Cancer
Aspirin Decreases the Risk of Several Common Cancers
Is there anything more to be said about the multiple benefits of Aspirin? After all, it's been a star for over 100 years and stars are supposed to eventually burn out. But in spite of its longevity researchers keep findings new ways that Aspirin fights common diseases. It truly is the miracle drug of the last century. Dr. Alfred I Neugut, Professor of Medicine at Columbia University in New York City, reports in the Journal of the American Medical Association that Aspirin decreases the risk of breast cancer. In particular, breast malignancies that are stimulated by the female hormone, estrogen. For this study researchers conducted interviews with 1,442 women with breast cancer and equal number of women without this disease. They discovered...Read More
Miscellaneous
What Did You Learn Last Year?
How much did you learn from this column last year? It’s always the hope of a medical journalist that at least some medical topics didn’t go in one ear and out the other. There’s the other possibility, however, of a lousy teacher. Let’s see how many of these questions you can get right. 1 - The millimeter wave machine, used in the U.S, is a safe human body scanner for airport security. But flyers should refuse to have their bodies exposed to “backscatter” devices and demand that they have a body pat down instead. 2 - The “Baby-Time Mini-Microscope Saliva Ovulation Tester” accurately predicts the best time to achieve pregnancy. But because the company is small, its product can only...Read More
Cancer, Lifestyle
The Hazards Of The Closed Car
What’s the best way this holiday season to expose your child to nicotine and the cancer-causing compounds in tobacco smoke? A report in the British Medical Association Journal says it’s very easy. Take your children for a car ride, keep the windows closed and smoke cigarettes. Dr. Patrick Breysse, a researcher at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, studied the cars of 17 smokers who commuted to work for 30 minutes or longer. He reports that nicotine concentrations were 50 percent higher than those found in restaurants and bars that permitted smoking. And that for each cigarette smoked in the car there was a doubling of the airborne nicotine concentration. This finding shouldn’t be shocking. After all, the car’s...Read More
Gynecology, Infection
The Many Different Faces of Infection
For centuries infection has been a major killer. Then several years ago it appeared that antibiotics had largely eradicated this menace. But unexpectedly the AIDS virus struck with a vengeance. Now scientists are linking infection to peptic ulcers, heart attack and cancer. So how can you protect yourself and your family from these serious illnesses? In 1984 an Australian physician, Barry Marshall, decided to prove that his theory of infection was right. He drank a bacteria laced concoction to show that it was bacteria, not stress, that caused peptic ulcers. Subsequent studies confirmed that most ulcers are infected with a bacterium called H. pylori. But here’s a problem. About half the people over 60 years of age have H. pylori in their...Read More
Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Nutrition
A Quiz: What’s The Latest Low Carb Product?
How many readers can answer this question? What kills more North Americans than anything else? I’d bet many would answer heart disease or cancer. Authorities claim heart disease is the number one killer. But I’m convinced that calories are the main culprit killing millions of overweight North Americans. Today, let’s see if the following clues help you name the latest low carb product to combat the high-calorie diet. The answer may surprise you. The first clue; this product contains no hidden sugar, a huge benefit for our sweet-loving society. Today, it’s easy to consume sugar without knowing it. For instance, how many are aware that a 10 ounce cola drink contains eight teaspoons of sugar, or realize the...Read More
Alternate Treatments
Rx: Ha Ha
A Russian youth, a member of the Siberian Ski patrol, arrived home after guarding the frontier for several months. He was asked by a TV interviewer, “What do you do first on arriving home after being away for so long?” He replied, “I make love to my wife.” The interviewer replied, “I understand that as you’ve been away a long time. But what do you do next?” The young man replied, “I make love to my wife again.” “Yes”, the frustrated interviewer continued, “but then what do you do?” The young Russian replied, “Oh, I take off my skis.” Some readers may be thinking, “Don’t sell the farm if you plan to be a comedian.” But I do hope that at...Read More
Gynecology, Women's Health
“Gifford-Jones, They Don’t Want To Hear That!”
Several years ago a friend asked if I’d talk to a women’s organization about breast cancer, how mammography could detect malignancy in its early stages. But when I gave her a short version of what I intended to say, she remarked, “But they would not like to hear that!” End of the talk. So what do women not want to hear? Anytime I’ve questioned the use of mammography, it’s been like damning motherhood and apple pie. Now, a blue ribbon panel of experts reports that women under 50 years of age should not have mammograms. And that postmenopausal women should submit to this procedure only every two or three years, rather than annually. The blunt fact is that if mammography had been...Read More
Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Nutrition
A Natural Remedy for
How often do you feel guilty about cheating, not during a card or golf game or trying to pay less income tax, but time and again feeling guilty about cheating on how much you eat? Since readers are always asking me for more natural ways to treat medical problems, here’s one to decrease guilt on cheat-eating days. It’s so easy to “cheat eat”, particularly on special occasions. How often do you consider that there are 14 teaspoons of sugar in a piece of cherry pie? Or, have the willpower to say no to the huge amount of calories on the table? So is it possible to cheat and not gain weight when facing a meal that is impossible to resist? The...Read More
Vitamins
What You Don’t Know About Magnesium
“Doctor, am I taking enough or too much calcium?” It’s a question I’m often asked by patients. But I can’t recall a single instance when a patient has asked the same question about magnesium. It’s ironic as studies show that many North Americans are not obtaining sufficient amounts of this important mineral. In some cases this can be a fatal error. Now there’s a simple, natural way to prevent this. Calcium has always enjoyed star status for good reason. Without sufficient calcium bones develop osteoporosis in which a minor fall, or a big hug, can snap a bone. But few realize that magnesium is required for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. For instance a magnesium deficiency can result in...Read More
Cardiovascular, Obesity, Pediatrics
Niagara’s Grass Roots Approach Targets Childhood Obesity
What will it take to eliminate the current obesity epidemic in children? There’s no easy answer and every year children are putting on more pounds. So why not try a new approach? The one veteran politicians use to get elected, the grass roots approach? This is what Dr. Stafford Dobbin, a wily Irishman and family physician, decided to try in the Niagara Region. It should set a standard for the nation. Dr. Dobbin, graduate of Queen’s University in Belfast, and a family doctor, has a hero. He’s Professor Frank Pantridge, a cardiologist in Belfast, who invented the cardiac ambulance. Pantridge was the first to realize that if ambulances carried defibrillators, countless lives of coronary victims would be saved in Northern Ireland...Read More
Cancer
The Devil You Know? Or The One You Do not Know?
Lately many of the e-mails I’ve received have been from men. Why?” Because a panel of U.S. experts recently reported that healthy men should say “No” to the PSA test that diagnoses prostate cancer. To many this is like damning motherhood and apple pie as thousands of men routinely get this test every year. Several cancer specialists in Canada have openly criticized this report. They argue that the PSA test, although not perfect, does save lives. But the U.S. panel claims it has no significant effect on the number of deaths, and often the end result is serious complications from treatment. So who is right? ...Read More
Heroin, Miscellaneous, Pain
Who Says That Heroin is an Illegal Painkiller?
The Globe and Mail was wrong in a recent column about the insite heroin clinic in Vancouver, when it stated that heroin was an illegal drug. Its editors have forgotten that when I wrote for The Globe and Mail, I spent thousands of dollars placing ads in the newspaper during a campaign to legalize heroin. And that Jake Epp, The Minister of Health, announced on Dec 4, 1984 that heroin would be legalized to treat terminal cancer pain. But what happened after that? Obituary columns daily report that loved ones “passed away peacefully”. But this is a downright lie. Most people still die in pain. More palliative care centers are desperately needed in this country. In 1979 I wrote that English doctors had...Read More
Lifestyle
PGX Fiber Fights Obesity
What’s the best way to fight the battle of the bulge? It’s not by buying books or starting fad diets that rarely work. Rather, it’s shocking that most people are unaware of the huge role fiber plays in combating obesity. Now there’s an easy, natural way to lose weight by adding PGX fiber to the daily menu. Several years ago I wrote that there was a simple way to determine if patients were consuming sufficient fiber. Just look at their stools. If they failed to float, or were not as soft as toothpaste, these patients were lacking fiber. Some readers accused me of giving them a stiff neck trying to...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Cardiovascular, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Genitourinary, Infection, Nutrition
How NEO40 Fights Multiple Health Problems
Feeling tired? Falling asleep in the afternoon? Losing your keys or interest in sex? Are you concerned about cardiovascular disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, diabetes and its complications? Or want to limit the pain and swelling of arthritis, calm the inflammation of asthma and assist the immune system in fighting infection? If so, you may need a new revolutionary natural remedy NEO40 to increase your level of nitric oxide (N0). My initial reaction to this news was, “It’s too good to be true!”. But three researchers received the prestigious Nobel Prize for this discovery. Louise J. Ignarro, one of the prize winners, says, “There may be no disease process where this miracle molecule does not have a protective role.” Dr. Nathan S....Read More
Miscellaneous, Surgery
The Best Time to Have an Operation
A report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal says it’s much safer to time your sickness. If not, there is a good risk of ending up with inferior medical care. So when should you get ill? And what is the prime time to have an operation? Jesse Gruman, president of the Washington, DC. based non-profit Center for Advancing Health, says, “Anybody who’s been in hospital knows that it’s a kind of banker’s hours after six o’clock. You feel really vulnerable if something happens at night because of the sparseness and responsiveness of the night staff.” But is this also a problem in Canada? Dr. David Wilson, president of the Canadian Society of Hospital Medicine, isn’t reassuring. He says, “In comparison with...Read More
Genitourinary, Pain
Think Twice About Hernia Surgery
A reader asks, “Is it necessary to get a hernia repaired quickly?” The time-honoured tradition has always been to fix it. But is this approach always the right one? Or is “tincture of time”, namely watchful waiting, the best way to treat this common condition? A hernia is a protrusion of bowel through a weak spot in the abdominal wall near the groin. But there is no sexual fairness in this condition. As one of my surgical professors used to say, “Sometimes you get the big brown egg”. In this case the egg goes to men, as 90 percent of hernias occur in males. In the past, surgeons believed that failing to return the bowel to its natural location inside the abdomen was...Read More
Orthopedics, Pain
Billie Jean Says So. Really?
Sir Willam Osler, former professor of medicine at McGill and John Hopkins Universities once remarked, “A doctor does not fully understand a disease until he suffers from it.” Due to a recent illness I couldn’t agree more. During Arthritis Month, I wrote a column about osteoarthritis, how it is possible to decrease the risk by losing weight, taking vitamin C to manufacture collagen, the major component of cartilage, and using your two legs to pump nutrients into damaged cartilage. It’s ironic that a few weeks later I suddenly developed increased pain in one hip. Then one morning I could hardly walk, even with the help of a cane. Osler was right. You have to experience pain to know how...Read More
Lifestyle
There is More to Boston than Baked Beans
This fall the mention of Boston brings the Stanley Cup to mind. But there’s more to Boston than hockey and baked beans. I recently visited 711Washington Street in downtown Boston. Why? Because it’s the address of the world’s largest research center on nutrition and aging. 300 scientists there are studying a disease that affects everyone, Sarcopenia. No whiz kid in Latin, I assumed the name was a Latin word. My wife informed me it’s Greek, meaning “poverty of flesh”. (It’s wise to marry a smart woman). Today everyone fears cancer, heart attack or Alzheimer’s Disease as they age. But it’s also important to think about the poverty of flesh, a slow creeping fragility that robs people of their independence. If you...Read More
Miscellaneous, Pain
BioSil: The Natural Way to Prevent and Treat Fragile Bones
What causes the holes in Swiss cheese? I’m sure the Swiss know the answer, but I don’t. But I do know what makes holes in bones, causing osteoporosis. Today millions of North Americans are taking prescription drugs to treat this devastating disease. But there’s a safer, natural remedy, BioSil tm, to prevent “holey” bones. The figures are frightening. Studies show that one in four women and one in eight men over age 50 have osteoporosis. And with an aging population we can expect more cases in the years ahead. Who develops this crippling disease depends on several factors. Genetics plays a role in certain families. So does being thin, small boned and of white or Asian ancestry. Smokers, those who take three...Read More
Vitamins
Think You Know Everything About Arthritis?
It’s arthritis month and millions of North Americans are suffering from osteoarthritis, the wear and tear type, associated with aging. Why does this happen, and why does one remedy never hit the headlines? A French professor started his class by saying, “This has been said before, but must be said again, because no one listened.” So it must be said again about osteoarthritis because not enough people listened! An aphorism states, “If you keep going to hell, you’ll eventually get there.” Millions of people eventually get to an arthritic hell because they’re obese. How can anyone not expect to develop painful hips and knees when they are subjected day after day to 50 or more extra pounds of stress?...Read More
Lifestyle, Medicine
Act Like Animals To Save Your Kidneys
Who are the master chemists that control water balance in our bodies, keep the blood neither too acid nor alkaline, rid us of dangerous waste, filter every drop of blood in our bodies every 30 minutes and weigh a mere five ounces? They’re our kidneys. But millions of North Americans are so abusing this vital organ that their lives depend solely on renal dialysis. What lethal mistakes are they making? History provides much of the answer. Fifty years ago in Australia, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries, people developed a bad habit. They were using mixtures of Aspirin, codeine, phenacetin and caffeine, not only for pain relief, but also for their mood-altering qualities. In fact, at watch factories in Switzerland, workers were...Read More
Lifestyle, Sports
MRSA Infections: Razor Blades on the Floor
So you’ve decided to get into shape and join the local health club? No one can fault that idea. But remember, there are pluses and minuses to most things in life, including health clubs, that result in unintended consequences. Health clubs by necessity have a large number of hot, perspiring, less than clean bodies. So you don’t need to be an infectious disease specialist to know there’s potential infection everywhere. This means that precautionary measures must be taken seriously by the health club, its clients and, particularly, you. It’s hard to decipher the brains of some people. For instance, a female patient of mine stopped going to a fitness center in downtown Toronto. She was tired of repeatedly finding used...Read More
Nutrition
Styrofoam Popcorn and How to Trick a Bartender
Why do people eat more than they should? You say you’ve heard all the reasons? But I bet you’re dead wrong. Why? It’s because a report in The Nutrition Action Health Letter is written by a marketing expert, not a doctor. As well, there’s a way to get rid of unwelcome dinner guests, and trick a bartender. Brian Wansink, Professor of Marketing at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, directs the Food and Brand Lab. He asks people “When was the last time you ate to the point of regretting it?” He follows that with, “Why did you do it?” He receives the usual answers, “It was a tough day” or “I was depressed” etc, etc. But most replied...Read More
Cardiovascular
Surgery for Swinging-Door Heart Valves
What do the swinging doors of a western movie have to do with mitral valve surgery? They’re the easiest way to describe what’s wrong with the heart’s valves and what surgical procedure is needed to correct mitral valve prolapse (MVP). To get a first-hand look I watched Dr. Tirone David, one the world’s great cardiac surgeons, perform this operation at the Toronto General Hospital. The mitral valve separates the two left chambers of the heart. Each time the heart beats the valves open, like the swinging doors of a western saloon. But after opening they firmly close while the heart pumps blood to the body. The problem is that swinging doors of saloons often develop loose rusty hinges which don’t close well....Read More
Cancer, Dermatology
When In Doubt, Cut it Out
“Is it a benign mole or a malignant melanoma?” you wonder. This is an important question as the number of cases of melanoma continues to increase. It’s shocking that the incidence of new cases is now greater than the combined number of breast, lung, prostate and large bowel cancers. So how can you prevent dying from this disease? Rudyard Kipling, the English novelist, gave some sound advice when he wrote, “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun”. Too much sun exposure is the cause of many melanomas. Remember that if your shadow is shorter than you, it’s time to get out of the sun. Dr. Allan Halpern, chief of dermatology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York...Read More
