Author Archives: marktsaloumas
When you allow a horse to go at its own pace along a country lane you soon succumb to its rhythm and your mind turns to other things: the kangaroos gathering in a distant corner of the paddock amidst the St John’s wort, a kookaburra sitting on a sagging gate, butterflies drinking from recent puddles along the road.
(more…)Statins can certainly reduce cholesterol, and by as much as 60%, so you would expect the clinical results to be dramatic, especially if they are the world’s number one bestseller worth many billions of dollars annually.1 Unfortunately the results are not dramatic, and whether a reduction in cholesterol leads to improved mortality is still apparently a subject for hot debate decades after dietary cholesterol and saturated fats were declared ‘villains’ by Dr Ancel Keys. (more…)
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is a plant that loves the sun and is readily found growing through the cracks in pavements and on hard, stony ground. It forms a dense cover and can be recognised by its succulent leaves, red stems and small yellow flowers. (more…)
The most common health problem concerning milk is lactose intolerance. This problem is due to the poor absorption of the sugar in milk (lactose) and is not an allergy or food sensitivity. Symptoms such as colic, flatulence and bloating arise due to fermentation of the unabsorbed sugars. (more…)
A recent headline in the business papers reported that the cannabis constituent cannabidiol (CBD) may soon be an ingredient in popular beverages, a hot subject for investors given that cannabinoids have anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, analgesic, anti-nausea and anti-seizure properties.1 This broad range of physiological effects is possible because plant cannabinoids resemble our own endogenous cannabinoids and act as chemical messengers to cell receptors all over the body. (more…)
If you happen to read an article published recently in the journal Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, you would certainly form the impression that honey is a potent medicine, as it has been considered by physicians for thousands of years. That is if it is certified organic, a requirement that is apparently necessary in order to make sure that it has not been adulterated on its journey to your table with the kind of sugars that actually cause diabetes. (more…)
Nettle can be found growing in mild to temperate regions across the world. The most common species found in Australia, urtica dioica/urens, appears in the spring in urban gardens and around farms where it especially likes damp, shady and well-manured spots. The plant has green stems lined with characteristic stinging hairs, serrated leaves and yellowish roots, and is unfortunately considered a nuisance and routinely sprayed. (more…)
Patients with blood sugar irregularities are usually advised by the doctor to adopt a healthy diet and do some exercise. They resolve to take action, procrastinate and their blood sugar continues to rise along with their weight, blood pressure and other markers of metabolic syndrome. These patients progress to a lifetime regime of pharmaceutical medicines which contributes to the patient’s declining health with a barrage of side-effects. (more…)
The bark of the cinnamon tree is a popular spice that has been used in cooking and medicine since around 3000 BC. True cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) is usually wild-harvested and the spice is obtained from the dried inner bark of the shoots. Commercial cinnamon may be obtained from one of several species other than zeylanicum such as cassia/ aromaticum (China), burmannii (Indonesia), loureiroi (Vietnam), verum (Sri Lanka), citriodorum (Malabar) and tamale (India). (more…)
Plantain is a very useful first-aid herb that can be easily found in suburban gardens or paddocks in the country. You will find it growing in your front lawn as the slender ribwort (Plantago lanceolate), but less commonly the broad-leaved species (Plantago major). (more…)