Category Archives: Circulatory System
Anaemia is a condition of insufficient oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood due to reduced numbers of red blood cells or haemoglobin. Anaemia may be caused by decreased red blood cell production, increased red blood cell breakdown (aplastic anaemia), excessive blood less (wounds, stomach ulcers, menstruation, cancer), or genetic disorders in haemoglobin (thalassaemia, sickle cell).
(more…)The avocado tree (Persea americana) originated from Latin America where it has been cultivated since around 500 BC . The tree can reach a height of 10-20 metres and there are cultivars available to suit different climates such as Bacon, Fuerte, Hass and Reed. The fruit is a large berry with a single seed, providing a valuable source of nutrients for poor people subsisting in countries such as Mexico.
(more…)There are many potential benefits from regularly eating oily fish such as sardines. They contain protein to build and repair the body, fibre to support the digestive system, and omega-3 fatty acids for heart, skin and brain health. Then there are the vitamins A, B, D and E, as well as important minerals including calcium, magnesium and potassium, because we eat the bones. And don’t forget iodine for the thyroid, zinc for the immune system, and on it goes—more than we may find in a multivitamin pill.
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Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is an inconspicuous plant that can be seen flowering white or pink around the sheering sheds during Spring, or in the grass along the paddock fences. It has tall erect stems with finely notched leaves that give it the epithet millefolium, while the first part of its Latin name derives from Homer’s account of the warrior Achilles, who used the herb to dress wounds at Troy. It was used this way in the First World War when dressings were sparse, as with moss and garlic, honouring its use as a woundwort that probably dates back to the beginning of civilisation.
(more…)Chickens kept at home in the backyard produce eggs of varying size and colour, yet their nutritional quality, just like the uniform supermarket eggs, is determined by the bird’s diet. For instance, eggs that are laid by pasture-fed birds eat green grass and grubs which is necessary for the synthesis of omega-3 fatty acids, while grain-fed birds produce eggs that are high in omega-6 fatty acid instead.
(more…)Butter is a nutritious dairy product which is rich in fat-soluble vitamins and beneficial fats. It is made by churning fresh cream to separate the fat from the rest of the buttermilk so that the fat can be formed into a semi-solid block. Furthermore, raw milk can be left to stand before churning so that natural fermentation converts some of the milk sugar into lactic acid, giving the butter a sour taste (cultured butter). The finished butter can also be clarified in order to make ghee by heating it to remove additional milk solids and water.
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The olive tree (Olea europaea) has been cultivated since ancient times in Persia, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean, and some trees have been known to live for more than a thousand years. The olive tree has silvery-green leaves, a gnarled trunk and an oily, bitter fruits which are either prepared whole for the table, or the oil is extracted using cold-pressure or steam. Olives should preferably be cold-pressed in order to preserve the phenolic compounds in the oil, a process that produces extra-virgin olive oil. The production of oil reaches around eleven million tons per year.
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Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) is a thorny tree found here and there along the railway lines and roadsides of Victoria where it reaches a height of up to ten metres. It was planted as an ornamental tree to remind the settlers of the ‘old country’, and the red haws, which appear soon after the pleasant-smelling flowers, contain a white flesh surrounding a hard seed.
(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…)