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!

Pfizer involved in deception over new arthritis painkiller drug Celebrex

"A research director for Pfizer was positively buoyant after reading that an important medical conference had just featured a study claiming that the new arthritis drug Celebrex was safer on the stomach than more established drugs. “They swallowed our story, hook, line and sinker,” he wrote in an e-mail to a colleague. The truth was that Celebrex was no better at protecting the stomach from serious complications than other drugs. It appeared that way only because Pfizer and its partner, Pharmacia, presented the results from the first six months of a yearlong study rather than the whole thing."
Read article in the New York Times (USA)

Really I don't think arthritis painkilling drugs are worth the candle. They've done a great deal of harm over the years. See my posts about Vioxx, for example.

You can reduce the pain of osteoarthritis by the simple expedient of seriously cutting down on salt and salty food. This dietary measure also lowers high blood pressure, reduces your risk of heart attack, stroke, depression, fractures, some cancers and many other degenerative illnesses, as well as reducing excess weight caused by fluid retention and helping with breathing problems. - What's not to like? - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Dangers for elderly patients who regularly take opioid painkillers

It is often the arthritis sufferers among elderly patients who most regularly take painkillers, because their pain tends to be chronic. Adverse side-effects are not uncommon, especially with the opioid painkillers, which include codeine, morphine, methadone and brand names such as Demerol, Percocet, Percodan, Darvon, , Vicodin, and Lomotil. The side-effects can be very serious, even dangerous, e.g. more fractured bones. Read this report on MedicalNewsToday.

Yet there is a completely safe and very effective way to reduce the pain/severity of osteo-arthritis, and it does not involve taking pharmaceutical drugs. - You just need to avoid salt and salty food as much as you can. - The less salt you eat, the less pain you will experience from your arthritis...(o: And, since you will also lose some excess water weight from your body which salt has been holding there, there will be less wear and tear on your joints, not having to carry so much water around. - So give salt the elbow, and say goodbye both to so much pain and to dangerous drugs. - See salt/sodium in foods.

Researchers find that copper bracelets and magnetic wrist straps do not reduce arthritic pain or stiffness

BBC News reports that copper bracelets and magnetic wrist straps do not reduce arthritic pain or stiffness.

If you want to reduce arthritic pain without using drugs you can do so by cutting down on salt and salty food. As well as reducing pain, cutting down on salt has many other health benefits too, including weight reduction and reducing the risk of stroke and heart attack.

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.

Your choice of footwear could cause you joint problems, including arthritis.

Your choice of footwear, for example, high heels, could cause you joint problems, including arthritis. See Telegraph report.

UK Government declines to help Vioxx victims in their legal fight with drug company, Merck.

Read this Timesonline report.

I have written many times about the problems with the painkiller, Vioxx. If you click on the Vioxx tag in the Labels list that is at the end of this post, you will find my previous posts about it.

A drug-free way to reduce chronic pain that many people have found helpful is to avoid or cut down on salt and salty food. If you suffer from pain and would prefer not to take drugs, you may like to give it a try.

A ban is recommended on 2 popular prescription painkillers, Percocet and Vicodin, because they cause liver damage

The New York Times reports that "The two drugs combine a narcotic with acetaminophen, the ingredient found in popular over-the-counter products like Tylenol and Excedrin. High doses of acetaminophen are a leading cause of liver damage."

A ban is recommended on 2 popular prescription painkillers, Percocet and Vicodin, because, like so many prescription drugs, they cause liver damage.

If you would like to experience a safe, drug-free way to reduce pain, I suggest you try seriously cutting down on salt and salty food. This reduces most chronic (long-standing) pain, for example, arthritis. It also benefits your health in a host of other ways, including lowering high blood pressure and reducing excess weight. - Why not try it? - It costs nothing and is completely safe. - You have nothing to lose by trying it, nothing but some pain and ill-health and excess weight...

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

Restrictions on co-proxamol prescribing have resulted in a dramatic drop in number of suicides from self-poisoning.

BBC News reports that there has been a dramatic reduction in suicides from self-poisoning since restrictions were imposed on the prescribing of the painkiller co-proxamol. Well that is very good news.

A drug-free, completely safe way to reduce many types of pain, including pain from osteo-arthritis, is to avoid salt and salty food.

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! - 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.

Australian Nurses were paid by drug firm to help find patients to be targeted to take anti-arthritis drug Vioxx

Australian marketing staff from pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co paid specialist nurses half-a-million dollars to "hunt" through patient records for potential candidates for their blockbuster anti-arthritis drug Vioxx. The Federal Court was told the company aimed to identify 100 patients of each targeted general practitioner who were not taking Vioxx and could be recommended to take up the drug for their condition. Known as the "bone and joint care program", the marketing initiative employed nurses to go through patients' records with permission of their general practitioner.
Read article in The Australian (Australia)

NICE is going to back acupuncture for back pain

BBC News reports that the NHS's NICE is going to back acupuncture for back pain. According to this article, "Low back pain is a very common problem affecting one in three adults in the UK each year, with an estimated 2.5 million people seeking help from their GP."

And "NICE says anyone whose pain persists for more than six weeks and up to a year should be given a choice of several treatments, because the evidence about which works best is uncertain.

In addition to painkillers and regular advice to stay active and carry on with normal activities as much as possible, patients, together with their doctor, can decide to opt one of three complementary treatments.

This includes up to eight exercise sessions or 10 sessions of acupuncture over 12 weeks, or a course of manual therapy, which includes up to nine sessions of spinal manipulation, mobilisation or massage."

Personally, I've found acupuncture useless, but I have, for some problems, found manipulation by an osteopath helpful for backache. And remember - pain is not caused by aspirin deficiency!

But a cost-free, safe measure to take is to try cutting down on salt and salty food. This helps with headaches and migraines particularly, but also helps with arthritis and with back pain/backache and many other sorts of chronic pain. - Why not try it for your pain? - It may help, and it will certainly improve your health in many other ways - by lowering your high blood pressure and your excess weight, by giving you more energy, etc.

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

Sodium in foods

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

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

Vioxx manufacturer Merck and Co drew up a hit list of doctors to discredit

Drug company, Merck, made a hit list of doctors who had to be "neutralised" or discredited because they criticised the anti-arthritis drug the pharmaceutical company produced. Staff at US company Merck &Co emailed each other about the list of doctors - mainly researchers and academics - who had been negative about the drug Vioxx or about Merck. "We may need to seek them out and destroy them where they live," a Merck employee wrote, according to an email excerpt read to the court by Julian Burnside QC, acting for the plaintiff.
Read article in The Australian (Australia)

Britons are excluded from US Vioxx painkiller drug compensation

Britons excluded from US drug compensation

Extract from Guardian:

"Merck, the US pharmaceutical giant, is to continue battling with hundreds of British claimants over its failed arthritis painkiller, Vioxx, in spite of agreeing yesterday to a settlement with US residents.

Merck agreed a $4.85bn (£2.42 bn) settlement, one of the biggest in history, with US claimants who blamed the drug for heart attacks and other side-effects.

But the company said this would not apply to British lawsuits or others round the world suing for compensation."

Painkillers for arthritis have caused severe adverse side-effects for many people over the years. - If you want to lessen the pain of osteoarthritis without the use of prescribed drugs, try the completely safe way of avoiding eating salt/sodium and salty food. - See Sodium in foods and
Associated health conditions

Arthritis? Osteoarthritis? Worried about using painkillers?

You may have become a concerned because there has been a lot of bad publicity about painkillers used for arthritis - Vioxx, for instance, or Prexige, or Ibuprofen or Aspirin.

If you are in pain from arthritis and would prefer not to risk adverse side-effects from painkillers, or if, like me, you have a philosophical or a rational objection to taking painkillers because you have found them useless and would prefer to try to address the cause of the pain rather than the symptom, then you may like to try cutting down on your salt/sodium intake. - This is not a frivolous suggestion; eating less salt reduces a lot of - possibly most - pain. - See Pain and other conditions that can be improved by cutting down on salt

Cutting down on salt also reduces fluid retention, and therefore reduces excess weight. This in itself could make your arthritis easier to cope with.

Slow down the aging process and lose weight 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/.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

See Sodium in foods and

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

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

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

Another arthritis painkiller - Prexige - made by Novartis - has caused fatalities

Doctors warned over arthritis drug after two die in Australia - Guardian

Extracts:

"Health campaigners last night urged doctors to be wary of prescribing an arthritis drug after concerns over its safety and an order to ban it in Australia following reports of liver damage. UK and European drug regulators are reviewing the safety data on the painkiller, Prexige, after eight cases of serious liver damage in Australia, including two fatalities.

There are concerns because Prexige is in the same class of drugs as Vioxx, the painkiller withdrawn worldwide in 2004 after being linked to heart attacks and strokes."

"In the UK approximately 5,400 patients have received one or more prescriptions for Prexige, made by the drugs company Novartis, in the last year.

Vioxx, which was manufactured by a separate drugs company, Merck, was used by 84 million patients worldwide, 400,000 of them in Britain. It was withdrawn after trials suggested it might nearly double the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The class of drugs which includes Prexige and Vioxx is known as Cox-2 selective inhibitors. They are a relatively new type of anti-inflammatory medicine which is thought to produce fewer gastro-intestinal side effects than older non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which include ibuprofen. Since the Vioxx crisis they have been under surveillance by medicines watchdogs."

Cutting down on salt and salty food is helpful for reducing the pain of osteoarthritis and has many other health benefits too. - See conditions that can be helped by eating less salt

Lose weight 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/.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

See Sodium in foods and

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

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

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

Risk of heart attack is raised by painkillers. Cut down on salt.

High doses of ibuprofen raise heart attack risk - Telegraph

Extract:

"The common pain killer ibuprofen has been found to increase an existing risk of having a heart attack or a stroke in people who suffer from arthritis, research shows today.
For some the risk was nine times higher.

The findings bring more anxiety to the millions of arthritis sufferers in Britain as they follow a series of research studies that have shown increased risk of heart disease from the pain killers they take to ease the condition.

The latest evidence comes from a study of more than 18,000 people who took one of three pain killers for their arthritis.

One patient in 10 was also at high risk of heart attack or stroke and some of these patients took low dose aspirin as well as one of the pain killers for arthritis. For high risk patients taking both aspirin and ibuprofen the risk of a heart attack or stroke was nine times greater, over one year, when compared with those who were taking one of the other arthritis painkillers, lumiracoxib, alone."

Well I've been advising for years, both on my website and when people contact me as individuals, that taking drugs is hazardous. The NSAIDs painkillers are among the drugs I specify. Avoid taking drugs if you possibly can.

Painkillers are pretty ineffective for severe pain anyway. - The safest way to reduce or prevent many kinds of pain, including the pain of osteoarthritis, is to reduce salt/sodium intake permanently. - Either cut down on salt and salty food or, preferably, give it up completely. This is also the best way to avoid headaches or migraines. Cutting out salt will also lower your blood pressure and lower your risk of heart attack or stroke and a host of other diverse health problems, including diabetes. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.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.)

Elderly nursing home residents left in pain by care staff

Scandal of elderly left in pain by care staff

Extract:

"Elderly people in nursing homes are being left in "shocking pain" says a survey today, with two in five saying they are in constant agony, and others admitting to having suicidal thoughts.

The research, conducted confidentially among residents whose average age was 82, reveals the extent to which the frail and vulnerable are made to suffer unnecessarily.

It was carried out by the Patients Association, the independent lobby group led by Claire Rayner, a former nurse and midwife and well-known agony aunt."

Many painful conditions, e.g. osteoarthritis, can be improved and made less painful by reducing salt intake. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.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.)