Flea collars warning

The report found two particular chemicals, tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP) and propoxur, used on national brands of flea collars. TCVP belongs to the class of nerve-damaging chemicals known as organophosphates, most of which are so hazardous that they’ve been banned for residential use or for use on pets. Propoxur belongs to a class of chemicals called carbamates, which also cause nerve damage, and it’s on California’s Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer.

Not good news for your pet, but particularly bad news if you have small children as they tend to pet the animal and then put their hands in their mouths.

Use only natural, non-chemical tick collars to protect the health of your pets and your children and if you can’t find anything in your local store then here’s a good recipe for a home made one using essential oils.

Recipe for a Herbal Flea Collar

You need to get a bottle each of citronella, tea tree, and rosemary oils.

In a glass bowl, blend one tablespoon of citronella and tea tree oil, and a half a tablespoon of rosemary Oil. Soak an ordinary cloth collar for 20 minutes in the mixture then let it air dry for about five hours.

Put it on your pet as normal and with any leftover oil you could store it in a glass jar and use it to give a weekly natural flea bath as needed. Take a small amount of the mixture, rub it into a towel, and then rub it lightly on the animal’s fur. This homemade herbal flea wipe means your pet smells great and it will keep fleas, and ticks away.

Tobacco cure for ‘cruise ship virus’?

Anyone who regularly travels by plane or ship will probably have fallen victim to norovirus and its unpleasant symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting. It is sometimes referred to as the “cruise ship virus”, as it has occurred with frightening regularity there, but this microbe can spread like wildfire through any place where people gather such as offices, schools and military bases.

Because of the large numbers of cases, a search has been on for a vaccine and this new certainly is unique in its origin as it was “manufactured” in a tobacco plant using an engineered plant virus. Science has always turned to nature when seeking cures – not always with the best results – but it has been effective in many cases. A study of the top 150 proprietary drugs used in the USA in 1993 found that 57% of all prescriptions contained at least one major active compound derived from plants and we would not have aspirin without white willow bark, or digoxin without digitalis, and many more examples.

Researchers are particularly turning to plants in the battle against fast spreading infectious diseases like norovirus, swine flu, and bird flu. They are doing so because plant biotechnology makes available more efficient and inexpensive ways to bring vaccines quickly to the public and this is especially critical in times when viruses mutate into unpredictable new strains as they are doing more and more today.

It is less expensive than developing conventional vaccines because purification from plant extracts is simpler as there are no infectious agents to clean up. There are no viruses in plants which can infect humans, so you don’t have to worry about viral removal.

Noroviruses are always mutating, making it difficult to produce an effective vaccine in the time scale required. The costs involved in this are huge so it is a great development to be able to use plant biotechnology to create a cheaper, quicker vaccine that is uniquely suited to combat mutating viruses like norovirus and the flu. Plant-based vaccines can be produced and put into clinical tests within eight to 10 weeks and for commercial use that means a fast turnaround of two to four months.

And where does tobacco come in? Well the scientists involved re-engineered plant viruses to produce high levels of specially designed “virus-like” nanoparticles in tobacco plants. These particles are the same size as the norovirus, but they consist only of the outer surface protein — that is the portion of the virus recognized by the human immune system. The particles contain none of the infectious material of the original virus, but they stimulate a robust immune response to fight off an actual infection.

So a good use for tobacco plants, and good news for tobacco farmers who must have seen a serious downturn in profits in the last few years. After successful experiments, a nasal delivery system for the virus-like particles is being developed and will start clinical trials in late 2009.

Mindfulness and weight loss

Still on the weight loss front, it is probably the sight of myself in a bikini in the holiday snaps that has made this so much in the forefront of my mind, but here’s another good reason to take up yoga. A study done at a cancer centre has shown that regular yoga practice is associated with mindful eating, and people who eat mindfully are less likely to be overweight.

If you are concerned about middle-age spread, then it seems that regular yoga practice may help prevent it. An earlier study found that middle-age people who practice yoga gained less weight over a 10-year period than those who did not. This was independent of physical activity and dietary patterns and the researchers suspected that the weight-loss effect had more to do with increased body awareness, specifically a sensitivity to hunger and satiety than the physical activity of yoga practice itself.

Mindfulness is a skill learned either directly or indirectly through yoga and it does seem to affect eating behaviour according to the Head of a Cancer Prevention Program.

What does it mean?

Eating mindfully means being aware of why you eat, and stopping eating when full. Non mindful eating occurs when we eat when we are not hungry or in response to anxiety or depression. The way that eating a chocolate from a box is fine, but looking at the box and not remembering you ate them all definitely fits into the concept of mindless eating.

Yoga cultivates mindfulness in a number of ways, such as being able to hold a challenging physical pose by observing the discomfort in a non-judgmental way, with an accepting, calm mind and focus on the breath. This ability to be calm and observant during physical discomfort teaches you how to maintain calm in other challenging situations, such as not eating more even when the food tastes good and not eating when you’re not hungry.

Practice:

If you want to practice mindfulness around food, try looking at these points when eating:

** awareness – look at your food and observe how it looks, tastes and smells

** emotional response – are you hungry, or eating in response to sadness or stress

** disinhibition – are you continuing to eat even though you are full?

** external cues – have you chosen the food in response to advertising or peer pressure

** distraction – are you just focusing on your food, or on other things like making or taking a phone call or watching TV

Aloe vera for Healthy Teeth

I always carry aloe vera gel when travelling as it is invaluable for healing cuts and burns, and it is a useful plant to have around the house. A new use for it is in tooth gel where it cleanses and soothes teeth and gums, and it is as effective as toothpaste to fight cavities according to, the Academy of General Dentistry’s (AGD) clinical, peer-reviewed journal.

Aloe vera tooth gel helps eliminate disease-causing bacteria in the mouth and some dentists have been sceptical about that in the past. However, this new research compared the germ-fighting ability of an aloe vera tooth gel to two commercially popular toothpastes and revealed that the aloe vera tooth gel was just as effective, and in some cases more effective, than the commercial brands at controlling those organisms that cause cavities.

It is also good for those with sensitive teeth as Aloe latex contains anthraquinones, which are anti-inflammatory chemical compounds used in healing and stopping pain. Because aloe vera tooth gel tends to be less harsh on teeth, as it does not contain the abrasive elements often found in commercial toothpaste, it is a great alternative for people with sensitive teeth or gums.

You should be able to find aloe tooth gel in health stores, but if not here are a couple of useful websites: www.ernestonealoevera.co.uk and www.aloeveraproductsonline.co.uk

Dangers of Blackberry Thumb

No it is nothing to do with seasonal fruit picking, but is a genuine medical condition identified since the rise of texting on mobile phones. Swedish ergonomist Ewa Gustafsson at the Sahlgrenska Academy studied 56 young adults had reported pain in their hands, neck and arms and found their problem was the way they texted.

First they tended to hunch over the phone, and only used one thumb to text instead of two. Bet you never realised the dangers of that, but apparently the electrogoniometer that she used to measure activity in the muscles , showed excessive use of the thumb muscles. If you suffer from this condition, obviously try using both thumbs to type instead of one, do not hunch over too much and don’t type too fast.

It can also help to give your hands some support by varying your position frequently, using the backrest of your chair, resting your forearms against a desk or your thighs.

How divorce affects your health – Even after remarrriage

There is no doubt that divorce is a traumatic event, indeed on the life stressors scale it is the second highest event after death of a family member. What is new, to me at any rate, is material just published that shows that even after remarriage the divorce continues to impact on your health according to a joint University of Chicago study and John Hopkins study.

Divorcees and widowers who do not remarry or have another permanent relationship tend to have worse health than their peers. There have been studies before on the connection between health and marriage, but this is the first to examine both marital transitions and marital status on health.

We know that as we become adults we bring with us a baseline stock of health, based on our genetic inheritance and other factors. Our experiences will affect this stock for good or ill; for instance getting married tends to bring an immediate benefit in that generally it improves mental health, presumably with better nutrition and fewer takeaways, and women’s health improves from being more financially secure, though they obviously never met my ex.

As a marriage goes on the benefits are enhanced but divorce or widowhood undermines health because incomes drop, and stress develops over issues such as shared child care. If you want the statistics to impress your partner with then here they are:

** divorced or widowed people have 20 percent more chronic health conditions like diabetes and cancer than married people and 23 percent more difficulty with mobility such as trouble climbing stairs or walking short distances

** people who never married have 12 percent more mobility limitations and 13 percent more depressive symptoms and the same number of chronic health conditions as married people

** those who have remarried have 12 percent more chronic conditions and 19 percent more mobility limitations, but no more depressive symptoms, than those who are continuously married.

How we become less healthy is also dependent on the particular illness; for instance conditions such as depression, seem to respond both quickly and strongly to changes in current conditions, but diabetes and heart disease develop slowly over a substantial period and show the impact of past experiences. That is one of the reasons why health is undermined by divorce or widowhood, even when a person remarries.

So it seems the best plan is to stay married, and if divorced or widowed to be open to developing a new relationship, if only for the sake of your health.

Up to 80% saving on treatment abroad

It has become more common for people to seek medical, and dental, treatment abroad. Around 80,000 people did so last year, including a friend of mine who went to Poland for expensive dental work and the flight, treatment and hotel still cost far less than a couple of sessions with his regular dentist. The range of things on offer range from fertility treatments to knee and hip replacements – and all parts of the body, internal and external, that you can think of.

The idea of combining treatment with a holiday might sound attractive – certainly better food while you convalesce in a hotel on the beach – but how do you know where to look and what sort of value you will be getting? Fortunately there is online help from Treatment Abroad, who have just released their 2009 survey of prices available to medical travellers. They surveyed 180 clinics and medical tourism operators in 39 countries and found that patients can make savings of over 80% on some common medical treatments.

Yes, but when it comes to health the price is only one part of the equation and quality of treatment, surgical expertise, reputation, patient safety are also vital factors. So too is communication and it really is not a good idea to have treatment if the staff involved don’t speak excellent English and you can’t make yourself fully understood.

If you are waiting on an NHS appointment it can certainly seem attractive and a good use of your money; for example, varicose vein treatment in Poland is on average 84% cheaper than in the UK and if wrinkles are getting you down then a trip to Cuba for a forehead lift could save on average about 87%. Other procedures such as elective surgery, cosmetic or dental work don’t have the same high saving, but still cost around 55% less than in the UK.

Other factors influencing patients to leave the UK for treatment are concerns about post operative infection in UK hospitals, the length of NHS waiting lists and the comparative high cost of private healthcare in the UK.

You can get more information and a free comprehensive guide to medical tourism from http://www.treatmentabroad.com and I advise you to study it carefully and weigh up all your options before you come to a decision.

Deep vein thrombosis main risk not from air travel

We are all aware of the risks from DVT on long-haul flights, but it seems that it might have been overestimated according to researchers at the very wonderfully named German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care. They have found that DVT is very unlikely in healthy travellers, so you could ditch those unattractive flight socks, but that there is another – and very real – risk. If you have had an accident where you have to wear a cast or splint then that can mean an increased risk of DVT in the leg and pelvic area.

Why is it a problem?

Blood clots have the ability to travel to the lungs, leading to pulmonary embolism, and if for any reason you are unable to move your legs regularly, then the blood flow through your veins is slower than usual. As a result, blood may clump together, forming a blood clot which can lead to DVT. Having a pulmonary embolism can reduce the supply of oxygen to the body’s cells, overstrain the heart and even cause heart failure.

Wearing a cast or splint increases the risk of DVT

You know that if you have to wear a cast or splint that you will usually suffer unbearable itching, but most people do not know that this also increases the risk of DVT. The advice from Professor Sawicki, lead researcher in the study, is that to prevent serious complications, it is important to get back on your feet and move around again as soon as possible and medically advised. If you really can’t move then your doctor may prescribe anticoagulants to reduce the blood’s ability to clot.

If you prefer a natural approach then there are a number of foods and supplements that are known to thin the blood. These include foods with high amounts of aspirin like substances called salicylates, omega-3 fatty acids, foods with natural antibiotic properties such as raisins, cherries, blueberries, grapes, strawberries and oranges and vitamin E supplements. You might also want to avoid foods that are high in vitamin K as that helps the blood to clot and so is counter-productive. These foods include spinach, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, lettuce and peas.

But isn’t air travel the main risk?

Surprisingly, even in higher-risk groups, the risk of air-travel-related thrombosis is still well below half a percent. Research on millions of air travellers has revealed that only about 2 to 5 out of every 10,000 people who took a flight longer than 6 to 8 hours developed DVT that caused symptoms (at the most 0.05%). Even people who had a higher risk – for example, because they had large varicose veins or were very overweight – were not highly likely to develop deep vein thrombosis: only 20 out of every 10,000 travellers were affected (0.2%). Nor was there any evidence to show that people on short flights of less than 4 to 6 hours had an increased risk of thrombosis.

If you would rather be safe than sorry – and you did invest in those special compression flight socks – then the advice is that you will lower your risk by putting them on at least 2 hours before the flight and keep them on throughout the entire journey.

Natural help for RLS, anxiety and disturbed sleep

VitalCALM has been developed by Janice Wilson for the natural treatment of Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) and it is also suggested for reducing anxiety and improving sleep. She founded her company, Simply Vital, after having worked on drug development for the pharmaceutical industry and deciding she wanted to provide a more holistic approach in providing natural remedies as an alternative to drugs,

RLS is often not taken seriously enough by doctors but it affects 1.5 million people in the UK with women more likely to be affected by the condition, and it becomes more common with age. The uncomfortable sensations of RLS are usually triggered by inactivity, are often more noticeable in the evening and, for some, prevent them from sleeping.

Symptoms can be temporarily relieved by movement and recently GPs have been allowed to prescribe the same drugs used to treat Parkinson disease since low dopamine is implicated in RLSand sufferers know it can be quite debilitating. Symptoms can range from twitching legs when you are trying to relax or sleep, and creepy, often painful sensations that create an overwhelming urge to move. Sufferers report their greatest problems lie in an inability to relax and sit still, and disturbed sleep which has a knock on effect on how they feel during the day. It can also be a social embarrassment as sufferers are unable to control the restless kicking out that is associated with the condition.

If you have RLS you are most likely to be prescribed the same drugs as Parkinson’s, usually some form of dopamine, and these can have unpleasant side effects. Simply Vital have come up with a natural supplement using blue green algae extracts from Lake Klamath that contain two different molecules that should increase dopamine levels in the brain naturally as well as powerful antioxidants to treat RLS. It has been specifically developed to address severe imbalances in neurotransmitter status, which can lead to restlessness in both mind and body.

Boosting levels of dopamine has several beneficial effects as it has many important roles in the body. It is involved in the regulation of other hormones including insulin and is necessary to make us feel good, which is why when we have reduced levels of it we can suffer from fatigue, reduced sex drive, lack of motivation, obesity, addictions, anxiety and depression.

VitalCALM doesn’t have the usual disadvantage I have found in algae supplements, which are generally in powder form and feel like you are drinking a pond, as they come in a capsule form which is certainly easier to take – and rather more expensive. However if it can calm and relax the body so that RLS is no longer a problem, then it is probably well worth it.

If you want to know more, then visit their website at www.simplyvital.com

Cupping and carpal tunnel

If you are a fan of the red carpet you may have noticed Gwyneth Paltrow exhibiting strange red marks on her body. This new celebrity treatment is endorsed by people as diverse as Britney Spears and Patsy Kensit and is an updated take on an established therapy in use in China, India, Arabia, Central Europe and parts of Africa. Used mainly for improving circulation, digestive and respiratory problems it now appears to be helpful for pain relief – particularly for those suffering from Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) – and I believe for RSI for those operating computer keyboards all day.

A new German study at the Immanuel Hospital in Berlin took 52 sufferers and randomly assigned them to a cupping programme or a placebo treatment. Their study, published on 25 June in a peer journal, confirms that this external suction technique is effective for providing temporary relief of pain from carpal tunnel syndrome.

How it works:

The treatment group had the wet cupping glasses applied in an area over the trapezius muscle. Cupping is applied to defined zones of the shoulder triangle which are connective tissue zones at the shoulder-neck region. The cupping creates a partial vacuum as the wet cup adheres to the skin – and also a rather obvious red mark which can take a while to go down. Unlike Gwyneth, you might want to avoid backless dresses until the mark disappears.

Results were impressive and showed that the patients experienced a highly significant decrease in CPS pain and other symptoms. Just one single treatment improved the ability to use the hand and wrist, and improved the quality of life as pain was decreased.

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