Wishes for a good 2012, with all it may bring. Strange how a number can hold so much in it - from predictions of the end-of-the-world, or a major shift in consiousness to just another year on planet earth. Whatever it is, I imagine I will live it the same way as I always do, eating, drinking, creating, sleeping, hopefully doing it in a loving way and having a good time while I do. 

Relationships and compromise; vaccines for young girls; enzymes and microrganisms - Dr B has a lot to say of interest. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter (healthforumSA) to be alerted to his latest blogs (which he generally keeps short) during the month. 

Blessings and best wishes

Jeanne 

From the Desk of Dr Brom

New Year 2012 is here and I feel really excited about greeting this year in a spirit of hopefulness and expectation. Four days in the mountains just reminded me how awesome this planet earth is and renewed in me a passion for wanting to make a difference. If you have anything special you would like me to write about, please let me know.

Another vaccine story

I have written about vaccines before and keep reminding doctors and the public that what you get is not exactly what you think you are getting. Vaccines make so much sense that doctors are always surprised when someone questions their efficacy; nevertheless there are serious consequences to not being more informed about vaccines.

One of the latest vaccines being pushed very hard at the moment is the HPV vaccine, which is now recommended for use in young healthy girls between the ages of 11 and 13 before they become sexually active. The idea is to prevent the sexually transmitted herpes virus infection which can cause premalignant changes to the cervix, leading possibly to cervical cancer.

The two vaccines available today in fact have been shown to decrease the incidence of this pre-malignant changes. Sounds like great news, so why the controversy? And there is a major controversy.

This is a long story that is difficult to unravel because of the red herrings that are thrown out all over the show. Keep in mind that pharmaceutical companies are in the business of making money and that many medical research programmes are being paid for by these companies who expect certain results, or no further grants may be forthcoming.

The following facts have emerged:

• The HPV vaccine may contain genetically-modified material and there is some evidence that auto-immune diseases may be precipitated.

In Chinese medicine the heart is not just an organ but an ‘orb’ which includes the heart organ but also a field of ‘energy-information’.

Try standing in front of someone and find out your comfort zone with them. With some people you can stand much closer than others. There is some science to this now. The electrocardiogram (ECG) which doctors use to record the electromagnetic field of the heart can now be detected with supersensitive machines ¾ metre extending from the body.

When we stand close together then our heart energy fields are linked and communicating. What does that say about heart to heart conversations? In Chinese Medicine the heart is also the place where the spirit rests. Our feelings, which we experience in the heart area, are the sensory apparatus of the spirit/soul. These feed into the head area and are responsible for the intuition that the thinking mind relies on for inspiration and great ideas.

Try connecting more often with your feelings rather than the thoughts only. Your feelings open you to the Great Mystery. That is were the awe and magic of life can be found.

Is it  true that we don't know the cause of cancer or Parkinson's disease?
Why there is such a gap between the conventional medical model and view, and what patients seem to know intuitively?

Most patients will hear their doctor tell them that cancer, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, hypertension and numerous other diseases do not have a cause known to science.

I saw a patient recently with hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol and depression who had been given four different drugs at the clinic. The clinic consultation lasted less than 15 minutes and she was asked to report back in one month. And that was that. When I asked the woman what she thought the cause of her ill health was she was able to give me some pretty good answers.

A negative finding about supplements in the headlines. The study suggests that older women taking supplements  may die sooner than those not taking supplements. When scientists start out with the idea that supplements would not reduce the risk of death, then you can be sure that this is the outcome they will find. Scientist love to talk about ‘computer smoothing’ of results, adjusting the confounding factor,  ‘data massaging’  and using statistics to support their arguments. After all this is done, one can usually bet that the results will support their contention.

What are the confounding factors, for example? In the study the women taking supplements were more likely to be non-smokers, consume a better diet and be more physically active, so this according to the authors, needed to be adjusted for. How this is done is anyone’s guess, and why people who have taken the trouble to change their lifestyle should have an arbitrary adjustment made so that these factors are removed from the equation really makes no sense anyway.

There is also the question of dosage and quality of nutrients used which was not recorded as being a confounding factor. But it could nevertheless make a big difference to outcomes. Synthetic vitamins, for example, taken long term may not have great outcomes; and using vitamins in isolation is also not a good idea.  Vitamin E for example is a family of nutrients and includes tocopherols and tocotrienols, and the synthetic variety should not be used long term.

Scientist who don’t believe in, don’t use, and have little knowledge of nutrients should not be doing this research.  Nutritional medicine has become quite sophisticated today and should be left to those scientists with a  true understanding of healthy medicine.