Lifestyle
Super Aspirin Not So Super – Vioxx
What can we do to shorten the long waiting lists for surgery? How can we stop the massive increases in the cost of health care? Politicians and health care workers continue to struggle with this dilemma. They always conclude that more money is the answer. But this approach is doomed to failure. How can it work when it's taken 40,000 years for humans to get into such horrible shape? How did it happen? And is there a solution? Dr. Barry Bogin is a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan. He says we all envision our Paleolithic ancestors as being short, bent- over people with small brains. Actually they were a tad taller with brains as large as ours. And...Read More
Lifestyle, Philosophy
It’s Okay To Inhale To Stop Smoking
An economist, analyzing financial disasters, remarked that "If you keep going to hell you'll eventually get there". This warning equally applies to the millions of people who still smoke and eventually die from this addiction. Today, there is no greater madness than smoking when research proves that smoking kills. Fortunately, there's a new treatment that can help to save these needless deaths. In this case it's okay to inhale to quit smoking, with the newest smoking cessation, the Nicorette inhaler. Sir Walter Raleigh, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, introduced tobacco into England. But if he tried this today, authorities would hang him from the yardarm for even suggesting its use. Tobacco would be immediately banned as a hazardous substance. Now...Read More
Lifestyle
Would You Ask Al Capone to Reform the Criminal System?
How naive can you be? Premier Romanow has been touring the country for months trying to discover what's wrong with the Canadian health care system. His simplistic solution? 15 million dollars. He believes that tossing more bags of money into the failing health care system will save it. His foresight is appalling. Even a 14 year old girl could figure that out. During the flurry of interviews and newspaper reports following release of the Romanow report I kept waiting for someone to ask the obvious question. But neither CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge, newspaper journalists nor physicians posed the ultimate query. It took a 14 year old girl to state, "Canadians must exercise more, stop smoking, eat well and don't take illegal...Read More
Lifestyle
Put a Tape Measure In Every Christmas Stocking
The more and more complicated medicine becomes the greater the need to keep it simple. After all, how many people know the formula on how to measure body mass index (BMI) ? Luckily there's no longer any need to tax your brain on this matter. All you need is a tape to measure abdominal circumference. If your dimensions indicate a pot-belly, it's more important than BMI in gauging cardiovascular risk. Dr. Shankuan Zhu, a researcher at the Obesity Centre at Columbia University in New York, examined 4,388 males with an average age of 44 and 4,631 females with an average age of 47. The average BMI for both men and women was 26 which is within the healthy range. The average waist...Read More
Lifestyle, Philosophy, Sex
Pornography at Nursing Homes?
This week I ran into the same problem I've encountered many times before. Many writers will understand. I was bored, weary of my computer and barren of ideas. I've written 1400 columns during the last 28 years. And I desperately needed a new topic to keep me from falling asleep. Suddenly I discovered it in Denmark. Then I couldn't wait to get back to my computer. Why? Because this story could never happen in "Canada, The Good". A unique event has happened at the Thorupgaarden nursing home in Copenhagen. Don't ask me how it started. But the staff must have had a few fascinating discussions before making their earth-shaking pronouncement. They decided, in their infinite wisdom, that pornography has a greater...Read More
Lifestyle, Nutrition
From 1600 T0 400 Calories in 40,000 Years!
What can we do to shorten the long waiting lists for surgery? How can we stop the massive increases in the cost of health care? Politicians and health care workers continue to struggle with this dilemma. They always conclude that more money is the answer. But this approach is doomed to failure. How can it work when it's taken 40,000 years for humans to get into such horrible shape? How did it happen? And is there a solution? Dr. Barry Bogin is a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan. He says we all envision our Paleolithic ancestors as being short, bent- over people with small brains. Actually they were a tad taller with brains as large as ours. And...Read More
Lifestyle
The Big Bottoms Have It
Males often remark, only half-jokingly, that they want to marry a younger woman to care for them in their old age. If that's their motive, should age be the only factor to consider? A recent study shows they should be looking for a particular shaped girl. But alas another report indicates some men may not live long enough to find one. In 1960 Swedish researchers, suspecting that size might influence health, decided to measure the hips of 1,400 women between the ages of 38 to 60. None of the women were obese. But they were of different shapes when measured by hip size. The women were followed for 24 years. The result? Women who had pear-shaped bodies with hips larger than their...Read More
Lifestyle
Does a Healthy Lifestyle Really Pay Off?
Have you ever wondered how much benefit you gain from being good? Saying "no" to rich desserts you've enjoyed for years. Tossing away tobacco, too many martinis and other vices. After all, why give up these pleasures if the return is only marginal. Now a study from Harvard answers this question. And the findings even shocked researchers. Dr. Meir Stampfer is Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at The Harvard Medical School. He reports in the New England Journal of Medicine a huge study involving 84,129 women. It's called the "Nurses Health Study" in which researchers have followed the habits of these nurses for over 20 years. Stampfer confirms that a good lifestyle definitely reduces the risk of disease. But that's not earth-shaking...Read More
Gynecology, Lifestyle, Medicine
The Checkup, Too Much or Too Little?
What constitutes a good checkup examination? Good sense dictates that young children don't need a Pap smear for cervical cancer, a PSA test for prostate malignancy or X-ray studies to measure bone density. So what's done depends on the patient's age and it can save a life or prevent serious diseases. Today many hi-tech diagnostic tests are available, but the stethoscope is all that's needed to spot a big killer. Since 60 million North Americans have hypertension a blood pressure check must be a part of every annual examination. It's the second leading cause of kidney failure. Routine blood tests help to pinpoint problems such as anemia. But today the one test everyone wants done is blood cholesterol. What's debatable is when...Read More
Lifestyle
Is The Answer A Tax on Fatty Foods?
This week a change of pace. Recently I was questioned by the media about the obesity epidemic. This is what I told them. Media - It's been suggested that a tax on fatty foods would help curb the obesity epidemic. G-J - That's the wrong approach. No one has the Wisdom of Solomon to carry this out. It would be a taxation nightmare. There's fat in so many food products. Where would you draw the line? Media - But today supermarkets do offer a wide variety of packaged foods that are low in fat. G-J - That's true. But when tasty fat is eliminated from foods processors often make up the difference with sugar. You may end up with less fat but more calories. Media...Read More
