If your skin is red and you're not a tomato

If your skin is red and you're not a tomato or a beetroot, it's very likely that you are sensitive to salt. I say this because salt sensitivity tends to cause skin-thinning and swollen veins. Then because of the thin skin the veins are effectively nearer to the skin's surface, and their red/purple/blue colour makes the skin appear flushed. 

 

I suggest that you try cutting down on salt and salty food. If you take up my suggestion, your high colour will be reduced and you will feel ever so much better! You will lose some excess weight/fluid retention, lower your blood pressure, reduce your risk of stroke, heart attack, cancer and diabetes, increase your energy and pep up your mental alertness. - "Bring it on!" I hear you cry! - And here's an added inducement to desalinate your diet: read "The Fat Man with the Red Face."

Children's meals in some pubs and fast food chains remain far too high in salt

The Independent reports on new survey findings by CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health). "Children's meals at some of the UK's leading pub and fast food chains contain more salt than they should eat in an entire day, a study has found." Perhaps surprisingly, "Nando's and Wetherspoons both had children's meals containing three times as much salt as a McDonald's Happy Meal of a hamburger and fries. " I recommend that parents read the whole article.

There are healthier options available, but parents are hampered if they are looking for the healthier low salt options for their children because menus lack nutritional information. - Even now! - After years of warnings about the harm that high salt intake does to children and the dangers to their long-term health when they become addicted to salt in childhood. - Even now! - Even now parts of the Food Industry are continuing to ladle vast amounts of salt into children's meals, without providing the necessary information that these levels of salt are dangerous to health. - Heightened risk of high blood pressure, increased risk of stroke, heart disease, osteoporosis, asthma and kidney disease: these are the free accompaniments to highly salted children's meals...

'Posh' salt is as harmful to health as ordinary table salt

'Posh' salt is as harmful to health as ordinary table salt. - Apologies: I should have written about this in November when it was in the news. Still, better late than never. - The Guardian reported on a Consensus Action on Salt and Health study, which found that there is widespread misunderstanding in the matter of different sorts of salt sold, and that many people buying the gourmet-type salts like rock salt, sea salt, Maldon Salt, Himalayan Salt and Fleur de Sel, mistakenly thought that the expensive salts were better for health than ordinary Saxa Table Salt. "In the study the sodium chloride and moisture content of seven different salt products available from supermarkets and online were analysed – including "posh" salts such as Maldon and Himalayan (Best Care Products) and Saxa table salt. Sodium and chloride combine to form salt (NaCl), the combination of minerals which puts up our blood pressure leading to strokes, heart failure and heart disease and also linked to osteoporosis, stomach cancer and kidney disease. Cash said the results show they all contain just as much sodium chloride as each other."

I don't know why they stress the sodium chloride (NaCl) content as such; it is the sodium ion content specifically that puts up blood pressure and causes fluid retention/water weight/obesity and heart damage and all the other degenerative disorders that develop in people vulnerable to salt/sodium. The chloride ions are only the associates of the baddie sodium ions; they are not themselves the baddies.

The nonsense spouted by the manufacturers of the expensive salts - nonsensical claims that their products are not harmful - should be filed with the claims made long ago by tobacco manufacturers that their products did not cause cancer, etc. and were not addictive. Lies for profits. Dishonesty for gain. Drivel for the gullible.

Study finds both high and low levels of salt consumption are linked to higher risk of heart attack, stroke and congestive heart failure

Consumption of too much, and too little, salt may be linked to a higher risk of heart-related hospitalisations and deaths, according to a new study.
Read article at foodnavigator-usa.com

But the researchers seem to me to be confusing association with causation. - When consumers know themselves to be sensitive to salt/sodium and/or know themselves to have high blood pressure, for example, they are likely to reduce their salt intake as a sensible precautionary measure. - Thus their low salt intake is not the cause of their increased risk of cardiovascular events, but the intentional consequence of knowing themselves to be vulnerable to adverse consequences if they were to eat more salt. I myself would certainly have died years ago, had I not reduced, and gradually eliminated, my consumption of any food containing added salt, thereby reducing both my extremely high blood pressure back to 'normal', and my obesity due to fluid retention. See my Mensa article about this.

NSAIDs painkillers increase risk of heart attack and stroke for heart disease patients

Study: Certain painkillers may raise odds of stroke, heart attack
Heart disease patients with high blood pressure who take a class of painkillers called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are at greater risk for heart attack, stroke or even death, new research shows. NSAIDs include popular medications such as such as aspirin, Celebrex, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) and naproxen (Aleve).
Read article on the USA Today website

Harmful antipsychotic drugs are still being wrongly prescribed to dementia sufferers

BBC News reports that harmful antipsychotic drugs are still being widely and inappropriately prescribed to elderly dementia sufferers. "More than 50 health and social care organisations are calling for fresh action to cut the prescription of "chemical cosh" drugs. Around 180,000 people with dementia are thought to be prescribed antipsychotic drugs in the UK. But 80% of those prescriptions are said by critics to be inappropriate. Long-term use of the drugs can make dementia symptoms worse, reduce the ability to talk and walk and increase the risk of stroke and even death."

Study links antidepressant use with increased risk of heart disease and stroke

Study of 513 middle-aged male twins links antidepressant use with increased risk of heart disease and stroke, as reported by the Times of India.

It should be recognised that antidepressant drugs work no better than dummy pills in any case and should not be being prescribed. Most antidepressants make you fatter and damage your health in many other ways, including causing brain damage years later. It is best to avoid these harmful, useless drugs.

Beware! That pub meal is likely to be very high in salt!

Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) has been surveying the salt content of 526 pie, mash and gravy products from large pub chains, cafes, takeaways and supermarkets, as reported by hc2d.co.uk.

It's good that Consensus Action on Salt and Health keeps drawing attention to continuing high concentrations of salt in prepared meals, but after so many years of attention being drawn to this, retailers who sell meals to the public must know that for the sake of the health of their customers they should be lowering the amount of salt in those meals.

It seems then, that Wetherspoons and Punch Taverns don't care that their high salt meals are damaging their customers' health. It would seem that by making their meals salty, they hope to increase the thirst of the customers who eat them, and therefore to sell more drinks to them to quench that thirst. If you are one of those customers, I suggest you try telling the manager you would prefer the meals to be less salty. Failing that, you may like to consider taking your custom elsewhere for the sake of your health. If you cut down on salt and salty food, you will feel better and have more energy, and you'll lower your risk of stroke, heart attack, diabetes, cancer and dementia, as well as lowering high blood pressure and losing excess weight/fluid retention.

Psoriasis? Some members of the Psoriasis Help Organisation have found reducing salt intake has greatly reduced their problems with Psoriasis

Some members of the Psoriasis Help Organisation have found reducing salt intake has greatly reduced their problems with psoriasis. See Psoriasis Help Organisation forum page about Salt Sensitivity. In fact, cutting down on salt intake improves health in many ways, particularly in lowering high blood pressure and reducing obesity and risk of stroke, heart attack, heart disease, most cancers, breathing problems and type 2 diabetes. Why not try cutting down on salt and salty food for yourself? - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better...(o:

Happy Birthday, Michael Grade, Lord Grade of Yarmouth

Happy Birthday! Michael Grade, Lord Grade of Yarmouth. I read in the Radio Times that it is your 68th birthday today. I also read there that you are two stone (28 pounds) overweight. So I have a birthday present for you: it is the suggestion to cut down on salt and salty food, because this would result in your losing some of that excess weight. - Honestly, it would! - Go on! - Try it! - It will benefit your health in countless other ways too, including reducing your risk of a stroke, which I understand your father suffered.

Painkillers linked to increased risk of heart problems

Commonly used painkillers for treating inflammation can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, according to an analysis of the evidence published in the British Medical Journal. The drugs include traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) as well as new generation anti-inflammatory drugs, known as COX-2 inhibitors.
Read article at physorg.com

Eat less salt and lower your risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart attacks, kidney disease and many more health problems

Reduce your salt consumption and lower your risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart attacks, kidney disease and many more health problems.

"The American Heart Association today issued a call to action for the public, health professionals, the food industry and the government to intensify efforts to reduce the amount of sodium (salt) Americans consume daily." See physorg.com article.

"Recently, the American Heart Association lowered their recommendation to no more than 1500 mg of sodium daily for the general public, after a report from the Centers for Disease Control found that a majority of the American population either have high blood pressure or are at high risk for developing it."

See Sodium in Foods

See Groups Vulnerable to Salt.

See Obesity and the Salt Connection.

Did you know that taking prescription drugs is a major cause of salt sensitivity? - Read about Amitriptyline and other antidepressants. And read about Prescribed Steroids, HRT and other Drugs.

Study links Voltaren (aka diclofenac) painkiller to increased risk of strokes

There are calls for one of Australia's top-selling painkillers to be banned, after another study linked it to an increased chance of stroke in healthy people. Commonly sold as Voltaren, diclofenac is available in a number of brands and is as dangerous as the arthritis drug Vioxx, according to the author of the study.
Read article on the website of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

Clinicians should conform to the recommended protocol when prescribing steroids.

I quote extracts from a standard textbook in the section on steroids: "Electrolyte Balance. – This group of drugs leads to retention of sodium and water and loss of potassium through the kidneys. Oedema of the ankles and eventually hypertension may develop…The correct dose of a steroid is the minimum amount of drug required to produce the desired effect…Patients taking steroids should be seen regularly and the following points noted: General appearance – any evidence of Cushing-like appearance…Blood pressure…Blood electrolytes must be estimated in patients undergoing prolonged therapy with these drugs…A close watch should be kept for undue potassium loss or sodium retention…"

There should be a STATUTORY requirement for health professionals to ABIDE by strict rules with regard to prescribing and monitoring steroids and HRT. Then there would not be new victims created every year, as is presently the case.

When I was initially prescribed oral HRT it included a high (unknown to me) dose of oestrogen and I was kept on that dosage for years before my blood oestrogen levels were measured (at my insistence and privately at my financial cost, my G.P. (now retired) having falsely maintained that he was not allowed to get the levels measured) and were found to be DANGEROUSLY high. There had been NO routine monitoring and care whatsoever. I had been laughed at when I queried the weight gain, explaining that I was definitely not over-eating. - I was routinely assumed to be lying, and my anguished reports of pain, principally in my feet and in my swollen, blood-gorged breasts, were sneered at and I was regarded as a hypochondriac. My increasingly troubling high blood pressure went ignored and largely unrecorded until the intervention of a surgeon whom I consulted prior to having a hysterectomy. He had recognised immediately on seeing me that I had high blood pressure. (Why don't all doctors know about the connection between high blood pressure and a red face?)

My blood electrolytes were not measured until 1998, when I tackled the endocrinologist about her negligence – by which time I had been on HRT for over ten years!

The endocrinologist told me she knew NOTHING AT ALL about Sodium Retention! Well I contend that if a specialist knows nothing, and is content to know nothing, about the principal danger listed as a side-effect of a drug, the prescription of which is her responsibility, then it is a scandalous state of affairs. And if specialists don’t know (and, by implication, don’t care, since she had made no effort over many years to inform herself on the subject), it is unlikely that GPs are any better informed. My own GPs appeared to know nothing about it. And GPs are the main prescribers of HRT and other steroids.

Had I been correctly monitored as detailed in the protocol I would have been spared the nightmare weight gain that was oedema, and the high blood pressure, the intense, sustained pain of overstretched blood vessels and overstretched, ever-thinner skin, etc. If I had even just been given the VITAL information that to avoid/minimise the huge increase in the salt and water content of the bloodstream I needed to avoid salt and salty food, I could have been spared monumental unnecessary suffering and harm.

Even now, obese steroid victims and other obese victims of the injudicious prescribing of drugs that cause sodium and water retention are not being told that to lose some of the excess weight/fluid they carry round with them. they need to minimise their intake of salt and salty food. This critically important information would transform their lives. As well as reducing their overweight it would lower any high blood pressure, lower cholesterol (if anyone is bothered about it), reduce their risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, dementia and cancer, and benefit their health in countless other ways too.

Note: I must STRESS that once a person with a salt problem lowers salt intake and loses weight, there needs to be a lifetime commitment to a lowered salt intake. If the previous salt intake is resumed, the weight will return because of the weakened, over-stretched veins. And it is very much more difficult to lose the weight a second time, because high Blood Volume damages the kidneys, which find it harder to deal with sodium.

Read about weight gain caused by steroids and HRT and

my Mensa article about Obesity and the Salt Connection and

the scandalous politics of the situation.

Watch out for salty salads!

See this Telegraph report. It's a bit sneaky making salads salty, because people tend to expect salad to be a healthy choice of meal. High salt intake can increase your risk of a stroke or a heart attack, especially if you are in one of the vulnerable groups. And if you have high blood pressure or if you are overweight, then salty food is extra damaging to you. See Sodium in foods.

Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) use in adolescents linked to doubled risk of asthma

New evidence linking the use of acetaminophen to development of asthma and eczema suggests that even monthly use of the drug in adolescents may more than double risk of asthma in adolescents compared to those who used none at all; yearly use was associated with a 50 percent increase in the risk of asthma.
Read article at physorg.com

Comment by Dr Rath Foundation: Based upon research involving more than 300,000 13- and 14 year old children in 113 centers throughout 50 countries, the results of this study follow hot on the heels of independent research that links acetaminophen (Paracetamol) not only to asthma but also to hearing loss and adverse vision events. As such, as the leading cause of liver failure in the United States and carrying a much increased risk of stroke and heart attack, it is becoming increasingly clear that the dangers of acetaminophen are far higher, and more numerous, than the business with disease and its friends in the drug regulatory agencies would have you believe.

Criticism mounts on GSK re Avandia, its diabetes drug widely regarded as unsafe

See the Telegraph article. Incredibly Glaxo's response has been, ""Since 2007 we have seen results from six controlled clinical trials looking at the cardiovascular safety of Avandia. Together they show that this medicine does not increase the overall risk of heart attack, stroke or death."" - And the band played believe it if you like...

Glaxo playing the wide-eyed innocent sits oddly with the ghastly history of the usage of this drug, and the tactics, including intimidation, GSK have employed to try to suppress the facts about its adverse effects. You can read some of that history here: http://wildeaboutobesity.blogspot.com/search/label/Avandia.

Drugs commonly used for heart failure and high blood pressure problems are linked to increased risk of cancer

BBC News reports that researchers have found a slightly increased risk of cancer associated with taking angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs). As usual, people are being advised not to stop taking the drugs, but to seek advice from their GP if they are concerned about this research finding.

There is a completely safe, drug-free way to reduce high blood pressure, reduce heart problems and lower your risk of stroke, diabetes and most cancers, and that is to cut down on salt and salty food. Cutting down on salt/sodium also reduces excess weight.

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

Further attention drawn to health risks of GSK's diabetes drug, Avandia

See This is London article, where you will read that "David Graham, of the Food and Drug Administration, said patients taking the drug had a 27% greater chance of suffering a stroke, a 25% increased risk of heart failure and a 13% greater chance of dying."

IOM presses FDA to set new federal standards for the amount of salt that food manufacturers and restaurants be allowed to add to their products

This WebMD article reports that the Institute of Medicine is calling for the FDA to set mandatory standards for safe levels of sodium, using their existing authority to regulate salt as a food additive.

Not before time! Most people have surely encountered the message that lowering sodium intake can reduce high blood pressure, as well as reducing the risk of stroke, heart failure, heart attack, kidney failure, type 2 diabetes and many other degenerative diseases. Unfortunately most people do not know that lowering sodium intake, i.e. cutting down on salt and salty food, is also the fastest, safest and simplest way to lose excess weight.

The trouble is that there are many vested interests seeking to keep consumers salt intake high. It suits food manufacturers to add more salt than is healthy for a number of reasons. Among these reasons: salt is a very cheap ingredient, and it is an ingredient that allows more water to be added (thus adding salt and water to ham enables salt and water to be sold at the same price as ham). Salt is also addictive for many people and so this keeps up the sales of salty products. And in the case of fast food restaurants, high salt levels produce increased thirst and therefore increased sale of drinks and enhanced profits.

Until mandatory salt restriction in foodstuffs comes about, we need to police our own intake of added salt and avoid it as far as we can.

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, boost your lung function 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

Fat retention and fat excretion: the importance of getting enough calcium.

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