Miscellaneous, Neurology
Shaking: An Annoyance or Parkinson’s Disease?
It’s fair to say, these are shaky times! In keeping with the rocky ride of 2020, have you noticed your hands shaking lately? Are you having trouble tying your shoes, signing your name, or embarrassed that the glass your holding is shaking? You think of those suffering from Parkinson’s disease. And you wonder if you are experiencing first signs of this trouble. Parents may also have concerns if their child has shaky hand movements. A report from the University of California says that a condition called essential tremor can occur in young children and young adults. This problem increases with age. At around age 60, about 5% of people notice a slight tremor. Another study states that about 1% of the...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Vitamins
What’s the Best Approach to Natural Supplements?
Readers of this column know, the Gifford-Jones natural health philosophy is built on the premise that the medical establishment should not be your first stop for staying healthy. Doctors are best as a last resort. Tragic bad luck aside, your first defense should be Mother Nature in combination with good lifestyle choices. But what does this mean as you age? Natural supplements are low-cost and widely available, but they are not marketed with the same multimillion-dollar budgets as most pharmaceutical drugs. So a good starting point is to adopt common sense. Unless your doctor has a strong rationale for putting you on drugs, and a plan to get you off them, you should ask more questions and do more homework. Have you,...Read More
Philosophy
Why Do Health Inequities Persist?
There’s an old adage that “when white folks catch a cold, black folks get pneumonia.” The COVID-19 epidemic has made it deadly clear. Throughout North America, wherever data is tracked, people of African heritage have higher coronavirus infection rates, higher death rates of COVID-19, and are carrying an inequitable burden of many other diseases to boot. In 1984, the US Department of Health and Human Services commissioned the Heckler Report, a landmark study of racial and ethnic minority health. Heckler declared the lack of progress on racial injustice and health care was an “affront to our ideals and to the genius of American medicine.” Since then, very little has changed. For instance, research studies to this day still identify Black populations as...Read More
Cancer, Radiation
Did Radiation Protect President Carter from Pancreatic Cancer?
What do former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Gifford-Jones have in common? They were both born the same year and have remarkable staying power! But Carter has lived under the shadow of pancreatic cancer all his life. His father, brother, and two sisters died of this disease and his mother also suffered from it. Carter has also lived through metastatic melanoma, a skin cancer that had spread to his liver and brain. How did he do it? Rod Adams, an atomic energy expert, has said that moderate radiation exposure may have helped to protect the former president from developing pancreatic cancer. During the nuclear meltdown at Chalk River in 1952, Carter was a naval officer working on the secret nuclear program. He...Read More
Alcohol
During the Pandemic Are We Drinking Too Much Chardonnay?
Winston Churchill, Great Britain’s wartime Prime Minister, once remarked that, “he had gotten more out of alcohol than alcohol had taken out of him.” During the Nazi bombing of London perhaps an alcoholic drink eased his tension. But recent reports from Tufts University in Boston and the University of California, question the increased use of alcohol during this viral pandemic. So, should we cut back on glasses of Chardonnay? How much has the viral pandemic affected us? According to a Nielsen report, alcohol sales in the U.S. increased by 55% in March 2020. In China, where the infection started, sales of alcohol increased twofold. When we drink alcohol, enzymes in the liver break down the alcohol molecule creating a compound called, acetaldehyde....Read More
Alternate Treatments, Gastroenterology
Unripe Apples Protect from Threat of a Fatty Liver
Worried about having too many alcoholic drinks during the coronavirus pandemic? Think you’re on the way to liver cirrhosis? If so, think again and wonder whether you are instead developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). It can lead to cirrhosis and possibly liver cancer. A report from the University of California says NAFLD is now the most common liver disorder in North America. So how do unripe apples decrease the risk of this growing threat? Today, it’s estimated that worldwide 25 percent of adults have NAFLD. And if you are obese, nine out of ten obese people, suffer from this condition. Researchers report that between 2000 and 2010 liver cancer associated with NAFLD soared tenfold. The result? It’s fast becoming the...Read More
Infection, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous
Go Ahead and Catch the Travel Bug
William Shakespeare wrote, “In the night, imagining some fear, how easy is a bush supposed a bear!” For many families having lost loved ones to the coronavirus, this has been a devastating year. The death numbers are broadcast relentlessly. Small wonder people have become paranoid about travelling. But does this anxiety make sense? Normally airports are chaotic and unpleasant. Joyless crowds stand toe-to-toe in long lineups through insufferable screenings and baggage checks, only to be herded like sheep onto cramped planes. But now could be the best time to travel. Airports are not crowded and much cleaner. Some flights leave the middle seat empty – a welcome move. Skeptics worry about contact with the coronavirus while seated for hours breathing shared air on...Read More
Gastroenterology
How healthy is your poop?
Research for this column won’t qualify us for the Nobel Prize in Medicine. In fact, readers may say that discussing whether poop sinks or floats is just idle conversation. Years ago, when this column covered this topic, many readers admitted they peeked into the toilet bowl. One complained this triggered a stiff neck! But what you see in the toilet bowel exposes a lot about your health. It’s worth a peek. It’s well known that the North American diet is too low in fiber. In the 1950s, D.P. Burkett, a British surgeon and epidemiologist, reported that Africans, unlike the English, had large bulky stools and didn’t suffer from constipation, diverticulitis (small hernias in the large bowel), appendicitis or colon cancer. His...Read More
Lungs, Neurology
Do We All Need Respiratory Masks?
Will the so-called progress of civilization eventually destroy us? Indigenous Peoples, hundreds of years ago, did not devastate nature the way we do today. Oceans are loaded with plastics and soil with dangerous contaminants. Now, is the air we breathe gradually destroying our brains? A report published in Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences has grim news. We’ve known for decades that breathing in dirty air damages lungs. But research now reveals that long-term exposure to particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide is linked to decreased brain function. The lungs are a vital gateway to the body. Their surface area is the size of a tennis court and during a 24-hour period we breathe in 10,000 liters of air. The World...Read More
Surgery
When Is the Right Time for Knee Replacement?
Ask a comedian, tennis player, or chef, what’s important in their work. They will tell you, it’s timing. Every year 1,200,000 knees are replaced in North America. And just as comedians need good timing, so too this elective surgery. If COVID-19 concerns have you delaying treatment, you may want to think again. Researchers at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University report in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery that many people are getting it wrong. Their eight-year study involved 8002 patients aged 45 to 79 who were at risk of osteoarthritis. Assessing patients for knee replacement involves consideration of age, severity of symptoms, and what x-rays show of knee damage. Researchers found that 90% of people with knee osteoarthritis...Read More
Lifestyle, Sports
What Are the Benefits of Walking?
Dr. Paul Dudley White, former Professor of Cardiology at the Harvard Medical School, used to ride his bike to class even in his later years. He remarked, “If you want to see how good your brain is, feel your leg muscles!” Biking may not be for everyone, but research shows the simple act of walking is tremendously good for you. Stronger brain and leg muscles are just the beginning. If COVID has got you hunkered down, you’d do well to get out in fresh air for a daily walk. Metabolic benefits A study in Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology reports that a brisk walk can decrease the risk of hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease just as much as running....Read More
Genitourinary
Treat Your One Million Nephrons With TLC
Why don’t we learn from history? Years ago, Australians began to use mixtures of powders containing Aspirin, codeine, phenacetin and caffeine to ease pain. By the 1970s, 25% of those dying of kidney disease had consumed too much of this powder. They also suffered hardening of arteries (atherosclerosis) and heart attack. Now, Dr. Richard Glassock, Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, says that more than half of North Americans over 75 have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Kidneys, he says, need tender loving care (TLC) to avoid this avoidable common problem. One must never forget the wise counsel of Sir William Osler who remarked, “The one thing that separates man from animals is man’s desire to take...Read More
Infection
Hepatitis C Is Silent Like the Fog
It’s a shame when you are slowly dying from a disease you don’t know you have. To boot, what a tragedy if there is a cure. Yet this ignorance is a reality for many aging boomers who don’t know that they are infected with the hepatitis C virus. For these unfortunate people, their health exists in a state of fog, when it could be all sunshine and roses. Anyone can contract hepatitis C. Infection occurs through transmission of tainted blood. It’s rare to be infected today through the healthcare system, as we’ve gotten much better at screening blood products and of course sterilizing medical equipment. Today, it is likely the reuse of injection needles by users of street drugs that leads...Read More
Vitamins
Vitamin D to Survive the Pandemic
An effective vaccine against the coronavirus may be the only way to end the pandemic. Wouldn’t we all love a return to social normalcy and easier sleep? But until scientists deliver a vaccine, or until the virus runs its course and goes away, we need to use other measures. Among them, medical authorities should be sharing more information with the public about natural ways to build up immunity against viral infections. Vitamin D is one of the crucial components of your immune system. Many people are deficient in it, but perhaps because there are no headlines about it, some people don’t seem to care. Now, a report in the Irish Medical Journal says it’s vital to have the right amount of...Read More
Infection, Vitamins
How Safe Is It To Send Your Child Back To School?
Parents are wondering if it’s safe to send children back to school when so many are still becoming infected with coronavirus. What are the factors to consider? And what can parents do to help ensure children are protected? The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reports the academic, physical, and mental benefits of in-person learning outweigh coronavirus risks. Negative impacts on children during school closures include social isolation, substance abuse, depression and suicidal ideation. In fact, the detrimental effects of children missing out on school are well known, even before COVID-19. Millions of youngsters around the world suffer lifelong social and economic consequences when lacking access to quality education. But when it’s our children, the list of negatives grows longer by the hour...Read More
Nutrition
How Safe and Nutritious Are Stored Canned Goods?
Are you sufficiently prepared for another crisis? What might possibly be the next disaster? You might argue, we are not yet out of the mess of the current one. And this should have us all thinking about keeping stock of essential supplies. Have you got the things you need? Hopefully not guns to protect your toilet paper! More importantly, what about canned foods? How nutritious are they compared to fresh produce? How long do they last stored under the bed? And when can they kill you? Even without a pandemic it’s prudent to have a supply of canned goods. Remember the last snowstorm, flood, or natural disaster, when it was too dangerous to get to a store or no power to...Read More
Dental, Infection
Is It Now Safe to Visit the Dentist?
Visiting the dentist is rarely a high priority, even in the best of times. We can always find reasons for delay. But what level of coronavirus threat should justify more waiting? There is increasing concern that all these closures of “non-essential” healthcare service providers may, in some cases, be doing more harm than good. There’s serious concern regarding delays in some cancer treatments. And some heart attack victims have also been delayed in getting help until it is too late. However, it’s understandable that non-emergency dental care has been on hold. As time goes by though, we must heed the importance of a regular dental cleaning and check-up. And many will need more involved dental work. So as dental offices reopen, how...Read More
Cancer
Physical Activity Decreases Risk of Seven Cancers
Is physical activity good for you? During COVID times, it might be prudent to avoid cramped, indoor gyms. But outdoor activity in open spaces is invariably a healthy choice. We know that getting off the couch and out for a walk helps prevent obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and heart attacks. And good news! A recent report from the American Cancer Society says exercise also lowers the risk of seven types of cancers. Dr. Charles Matthews of the National Cancer Institute in the U.S. pooled data from nine studies about how leisure-time activity affects 15 types of cancer. His results should act as a huge incentive to get people of all ages moving. Matthews and his colleagues report that those who engaged in...Read More
Infection, Lifestyle
Can Flushing the Toilet Spread the Virus?
Why do so many people leave the toilet seat up all the time? After all, it’s not the most attractive display object. Now, convincing medical evidence confirms we should cover the potty before flushing. Researchers at Yangzhou University in China utilized computer modeling to show that flushing toilets does not keep all viruses and water in the bowl. They report in the journal Physics of Fluids that spray can fly as high as three feet! Ji-Xiang Wang, one of the researchers, added that the velocity of the spray could be even higher at public toilets. Readers will understand that researching toilet seats has not been high priority for this column. But years ago, a female reader triggered curiosity about potties. She wrote,...Read More
Cardiovascular, Diabetes, Obesity
How Apples Work for Your Waist
As this long period of isolation eases, are you noticing your friends and neighbours have put on weight around their middles? How unfortunate it is if the coronavirus crisis piles on additional chronic health problems for individuals and society due to weight gain, or what has come to be known as metabolic syndrome. The World Health Organization defines metabolic syndrome as a new non-communicable disease characterized by abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, and high blood fats. To make the diagnosis, doctors measure the waistline, blood pressure, and glucose, triglyceride, and cholesterol levels. The risk of metabolic syndrome is a progression to Type 2 diabetes. The prescription to avert this preventable disease is to lose the extra weight through exercise...Read More
Philosophy
What Needs to Change for Society’s Health?
This week, the second of a two-part column. Last week W. Gifford-Jones shared his perspective on race relations and health and this week are the view of his daughter, Diana Gifford-Jones. Last week’s column focused on how racial and gender inequities can impact medical access, diagnosis, treatment and follow up – even when the health professional involved is deliberately intending to offer high quality care equally to every patient. Implicit bias, built on unconscious racial and gender judgments, continue to shape the medical care people receive. But it is not just the healthcare system that determines our health. It is every other aspect of society as well. Where we live. Where we work. How much we earn. How much our food costs. ...Read More
Philosophy
Does Your Doctor Have Harmful Bias?
This week, the first of a two-part column – this week from W. Gifford-Jones and next week from Diana Gifford-Jones – offering our perspectives on race relations and health. Racial inequities have been a sore on society for as long as I remember. During my youth, racism was endemic, systematic and blatant. Two occasions stand out from my time at Harvard Medical School, where I had two black classmates. One lived in Atlanta, and when planning a road trip to Florida, I said I’d drop by to see him. He replied, “Don’t do it. This will cause trouble for me.” On another occasion, travelling by train to Boston, I asked a black student to join me for lunch. He replied, “I’m...Read More
Infection
Lyme Disease – The Black-Legged Tick Can be Deadly
What a relief to be outside after being isolated by the coronavirus. But beware! Warmer weather means that ticks are in the woods around you. Or even in your own back yard. A report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal shows, a tick bite can trigger diverse and deadly consequences. One case involved a 37-year-old man complaining of flu symptoms, fever, sore throat and joint pain. He had been in a tick-infested area several weeks earlier but did not recall a tick bite. His doctor diagnosed a viral infection and the patient improved. Weeks later heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and chest pains sent him to the emergency room. There was no evidence of the typical tick rash. But an ECG showed...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Cardiovascular, Diabetes
Artificial Intelligence to Help Avert Blindness
How can doctors diagnose and treat 425 million worldwide diabetes patients? That number keeps going up and up, projected to reach 700 million by 2045. There are millions more with undiagnosed prediabetes. Add more millions with undiagnosed hypertension. All these people are destined to lives defined by cardiovascular problems and complications that include debilitating conditions like blindness. Diabetes is swamping healthcare systems worldwide. Let us be clear: whatever we have been doing to fight the problem, it is not working. But now, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is offering new possibilities. Using new technologies, data science, vast quantities of medical images, and computer algorithms, it is possible to fight diseases differently. The medical model of a patient and a doctor is outdated. We...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Dermatology, Pain
What You Should Know About Light Therapy
What could you do if you sprained your ankle during the COVID-19 pandemic? Or if you suffer a bad cut? You may feel that the last place you want to visit these days is a hospital. But do you have options? Maybe it’s time to learn more about light therapy. It’s sometimes called low-level laser therapy or low-intensity light therapy. And with one of the many portable devices available on the market, you can safely treat yourself at home. So, what should you know about this therapy as you get older and invariably develop various aches, pains, injuries and infections? Dr. Mary Dyson, Emeritus Professor at King’s College, University of London, England, is an international expert on wound healing. She reports...Read More
