Positive Health Online

The longer I work in the field of publishing medical health information - both natural and conventional treatment approaches, the more I feel as though I live in a warped universe. On the one hand, much progress in the understanding of diagnosis and treatment approaches is reassuring and appears to point to a bright future of better health for all of us. On the other hand, however, is the constant back and forth battles between the staunch protectionist die-hards of the status quo, generally pharmaceutically driven treatments, i.e. drugs, and the natural health-oriented community who obtain their clinical results using traditional, complementary or alternative treatment approaches. The battles rage on with proponents of both extremes steadfast in their rectitude regarding their positions.

The majority of  healthcare practitioners are generally situated in the middle, and don’t feel that they are experts enough to overturn the conventional wisdom. Most of the public, unless they are campaigning for specific treatments to treat or save the lives of themselves or loved ones, are also in the middle, not knowing enough to make up their minds. Hence the end result of  endless and frequent occurrences of media scandals and exposures regarding corrupt practice, research kick-backs and studies promising glowing results or exposing dangerous side effects is that the public and most everyone else don’t know what to believe because almost every day another finding rubbishes the discovery made the previous day. Examples are about coffee being either good or bad for you, fruit being good for you or bad for your teeth, sun causing cancer and sun vitamin D preventing cancer, aspirin saving lives by preventing and causing cancer and aspirin causes potentially lethal stomach bleeding. And the list goes on. Should we screen all elderly people for potentially undiagnosed heart conditions, how can we continue to keep alive the ever growing population of elderly patients suffering from dementia, should people in constant pain and / or with progressively worse quality-of-life be permitted to end their lives?

As a researcher who reads the literature from both extremes of the spectrum, as well as the mainstream (no wonder I have no time to have a life), I had always thought that at some point in the future, the two extremes would merge and enter a common ground. That opponents of genetically modified crops but in favour of gene therapy to cure their desperately ill children might see eventually the advantages of crops grown in the interest of saving people’s lives or restoring health to malnourished children.

But at the moment, we appear to be at an impasse in so many fields of human endeavour, including healthcare approaches, agriculture, climate change, conflicts beyond our ability to resolve. At least I don’t see solutions at the moment. Is this a sign that I am getting older, more experienced, infused with wisdom, or just plain ignorant. Don’t know.

This PH Online Aug 2012 Issue 197 publishes a number of letters in the issue which address some of the dilemmas discussed above – Quality of Food in Hospitals, Low Carb Diets, Fluoridation and IQ which I encourage readers to sample: A few comments below:

“In sum, this study does not allow us to conclude anything about low carbohydrate diets, for or against. It is just another partisan shot in the long-running ideological war between the proponents of low fat and low carbohydrate diets.” Jack T Winkler, Professor of Nutrition Policy, London Metropolitan University (Retired)

“Unfortunately the corresponding editorial by Floegel and Pischon[2] adds more speculations and misconceptions about low carbohydrate diets (e.g. low vegetable consumption and therefore low intake of fibre, vitamins and minerals) which might mislead the medical and nutritional community about diet and cardiovascular health” Nicolai M Worm, Lecturer Ulrike Gonder

“This medical paper has both a very low quality and a lot of major biases, therefore it shouldn’t be published because its flaws not only have a confounding effect in nutrition science but can generate emotional shock in people under these kind of diets" Álvaro campillo-Soto, General Surgeon & Scientific Methodologist

www.positivehealth.com/article/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-issue-197

There are several important bodywork articles published in this issue, including the links between Urinary Continence and Posture, an Update about Rolfing / Structural Integration and a Research Project regarding Thai and Swedish Massage.

Additionally are articles about Skincare: Eliminating Warts, Choosing a Good Hypnotherapy Training Course, Stress, and Preeclampsia Nutritional Factors.

I will report back if my warped sense of the universe changes over time. Please let me know about any resonance with you.