Firstly let’s try to give you an understanding of what AMD is? The macula is a small area at the very centre of the retina. Sometimes the delicate cells of the macula become damaged and stop working, and there are many different conditions which can cause this. If it occurs later in life, it is called “age-related macular degeneration”, also often known as AMD.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of macular degeneration or AMD, usually referred to as “wet” and “dry”. This is not a description of what the eye feels like but what the ophthalmologist (eye specialist) can see when looking at the macula.
“Dry” AMD is the most common form of the condition. It develops very slowly causing gradual loss of central vision. Many people find that vision slowly deteriorates by gradual central blurring, and that the colours fade away like the colours fading in an old photograph. There is no medical treatment for this type. However, aids such as magnifiers can be helpful with reading and other small detailed tasks.
This is a beautiful video with a very strong message – please take the time to review it and take action. You can also view directly online at http://www.grammasintl.com/html/charity/charity__jhih.asp
Posted 2 years, 2 months ago at 10:24 am. Add a comment
If you ever feel tempted to go for a burger, fries and a soft drink, consider this: along with the fast food, you are ordering up an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity. But the opposite is true, too. According to a new University of Florida (UF) study, if you stay away from processed and fast foods and instead eat a lot of veggies, nuts and fruits, you will actively be helping to prevent or reverse harmful metabolic processes in your body. The result? Better health and a slimmer body.
An important advantage to having plant-based foods as an abundant part of your daily diet appears to result from the phytochemicals they contain. As noted in the UF findings recently published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, these natural substances prevent oxidative stress — a process linked to being overweight and to the onset of diseases including heart disease and diabetes. Phytochemicals include lycopene from tomatoes, isoflavones from soy, beta carotene from carrots, anthocyanins from blueberries, allicin from garlic, and many more.
This article is long and technical but in essence if you value your health then you probably need to be taking food rich in Vitamin D or a supplement with high levels of Vitamin D. For a list of foods with Vitamin D please register for our updates. WE will be publishing a list of Vitamin D rich foods and a list of the best supplements in the next few days.
A clinical observation published in April 2000 in the Archives of Internal Medicine caught my attention. Dr. Anu Prabhala and his colleagues reported on the treatment of five patients confined to wheelchairs with severe weakness and fatigue. Blood tests revealed that all suffered from severe vitamin D deficiency. The patients received 50,000 IU vitamin D per week and all became mobile within six weeks.
Dr. Prabhala’s research sparked my interest and led to a search for current information on vitamin D, how it works, how much we really need and how we get it. The following is a small part of the important information that I found.
Any discussion of vitamin D must begin with the discoveries of the Canadian-born dentist Weston A. Price. In his masterpiece Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Dr. Price noted that the diet of isolated, so-called “primitive” peoples contained “at least ten times” the amount of “fat-soluble vitamins” as the standard American diet of his day. Dr. Price determined that it was the presence of plentiful amounts of fat-soluble vitamins A and D in the diet, along with calcium, phosphorus and other minerals, that conferred such high immunity to tooth decay and resistance to disease in non-industrialized population groups. Continue Reading…
Posted 2 years, 2 months ago at 7:30 pm. Add a comment
Much of the talk in the last few months has been about a swine flu vaccines and the after effects and side effects. An area that has been ignored is the long feared possible mutation of H1N1 with another virus leading to a nightmare scenario. Just this week I’ve become aware of a potential problem in the Ukraine.
The hitherto mild symptoms associated with H1N1 may have been replaced by what appears to be a mutated virus that actually seems to be killing many people. The virus is still under examination here in the UK and I’m hopeful that the results will be made public later this week.
The sad thing is that none of the treatments currently being purchased by governments at a cost of billions of dollars are either appropriate or effective. TamiFlu and other post infection treatments are seemingly ineffective and because this may be mutated virus it is highly likely that the vaccine that has been purchased will be completely ineffective.
There are however some very simple things that we can do to improve the performance of our immune system:
increase vitamin D. intake to something in the regional 5000
In the 1930s comic strip “Popeye,” Olive Oil was portrayed as a skinny weakling, a perpetual damsel in distress who couldn’t survive without her Popeye coming to the rescue. But in the health world, olive oil is no nutritional weakling.
Besides being one of the best sources to go to for a healthy dose of monounsaturated fat – a key nutrient for lowering cholesterol levels – olive oil is something of a medical marvel. It’s always been known as a healthy oil, but only recently have we come to know just what it is specifically about olive oil that makes it so darn healthy.
For starters, olive oil – particularly extra virgin olive oil – is very high in antioxidants, one in particular called DHPEA-EDA. When researchers exposed red blood cells under oxidative stress to this and other antioxidants, they found that the DHPEA-EDA provided the best “stress-alleviation,” if you will, fighting off the free radicals to a greater extent than the three other antioxidant compounds used in the study.
Writing in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, the researchers say their findings give nutritionists the first glimpse of what makes olive oil so medically marvelous. But a new study linking extra virgin olive oil to Alzheimer’s disease prevention suggests there’s even more to olive oil than meets the eye.
It’s called oleocanthal, and it’s a natural compound found in rich supply in extra virgin olive oil. Some say oleocanthal is what gives olive oil its “peppery bite,” but the only bite researchers were recently concerned with was whether it could take a bite out of Alzheimer’s disease.
The answer? You bet it can!
Writing in the journal Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, researchers said the oleocanthal in olive oil binds to toxic proteins that clog the synapses on the hippocampus, which is the first sign of Alzheimer’s disease onset. The hippocampus is the section of the brain that’s most adversely affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
Now, this study was not clinical, but researchers believe that future studies investigating olive oil’s ties to Alzheimer’s prevention will include humans. In the meantime, if history is any guide, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if yet another study comes out pointing to yet another aspect of olive oil that makes it so medically marvelous.
It is generally recommended that people consume about two tablespoons worth of olive oil for maximum health benefit. And to reap the benefits of as many antioxidants as possible, purchase extra virgin olive oil, being sure to store it in an area that’s not well lit. A study published in New Scientist found that extra virgin olive oils lost at least 30 percent of their antioxidant content after one year of storage in a well-lit area.
Posted 2 years, 2 months ago at 8:42 am. Add a comment
This report, while very sad for the family, is hardly unexpected. Please think very seriously about the risks, that we are often not told about, associated with the swine flu vaccine. Remember there are many alternatives that support, rather than stress, the immune system.
Boy diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, but CDC says no clear link
By JoNel Aleccia
Health writer
updated 3:06 p.m. CT, Wed., Nov . 11, 2009
A 14-year-old Virginia boy is weak and struggling to walk after coming down with a reported case of Guillain-Barre syndrome within hours after receiving the H1N1 vaccine for swine flu.
Jordan McFarland, a high school athlete from Alexandria, VA., left Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children Tuesday night in a wheelchair nearly a week after developing severe headaches, muscle spasms and weakness in his legs following a swine flu shot. He will likely need the assistance of a walker for four to six weeks, plus extensive physical therapy. Continue Reading…
Posted 2 years, 2 months ago at 8:44 am. 1 comment
Generally speaking, herbal remedies should not be used by children under 12 years old unless under physician guidance (or children’s dose stated clearly on herbal product).
For mild ailments such as colds and infections – echinacea may be used (follow dose directions). Use should be restricted to several weeks.
In all cases the family physician should be notified of any herbals being used by child.
Considering the safety and toxicity issues around herbal remedies as relevant to children, it is clear that recent UK research reveals that herbal treatment for children has dramatically increased.
Question: I work in a school and regularly pick up respiratory infections through the winter, what can I do to avoid this?
The answer is three-fold – firstly wash your hands a lot, next boost your immune system with vitamin C and Echinacea tincture, then add an extra layer of protection with a barrier throat spray.
Hand washing throughout the day has been shown to significantly reduce the spread of infections. Throughout the day you accumulate germs on your hands from a variety of sources, such as direct contact with people, contaminated surfaces and foods. If you don’t wash your hands frequently enough, you can infect yourself with these germs by touching your eyes, nose or mouth. And you can spread these germs to others by touching them or by touching surfaces that they also touch, such as doorknobs.
Infectious diseases commonly spread through hand-to-hand contact include the common cold, flu and several gastrointestinal disorders, such as infectious diarrhoea. While most people will get over a cold, the flu is much more serious. Some people with the flu, particularly older adults and people with chronic medical problems, can develop pneumonia. The combination of the flu and pneumonia is a serious condition which can lead to death in the elderly. Continue Reading…
Posted 2 years, 3 months ago at 3:18 pm. Add a comment
In answer to a question asked the other day about how to soften arteries we thought this might be helpful.
Hardening of the arteries or Arteriosclerosis (Atherosclerosis is a specific name given to the condition caused by arterial plaque) (also known as Arteriosclerotic Vascular Disease or ASVD) is the condition in which an artery wall thickens as the result of a build-up of fatty materials such as cholesterol.
The medical fraternity use these long names to help them describe what they are talking about but sadly we commoners (some would call us patients) don’t understand what the names really mean and we begin to be disconnected from our health.
The arteries need to be elastic to ensure good blood flow and through years of poor diet and a lack of exercise they become less flexible.
At first sight cholesterol seems to be the culprit – but in actual reality it is just an easy target that facilitates the sale of drugs that can artificially lower the levels in the blood stream. The question that arises from that is should be using these products in the first place. For more on this engaging debate some of the best evidence is presented by NASAs Dr Duane Graveline MD on his site www.spacedoc.net
Let us assume that the reason the arteries are becoming inflexible is because of the presence of an internal arterial plaque. This plaque is commonly thought to be purely cholesterol whereas in fact it is cholesterol and many other compounds. Several years ago I was given an explanation that made a great deal of sense.
As we eat foods that contain simple starch which turns into glucose in the bloodstream it effectively alters the blood chemistry making it acidic which in turn begins a very slow process where the calcium, the primary mineral in the bones, is leached out of the bone structure. The amount of calcium that can remain in suspension or dissolved in the blood is very small and consequently the body has a mechanism where any excess calcium is placed adjacent to the artery wall. This calcium is effectively held in place by cholesterol. It’s a bit like making a brick wall, the bricks are the calcium and the mortar is the cholesterol. This process continues day by day molecule by molecule at the arterial plaque inside the arteries gets thicker and thicker and obviously less flexible.
The good news is that it’s actually relatively easy to fix.
Step one — stop eating simple carbohydrates like bread, pasta, potato, rice etc. These foods simply raise the blood glucose level and perpetuate the problem. By removing them from our diets the blood reverts to its normal chemistry and with a little help the process can be reversed. Replace them with home produced juices, raw fruits and vegetables.
Step two — by adding a very high quality food matrix vitamin and mineral complex to your diet over a protracted period there is every reason to believe that the blood chemistry can be restored and the process reversed. This process is known as chelation and is relatively simple. You will need to drink plenty of water during this time. Other things that have been shown to help are polymethoxylated flavones (PMFs), delta, gamma and alpha tocotrienols. The vitamin and mineral we recommend is Catalyst (available on Request on 0800 695 5295) or by e mail.
Step 3 — exercise more. A simple 10, 20 or 30 minute walk daily will work wonders.
Posted 2 years, 3 months ago at 11:03 am. Add a comment
Firstly let’s try to give you an understanding of what AMD is? The macula is a small area at the very centre of the retina. Sometimes the delicate cells of the macula become damaged and stop working, and there are many different conditions which can cause this. If it occurs later in life, it is called “age-related macular degeneration”, also often known as AMD.
Question: I work in a school and regularly pick up respiratory infections through the winter, what can I do to avoid this?
small and consequently the body has a mechanism where any excess calcium is placed adjacent to the artery wall. This calcium is effectively held in place by cholesterol. It’s a bit like making a brick wall, the bricks are the calcium and the mortar is the cholesterol. This process continues day by day molecule by molecule at the arterial plaque inside the arteries gets thicker and thicker and obviously less flexible.