Cancer, Cardiovascular, Eyes, Ears, Nose & Throat, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Neurology, Pain, Vitamins
What Did You Learn From Me in 2017?
I hope my columns during 2017 have helped readers live longer and healthier. So which of the following are true or false? There’s evidence that regular activity lowers the risk of dementia. Also a suggestion that high daily doses of vitamin C can decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at The Harvard Medical School report the magical ingredient in fish to decrease the risk of heart disease is omega-3 fatty acids, which like Aspirin, add oil to the blood making it less likely to clot. The survival rate of cancer of the prostate has little to do with the type of treatment. Rather, it’s related to the biological nature of the malignancy. Some cancers are pussy cats, others raging...Read More
Alcohol, Lifestyle, Nutrition
Our Belly proves we’re not Gods this Holiday Season
This is the season to be jolly, and the last thing I want to do is spoil the holiday festivities. But, unfortunately, the office parties, family dinners, excess wine and fellowship of singing “Auld Lang Syne, all take a toll on one’s stomach. So, can you lessen the damage of hot fire beneath the breastbone? And what are the pitfalls in the treatment of this common discomfort? Heartburn is triggered by several factors. The lower esophageal muscle (LEM) at the end of the food pipe can become weak and inefficient at times. So if you “eat the whole thing”, excess gas is created in the stomach and the laws of physics say something has to give. This results in the LEM...Read More
Lifestyle
Hazards of Travel
I’m sure many readers love to travel. I do too! After all, travel is associated with fun, education and happy times. No one intentionally leaves home to have a bad time. But travel can sometimes result in a “pukefest”, be outright dangerous and occasionally fatal. So how can the hazards be avoided? Flying to your Destination Some people have a fear of flying, especially to a destination when newspaper headlines have described a catastrophic airplane accident. But according to the U.S. National Safety Council, there’s a greater chance of dying in a car crash on your way to the airport. For instance, the death rate from cars is 0.47 per 100 million passenger miles. For domestic flights, it’s 0.001 or 500 times...Read More
Dermatology, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous
It’s Time to Winterize Skin. It Doesn’t Tear Nylons!
My editor, namely my wife of 62 years, recently said to me, “I’m getting tired of reading about Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular problems, cancer and other dreadful ailments. Why don’t you, for one week, give us a break from depressing disease? I’m sure readers would like to learn how to protect skin during the coming winter season.” One thing I’ve learned over the years is you never say no to an editor, particularly one who is your wife! So I interviewed experts about winterizing skin so it doesn’t look like a dried prune. And are natural remedies available? Rule # one To show I’m not totally controlled by my editor, I’ll start with medical advice that’s good for all seasons. Stop smoking. Years ago...Read More
Lifestyle, Nutrition, Vitamins
10 Facts You Should Know About Coenzyme Q10
Mark Twain once remarked, “Get your facts first, then distort them as you please!” Facts are easy to distort in medicine, particularly when talking about coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). So here are 10 vital things to know about this important enzyme. And what unintended consequences occur when humans start playing God. One- What is CoQ10? It’s often referred to as the “sparkplug of our motors.” Cars run on gas. Our 37 trillion cells get their energy from ATP (adenosine triphosphate), but we cannot make ATP without CoQ10. Two- Studies show that our body has the highest amount of CoQ10 during our 20s. But then it starts to decrease. Several medical problems may result, such as fatigue, muscle cramps, weakness, emotional troubles and hypertension....Read More
Alcohol, Alternate Treatments, Lifestyle, Medicine, Miscellaneous, Nutrition, Surgery
Dr. Gifford-Jones’ RX for a Long Life
One : Buy a Scale Obesity is a huge killer and it sets the stage for Type 2 diabetes, heart attack and hypertension. Be a smart consumer. Step on the scale each day so there are no surprises about weight gain. Count calories to live healthier and longer. Two : Buy a Pedometer To Count Steps Ships tied up at a dock too long get barnacles. To avoid medical barnacles, walk 10,000 steps a day. There’s no need to run the four minute mile. Remember, lions don’t buy Nike running shoes. Besides, studies show excessive exercise can cause medical problems. Three : Avoid Needless Radiation. A single CT scan delivers the same radiation as 500 chest X-rays or 1,000 dental ones. Always ask if an...Read More
Cancer, Lifestyle
How Safe Are Cell Phones?
Are some cell phone users destined to develop cancer after years of use? Or, is this fear being over-played? For years I’ve tried to find an unbiased informative source. Now, a report from the University of California attempts to answer this perplexing question. We know that high frequency ionizing radiation from excessive X–ray exposure can possibly cause malignancy. This radiation is cumulative, and like an elephant, it never forgets the amount of radiation received. But cell phones emit very low intensity non-ionizing radiofrequency energy that’s generally assumed to be safe. Researchers at the University of California analyzed several studies from around the world. They believed the debate would be settled by the “Interphone Study”. This research involved 13 countries and...Read More
Lifestyle, Nutrition, Vitamins
Is It Prudent To Increase The Dose of Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs?
Do you remember the story about the straw that broke the camel’s back? How the camel’s owner kept loading more and more straw on the animal’s back. Eventually one more straw broke the poor creature’s back. Pushing your luck too far is a poor idea. Now, a report in the British Medical Journal shows that doctors, like camel owners, should heed this advice. Colin Dormut, Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, participated in a study of excessive medication. He reports that during an 11 year period over two million patients’ charts were examined to see if kidneys were affected by the long-term use of cholesterol-lowering drugs (CLDs). The researchers focused on high potency CLDs such as Lipitor, Crestor and Zocor....Read More
Gastroenterology, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Nutrition
The Fart Pill: Could It Get The Nobel Prize?
Could a researcher of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), the gas that causes the odour of farts, ever receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine? Dr. Rui Wang, an internationally known Canadian researcher, reports that one day we may have a “fart pill” that fights one of our great killers, hypertension. Passing flatus affects Kings, Queens and the rest of us. Who hasn’t been at a dinner party when we’d prefer to be in the Sahara Desert so we could pass flatus? It’s also hard to research how much flatus is normal. After all, no doctor wants to say, “I’m a specialist in farts.” But research reveals that most people fart 15 to 25 times a day. Dr. Wang has been studying hydrogen sulfide for...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Lifestyle, Nutrition
Puritanical Lies about Alcohol
Are you becoming as skeptical as I am about public information? Fake political news? Alternative facts about the state of the world’s economy? So, now I ask how honest is medical news? Of course everyone knows that consuming stupid amounts of alcohol is unhealthy. But puritans and some doctors can’t accept the proven fact that moderate amounts of alcohol can prolong life. Professor Keith Scott-Mumby, an internationally known U.K. expert on alternative medicine, echoes what I have written over the years, that people who drink moderately live longer on average than teetotalers or those who drink to excess. In fact, there are over 20 studies that confirm this. In court it’s a criminal offense to withhold truth, so why doesn’t the...Read More
Lifestyle
Over the Edge: An Experience I‘ll Never Forget
Why would anyone in their 94th year, without consulting a psychiatrist, agree to descend from the top of Toronto’s City Hall on a rope? My wife thought I had gone mad. Surreptitiously, I momentarily agreed with her! So what was it like descending (rappelling) from the top of a 30 story high building? And why did I do it? My son is one of many volunteer WISH Grantors for Make-A-Wish Canada. It grants wishes to children who have life-threatening illnesses. Since 1983 it fulfilled all kinds of requests for 6,800 children. And each year 600 more are granted the wish of their dreams. I discovered that my son was rappelling not only for a great cause but also for his current...Read More
Lifestyle, Miscellaneous
“I Was Married By a Judge, I Should Have Asked For a Jury”
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, remarked, “There are no boy philosophers”. Fortunately, most of us do get wiser as we age. However, it’s never been a top priority of mine to rush into old age so I could be a wise, elderly, medical journalist philosopher. Could I be wrong? Consumer Reports on Health says there are several good things about aging. So I had to read on. It appears I was wrong on one point. I’ve always believed that the elderly suffered from more depression than younger people. After all, they see old friends die, illnesses become more frequent, their wife runs away with the local preacher, and it’s not as much fun to look in the mirror. But according to the...Read More
Lifestyle, Medicine, Miscellaneous
A Damning Verdict; We Are a Nation of Wimps
I recently wrote that our ancestors endured great hardship when they landed in America. They hacked down forests and tried to survive in the new land. Now, they would roll over in their graves if they knew North Americans had become a nation of wimps. Readers of my column confirmed my damning verdict. J.W. from B.C responded, “Thanks for your refreshing honesty, calling a spade a spade. We do take a pill for every damn ache and pain. I don’t think you have ice-water in your veins, hope you keep up the good work, and maybe politicians will deal with drug abuse in an intelligent way instead of pandering to bleeding hearts.” D.M. of Courtenay, B.C. replied, “Your columns are inspirational...Read More
Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Nutrition, Vitamins
Can Six Million Readers Help Answer This Question?
Several weeks ago I reported that autopsies of the brains of people diagnosed with dementia reveal damage to small arteries, which may cause tiny strokes and brain injury. Researchers also discovered that mice with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), when treated with vitamin C, showed that typical amyloid plaques associated with this disease disappeared! And since high doses of vitamin C can decrease the risk of heart attack by providing oxygenated blood, could it also prevent AD? So I asked readers “Do you know anyone who has used high doses of vitamin C (4,000 to 6,000 milligrams) for several years, then developed Alzheimer’s Disease?” MM replied, “I believe Linus Pauling, the Nobel Prize winner, was right that low amounts of C cause tiny cracks...Read More
Lifestyle, Neurology, Vitamins
Strokes; Not Just For the Elderly
How could it happen to Kris Letang, the Pittsburgh Penguin hockey player? He was young, in excellent physical condition, yet a victim of stroke. Today, stroke is not just a senior problem. So, why don’t learned professors know why this is happening? Professor Valery Feigin is Director of the National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences at Auckland University, in New Zealand. He reports in the journal, The Lancet, that every year over 80,000 children and youth are affected by this sudden medical crisis. Strokes affect 50,000 people a year in Canada and of this number up to 10 percent occur in those under 45 years of age. In the U.S., strokes affect 800,000 people causing one in every 20 deaths. Worldwide...Read More
Gastroenterology, Lifestyle, Nutrition, Vitamins
There’s more to Constipation than Grunting.
You think constipation isn’t important? If so, an article in the American Journal of Gastroenterology suggests you’d better think again. Annually, in the U.S., 700,000 people are seen in hospital emergency wards for this problem. Since 2006 there’s been a shocking 42 percent increase in constipation, costing 1.6 billion dollars. So what’s gone wrong, and what are the medical consequences other than grunting? Constipation can be merely a chronic annoyance affecting quality of life. But Dr. John R. Hyatt, gastroenterologist at the Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano in Texas, says, “It can also result in hemorrhoids, anal tears, fissures, rectal prolapse and fecal impaction”. Fecal impaction is no fun. It occurs when a large fecal mass cannot be passed. This can...Read More
Lifestyle
Increased Activity = Greater Brain Power
What would get more people walking? This activity shows tons of health benefits. And today one person in three over the age of 85 develops Alzheimer’s disease. This statistic should get everyone out of his or her chair and walking because a report from Tufts University in Boston shows that the most active people have the largest volume of gray matter in parts of the brain typically affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Tammy Scott, at Tufts’ Neuroscience and Aging Laboratory, says, “Physical activity has consistently shown to be beneficial to brain health.” She adds, “There is increasing evidence that regular exercise lowers the risk of dementia.” Researchers report in the journal Neurology what happened to 876 people enrolled in the Northern Manhattan...Read More
Alcohol, Lifestyle, Nutrition
Why Would God Have Made Wine So Good?
Why do I like Cardinal Amand Richelieu? I’m not an expert theologian. But I remember the Cardinal was a leading character in The Three Musketeers, a ruler more powerful than the King and known as “The Red Eminence” due to his red robe. But he also enjoyed red wine. He once remarked, “If God forbade drinking, would he have made wine so good?” It appears that Jesus supported the use of alcohol. After all, he transformed water into wine. So why would a mortal like me ignore such sage teachings? Particularly, when there are more old wine drinkers than old doctors! For years I’ve told patients that if they’ve never consumed alcohol, don’t start. We know the terrible social consequences of excessive...Read More
Lifestyle, Medicine, Miscellaneous, Nutrition
Losing Weight the Asinine Way
Has the medical world gone completely insane? A new medical device called “AspireAssist” to treat obesity has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. Its approval is being studied by Health Canada. The British Medical Journal agrees with my reaction when it reported, “AspireAssist surely marks the end of civilization as we know it”. This remark sounds ominous, but it’s not about a nuclear threat. Rather, about obese people who thoroughly chow down a meal, then half an hour later physically remove one third of it! Not by inserting a tube down their throat. Instead, by an endoscopic surgical procedure in which doctors insert a pencil-sized tube into the stomach. Following the meal a pump...Read More
Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Nutrition
Are Hens An Endangered Species?
Headlines fool a lot of people. In March 1984 the cover of Time Magazine caught everyone’s attention. It read “Cholesterol, Now the Bad News”. It reported that cholesterol had been proven deadly and our diet should never be the same again. Researchers have since found little or no correlation between cholesterol in our food and our blood cholesterol. But since eggs contain more cholesterol than most other foods, hens have taken a brutal beating. So why have North American Egg Associations failed to defend hens more vigorously? And why have they ignored scientific facts about heart attack? At one point it looked like the hens were getting a welcome break. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) has since ruled that it...Read More
Gastroenterology, Lifestyle, Medicine
An Update on the Risks of Heartburn Drugs
Pogo, the cartoon character, was right when he remarked, “We have met the enemy and the enemy is us.” A report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal shows that North Americans are devouring PPIs (proton pump inhibitors). These drugs decrease the amount of hydrochloric acid in the stomach to ease heartburn. But, as always, medical consumers tend to overdo a good thing and trigger a number of unintended consequences. Numbers tell the story. A few years ago doctors prescribed PPIs, such as Prevacid, Nexium and Priosec, to over 4 million Canadians and 15 million in the U.S. Now, the number is higher as some PPIs can be obtained over-the-counter. The cost? Over 80 billion! The winners are the owners of big...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous
Keeping Well While Cruising
I should hate being at sea. In 1952, during my first trip as a young ship’s surgeon, I sailed to Germany to bring persons displaced by the war to Canada. I did not know that during the voyage I would have to remove the Captain of his command, for medical reasons. Nor did I realize how many medical problems I would encounter with 800 very ill passengers. Still, I’ve always loved being at sea. Now I’ve just returned from a cardiology seminar aboard a cruise to Alaska. During it I pondered how to keep well while cruising. First, get rid of misconceptions. Some people decide not to cruise for fear of Norovirus infection. But such infections are rare...Read More
Lifestyle, Women's Health
Wired Bras, Unwatchful Parents And Summer Tragedies
An African proverb says “There is only one kind of common sense, and 40 varieties of lunacy”. Unfortunately, this summer will again prove it right. There’s also an old song, “Summer Time and the Living is Easy”. But it’s theme can be a prelude to disaster. Every summer what’s supposed to be fun turns into a lifetime as a quadriplegic, or with other severe injuries. And it happens to all ages. It is mind-boggling that every year 1,400 children drown in wading pools!!! It could not happen if parents and grandparents were watching children every minute by the water. Women can fall victim to an unusual injury while water-skiing at high speeds. The impact of a fall is like hitting a brick...Read More
Lifestyle, Sports, Vitamins
Fight Infection like an Olympic Athlete
How hard would be the disappointment? You’ve trained for years to acquire a medal at the Rio Olympics. And then the unthinkable happens. You develop a respiratory or intestinal infection just before the event. It’s an unmitigated disaster of unparalleled proportions, never to be forgotten. So, how do Olympic athletes avoid this catastrophe? An article published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine stresses it’s not just luck that prevents infection. Rather, according to Ida Svendsen, physiologist with the Norwegian Olympic Committee, it’s attention to detail. As Leonardo Da Vinci wrote centuries ago, “Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle”. Svendsen reports that a study of 37 elite Norwegian skiers, over a nine year period, showed that those who had won...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Pain
How Readers Would Treat 42,000 Addicts
Eureka! Last week I reported it was impossible to write this column. I had asked readers to respond to how I believe 42,000 addicts on methadone should be treated. Then my computer developed terminal cancer and I thought all your responses had been lost. Fortunately, the “Geek Squad” resurrected them. From a Times Colonist reader, “Your suggestion that sending addicts to northern Canada to chop wood caught my eye. I was impressed by your research. The addicts I have known have no interest in getting off methadone and improving themselves. I say, enough of this nonsense. Why not have them chop wood? We all do some form of work to eat.” This reader then added, “I initially believed that the practice of...Read More
