What has the phlogiston theory to do with the belief that the only cause of becoming overweight is eating too many calories and taking too little exercise?

What has the phlogiston theory to do with the belief that the only cause of becoming overweight is eating too many calories and taking too little exercise? - Well both theories are out of date.

In the 18th century the phlogiston theory of explaining combustion and breathing held sway until the 1780s when Lavoisier discovered oxygen and explained its role in burning and rusting, etc. The calories in/calories out theory for excess weight presently held by most of the orthodox medical world is an oversimplistic explanation for the excess weight. Essentially it says that overweight people eat too many calories and take too little exercise, ie they are greedy and lazy. The glaring omission is the fact that a great deal of excess weight has nothing to do with calories at all! - That is because it is water - and there are no calories in water!

Professor Sir Richard Doll wrote in a personal letter to me in August 2001, "I was interested to hear about your experience of being overweight and losing so much weight when you reduced the amount of salt in your food. That a high salt diet combined with certain drugs (of which steroids are an example) will lead to water retention is - or ought to be - well known and, of course, the contrary follows that reducing the salt will lead to the loss of water."

There are so many prescription drugs and classes of prescription drugs, and doctors are constantly being exhorted to prescribe more and more drugs, especially antidepressants, many of which cause water retention and its attendant health problems, notably stroke, high blood pressure and heart conditions, that I would contend that the ever-increasing numbers of prescription drugs being taken must certainly be the cause of a high proportion of obese people being overweight. An additional danger is that so many prescribed drugs are addictive, especially painkillers. So I hope that the theory that the only cause of becoming overweight is eating too many calories and taking too little exercise will soon, like the phlogiston theory of combustion, be consigned to the dustbin of history, and people can be saved from all the ill-health that so many prescribed drugs cause.

Cave Salem!

If my blog and I were transported back in time, and you, Dear Reader, were an Ancient Roman, then I might well say to you, "Cave salem!" thus giving you a bit of advice to improve your health. Though of course, as an Ancient Roman, you would not be particularly in need of that bit of advice...(o: 

 

But in our present-day culture, and speaking in English, I say, "Beware of salt!" and that is a very necessary warning for most people, because there is way too much added salt in our modern diets. The Food Industry ladles a great deal of salt into the ready meals and other processed food products it manufactures. - Excessive salt intake may well be contributing to your weight problem, or to your high blood pressure and breathlessness. It may well have been the main factor in the stroke or heart attack you had or any/all of the chronic ill-health you suffer. - Be that as it may, if you cut down on the amount of salt and salty food you eat, you will feel ever so much better, have more energy and think more clearly. Give it a try! - Read about salt in food.

Why is adding salt to food more harmful than in former years?

Adding salt to food is more harmful than years ago because in our developed world, a greater proportion of people are now sensitive to salt than used to be the case. There is both a higher incidence of salt sensitivity and the salt sensitivity itself tends to be more severe. - One of the factors contributing to salt sensitivity is the fact that these days, in general, most children- even toddlers -eat a diet that is too high in salt. Salt is especially bad for children. High salt intake, such as from salty snacks like crisps and salted nuts and junk like Cheesestrings, is a major cause of child obesity. - See Children and Salt. And a taste for salt acquired in childhood is not very easy to 'unacquire'. So the habit of eating over-salted food literally feeds a growing number of related health problems including high blood pressure, obesity, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, stroke, heart disease, depression, dementia and so many more.

 

But at least as important a causative factor in salt sensitivity as high salt intake in childhood is the ever-growing ingestion of pharmaceutical drugs. Pharmaceutical drugs are being prescribed more and more in the UK (and even more still in United States) and other industrialised countries. Most of the prescriptions are for drugs that cause sodium and water/fluid retention and salt sensitivity. I don't mean that they are prescribed with the intention of causing sodium and water retention, but problems with salt are the most common undesirable side-effects of the most frequently prescribed rugs. These include antidepressants, anticonvulsants, antipsychotics, steroids, birth control medications and many more.

 

When you couple the over-prescribing of these dangerous salt-sensitising drugs with the highly-salted processed food that is the norm for a majority of consumers these days, it is assuredly a recipe for disaster both on a personal scale and in the wider social context. - I suggest that you try to avoid prescription drugs as far as you safely can and cut down on salt and salty food as much as you reasonably can. You'll lose some excess weight and improve your health and you'll feel sooo much better!

If your medication causes sodium retention you will gain weight and may become obese

There are many medications that cause sodium retention/fluid retention/water retention/weight gain/obesity/edema/swelling. Here are some of them: steroids and HRT, most antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-epileptics, anticonvulsants, and more.

If you have become overweight/obese because of drug-induced sodium retention, you need to reduce your salt intake in order to lose weight. If you do not reduce your salt intake you will continue to gain weight, regardless of how many or how few calories you eat.

Pharmaceuticals plus Salt: the Deadly Duo

It is a commonplace for doctors to assume that the weight gain of people taking amitriptyline or other antidepressants is actually caused by over-eating, and they commonly assert that depressed people indulge in comfort-eating. But the doctors are wrong; the weight gain consequent on starting to take amitriptyline is caused by salt and water retention, not fat.

When people find the side-effects so unpleasant, and the drug so unhelpful for their chronic pain, for instance, that they stop taking it, they find that much of the weight gain disappears.

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

If you have gained a lot of weight and become obese because of taking prescribed steroids or HRT then I have very good news for you! - You have gained weight because of excess water stored in your body - mainly in the veins. You are suffering from what is called hypervolaemia - that is, abnormally high blood volume - and it is easy to reduce this abnormally high blood volume by losing some of the excess water. Another name for the problem is sodium retention. - This is the name that often appears in the reference books doctors have, that they use to look up correct doses of drugs they prescribe and side-effects that can result from taking the drugs.

To prevent or reduce the weight gained, you need to cut down on salt and salty food, because the sodium retention has made you sensitive to salt.

If you have been inappropriately prescribed or over-dosed with corticosteroids or HRT or any of the many other drugs that cause weight gain, then you may well have developed drug-induced Cushing's Syndrome, a very serious illness, frequently far more serious than the health problem for which the drugs were prescribed. It is, to the best of my knowledge, an entirely preventable illness if doctors conform to the protocols for prescribing these drugs and if they monitor patients' progress on the drugs, and if they warn patients about salt. It is VITALLY important that it be realised that weight gain resulting from these drugs is from sodium and water retention, so patients taking these drugs should be warned not to eat salt, or foods containing salt, while taking the medication. They should also be informed that any weight gained in this way can easily be reduced by eating less salt/sodium, and they should be warned not to try to lose weight by eating less food or restricting calories because this will not help them to lose weight and is harmful.

If you gain weight suddenly and unexpectedly when you start to take prescribed medication that I have not mentioned on this page, it is highly likely that the weight gain is caused by the drug. You may like to consider whether you really need to take that drug, or whether the dose could be lowered. At any rate if you continue with the drug, try to reduce your salt intake in order to reduce the weight gain.

So all you have to do is eat less salt. - If, at the same time, you increase your potassium by eating more fresh fruit and vegetables (unsalted vegetables), then you will lose the water and the weight even faster. - You will already have discovered that calorie counting and 'slimming' do not help you to lose weight if you are a steroid victim. - Take my advice, eat less salt, and the weight will fall off you like magic.

See also my Fat Retention page.

One of the many people I have helped with information about sodium retention was Dame Muriel Spark, who died in April 2006. Even she, as famous as she was, had not been warned to avoid salt while taking steroid medication and so had gained a lot of weight. She had also been taking some effervescent tablets which were high in sodium, but she discontinued these when she learned from me that they were contributing to the excess weight.

A Note about Pain-killers:

The class of drugs known as NSAIDs - Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs - is listed as causing Sodium Retention and in particular causing swelling in the lower legs and ankles. These include commonly used pain-killers, which are available both as prescription drugs and over the counter drugs. Examples are Ibuprofen (Brufen), Aspirin, Diclofenic and many others.

Also remember that effervescent tablets may contain a high proportion of sodium, so you may prefer to change from taking effervescent tablets to taking the non-effervescent type.

Fat? Overweight? You are sensitive/vulnerable to salt.

Fat? Overweight? Then you are sensitive/vulnerable to salt.

See Vulnerable groups

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver damage and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods

FAT RETENTION

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

Have you considered changing from ordinary table salt to one of the lower sodium salts in order to lower your high blood pressure and to lose weight?

It's worth it.

More details and information here: Sodium in Food

High sodium intake is a major contributory factor in many chronic health problems, as well as obesity.

Children and Obesity

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it!

See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

What's in an Oxo cube (apart from a lot of salt/sodium)?

Well from Wikipedia today on this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxo_(food) I have copied the following extract: (You will note that SALT is high in the list of ingredients. - All Oxo cubes contain a high proportion of salt.)

"Beef Oxo Cubes

• Wheatflour, Salt, yeast extract, cornflour, colouring, flavour enhancers (monosodium glutamate), beef fat, flavouring, dried beef bonestock, sugar, onion, pepper extract.

Vegetable Oxo Cubes

• Salt, potato starch, wheatflour, flavour enhancers (monosodium glutamate, disodium 5'-ribonucleotides), flavourings (include celery), onion extract, dried glucose syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oil, carrot extract, yeast extract, tapioca dextrin, dried tomato, dried herbs (parsley, bay and thyme) and sugar.

Italian Herb & Spice Oxo Cubes

• Wheatflour, salt, sugar, potato starch, flavour enhancers (monosodium glutamate, disodium 5'-ribonucleotides), herbs and spices (fennel, parsley, basil, black pepper), hydrogenated vegetable oil, dried onion, dried glucose syrup, flavouring (contains milk), dried tomato, yeast extract, tapioca dextrin."

If you have gained a great deal of weight in a short time it's pretty likely the weight gain was a side-effect of medication prescribed by your doctor

See prescribed steroids and HRT

and amitriptyline

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods

Yes, although it contains no calories, salt is fattening! - because it causes fluid retention - but only if you are sensitive to salt... - Read more:

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods and

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

I remember reading articles by Professor John Yudkin in which he described sugar as "pure, white and deadly".

I remember reading articles by Professor Yudkin - in the 70s, I believe - in which he described sugar as "pure, white and deadly". I've no doubt he was right in that a lot of sugar can be harmful in many ways.

But I'd say these days that salt is a bigger enemy of health for most people. - "Pure, white and deadlier still..."

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection
amitriptyline
prescribed steroids and HRT
See Sodium in foods
and Associated health conditions
and FAT RETENTION

More nonsense from the experts, trying to worry you about fat deposits in the body

Fat risk even if you are healthy weight

Extract from the Telegraph:

"A study has found that half of those considered to be a healthy weight for their height were still obese because of the proportion of fat in their bodies. Experts say two thirds of the population are at risk because they weigh too much but the discovery of the new condition - dubbed "normal weight obesity" - suggests that eight in 10 face an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease."

Fat retention in the body can easily be reduced by increasing your intake of calcium (preferably dairy calcium from milk and yoghurt) and vitamin D. Read the detailed information here:

http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2008/01/eating-extra-dairy-calcium-reduces-fat.html

Animals - e.g. dogs, goats and sheep - are harmed if they ingest salt that is used for de-icing roads in winter

SALT (sodium chloride)

The webpage is about Salt Poisoning.- Extract:

" ingestion of the salt used for de-icing roads in winter, often deposited loosely in piles or in containers alongside roads; animals most commonly involved are dogs, goats and sheep;"

Eating extra dairy calcium reduces fat retention. - Read the evidence.

Interesting facts you may not be aware of about calcium and fat retention:

Women in particular tend to be short of calcium because people often tell them to cut down on dairy foods to lose weight or to reduce fat intake. But it is not necessary or desirable to cut down on milk. (Best to cut down on cheese though, or better still cut it out, because it contains a lot of salt.) Cutting down on milk will not make you slim. - AND more calcium WILL help you to lose excess weight - because extra calcium in the diet reduces fat retention....(o: - Danish research shows that eating extra dairy calcium, as in low fat yoghurt, increases, in a perfectly natural and safe, healthy way, the amount of fat lost in the faeces. It was shown on a BBC2 programme last year. - BBC webpage about calcium from The Truth About Food series of programmes - Note: it does not require you to eat less or reduce calorie intake - only to EAT MORE CALCIUM. - If you do try the low fat yoghurt, make sure it's the ordinary low fat yoghurt, not the extremely low fat stuff,, 'cos that's always crammed with iffy chemicals...)o: If you don't like yoghurt, get some supplement tablets containing a mixture of calcium and magnesium (also necessary to reduce fluid retention and depression) from your local health food store and take them in accordance with the instructions on the pack. They will help with any night cramps that are disturbing you too. - And make sure you have enough vitamin D because vitamin D is necessary to metabolise the calcium.

Prescription drugs, especially steroids, HRT, some birth control pills and antidepressants, are a major cause of salt sensitivity/sodium retention/water retention and therefore a major cause of obesity, insomnia, avoidable pain, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc. so if you possibly can, it is best to avoid prescribed drugs. - And MIND, the respected mental health charity, found that a walk in the country was more successful than antidepressants at relieving depression, and of course there are no bad side-effects to a walk in the country.

The way to reduce fluid retention is to eat less salt and salty food - or better still, cut it out completely. - Your body will still have enough sodium, because every scrap or food and every drop of water contains a little salt, and that is all the salt your body needs. And eat plenty of fruit and fresh vegetables because they help to rid the body of excess sodium and excess fluid.

Lose weight and benefit your health in countless other ways by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! -
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods

See FAT RETENTION

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...(o:

The majority of women experience sleep problems.

Women more stressed by insomnia - Observer

Extract:

"Whether it's due to partners snoring, nagging consciences or the stresses and anxieties of modern life, new research has revealed that women are almost 20 per cent more likely to suffer insomnia than men.

A year-long investigation by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) into the sleeping habits of more than 2,000 women aged from 18 to 64 has found that almost two-thirds had between one and three disturbed nights every week. Almost 70 per cent said they frequently experience a sleep problem.

This compares to 52 per cent of men who say they suffer insomnia a few nights a week or more.

The study reflects research in a new book by the founder of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Dr Meir Kryger, author of Can't Sleep, Can't Stay Awake: A Woman's Guide To Sleep Disorders. 'Unlike men, women have sleep problems related to hormonal and bodily changes from menstruation, pregnancy and menopause,' he said.

'Unfortunately, too often it is women whose sleep disorders are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed because of a lack of education among doctors about these unique problems. This failure by doctors to correctly diagnose female sleeplessness is meaning sufferers are putting their health at risk while contributing to dramatic rises in obesity and diabetes.

'Women lose sleep because of their role in the family and the demands of today's 24/7 world,' he added.

Kryger said that women's disorders are often missed because, although they have the same sleep disorders as men, the way they react to sleeplessness is very different. 'The problem is compounded by the likelihood that women will not even realise symptoms in themselves indicating that they have sleep disorders,' he said. 'For example, women with sleep apnea - temporarily stopping breathing while asleep - have symptoms of depression more often than men with apnea.'

Kryger claimed that female sleeplessness is frequently misdiagnosed by doctors because of a widespread belief that women rarely suffer sleep problems, combined with the fact that insomnia manifests itself differently in women to how it does in men."

Well it's refreshing and very welcome to read of a male - and a medic at that - who takes women's sleep problems seriously...(o:

Here is my take on common, but unrecognised causes of insomnia in women:

Insufficient food. - Women are often chronically hungry because they are dieting/'slimming'/watching their weight/counting calories, etc and may be going to bed hungry and so less likely to sleep.

There is a positive correlation between being overweight and suffering from insomnia. There is also a positive correlation between being overweight and experiencing more pain. There is a positive correlation between depression and insomnia. The primary cause of overweight/obesity is fluid retention, and for many reasons, including childbirth, pre-menstrual tension and dieting/insufficient food, women are more prone to fluid retention than men are.

Insufficient calcium and insufficient vitamin D that is necessary to metabolise the calcium. - Calcium helps you to relax. Women tend to be short of calcium because people often tell them to cut down on dairy foods to lose weight or to reduce fat intake. But it is not necessary or desirable to cut down on milk. (Best to cut down on cheese though, because it contains a lot of salt.) Cutting down on milk will not make you slim. - AND more calcium WILL help you to lose excess weight because extra calcium in the diet reduces fat retention....(o: - Danish research shows that eating extra dairy calcium, as in low fat yoghurt, increases, in a perfectly natural and safe, healthy way, the amount of fat lost in the faeces. It was shown on a BBC2 programme earlier this year. - BBC webpage about calcium from The Truth About Food series of programmes - Maybe you should copy the whole page in case it ever disappears from the BBC's website. - Note: it does not require you to eat less or reduce calorie intake - only to eat MORE calcium. - If you do try the low fat yoghurt, make sure it's the ordinary low fat yoghurt, not the extremely low fat stuff,, 'cos that's always crammed with dodgy chemicals...)o: If you don't like yoghurt, get some supplement tablets containing a mixture of calcium and magnesium (also necessary to reduce fluid retention and depression) from your local health food store and take them in accordance with the instructions on the pack. They will help with any night cramps that are disturbing you too.

Prescription drugs, especially steroids, HRT, some birth control pills and antidepressants, are a major cause of salt sensitivity/sodium retention/water retention and therefore a major cause of obesity, insomnia, avoidable pain, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc. so if you possibly can, it is best to avoid prescribed drugs. - And MIND, the respected mental health charity, found that a walk in the country was more successful than antidepressants at relieving depression, and of course there are no bad side-effects to a walk in the country.

The way to reduce fluid retention is to eat less salt and salty food - or better still, cut it out completely. - Your body will still have enough sodium, because every scrap or food and every drop of water contains a little salt, and that is all the salt your body needs. And eat plenty of fruit and fresh vegetables because they help to rid the body of excess sodium and excess fluid.

Lose weight and benefit your health in countless other ways by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! -
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...(o:

Pros and cons of taking HRT - mostly cons...

The truth about HRT - Guardian

Extract from a l-o-n-g article:

"In 1966, one of those epoch-changing books was launched on a generation of women around the age of 50. It told them that they did not have to lose out on the hormonal revolution. In fact, it implied it was their duty not to lose out. Forever Feminine, by In 1966, one of those epoch-changing books was launched on a generation of women around the age of 50. It told them that they did not have to lose out on the hormonal revolution. In fact, it implied it was their duty not to lose out. Forever Feminine, by Dr Robert Wilson, a gynaecologist in Manhattan, told them that the menopause was a disease that could be treated. They could stay well, beautiful and sexually active - they could, in fact, continue to please their husbands - if they took hormone therapy. They must simply replace the oestrogen their bodies had stopped producing.

It was the beginning of a myth that has resolutely refused to die - that HRT will undo the ageing process. Over most of the past four decades, women have been prescribed HRT for all sorts of reasons, not just to stop menopausal hot flushes and night sweats and strengthen their bones, but to improve their sex life, their hair, their skin and their morale. For a long time it was almost a case of, well, why not?

Wilson's book was funded by Wyeth, one of the biggest manufacturers of HRT. But that fact did not emerge until 2002, when his son admitted it to the New York Times just the day after a major trial - astonishingly, the first randomised controlled trial on the effect of HRT on women - was stopped three years early. The trial, known as the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), was set up after repeated calls from women's health activists to find out whether, as drug companies and doctors believed, HRT prevented heart disease. Shockingly, it found the opposite to be true. By far the most common form of treatment, which combines oestrogen and progestin, actually increases the risk of heart attacks, blood clots and strokes. The investigators pulled the plug when they found that women taking it also had a greater chance of invasive breast cancer. The WHI is one of the two biggest and most important studies ever carried out on the effects of HRT. The other is the Million Women Study in the UK, which has published a series of papers on breast cancer and other risks with HRT. The latest bad news from this hugely respectable study, published in the Lancet in April, is that HRT must have caused 1,000 deaths from ovarian cancer between 1991 and 2005.

So that means HRT has now been linked to ovarian cancer, invasive breast cancer, womb cancer (if you just take oestrogen), stroke, blood clots and coronary heart disease. This is just not an elixir of youth. Oh yes, there is a medical case for taking it if you are having a miserable menopause, flushing beetroot red at embarrassing moments and waking up with the sheets soaked - when you can sleep at all - at night. But the relief you get for those things, which don't in themselves kill you, has to be set against the alarming array of pretty nasty possible side effects., a gynaecologist in Manhattan, told them that the menopause was a disease that could be treated. They could stay well, beautiful and sexually active - they could, in fact, continue to please their husbands - if they took hormone therapy. They must simply replace the oestrogen their bodies had stopped producing.

If only doctors warned women to avoid eating salt and salty food while taking HRT (and many other drugs with the harmful side-effects of causing sodium and water retention) the majority of the possible and actual ill-effects would not happen.

See my webpage:
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/obesity_and_the_salt_connection.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

NHS Trust Hospitals employing less-qualified Maternity Support Workers instead of midwives may be risking patient safety.

Maternity care flaws may put patients at risk, says report - Guardian

Extract:

"NHS trusts could be risking the safety of mothers and babies by using maternity support workers to do the work of trained midwives, a report says today.

The independent study for the Department of Health found a number of trusts across England were converting midwife positions into posts for lesser-qualified maternity support workers (MSWs).

The health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, has always insisted MSWs would not be used as substitutes for professionally qualified midwives. But the report found they were doing tasks deemed within the role of midwives and requiring specialist midwifery knowledge and training.

The report said a lack of consistency in the training and role of MSWs had the potential to leave midwives and hospital managers uncertain about their competence, and placed patients at risk from a low standard of care."

Cutting down on salt and salty food is good for the health of pregnant mothers and their unborn babies. - See pregnant mothers

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Pregnant women or those trying to conceive should not drink any alcohol at all, the Department of Health says today.

Pregnant women told to stop drinking - Telegraph

Extract:

"Pregnant women or those trying to conceive should not drink any alcohol at all, the Department of Health says today.

Previously, government advice had been that pregnant women should consume no more than one or two units - two glasses of wine or one pint of beer - once or twice a week.

The Department of Health wants its new "abstinence" policy to appear on alcohol packaging and labels.

The sudden turnaround comes amid concerns that women are either ignoring previous advice that they could consume a little, have various ideas of what "a little" is, or are being told different things in different parts of the UK."

If this advice is taken it will also help the pregnant mother to avoid getting high blood pressure problems.

Pregnant women can avoid excess weight gain and further protect the health of the unborn baby by avoiding eating salt and salty food during pregnancy, because during pregnancy they are vulnerable to salt. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/pregnant_mothers.html

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Commercially produced soups are usually very salty, especially those promoted by the television food presenters Loyd Grossman and Ainsley Harriott.

Grossman and Harriott exposed for salty soups - Independent

Extract:

"Soups promoted by the television food presenters Loyd Grossman and Ainsley Harriott have high levels of hidden salt, associated with heart attacks and strokes.

Packet soups sold under Harriott's name and ready-made sachets in Grossman's range were among the worst performers in a survey of 576 soups by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash). Salt in both the television food presenters' ranges averaged higher than the Government's target. Other very salty brands included Knorr, Batchelors, Baxters and Waitrose.

According to Cash, excessive salt consumption causes 70,000 strokes and heart attacks each year, half of which are fatal.

More than 80 per cent of salt consumed comes from food products rather than salt added to cooking at home.

The Food Standards Agency, the government watchdog, has set a target for soup of 0.6g salt per 100g by 2010. In a check of branded products, Cash found that although soups had become less salty, 48 per cent had more than the recommended maximum. Some - Baxters vegetarian tomato and orange and Morrisons' oxtail and minestrone - had 1.3g, double the target.

Seventeen soups have more than half of the total recommended daily intake of salt. Cash also warned that soup was often eaten with salty bread, making meals even more excessive. It was also "worrying" that Asda and Tesco's economy lines had more salt than standard ranges given that lower income customers were more at risk of cardiovascular disease."

I've been warning about the saltiness of soups for years. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/sodium_foods.html And I've always thought Knorr soup particularly noxious, unhealthy stuff...)o:

Further extract:

"The Food and Drink Federation claimed that the food industry had done a "fantastic job" in reducing salt in soup, pointing out that since 2003 salt levels had been cut by a quarter."

They've got a nerve! - Their soups were so very salty previously, this statement of theirs is like saying that although their soups are still poisonous, they've done ever so well in making them a bit less poisonous than they used to be...)o:

TV chefs in general have a lot to answer for with regard to salt in their dishes. - Years ago Antony Worrall Thompson used to ladle it in at every stage in his demonstration of cooking a dish! - The dishes must have been pretty lethal concoctions by the time they were finished...)o: - I used to wonder if he was paid by the Salt Industry to get people to use a lot of salt! - I think he was, actually... - But he seems to have lost a lot of weight in the last year or two so he must himself be eating less salt than he used to, and he certainly doesn't encourage people to use a lot in cooking these days, thank goodness. - You can buy cookery books that specialise in low salt cooking. - If you want to lose weight and/or to lower your blood pressure these low salt cookbooks would be a big help. - And home made soup is easy to prepare and delicious to eat and you need not add a lot of salt to it. - I like to put a lot of onion in it to give it plenty of flavour. (It's best to avoid using stock cubes because they are very salty.)

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

A journalist wonders whether there will soon be a cure for everything.

Will there soon be a cure for everything? - The Independent

Extract:

"A raft of new drugs are awaiting approval or in the final stages of development that could transform cancer care. Professor Karol Sikora of Imperial College, London, says the proportion of patients with cancer who die of the disease could fall from its present level of two thirds to a quarter during the next 20 years.

But as medicine leaps forward, the NHS will struggle to keep up. The drugs in the pipeline will not be cheap. Herceptin costs more than £20,000 a year and patients have gone to court to force Primary Care Trusts to pay for it.

The next generation of cancer drugs may cost even more - up to £100,000 a year. If they can be convincingly shown to extend life or improve its quality, they will generate demand, even if the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) deems them too expensive for the NHS.
Obesity, smoking, loss of sexual desire and Alzheimer's disease are all targeted by new drugs already licensed, or are about to be, which will find a ready market."

Can't say I'm a fan of this belief in the curative properties of drugs...)o: - Steroids, HRT, tricyclic antidepressants and many other drugs are actually the CAUSE of most instances of extreme obesity and its other attendant grave illnesses - hypertension, diabetes, stroke, cancer, etc. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

Good nutrition coupled with avoidance of all avoidable prescription drugs and all avoidable salt and salty food and junk additives, and strictly avoiding any dieting/'slimming', makes the best combination medicine to promote a long and healthy life.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)