Thursday, February 28, 2008
In this episode, the Anonymous Health Critic continues his interview with Dr. Anthony W. Martin. They discuss the newest studies on weight loss, whole grains, and dieting.

 

 Podcast Episode #2 [15:40m]: Play Now | Download (236)

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One of the things that really irritates me is the double standard in today’s “research” driven medical profession. say what you want, the average physician looks at the supplement industry with disdain. they are continually using terminology like “no research“, “no proof“, “sugar pills” “eat healthy and you don’t need them” to describe vitamin and minerals. They do this because for some reason they feel bound to protect society from all the nasty side effects of vitamin C.

I’d like to you to take this little tour with me. First, I’d like you to read this article about prozac not working any better than a placebo in all but the most severely depressed people. How many people take prozac? Quite a few. You would think that with an article like this, doctors around the world would suggest something else for their patients with mild to moderate depression. Instead, this is the response.

Now, lets look at the flip side. A new story appeared today in many newspapers and news websites about vitamin C. Yet, here is a typical response. Why is that?

I know that this is a joke, but in light of recent news articles it makes you wonder….

Thursday, February 21, 2008
This is Healthpowwow.com’s first ever podcast — The Anonymous Health Critic interviews Dr. Anthony W. Martin about his newest book Medical Crisis: Secrets your doctor won’t share with you. They also discuss Dr. Martin’s Four Tests To Better Health as well as probiotics and the latest research.

 

 Podcast Episode #1 [17:00m]: Play Now | Download (231)

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A new study out this month finds that nurses are “soft targets” of drug company promotion. This study came out less than a month after an earlier study showed that pharmaceutical companies spend considerable more money on advertising than they do on research (I can’t be the only one who finds that scary). This new study suggests that pharmaceutical companies know that nurses influence the prescribing habits of physicians and therefore go after nurses as a marketing target. The article goes on to say that this pharmaceutical companies have spent a considerable amount of time and money marketing to nurses. We’ve already read how pharmaceutical companies spend a ton of money on marketing to physicians and now we are learning that they are doing the same for nurses and nurse practitioners.

My question is this: Who is really looking out for the consumers?  When a patient is told to take a medication and told about all the great things that it will do for them, are they getting science or a marketing pitch? This is why I firmly believe in patients educating themselves on health issues. Otherwise, it might be like asking the owner of a hamburger joint: “Who makes the best burgers in town?”

Every week on my radio show I tout the benefits of eating more fruit and vegetables. So much so that my co-host often refers to me as Dr. Fav (fruits and vegetables). This past week I referred to a new study that showed that fruits and vegetables attack fat cells in your body and can be highly effective in a weight loss strategy. For years, I have had great success using a 2-day fruit and vegetable cleanse to kick start a weight loss program. Parents, it is essential in this day and age of rampant obesity, diabetes, ADD, and asthma to get your kids on the fruit and vegetable kick as soon as possible… it could save their lives.

Another day and another study on the benefits of whole grains. Every time I read a study touting the benefits of whole grains, I always think to myself “we already know this”. We all know that whole grains are good for you. We all know that whole grains can lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes and a score of other disorders. We also all know that whole grains also help with weight loss. So why then do we keep on studying whole grains in relation to the same chronic diseases? I guess that it is like smoking. Is there a smoker out there who doesn’t know that it’s bad for them? Of course not. There are no more ignorant smokers. All smokers make a decision to slowly kill themselves every time they light up and they know it; a conscious decision has been made.

Is eating white bread as bad for you as smoking? The easy answer would be no. However, let me ask a few questions. How much white flour does someone consume in a day? If it is a lot, then eating for this person, it could be just as deadly as smoking. You see Mr. or Mrs. White Flour Eater is most likely to eventually suffer from heart disease, obesity, diabetes, etc… Even though Mr. or Mrs. White Flour Eater may never smoke a day in their lives, they may still not live a full and healthy life.

So my question again: Is eating white bread as bad for you as smoking?

A new study that is getting plenty of press and airtime suggests that artificial sweeteners may be linked to weight gain.  The study says that by eating foods with artificial sweetener may affect the way the body regulates future intake of food because the connection between sweet sensation and high caloric food is broken by the sweetener.  Simply stated, when you eat something with an artificial sweetener, your body has a hard time later on regulating how much food it needs and this leads to over eating. 

As interesting as the study sounds, just off the top of my head i have a few problems with it.  First of all, the article describing the study mentions soda and even suggests that by choosing to drink diet soda over regular soda you may gain more weight.  This is ridiculous and a very narrow understanding of overall health.  Without getting into the debate of the merits of soda, we all know that the amount of sugar in regular soda can have devastating effects on blood sugar.  This in itself will lead to weight gain, diabetes, heart disease and a host of other problems.  To even suggest drinking regular soda for weight loss is terrible advice.

Secondly, i take issue with the following line in the article; “self-regulation might explain in part why obesity has risen in parallel with the use of artificial sweeteners”.   When are we going to realize that junk is junk regardless if it has sweetener in it or good old fashioned sugar.  Does eating candy with sweetener make us eat more later?  We’ll, according to this study it may.  Who cares?  the issue isn’t the sweetener, the issue is the candy in the first place. 

Studies like this, especially when mentioned in mainstream media, will have some poor soul thinking “diet soda? No, i’ll have a regular soda, i’m on a diet.”

“Bugs bugs bugs if I had them all in jugs” is a song written by Stompin’ Tom Connors, when he was in Timmins, that reminds me of bugs that are making big news in health these days. Now there are good bugs and bad bugs. It seems like everyday I am reading new research that praises the benefits of probiotics (good bugs). The most recent study talks about the benefits of using probiotics in hospitals to cut down on infections (bad bugs). The most dangerous place to be in the whole world is not in Sudan but in your local hospital. Why? Because the bad bugs outnumber the good bugs in the hospitals because of the over-use of antibiotics and the use of antibacterial soaps (don’t get me started on these soaps).

I believe everyone, including children, should take probiotics at least twice a year to replenish your friendly bacteria and to boost your immune system. If you have been prescribed antibiotics in the last two years or been on steroids like prednisone or even taking Tylenol for pain on a regular basis, then one needs to take probiotics. A lot of people think that by eating yogurt everyday they are getting enough probiotics but a more complex probiotic with many different strands of bacteria gives you the best protection. Remember that different strands live in different places in your body so one needs protection from the sinuses to the reproductive organs.

It is also important to feed probiotics with prebiotics. Prebiotics contain a sugar that these friendly bugs like called fructo olisaccharides. The best prebiotics are bananas, tomatoes, asparagus, onions and garlic.

I can’t tell you how many people that I’ve known through the years that have suffered with chronic pain only to be told by a doctor, “It’s all in your head,” or “You’re depressed”. Well, a new study suggests that people who suffer with chronic pain have trouble sleeping, are depressed, anxious and even have a hard time making simple decisions. The study explains that a healthy brain is always in a state of equilibrium. If one part of the brain is active, then the other parts quiet down. However, in a patient with chronic pain, the front part of the brain associated with emotion never shuts up, regardless if the other parts of the brain are active. Over a period of time, the constant activity of the front part of the brain wears out the neutrons.

Doctors are too quick to pass off a chronic pain patient as depressed, however, usually the depression is due to the chronic pain. This is both a shame and an insult to the patient. Simply treating the depression does little to help with the chronic pain and usually results in a poor recovery.