A Review Of WORST PILLS, Best Pills

Worst Pills, Best Pills, edited by Sidney Wolfe, M.D, et al. Pocket Books, N.Y., 2005 This remarkable 900+ page book is an encyclopedia that anyone who is even vaguely considering a drug should consult. Indeed, this post is being written the very week when three more categories of drugs hit the skids. One of my…

Woman with a face shield performing a common medical test.

To Test or Not To Test: Are Common Medical Tests Necessary?

Over the last 100 years, ever more complex laboratory tests have been developed. In the 1950’s, before the advent of most modern tests, the Cornell Medical Index was a simple set of questions including current symptoms, past history and family history. A physician trained in the use of this test could make a medical diagnosis…

THE PALEO DIET – A REVIEW

THE PALEO DIET -A REVIEW THE PALEO DIET, by Loren Cordain, John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, N.J., 2002. $14.95 We all know that agriculture began only about 10,000 years ago. Prior to that humans ate wild game, fish and wild fruits and vegetables. There were virtually no grains. Cordain strongly suggests that we revert to…

The Barnes Diet

Dr. Broda Barnes was a family physician who revolutionized our concepts of nutrition and hypothyroidism. He also had a Ph.D. in thyroid biochemistry. He emphasized the wide variety of symptoms in hypothyroidism, from cold intolerance to heat intolerance; from weight loss to weight gain; from high to low blood pressure, etc. But above all, he…

The Secret of Life

THE SECRET OF LIFE In 1925 Georges Lakhovsky, a Russian engineer, introduced his book, The Secret of Life, which is still in print. It was translated into English in 1935 and a few years later he immigrated to New York where, at a major New York hospital, three hundred patients were treated with the Lakhovsky…

Sunlight – The Source of Life

Plant, animal and human life are dependent upon sunlight. Unfortunately, in the past decade, dermatologists have increasingly cautioned against exposure to sun. But decreased exposure to sunlight inhibits our ability to make Vitamin D and is associated with depression, increased mortality in cancer patients, longer hospitalization after heart attack and increased incidence of multiple sclerosis….

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, SLS, is a caustic surfactant and widely used detergent, that appears in everything from oven-cleaners and carpet glue to the vast majority of toothpastes, shaving creams, shampoos, soaps, and even many DRUGS, WHERE IT IS — USED TO ”CLEAN” GELATIN CAPSULES. It is disguised under dozens of aliases, such as sodium dodecyl…

Silymarin Marianum

SILYMARIN MARIANUM Silymarin marianum (milk thistle) has long been recommended as a liver cleanser. Indeed the evidence is fairly good that it may help even alcoholic cirrhosis. (J Hepatol. 1989, 9: 105-113). The results in a double-blind study: the Silymarin treated patients outlived the placebo by 50%, significant at the 0.01% level. More importantly, milk…

Woman practicing Tai Chi under a tree to achieve relaxation.

Relaxation – The Antidote For Stress

Over 100 years ago, Sir William Osler, the father of American medicine, stated that stress was the major cause of most diseases. As early as 1929, Edmond Jacobson reported that 80% of psychosomatic diseases (today called stress) could be managed adequately with PROGRESSIVE RELAXATION, a simple 30-minute program of systematic voluntary muscle contraction followed by…

PREVENTIVE HEALTH?

Preventive health is an oxymoron if I ever heard one!! Occasionally a ‘scientific’ article actually uses that ridiculous term. We should not be seeking to prevent health but rather to prevent disease or prevent the need for medicine-thus preventive medicine should be a goal. There is little evidence that most routine testing is of value…