Dr Matthew Rath compares/contrasts the pharmaceutical approach to cancer with the more natural micronutrient/vitamin therapies he advocates...

Read here the
Response by Dr. Rath to the Invitation
to Become a Reviewer of
the International Journal of Cancer

Dr Rath is an outspoken critic of the pharmaceutical approach to cancer and a scientific pioneer for new and natural approaches to cancer like vitamin supplementation. (My apologies for spelling Dr Rath's name incorrectly in the title of this post. His first name is Matthias, not Matthew.)

I largely go along with Dr Rath's philosophy on health, but my personal hobby horse is the damage that SALT intake causes in so many people - people who are sensitive/vulnerable to salt - especially children and especially people who have taken certain prescription drugs, including steroids like prednisone and prednisolone and HRT, and tricyclic anti-depressants like amitriptyline, which many doctors prescribe inappropriately, often in recklessly high doses and for ill-advisedly long periods. - It is best for most people's health to avoid prescription drugs unless they are strictly necessary, and if they take them at all, to take in the lowest effective dose and for the shortest time necessary. - Remember also that many prescription drugs deplete the body of essential nutrients, so you may like to consider taking nutritional supplements if you are taking prescribed medication/s, e.g. steroids deplete the body of calcium, potassium, magnesium and possibly zinc, and certain diuretics - like bendrofluazide - deplete the body of potassium and magnesium, and some antibiotics deplete the body of other nutrients.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, 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!

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

Children and Obesity

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

advice for pregnant mothers

Which are the best and safest slimming pills?

Strangely enough, you don't really need pills to lose excess weight. You can lose excess water weight (fluid retention) simply by avoiding eating salt/sodium and salty food and making sure you eat plenty of fruit and unsalted vegetables, and you can reduce excess fat (fat retention) by making sure you have plenty of dairy calcium (and vitamin D) and other minerals.

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 FAT RETENTION

But if you are VERY overweight and water-logged because of taking prescribed steroids (like prednisone and prednisolone and HRT) or prescribed antidepressants (like, notoriously, amitriptyline) or other dangerous prescription drugs, then you may feel you need a bit of pharmaceutical help. In this case, the correct therapy is a thiazide diuretic like bendrofluazide/bendroflumethiazide in low dose. This has the same effect as lowering salt intake, because it removes sodium and water from the body. Unfortunately it also has the undesirable effect of removing potassium from the body, so it is not as safe as simply cutting out salt, and high dose is certainly not a good idea. But it is much safer than most pharmaceutical drugs and it certainly removes excess water which is the primary cause of the overweight and it lowers high blood pressure and has other good effects.

If you suffer from excruciating cramp in your feet or lower legs

If you suffer regularly from excruciating cramp in your feet or lower legs when you are in bed at night please do not let anyone persuade you that it is caused by lack of salt! - If you take extra salt to try to remedy the problem, you will in fact make it worse! Cutting down on salt/sodium and salty food reduces night cramps.

Night cramps are usually caused by a shortage of one or more minerals (but not sodium). The minerals you may be short of may be any one or more of magnesium, potassium, calcium and zinc. You may well find that taking a multimineral tablet each day helps with the problem. - In my own case it was magnesium that I was particularly short of, but be aware that magnesium supplements can cause diarrhoea, so don't take a lot! - Also magnesium is best when accompanied by calcium. If you decide to try a supplement containing both these minerals, then best to take it with a meal and a glass of water. - Never overdo things when you are taking supplements - especially if you are taking prescribed medication, because some prescribed medications can change your body chemistry so much!

Another possible reason for your cramp is the prescribed tablets you are taking. - Thiazide diuretics (water tablets) such as Bendrofluazide (aka Bendroflumethiazide or lots of other names) remove sodium and water from the body, usually in order to reduce high blood pressure. Unfortunately they also remove some potassium and magnesium from the body as well. So the resultant shortage of potassium and magnesium may well be what is causing your night cramps. Often all you need to do about the shortage of potassium is to make sure you eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. (Sometimes your doctor will already have prescribed you potassium tablets. If that is the case, then don't take extra! - It is good to have enough potassium; it is not good to have too much!)