through excessive alcohol drinking occur in this…

Vaccine revenues set to soar after anti-vax clampdown The clampdown on ‘anti-vax’ stories on social media is producing one big winner: Big Pharma. Revenues from vaccines will enjoy “an overwhelming hike” in the next few years, say industry watchers. Market research group HTF Market Intelligence said revenues from the MMR vaccine will see the hike by 2025, and other research firms have also been forecasting big revenue increases for the global market for all vaccines. Market research group Research & Markets estimates revenues for all vaccines will increase to $57.5 billion by 2025, compared to just $33.7 billion last year. Another market research group, Transparency, is forecasting vaccine sales revenues will reach $48 billion by 2025. Government initiatives that are promoting vaccines—and silencing the anti-vaxxers—are one of the big drivers of the increase. Although North…

Taking an aspirin a day to prevent heart disease or stroke is not worth it. Any benefits are far outweighed by the risk that it may trigger life-threatening bleeding. The painkiller increases the risk of major, life-threatening gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding by nearly 50 percent, and yet it has only a marginal protective effect against heart disease. For healthy people who don’t have heart disease, the risks just aren’t worth it, say researchers from King’s College London. They pooled data from over 164,000 people who participated in 13 clinical trials, and discovered that the drug reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke, by just 11 percent, yet raised the risk of major bleeding by 43 percent. This means that one out of every 200 people regularly taking an aspirin…