It is truly a personal, individual scenario for each person; each person’s path and journey is dependent upon their circumstances, the stage of their cancer, their age, type of cancer and prognosis. Am I insensitive to think that cancer is more cruel for a young person with young children with Stage IV metastasized cancer than an elderly person who has lived a full life?

Over the decades, a not so tiny group of PH authors, or friends of PH, or owners of companies and organizations in the natural health fields have been afflicted and succumbed to cancer. I feel sad when I think of their vision, skill, enterprise and wisdom, no longer there. A few departed souls? Michael Endacott – ICM, Celia Wright – Higher Nature, Angela Caine – VoiceGym, Vivienne Silver-Leigh, Alan Sales - Cyber-Kinetics, Howard Kent - Yoga for Health Foundation, John Halford, John Morley, Prof Michael Guerin-Tosh. We all work terribly hard to make a real difference in the prevention and treatment of cancer.

This Positive Health PH Online Dec Issue 201 again makes a sterling contribution to the archive of clinical and case information about natural health treatment approaches across the spectrum of conditions and therapies.

Using the body’s innate healing abilities to assist people to overcome insurmountable odds, including muscular dystrophy and blindness, Meir Schneider has truly been an inspiration.

www.positivehealth.com/article/healing/self-healing-around-the-globe-meir-schneider-courageous-pioneer

Expert Regular Columnists Michael Levy, Lynne Booth, David Markowitz, Wilma Kirsten and Joël Carbonnel write with wit and wisdom across subjects including stress, breathing and reflexology techniques obesity factors beyond diet and exercise, vitamin D and vaccination dilemmas.

www.positivehealth.com/article/stress/the-concert-musicians-tale

www.positivehealth.com/article/reflexology/reflexology-and-breathing-techniques-for-respiratory-issues

www.positivehealth.com/article/weight-loss/beyond-diet-and-exercise-14-seldom-discussed-causes-of-obesity

www.positivehealth.com/article/nutrition/the-vitamin-d-shield

www.positivehealth.com/article/immune-function/big-mouth-and-lockjaw

Authors Michael Clark, Marilyn Glenville, Dr Deepa Apte, Dr Stoyan Borisov, Susan Lorrimer and Elena Barbiero impart specific and valuable clinical information across a range of subjects, including stress management, approaches to polycystic ovary syndrome, Ayurvedic cooking, developments in HPV care, essential oils massage for arthritis and reflexology during pregnancy and labour:

www.positivehealth.com/article/stress/the-abed-method-managing-stress-for-busy-people

www.positivehealth.com/article/women-s-health/a-holistic-approach-to-polycystic-ovary-syndrome

www.positivehealth.com/article/ayurveda/ayurvedic-way-of-cooking-herbs-and-food-supplements

www.positivehealth.com/article/cancer/developments-in-hpv-care-and-coriolus-versicolor-supplementation

www.positivehealth.com/article/aromatherapy/case-study-reducing-symptoms-of-arthritis-in-the-feet-using-massage-with-essential-oil-blend

www.positivehealth.com/article/reflexology/reflexology-during-pregnancy-and-labour-labour-trigger-points-explained

This Issue’s Letters to the Editor are not-to-be missed:

“Daily Multivitamin Reduces Cancer Risk: Even Low-Dose Supplementation Would Save 48,000 Lives Annually

“by Robert G. Smith, PhD

“A major new health study published online last week found that everyday multivitamin supplements lower your risk of cancer by 8%.[1] This important result confirms what nutritionists and medical researchers have known over the past 50 years, that supplements of essential nutrients are beneficial for health and preventing disease. This is terrific news for everyone! Cancer deaths in the US in recent years have hovered near 600,000 per year (190 per 100,000) and are increasing.[2] If taking a daily multivitamin will prevent 8% of these deaths, then the lives of 48,000 people in the US could be saved each year, just by taking an inexpensive daily vitamin pill…”  www.positivehealth.com/article/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-issue-201

"The vaccination policy and the Code of Practice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI): are they at odds?

"by Lucija Tomljenovic PhD

"Presented at BSEM (British Society for Ecology Medicine) Scientific Conference, March 2011.

"...Deliberately concealing information from the parents for the sole purpose of getting them to comply with an “official” vaccination schedule could thus be considered as a form of ethical violation or misconduct. Official documents obtained from the UK Department of Health (DH) and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) reveal that the British health authorities have been engaging in such practice for the last 30 years, apparently for the sole purpose of protecting the national vaccination program. Here I present the documentation which appears to show that the JCVI made continuous efforts to withhold critical data on severe adverse reactions and contraindications to vaccinations to both parents and health practitioners in order to reach overall vaccination rates which they deemed were necessary for “herd immunity”, a concept which with regards to vaccination, and contrary to prevalent beliefs, does not rest on solid scientific evidence as will be explained. As a result of such vaccination policy promoted by the JCVI and the DH, many children have been vaccinated without their parents being disclosed the critical information about demonstrated risks of serious adverse reactions, one that the JCVI appeared to have been fully aware of. It would also appear that, by withholding this information, the JCVI/DH neglected the right of individuals to make an informed consent concerning vaccination. By doing so, the JCVI/DH may have violated not only International Guidelines for Medical Ethics (i.e., Helsinki Declaration and the International Code of Medical Ethics) [2] but also, their own Code of Practice...”  www.positivehealth.com/article/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-issue-201

Promising research is always an exciting harbinger of potentially transformative healthcare advances. At least it ought to be – time will tell. A few tidbits from this issue’s Research Updates to sample:

HO and COLLEAGUES, Department of Ophthalmology, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands investigated whether dietary nutrients can reduce the genetic risk of early age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

“High dietary intake of nutrients with antioxidant properties reduces the risk of early AMD in those at high genetic risk. Therefore, clinicians should provide dietary advice to young susceptible individuals to postpone or prevent the vision-disabling consequences of AMD. “  www.positivehealth.com/research/ho-and-colleagues

DE KONING and COLLEAGUES, Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA examined the associations of sugar- and artificially sweetened beverages with incident type 2 diabetes.

“Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is associated with a significantly elevated risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas the association between artificially sweetened beverages and type 2 diabetes was largely explained by health status, pre-enrollment weight change, dieting, and body mass index.”  www.positivehealth.com/research/de-koning-and-colleagues

The recent upgrade of the PH Online Home Page, with the introduction of the Storyboards, has been a revelation to both my partner, co-director and webmaster Mike and me of PH Online’s enormously varied, high quality and unique archive of natural health approaches original clinical and research material. As we have both been working very hard to polish the transition from print to online, the next step is to link with international partners to create the many other facilities and services that require expansion and resources.