Category Archives: General Health
Following birth, the infant mammal first receives colostrum from its mother, which has a darker colour than the later milk due to its different fat and protein content. Colostrum is better tolerated by the immature digestive system of the infant, and it encourages the digestive system to develop. This development makes it selective to potential allergens and helps begin the constant task of absorbing nutrients and eliminating wastes that is central to the life of the animal. Colostrum also contains antibodies (IgA, IgG, IgM), white blood cells, complement, cytokines, growth factors and other immune factors from the mother which are essential to protect the infant from pathogens in the environment.
(more…)
Regular wine consumption is a characteristic of the traditional Mediterranean diet and is associated with a reduced risk of developing several diseases, yet many people today are uncertain about how much is actually beneficial. The key is of course a moderate consumption of alcohol because a high consumption, or binge drinking, increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, cognitive impairment and liver disease.
(more…)
The traditional Mediterranean diet comprises foods eaten by people living in olive growing regions of the Mediterranean before the 1960s, notably Crete, the Greek mainland, Spain and Southern Italy. This diet is a feature of the lifestyle of poor people, their climate and hardship at a time before the globalisation of American dietary trends, which introduced the regular consumption of red meat, factory fats, convenience foods and refined sugar. The Mediterranean diet has been associated with a reduced risk of developing cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes.1,2
(more…)
The Palaeolithic Era began 2.6 million years ago and is associated with the use of stone, wood and bone tools. Our species, Homo sapiens, is thought to have appeared some 200,000 years ago in Ethiopia, overtaking the Neanderthal after a volcanic catastrophe in the Mediterranean some 36,000 years ago. We only began to domesticate animals and plants around 10,000 years ago, and by this time our species had also begun fishing and using fire for cooking.
(more…)
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…)
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…)
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…)