The longer I work in the field of publishing medical health information - both natural and conventional treatment approaches, the more I feel as though I live in a warped universe. On the one hand, much progress in the understanding of diagnosis and treatment approaches is reassuring and appears to point to a bright future of better health for all of us. On the other hand, however, is the constant back and forth battles between the staunch protectionist die-hards of the status quo, generally pharmaceutically driven treatments, i.e. drugs, and the natural health-oriented community who obtain their clinical results using traditional, complementary or alternative treatment approaches. The battles rage on with proponents of both extremes steadfast in their rectitude regarding their positions.
The majority of healthcare practitioners are generally
situated in the middle, and don’t feel that they are experts enough to
overturn the conventional wisdom. Most of the public, unless they are
campaigning for specific treatments to treat or save the lives of
themselves or loved ones, are also in the middle, not knowing enough to
make up their minds. Hence the end result of endless and frequent
occurrences of media scandals and exposures regarding corrupt practice,
research kick-backs and studies promising glowing results or exposing
dangerous side effects is that the public and most everyone else don’t
know what to believe because almost every day another finding rubbishes
the discovery made the previous day. Examples are about coffee being
either good or bad for you, fruit being good for you or bad for your
teeth, sun causing cancer and sun vitamin D preventing cancer, aspirin
saving lives by preventing and causing cancer and aspirin causes
potentially lethal stomach bleeding. And the list goes on. Should we
screen all elderly people for potentially undiagnosed heart conditions,
how can we continue to keep alive the ever growing population of elderly
patients suffering from dementia, should people in constant pain and /
or with progressively worse quality-of-life be permitted to end their
lives?
As a researcher who reads the literature from both
extremes of the spectrum, as well as the mainstream (no wonder I have no
time to have a life), I had always thought that at some point in the
future, the two extremes would merge and enter a common ground. That
opponents of genetically modified crops but in favour of gene therapy to
cure their desperately ill children might see eventually the advantages
of crops grown in the interest of saving people’s lives or restoring
health to malnourished children.
But at the moment, we appear to be at an impasse in so
many fields of human endeavour, including healthcare approaches,
agriculture, climate change, conflicts beyond our ability to resolve. At
least I don’t see solutions at the moment. Is this a sign that I am
getting older, more experienced, infused with wisdom, or just plain
ignorant. Don’t know.
This PH Online Aug 2012 Issue 197 publishes a number of
letters in the issue which address some of the dilemmas discussed above –
Quality of Food in Hospitals, Low Carb Diets, Fluoridation and IQ which
I encourage readers to sample: A few comments below:
“In sum, this study does not allow us to conclude
anything about low carbohydrate diets, for or against. It is just
another partisan shot in the long-running ideological war between the
proponents of low fat and low carbohydrate diets.” Jack T Winkler,
Professor of Nutrition Policy, London Metropolitan University (Retired)
“Unfortunately the corresponding editorial by Floegel
and Pischon[2] adds more speculations and misconceptions about low
carbohydrate diets (e.g. low vegetable consumption and therefore low
intake of fibre, vitamins and minerals) which might mislead the medical
and nutritional community about diet and cardiovascular health” Nicolai M
Worm, Lecturer Ulrike Gonder
“This medical paper has both a very low quality and a
lot of major biases, therefore it shouldn’t be published because its
flaws not only have a confounding effect in nutrition science but can
generate emotional shock in people under these kind of diets" Álvaro
campillo-Soto, General Surgeon & Scientific Methodologist
www.positivehealth.com/article/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-issue-197
There are several important bodywork articles published in this issue, including the links between Urinary Continence and Posture, an Update about Rolfing / Structural Integration and a Research Project regarding Thai and Swedish Massage.
Additionally are articles about Skincare: Eliminating Warts, Choosing a Good Hypnotherapy Training Course, Stress, and Preeclampsia Nutritional Factors.
I will report back if my warped sense of the universe changes over time. Please let me know about any resonance with you.
