“I think the significance of this work is like reporting that we found microorganisms on Mars.” - Dr Kutluk Oktay
According to new Harvard research, the long-held belief that women have a finite number of eggs that “run out” has been overturned. The newly-discovered existence of ovarian stem cells raises the possibility that viable “young eggs” can be generated from the ovaries of older women. This could revolutionize fertility treatment. Continue reading
According to a report in the British Medical Journal, calcium intake above 700mg/day provides no additional benefit to bones. Because excess calcium can suppress bone turnover, calcium supplements may actually increase fracture risk.
The simple equation of calcium = bone is not valid. Bones are not inert calcium repositories. They are dynamic, living tissue that respond to a variety of health factors. If you have bone health concerns, then you need to look beyond calcium and cow’s milk. Take a look at some of the hidden health factors that affect bone health.
Our town’s Christmas Shortbread Showdown made for a buttery and delicious Sunday afternoon. Although I avoid sugary foods generally, shortbread is my weakness. There is something that feels so nourishing about shortbread made with real butter.
Is butter nourishing? Yes. This week’s post is an Ode to Butter.
If I were asked to give women one single piece of hormonal advice, it would be this: Do NOT take the Pill.
The Pill significantly increases the risk for blood clots and breast cancer. That’s a good reason to avoid it, but there is another reason: the Pill disrupts hormone balance. It causes weight gain, depression, bladder infections, and abnormal PAP tests. The Pill suppresses the body’s own hormones and kills libido. To be blunt, the Pill is chemical castration.
And yet the idea that the Pill can be used to balance hormones is entrenched with many patients – and doctors. The “hormone-like” drugs in the Pill are misunderstood to be equivalent to the body’s own hormones, but nothing could be further from the truth.
It pains me to watch patients throw all their “health chips” into dangerous tests and treatments.
“I don’t want to take any risk,” they say.
A natural reaction. We all crave certainty about our health. We feel that if we do something – endure some test or medicine – then we will have done all that we can to escape disease. Unfortunately, most of those tests and medicines do a lot LESS to reduce risk than we have been led to believe. The disease may come anyway. And if the treatment itself has added more risk, then what kind of game are we playing? The pursuit of health becomes a high-stakes poker game.
“CoQ10 turns back the clock on female fertility, and makes old eggs young again.”
“What have we lost? And, more importantly: Can we regain it all with a pill?”
Picture the scene: “She eats the heart from the freshly killed beast, and the life essence enters her body to bring her health and fecundity.”
It reads like something out of “Clan of the Cave Bear”, steeped in Cro-magnon superstition and ritual. But what if there is something real in it? What if fresh organ meat is a potent elixir of fertility and youth? How could we have forgotten all about it? What does that say about our modern understanding of nutrition and diet? With our dead processed food, and our factory-farmed meat…
What have we lost? And, more importantly: Can we regain it all with a pill?
“When coffee was first introduced to Italy in the 17th century, it was viewed with suspicion. It was seen as a foreign, Muslim drink.”
“Coffee is bad” is an old piece of health advice. To my ear, it has the tone of a sermon that has echoed through the centuries. The modern evidence is that coffee is really not that bad. So why does the myth persist?
Brown fat is not something that you eat. It’s a type of body fat that you want to have. According to Harvard researcher Dr Kahn, brown fat promotes significant weight loss.
“The thing about brown fat is that it takes a very small amount to burn a lot of energy.” – Dr. C. Ronald Kahn
This special fat, which is found at the back of the neck and between the shoulders blades, is brown under the microscope because it contains a high concentration of mitochondria, which are the furnaces of the cell. Mitochondria convert energy to heat, so having active brown fat is a great way to burn away calories. This process is called thermogenesis (heat-generation).
Many of my patients suffer thyroid problems: Enlarged thyroid, nodules, under-active thyroid and autoimmune thyroid disease.
Their GP provides a thyroid tablet and the reassurance that if their thyroid gets too naughty, it can always be surgically removed. Tidy solutions, and now thousands of women take thyroid replacement. But they often do not feel well, and their thyroid glands are definitely not happy. What have we missed? What is the thyroid trying to tell us?
Late summer in the Canadian Rockies means berries. As I plucked them off their brave little bushes, I thought: “What an amazing plant to grow here, in – let’s face it – a rather harsh climate.”
And consider this: Raspberries chronicle their struggle with the environment as tiny chemical messages called anthocyanins, and when we eat them, those messages talk directly to our genes. As a consequence, our bodies become more resilient to our own stressful environment.
