A large scale dietary study involving 772 families in 8 European countries has show that to avoid obesity we need to eat a high protein, low GI (glycemic index) diet.

The Diogenes (for Diet, Obesity & Genes) study started by putting overweight adults on a strict 800 calorie a day regime for 6 weeks. After that, they followed on of 5 different diet plans:

A low-protein diet (13% of energy consumed) with a high GI
A low-protein, low-GI diet
A high-protein (25% of energy consumed), low-GI diet
A high-protein, high-GI diet
A control group which followed the current official dietary recommendations without special instructions regarding glycemic index levels

There was no restriction of calories in this part of the study - people could eat as much as they wanted. Results show that individuals in the high-protein, low GI group gained significantly less weight than the others.

You can read more about the study in the Diogenes website

If you enjoy a spicy curry or bowl of chilli you might be helping your heart as well as having a tasty meal. Recently published research from China shows that long term consumption of capsaicin, which is substance in peppers that makes them hot, can reduce blood pressure - at least in hypertensive rats.

Their study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, suggests that capsaicin works by activating a special receptor which causes increased production of nitric oxide in the blood vessels that is believed to protect against inflammation and other vascular problems.

The experiment with rats is encouraging but now it needs to be confirmed by analysing any epidemiological association between eating chilli peppers and blood pressure.

Further information is available on the UK Independent Newspaper website.

According to researchers at Penn State University, turmeric, cinnamon and other antioxidant spices reduce the negative effects of eating high-fat foods.

"Normally, when you eat a high-fat meal, you end up with high levels of triglycerides, a type of fat, in your blood," explained Sheila West, associate professor of bio-behavioural health, who led the study, published in the Journal of Nutrition. "If this happens too frequently, or if triglyceride levels are raised too much, your risk of heart disease is increased. We found that adding spices to a high-fat meal reduced triglyceride response by about 30 per cent, compared to a similar meal with no spices added," she told Science Daily.

You can read more online at stuff.co.nz

Garlic has been renowned for its medicinal properties for centuries, if not millennia. Naturopaths have known for a long time that it can help control high blood pressure (hypertension).

Researchers at the University of Adelaide have recently completed a clinical trial that supports that knowledge.

Karin Ried from University of Adelaide's Discipline of General Practice has conducted a 12-week trial with 50 people that shows garlic could be used as an adjunct to conventional drugs for hypertension.

"There is a large proportion of people out there who are on medication and some people are on four different types but they still have high blood pressure, it is uncontrolled," Dr Ried said.

"When we gave them this garlic supplement we were able on average to reduce their blood pressure under the hypertension threshold - so garlic might be a good complementary treatment option to control hypertension."

In fact, the researchers found that on average, hypertensive patients showed a lowering of systolic blood pressure by 10.2mmHg compared to a control group taking a placebo.

The study also showed that, in keeping with standard naturopathic advice, the aged garlic supplement was significantly more effective than fresh or powdered garlic.

The study was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald and the article is available on its website

On 8 October 2010, the NZ Herald reported that Medsafe had followed the lead set by the authorities in Britain, Canada and the USA and recommended people to stop using Miracle Mineral Supplement or MMS. According to Medsafe "High oral doses of this bleach, such as those recommended in the labelling, can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and symptoms of severe dehydration."

Strangely though, it was unable to quote any reports of these ill effects actually ocurring despite the fact MMS has been in wide use all over the world for some years.

Whatever your opinion of MMS, is worth noting that under the current rules governing supplements Medsafe can only warn and advise against using a product.

If they get their way and Parliament enacts new regulations next year, a product will have to be approved by Medsafe before it can go on sale. Their decision will be absolute and the proposed legislation lays no burden of proof on the regulator. They will be able to ban anything they disapprove of.

Last year the Government announced a proposal for a new law to regulate health supplements. This is not the highly restrictive Australian system we fought so hard against under the Labour government but there are some unwelcome similarities.

On the plus side, under the new proposal importers and manufacturers would have to register their products before sale. Registration would be a simple online process. The advantage of this system is that it provides a link between a product and the person responsible for importing or making it. This measure should control problems such as import of products containing prescription medicines or substances derived from endangered species.

Unfortunately, the proposal also requires product ingredients to be selected from a pre-determined list of permitted items. This "white list" approach was opposed by the Greens when they objected to the Australian system but now they are embracing it.

The problem with a white list is that just like the Australian system, there will be a committee of officials who will decide what you can and cannot have in your supplements. There will be no oversite of the decisions and no quality control to protect public freedom of choice. Nothing to prevent products being banned through prejudice, malice or influence from lobbyists.

Where is the evidence that we need a white list? New Zealand has managed without one for a quarter of a century. No-one has died as a result. If there have been cases of adverse reaction to any ingredient they have been very mild. Certainly not severe enough to have made it into media reports. The white list requirement is a piece of theory with no evidence to support it in practice.

You can read the complete proposal on the Ministry of Health Website

The bill was co-sponsored by Green MP, Sue Kedgley. Latest word from her office is that the legislation will be substantially revised in the light of public submissions but there still no word on whether the white list approach will be maintained.

Silver has well known germ killing properties. In Roman times water was stored in silver jugs to keep it pure. Some modern top-of-the-range washing machines have silver coated drums to kill bacteria in dirty clothes.

Naturopaths often use colloidal (tiny particles) silver to treat infections.

Now Belgian professor Willy Verstraete has suggested silver can also prevent viral infections such as Norovirus, Swine Flu and the Common Cold.

Professor Verstaete specialises in engineering bacteria to perform useful tasks such as cleaning up polluted land or producing bio-fuels. Now he has found a way of attaching microscopic silver particles to friendly bacteria like Lactobacillus Acidophilous which can be turned into nasal sprays or hand washes to prevent virsuses from entering our cells.

The story has been widely reported world wide. See, for example, this article from the UK Daily Mail which appeared on 22 October 2010

Doctors are finding that sleep apnoea is a lot more common than once thought. A recent BBC news story reported that nearly ten percent of all men between thirty and sixty suffer from sleep apnoea.

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, John Rouhgan describes how he followed the advice of a naturopath and was able to manage his sleep apnoea by using a piece of sticky tape on his lips.

The full story can be read online at the Herald website

If you are tempted to try it, please note the warnings in the article.

According to a report published online by The Lancet on 18 June 2010, there are 10 major risk factors for all kinds of stroke. Between them, these factors account for 90% of stroke risk. Top of the list is high blood pressure.

The study included 6,000 people from 22 countries and concludes that the 10 factors significantly associated with stroke risk are high blood pressure, smoking, physical activity, waist-to-hip ratio (abdominal obesity), diet, blood lipid (fat) levels, diabetes, alcohol intake, stress and depression, and heart disorders.

Of that list, the first 5 are responsible for a full 80% of all stroke risk, according to the researchers.

It's important that most of the risk factors associated with stroke are modifiable," said Dr. Martin J. O'Donnell, an associate professor of medicine at McMaster University in Canada, who helped lead the study. "If they are controlled, it could have a considerable impact on the incidence of stroke."

Controlling blood pressure is important, he said, because it plays a major role in both forms of stroke: ischemic, the most common form (caused by blockage of a brain blood vessel), and hemorrhagic or bleeding stroke, in which a blood vessel in the brain bursts.

In contrast, levels of blood lipids such as cholesterol were important in the risk of ischemic stroke, but not hemorrhagic stroke.

"The most important thing about hypertension is its controllability," O'Donnell said. "Blood pressure is easily measured, and there are lots of treatments."

Lifestyle measures to control blood pressure include reduction of salt intake and increasing physical activity, he said.

He added that the other risk factors -- smoking, abdominal obesity, diet and physical activity -- in the top five contributors to stroke risk were modifiable as well.

High intake of fish and fruits, for example, were associated with a lower risk of stroke, according to the study.

On 8th May 2010 the New Zealand Herald featured a report in the NZ Medical Journal which estimates reducing salt in manufactured foods could result in 2745 fewer heart attacks and 2064 fewer strokes and save 930 lives a year by 2018.

Experts believe lowering salt levels across the population could be more effective - and easier - than anti-smoking campaigns in reducing New Zealand's high incidence of strokes and cardiovascular disease.

Many New Zealanders are thought to consume nearly twice the safe daily limit of just over a teaspoon of salt, or 2300mg of sodium.

Consider the enormous, measurable, benefit that could be achieved by regulating salt in manufactured food at just about zero cost. Then compare that with the new health food regulations the Ministry of Health wants you to pay $4m for with no measurable benefit at all.

The entire Herald article can be viewed on their website

Older adults who get very little vitamin C in their diets may have an increased risk of developing cataracts, a study in India finds.

Cataracts are a clouding of the eye's lens that commonly cause vision problems in older people. Some studies, but not all, have found that people with higher intakes of antioxidants, including vitamin C, may have a lower risk of developing the condition.

But those studies have been done in Western countries -- and not in lower-income countries like India, where people's vitamin C levels tend to be very low and rates of cataract are particularly high.

For the new study, researchers evaluated more than 5,600 Indian adults age 60 and up for cataracts. They also interviewed them about their diets and lifestyle habits, and measured their blood levels of vitamin C.

The findings, reported in the Journal Ophthalmology, do not prove that adequate vitamin C protects against cataracts.

But it's biologically plausible, said senior researcher Astrid E. Fletcher, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in the UK.

You can read the full article at stuff.co.nz

For a long time natural health practitioners have held that Vitamin C has a role in cancer prevention and treatment. This idea has been routinely dismissed by medical orthodoxy.

Now researchers at Otago University have completed a study that puts the benefits of Vitamin C on a firm scientific footing. The study, led by Associate Professor Margreet Vissers, of the university's Free Radical Research Group, found that high-grade tumours had around 40 per cent less vitamin C than matched, adjacent, normal tissue.

Professor Vissers said the study suggested it would be beneficial for people with cancer cells to have more vitamin C. It could help restrict the rate of tumour growth, increase responsiveness to chemotherapy and might prevent formation of solid tumours.

You can read the full story on the New Zealand Herald Website.

Vitamin C and it's effectiveness in fighting any number of ills is a hot topic right now.

The debate for and against the use of high dosage, intravenous vitamin-c has been going on for many years. But it's been more vigorously debated since 60 Minutes brought us the story of Allan Smith's seemingly miraculous recovery from swine flu after treatment with intravenous vitamin c.

Vitamin c advocate and cardiologist Dr Thomas Levy is in New Zealand promoting intravenous vitamin C. According to Dr Levy, his book on the subject references 1,200 peer-reviewed studies to support his point of view. Meanwhile Otago Distric Health Board can find 'no evidence' for the use of vitamin C in this way.

Dr Levy recently appeared on the Campbell Live programme and you can see the interview on the TV3 website

Vitamin D is not only important for growing healthy bone tissue. More and more research is showing the vitamin has a function in the immune system as well. Now a New Zealand study has shown Vitamin D deficiency can be linked to deaths from pneumonia.

Although the Waikato Hospital study was small, it adds to the growing evidence of the role of vitamin D in preventing various diseases, from diabetes to heart disease.

It follows a Dutch study which found a six-fold increased risk of developing a lung infection from respiratory syncytial virus among newborns with a low level of vitamin D.

You can read more on the New Zealand Herald Website