Cardiovascular, Vitamins
How “GAADD” Is Slowly Killing North Americans
A wise sage once remarked, “It’s not things you don’t know that gets you into trouble, it’s the things you know for sure that ain’t so!” Most doctors and patients are convinced cholesterol-lowering drugs (CLDs) prevent heart attack. I say, it ain’t so. So what may prove me right? And why is GAADD so important? Fact # One Years ago I interviewed Dr. Linus Pauling, a two-time Nobel Prize winner. He explained that animals make their own vitamin C and rarely suffer a heart attack. For example, guinea pigs manufacture 13,000 milligrams of C daily, but if infection occurs these animals increase the amount to 100,000 mg daily! It indicates that nature provides vitamin C for health. Unfortunately, humans, due to a...Read More
Cancer, Cardiovascular, Eyes, Ears, Nose & Throat, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Neurology, Pain, Vitamins
What Did You Learn From Me in 2017?
I hope my columns during 2017 have helped readers live longer and healthier. So which of the following are true or false? There’s evidence that regular activity lowers the risk of dementia. Also a suggestion that high daily doses of vitamin C can decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at The Harvard Medical School report the magical ingredient in fish to decrease the risk of heart disease is omega-3 fatty acids, which like Aspirin, add oil to the blood making it less likely to clot. The survival rate of cancer of the prostate has little to do with the type of treatment. Rather, it’s related to the biological nature of the malignancy. Some cancers are pussy cats, others raging...Read More
Cardiovascular, Medicine
Ten Vital Facts to Know About “Baby Aspirin”
IF YOU HAVE NOT HAD A HEART ATTACK One – You’re in your 50s. The Medical Publication, Health After 50, reports that a panel of experts has updated the guidelines for taking Aspirin at various ages. It says you, in your 50s, have a 10 percent or greater risk of coronary attack or stroke in the next 10 years, and a life expectancy of at least 10 years with no increased risk of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. If you meet one of these requirements it says you may be a candidate for a daily baby Aspirin (81 milligrams). You can calculate your risk of heart attack at www.cvriskcalculator. Two – You’re in your 60s. In this case, the publication says you have a...Read More
Cardiovascular, Surgery
Surgery More Effective Than Drano for Stroke
How would you feel if you suffered a stroke and were left paralyzed? Then later discovered that if you had been aware of early signs of stroke, paralysis could have been avoided? This column might help to prevent this tragedy. Moreover, the good news is that surgery is superior to anti-clotting drugs for treatment of this devastating event. A report in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that surgery, rather than TPA, a clot dissolving drug that works like household Drano, produces a better outcome. There are two kinds of stroke. 80 percent of the time “blockage strokes” are caused by a clot that prevents oxygenated blood from reaching the brain. The other type of stroke happens when an artery ruptures...Read More
Cardiovascular, Vitamins
Vitamin K2: How It Helps Heart and Bone
Ask people what they know about vitamin C and some will reply it’s good for preventing common colds. Maybe they’d add heart attack, if they’ve read my column. But ask the same question about K2 and most people will give you a blank stare. Now, Dr. Dennis Goodman, cardiologist and Director of Integrative Medicine at New York University, says ignoring vitamin K2 is dangerous. In 1929 Danish scientist, Dr. Henrik Dam, discovered vitamin K. Since then researchers have discovered two types of K, K1 and K2. Leafy green vegetables are rich in K1. It plays a vital role in blood clotting. But K2 isn’t easy to obtain in the diet, placing many at risk of being deficient of this vitamin. Goodman, in...Read More
Cardiovascular, Eyes, Ears, Nose & Throat, Miscellaneous, Surgery
A Miner Will Save Millions from Blindness
Would I, as a doctor, ever expect to meet a miner? As Mark Twain remarked, “A mine is a hole in the ground with a liar at the top”. Luckily, I accepted an invitation to do just that, and discovered there is something new under the sun. This week, how “DIAGNOS”, a Canadian company in Montreal, has developed what’s called “computer assisted retinal analysis (CARA)”. This computer software will save millions of people around the world from blindness due to Type 2 diabetes. So, did a miner become a retinal expert? The slogan of DIAGNOS is “Beat it in a blink”. Patients simply look into a camera and a photo is taken of their retina, the back part of...Read More
Cardiovascular
Cruising With Cardiologists to Alaska, and What I Learned
I have a passion for ships so I’ve travelled and seen much of the world this way. But I’d never been to Alaska. So I recently joined a group of cardiologists on an educational cruise to a U.S. State blessed with magnificent scenery. It was a good learning experience, with one glaring omission. Towards the end of the conference I asked a specific question. For several days all the speakers had discussed the value of Cholesterol-lowering drugs (CLDs) to prevent heart attack. They had also discussed drugs to treat heart failure. But none had mentioned the vital importance of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) to either prevent or treat a failing heart. Studies show that CLDs decrease the amount of this enzyme, and...Read More
Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Nutrition
Are Hens An Endangered Species?
Headlines fool a lot of people. In March 1984 the cover of Time Magazine caught everyone’s attention. It read “Cholesterol, Now the Bad News”. It reported that cholesterol had been proven deadly and our diet should never be the same again. Researchers have since found little or no correlation between cholesterol in our food and our blood cholesterol. But since eggs contain more cholesterol than most other foods, hens have taken a brutal beating. So why have North American Egg Associations failed to defend hens more vigorously? And why have they ignored scientific facts about heart attack? At one point it looked like the hens were getting a welcome break. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) has since ruled that it...Read More
Cardiovascular, Vitamins
What They Don’t Tell You about Baldness and Heart Attack
A Czech proverb says, “A good man grows gray and a rascal bald”. And Thomas Dekker wrote in “The Gull’s Hornbook” in 1609, “How ugly is a bald pate! It looks like a face wanting a nose”. Now, a Japanese report says that men with baldness should be less concerned about how it affects their looks. Rather, is the lack of hair associated with increased risk of coronary attack? The Japanese findings were published online in the British Medical Journal, “Open”. The study involved 40,000 males whose hair pattern was graded as either frontal, crown-top baldness or a combination of the two. The conclusion was that not all bald men are created equal. Men with frontal baldness had a 22 percent increased...Read More
Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Medicine
A Double-Barrelled Package to Treat Hypertension
Today millions of North Americans suffer hypertension and 99 percent are being treated by prescription drugs. Studies show that nearly 50 percent discontinue their medication due to unpleasant side-effects. But tossing away drugs is a hazardous move which can result in earlier death. This week, a double-barrelled natural remedy that helps to prevent high blood pressure. It can also be helpful to those with hypertension who wish to try managing it first without the use of prescription medication. It’s been said that “societies get the blood pressure they deserve.” It appears we deserve a lot. It’s estimated that 75 million adult North Americans have hypertension. What is more frightening is that doctors are now seeing this disease in young children who...Read More
Alcohol, Cardiovascular, Lifestyle
Will A Drink a Day Keep the Doctor Away?
We’ve been told for years that a nutritious apple a day helps to keep the doctor away. But could alcohol have the same result during this holiday season and the New Year? Or, is alcohol a wolf in sheep’s clothing, detrimental to our well-being? I recently mentioned during a talk that I believed that alcohol in moderation was the best medicine ever invented. The audience responded with a big applause. But was it justified? Critics damn alcohol because some people abuse it. I agree when people are killed by drunken drivers. But no one bans cars because some idiots cause needless deaths. My research on alcohol dates back many years. Why? Because I’ve always enjoyed a moderate drink and wanted to know if...Read More
Cardiovascular
Heart Failure = 2.1 to 5 Years of Life
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves”. Shakespeare wrote this over 400 years ago. The immortal bard could easily be referring to the epidemic of congestive heart failure (CHF) in this country. So what does this disease mean to us, and our health care system? To find out, I visited the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC) at the University of Toronto. Dr. Michael McDonald, an expert on CHF, says, “Today, if you’re over the age of 65, heart failure is the most common reason for being admitted to hospital”. It’s prudent to read his remark twice as this diagnosis means a life expectancy as low as 2.1 to 5 years! McDonald says CHF can result from a...Read More
Cardiovascular, Surgery
Surgery for Swinging-Door Heart Valves
Mitral valve surgery can best be described by comparison to the swinging saloon door in old western movies. It demonstrates what can go wrong with the heart’s valves. And what surgical procedure is needed to correct mitral valve prolapse (MVP). To get a first-hand view of this procedure, I watched Dr. Tirone David, one the world’s great cardiac surgeons, perform the operation at Toronto General Hospital. The mitral valve separates the two left chambers of the heart. Each time the heart beats the valves swing open, like the doors of a western saloon. But after opening they close firmly again while the heart pumps blood to the body. The problem is that swinging doors of saloons often develop loose rusty hinges that...Read More
Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Nutrition
How to Fight The Deadly Trio
What kills more North Americans than anything else? It’s the deadly trio of obesity, diabetes and heart attack. Each is a huge problem by itself. But when lumped together they constitute three raging epidemics completely out of control with catastrophic consequences for patients and our health care system. But there are ways for smart medical consumers to avoid becoming victims of the deadly trio. Consider what’s happened in the last 60 years. When I was a medical student 5 percent of Type 2 diabetes, better labeled as lifestyle diabetes, was due to obesity. Now, numbers have reached a shocking 95 percent. The deadly trio kills by atherosclerosis (narrowing of arteries). The resulting decreased blood supply sends patients on their way to the...Read More
Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Nutrition, Vitamins
Waiter, Make Sure My Steak Moos only Once!
I’ve been told it many times, “One of these days you’re going to push your luck too far”. It’s because I stress to waiters I want my steak “blue”. The worst that can happen is it arrives rare. But what is the risk of a blue steak? And can well done steak be bad for the heart? No waiter has ever said to me, “You dummy, didn’t you learn in medical school that ordering a steak rare may cause toxoplasmosis? Go back and read about parasitology.” Toxoplasmosis is not a common household term such as measles. But if the parasite is contacted, it can cause enlarged glands in the neck, fatigue, fever, and an enlarged spleen. In rare...Read More
Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Nutrition, Vitamins
Do You Want a Shock? High Cholesterol for a Longer Life?
A recent medical tip to readers sparked a quick reaction. It reported a study that those with higher blood cholesterol lived longer! This is contradictory to everything we’ve been told for years. The Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care reported research that will shock millions of North Americans who ingest, faithfully, cholesterol-lowering drugs (CLDs). Scientists analyzed the cholesterol level of 120,000 Danish adults residing in Denmark. They discovered men age 60 to 70 with high levels of blood cholesterol showed a 32 percent decreased risk of death. Women fared better with a 41 percent reduced risk of death. To add more injury to the cholesterol theory, these researchers also discovered that higher levels of LDL cholesterol, the bad cholesterol, was also associated...Read More
Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Medicine, Vitamins
Stroke Update: What’s Missing will Cost Lives
Every year 650,000 North Americans suffer a lethal stroke, or one that leads to debilitating mental or physical problems. The American Stroke Association (ASA) has issued an important update on how to prevent this disaster for those who have not had a major stroke or a mini one. But why do prestigious university medical centers continue to make a grievous error that costs lives? Remember, you cannot change your family history of stroke, or your age. But you can change the odds, because 90 percent of the factors that cause stroke are controllable. So here are facts you should be aware of. ANTICOAGULANTS (blood thinners) to treat A Fib, an irregular heart rate, should be used more often, but have a high...Read More
Cardiovascular, Nutrition, Vitamins
Magnesium: Protection from Undertakers
In 1979 Dr. David Chipperfield reported a finding in the British Medical Journal, Lancet. He had discovered that patients suffering from angina pain had low blood levels of magnesium. Equally important, he found that by prescribing this mineral, often referred to as “nature’s natural dilator”, the spasm of the coronary artery could be relieved, preventing a fatal heart attack and ultimately, the need to call an undertaker. Today, doctors are often asked, “Am I taking enough or too much calcium?” But in my days of practicing medicine, I can’t recall a single patient who asked me the same question about magnesium. It’s ironic because studies show that many North Americans are not obtaining sufficient amounts of this vital mineral. This can...Read More
Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Medicine, Vitamins
A Shocking Finding About Aspirin and Heart Attack
Aspirin has been called the “One Cent Miracle Drug” for good reason. It’s the most widely used medical remedy in the world and available for over a hundred years to treat headaches and other pains. Millions take it to decrease the risk of heart attack and more recently, cancer. But how effective is it? And what is the recent surprise finding? In January 2011, the journal, “The Lancet”, reported data from eight studies involving 25,570 people. It concluded that a daily Aspirin decreased total cancer deaths by 24 percent after five years of use. Moreover, after people stopped Aspirin, death rates were still 20 percent lower for 15 years, largely for cancers of the colon, esophagus and prostate. Researchers also discovered...Read More
Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Nutrition
Expert Says, “It’s The Worst Dirty Trick of Aging”
In 2014, how much progress did we make in the search for sound lifestyle? Many of us know it’s better to ask for low fat milk or eat more chicken than fatty meat. Some of us see the nutritional folly of soft drinks loaded with sugar, and that we should eat more fruits and vegetables. But a report in Nutrition Action Health Letter says some messages have not shown up on our radar. One - More of us now know obesity is associated with heart disease and diabetes. But many of us have not learned that extra pounds increase the risk of cancer. The Canadian Cancer Society claims 35 percent of malignancies are related to poor eating habits, inactivity and overweight....Read More
Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Medicine, Nutrition
Coenzyme Q10 Needed For 100 Trillion Cells
Heart failure is the fastest growing cause of heart disease in North America. What’s ironic is that the medication prescribed to prevent heart problems may in fact be causing weakened hearts and sapping energy from our 100 trillion cells. Today, with an aging population, old hearts, like old cars, can only travel so many miles before they wear out. But before this happens a car without gas comes to a sudden halt. Similarly, if the heart lacks coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), the gas that delivers energy to the heart’s muscle, it eventually develops congestive heart failure. For years doctors and the public have been told that cholesterol-lowering drugs (CLDs) are the be-all-and-end-all to prevent heart attack. But one vital point has not hit...Read More
Cardiovascular, Nutrition
What’s Red and Protects Cardiovascular Health?
For years we've been told that the Mediterranean diet, full of vegetables, is the way to guard against heart attack and stroke. But George H.W. Bush, former president of the U.S., admitted he didn't like broccoli. And angry farmers dumped a load of it on the White House lawn. I share his view. So I'm grateful now that the red tomato is believed to be the main vegetable for decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. So what is the magic ingredient in tomatoes that fights heart attack and stroke? Researchers at Cambridge University say that the lycopene in red tomatoes keeps the endothelial lining of the human artery (the inner part) healthy, decreasing the risk of blockage. We all know what...Read More
Cardiovascular, Genitourinary, Medicine, Sex
Mae West Knew When Men Were Men
As a male, have you lost the "tiger-in-the-tank"? Possibly you are more irritable, suffer insomnia, have problems at work, lost height, lack energy and lack erections? Now you wonder if testosterone therapy is what’s needed to restore your male vigour? Mae West, the movie sex queen of long ago, knew what made men, men. She greeted them with a sultry voice, "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?" I first became interested in what’s often called "The big T" years ago when I interviewed Dr. Malcolm Carruthers at a Conference on Aging in London, England. Carruthers, a distinguished Harley Street specialist, was one of the early pioneers in testosterone therapy. During the interview with Carruthers,...Read More
Cardiovascular, Genitourinary, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous
Medical Tidbits
It's summertime and the living is easy" is a favourite expression at this time of year. But health hazards don't care what month it is. You can stub your toe at any time. And, for instance, how many parents worry that their children face a hazard simply by brushing their teeth, summer or winter? Can a roller coaster ride cause more than thrills? Can binge drinking result in more than a hangover? And, in summer, never mess around with 300,000,000 volts. Dr. Jurgen Kuschyk, a cardiologist at University Hospital in Mannheim, Germany, reports that anyone over 14 years of age should get a physical checkup before taking a roller coaster ride. This should include an electrocardiogram and, even better, an echocardiogram. Dr....Read More
Cardiovascular
What You Should Know About AF
The tick, tick of a Rolex watch is very reliable. The lub-dub, lub- dub, of the heart is also reliable, in early age. But a report from Johns Hopkins University says that over age 40, one in four women and men, are at risk of developing atrial fibrillation, commonly known as Afib or AF. How serious is this problem, and how would I treat it if it happened to me? Currently three million North Americans have AF, and due to an aging population, 50 percent of those over 80 will develop AF. Getting older is always dangerous and AF is one price you pay for longevity. We know that old cars develop trouble when their electrical system falters and the same problem...Read More
